RugbyRebels

Think between ARM and shorterse they have pretty muh summed up why hardie is starting,

For me they are not the same player

Hardie is fantastic at stopping phase 1 ball (gatball until he gets injured, much the same way Favaro does it but Hardie does it to forwards as well as backs)
For 40 - 60 mins Hardie is gonig to try and targt phase 1 ball behind the gainline, after that when he gets concussed or injured then you have Watson coming on and beinga difficult bastrd to get down against tired defenders, both are exellent over the ball, good tacklers but also if hardie gets injured you can at least replace him with Watson.

My one concern is i think we are one ball carrier short, perhaps thats why Reid is in over Dell to provide an extra ball carrier,

I would say main ball carriers will be Wilson , J Gray and Reid

I think i would prefer a bigger 8 but Ashe, Straus and Denton are not available

Backs, Tim Visser cant tackle but it probabbly means we will play more towards Seymore which suits me as Seymore is drastically under used

Centres and half backs are what they are but if we expect Pyrgos to give us a calm head we will be disapointed, we need to be 8 clear at the 60 mark or Wales will play smarter and hurt us in the final quarter

I'm sorry but if you have one of the form players in Britain at your disposal you find a way to fit them into the team.

I agree with Big D here. Hardie may be a destructive tackler but he's just as likely to destroy himself. He seems to go off injured every other game. His tackling style is reckless and ineffective - he misses far too many tackles for a 7.

What is actually more concerning is that VC has selected 3 7s and a 6.5 in Wilson. Who is going to carry the ball?

And furthermore, given how the wind was taken out of our sails against France with that succession of injuries I really would much rather play someone who doesn't hurt themselves every other game.

Interesting team. Feck it, I'm happy with that. Will hopefully be even happier after the first scrum!

Richie has been carrying very well and I feel like I'm repeating myself but Barclay is a good, smart carrier these days. It does miss a real brute though. I really hope Ashe or Denton miraculously find some form and fitness.

Not sure I understand 'playing towards' Seymour because Visser can't tackle? If we don't use him in attack we should pick Tom Brown or somebody else. Totally agree we need to get Seymour on the ball more though.

I hope Jones has shaken off some more of the rust as he's fluffed a couple of the few chances he's had. Cotter just isn't ever going to include Scott is he.

It'll be pishing it down and blowing a hoolie anyway. Will come down to who handles that best, I reckon.

And no red cards, Scotland!

General Zod wrote:It'll be pishing it down and blowing a hoolie anyway. Will come down to who handles that best, I reckon.

And no red cards, Scotland!

Ha, was about to say, does anyone really think we are going to get away with keeping 15 on the pitch against Wales?

Edinburgh in Exile wrote:

General Zod wrote:It'll be pishing it down and blowing a hoolie anyway. Will come down to who handles that best, I reckon.

And no red cards, Scotland!

Ha, was about to say, does anyone really think we are going to get away with keeping 15 on the pitch against Wales?

No chance.

Cards ahoy when we play the cheatin Taff bestirts.

There have been surprisingly few cards for high tackles so far in the 6N which contradicts the predictions made by various pundits.

Therefore I am predicting Lacey to correct this anomaly by handing them out with gay abandon.........against Scotland only, obviously.

ARM wrote:

Edinburgh in Exile wrote:

General Zod wrote:It'll be pishing it down and blowing a hoolie anyway. Will come down to who handles that best, I reckon.

And no red cards, Scotland!

Ha, was about to say, does anyone really think we are going to get away with keeping 15 on the pitch against Wales?

No chance.

Cards ahoy when we play the cheatin Taff bestirts.

I fucking love our rational that, because we've coped a rake of yellows and reds over the past 10 years in this fixture, its them that's the cheating bastards.

Edinburgh in Exile wrote:

ARM wrote:

Edinburgh in Exile wrote:
Ha, was about to say, does anyone really think we are going to get away with keeping 15 on the pitch against Wales?

No chance.

Cards ahoy when we play the cheatin Taff bestirts.

I fucking love our rational that, because we've coped a rake of yellows and reds over the past 10 years in this fixture, its them that's the cheating bastards.

Salt of the earth our boys.

Have a hunch (though hope I`m wrong.) that every scrummage is going to be a mess, ending up in some sort of penalty..
It seems to be a Welsh ting..

Having a similar persecution complex down here, we always attribute your stubborn refusal to keep 15 men on the pitch against us as a deliberate ploy to cheapen our victories..

2014 was a particularly heinous example; "Hang on boys, we're on for a shoeing here - I know, I'll just Schumacher the bejeezus out of Dan Biggar's face! See how they like running in tries against 14 men for an hour, and impressing no bugger, the big bullies!"

It's pleasing to think Hogg has that kind of tactical nous.

Just noticed that Ford made his international debut in 2004 (2nd cap was 2006). Even allowing for spells without any one challenging him for a place that is pretty good longevity.

Sourdust wrote:Having a similar persecution complex down here, we always attribute your stubborn refusal to keep 15 men on the pitch against us as a deliberate ploy to cheapen our victories.. :-)

2014 was a particularly heinous example; "Hang on boys, we're on for a shoeing here - I know, I'll just Schumacher the bejeezus out of Dan Biggar's face! See how they like running in tries against 14 men for an hour, and impressing no bugger, the big bullies!"

That actually made me choke on my coffee laughing, we've been rumbled!

If, like me, you are avoiding work today, there's a half-decent podcast type thing here:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04ttzx2

I say half-decent because the first half is pish and has that über-lad Matt Dawson havering about how many England will put past Italy. After about half an hour, they do a bit on Wales then go into the Scotland camp, with Barclay, Price, Seymour, Hogg, Fagerson, etc chipping in.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

With all this talk about carrying does anyone think that Dunbar has been underutilised in this regard? He's only effective as a decoy if he's fed the ball every so often.

Yeah, I'd agree with that but don't know if that is a plan or just how it has worked out. He is our biggest back carrier but equally I don't think we should be making him do the forwards work carrying in close to the ruck and leaving us with a depleted back line

Where's Lamont when you need him?

OptimisticJock wrote:Where's Lamont when you need him?

Wonder if he'll have a late career switch to prop. Would be quite funny.

U20s shite until Bradbury went off.

Watched the last 15 of the women's match - was good!

General Zod wrote:

OptimisticJock wrote:Where's Lamont when you need him?

Wonder if he'll have a late career switch to prop. Would be quite funny.

U20s shite until Bradbury went off.

Watched the last 15 of the women's match - was good!

Is he piling on the pounds then?

Windy as fook in Embra this morn.

Wonder if the Welsh have asked for the roof to be shut?

ARM wrote:Windy as fook in Embra this morn.

Wonder if the Welsh have asked for the roof to be shut?

Will it be dry?

Showery but mild with a chance of wailing.