Early 6N discussion thread

[General Zod]

Hope Townsend gives them a fucking roasting for that.

[OptimisticJock]

Hard to put the finger on that last 10 minutes, tiredness or complacency? Laidlaw was off by that time, and lots of first caps, etc.
I thought Strauss was excellent. Graham looked a bit slow - even with fresh legs.

Definitely a drop in quality with the replacements but they were also very complacent. Tiredness should not come on to it if they're wanting to be the fittest and fastest team going.

[OptimisticJock]

Anyway, enough negativity from me. When they did decide to play they looked good, some very well taken tries. Kinghorn deserving of his MotM, looked like he had a lot of freedom to pop up where he liked.

[ARM]

Still not convinced by Harris. Missed two tackles in one phase for the final Italian try. Looks a bit leggy and slow.
Would dump Toolis for Gray J, if fit.

Sorry for Skinner - you heard him scream with pain in the very first ruck.

[francoisfou]

Positives first - you won! However, if you play with the same lack of fluidity and commitment in the remaining games, sorry to say it, but you'll lose.
I expected a convincing victory but there's bound to be some harsh words to be said by Gregor Townsend post match and at training during the week before the Irish come to town.

[Donny osmond]

Finished 6/10 too. Too many individual mistakes.

Team went to shit when Price and Hastings came on, my irrational dislike of them both continues.

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[Big D]

Still not convinced by Harris. Missed two tackles in one phase for the final Italian try. Looks a bit leggy and slow.
Would dump Toolis for Gray J, if fit.

Sorry for Skinner - you heard him scream with pain in the very first ruck.

I didn't think we missed Gray all that much to be fair. Will watch again through sober eyes at some point.

[OptimisticJock]

Positives first - you won! However, if you play with the same lack of fluidity and commitment in the remaining games, sorry to say it, but you'll lose.
I expected a convincing victory but there's bound to be some harsh words to be said by Gregor Townsend post match and at training during the week before the Irish come to town.

In fairness Scotland generally seem to start slow, I expect an uptake in concentration next week.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Still not convinced by Harris. Missed two tackles in one phase for the final Italian try. Looks a bit leggy and slow.
Would dump Toolis for Gray J, if fit.

Sorry for Skinner - you heard him scream with pain in the very first ruck.

Agree with this. I don't get the Harris obsession. Toolis was anonymous in defence and I do wonder if we'd have soaked up some of the pressure better with J Gray playing instead.

With the exception of Strauss i thought most of the subs were poor and Toony rung the changes en-masse far too early. It took the wind right out of our sails.

If fit I'd bring J Gray, both Horne brothers and Maitland back into the squad.

We're also going to need another loosie - wouldn't be giving Graham the bench spot next week if we've got anyone else...

[General Zod]

If they genuinely thought they were in with a shot of winning the tournament, they wouldn’t have given up points so easily at the end. Not concentrating. I don’t think they were swanning around thinking they were “it”, but they certainly lacked focus towards the end.

Look - we won, we got a bonus point, etc, but we need to step it up if we’re gonna win the grand slam decider in March.

[Big D]

Toolis was anonymous in defence and I do wonder if we'd have soaked up some of the pressure better with J Gray playing instead.

Not sure. All out tight 5 except GG had between 8-12 attempted tackles. GG being the outlier.

Grays tackling isn't particularly, consistently dominating and if he was on the park he may have attempted more than Toolis but then it is likely GGs number would have reduced. Within reason, you can only tackle a ball carrier if they come down/near your channel.

Defensively it was pleasing that our two young lads stood up well. 16/1 for Ritchie and 12/0 for Kinghorn.

The team on the whole still misses too many.

[Big D]

Is it any wonder it went to shit when the subs came on? Hastings has been poor for months, Harris is bang average, although Kerr did little wrong but he has 10 pro games, Bhatti doesn't have much gametime recently and we had to burn one of our "impact subs" really early in the game

At the moment there is a massive drop off in some key positions.

[Chunks Baws]

It's a bonus point win but fucking frustrating at the same time. Is there any news on Skinner? If he's out I'm assuming we'll see Hardie at 7 and Ritchie moved back to 6. It's hard to judge Gary Graham from his short stint and with us being down to 14 men.

[Mikey Brown]

Yeah it's very hard to know what we can actually take from that game. Except that Kinghorn and Johnson look very comfortable at this level, which I'm happy with.

Still giving ourselves massive issues with our attempts to "find the edge of the defence" without often committing any of the defenders closer in. I can see what they're trying to do but it's so passive most of the time.

[francoisfou]

but we need to step it up if we’re gonna win the grand slam decider in March.

Like your optimism, GZ!!

[Big D]

Yeah it's very hard to know what we can actually take from that game. Except that Kinghorn and Johnson look very comfortable at this level, which I'm happy with.

Still giving ourselves massive issues with our attempts to "find the edge of the defence" without often committing any of the defenders closer in. I can see what they're trying to do but it's so passive most of the time.

Ritchie has shown he is very comfortable against tier 2 sides. Hopefully he shows the same next week.

[ARM]

Yeah it's very hard to know what we can actually take from that game. Except that Kinghorn and Johnson look very comfortable at this level, which I'm happy with.

Still giving ourselves massive issues with our attempts to "find the edge of the defence" without often committing any of the defenders closer in. I can see what they're trying to do but it's so passive most of the time.

Forwards can’t get over the gain line. GG and Toolis carried like fannies. But then the whole team needs to up the intensity and probably will next week. We also need some dominating tackles - no-one puts in hard hits - so would play Hardie next week. Ritchie deserves another go but I do have a feeling he’ll get eaten alive by the Irish.

[francoisfou]

Next Saturday's match against the Irish could be a cracker, but only if your boys up the tempo and get their act together. The Irish are beatable, but tackling needs to be aggressive and knock 'em backwards, as we saw yesterday.
Get a good start and with the Murrayfield crowd behind you you'll be in with a chance!

[Big D]

Watching the game back.

Kinghorn needs to be more aware after that early break. The defender did a good job with his tackle to ensure no offload. What is clear though is if Toony/Wilson want the forwards to punch then they need to be moving at pace and Laidlaw passing in front. From that break Laidlaw is passing to.a static pod. Easy to defend and tough to break the gain line.

Fair play to Skinner. Clearly fucked and still hits a ruck even if very weakly.

[Big D]

Didn't realise how bad a blown try that was when Laidlaw kicked instead of passing to Ritchie. 

In the 1st half Ritchie was everywhere. Tackling, winning pens (made the Italian seal off) and hitting rucks. At 22 the future is bright.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Didn't realise how bad a blown try that was when Laidlaw kicked instead of passing to Ritchie. 

In the 1st half Ritchie was everywhere. Tackling, winning pens (made the Italian seal off) and hitting rucks. At 22 the future is bright.

I did question that in real time but there was no replay. Wasn't clear if his pass would have been blocked by a defender.


Thought Tom English summed it up pretty well:


The bench has never been more critical in Test rugby. Scotland's bench on Saturday consisted of two props who are not first-choice for their club, a hooker making his debut, a back-row and a wing who are playing for Newcastle, the bottom team in the English Premiership, and a young fly-half whose confidence has been shot to pieces over the last few months.

He's not wrong. The two best LH props in Scotland are now not SQ.

I really think Ross Ford should have been picked for this squad rather than 3 inexperienced hookers. At least we know what we get with him.

Gray, P Horne, G Horne, Maitland & as much as I don't want to admit it, Hardie, should be brought into the 23 next week.

Fagerson & Brown to return for France hopefully.

Assuming no more injuries our squad should get stronger with every game.

[Mikey Brown]

Jesus. Don’t say things like that.

[Big D]

Have you seen Ford recently? Barely 3rd choice at Edinburgh. Kerr didn't do a lot wrong to make me want Ford back. 1 blown line out was all he really did wrong.

Wouldn't be throwing Zander back in after 4 months out.

I feel better having watched it back. Even with all who were missing, our usual slow start (Toony needs to stop this in happens too often) we were 33-3 up with 69min gone and Ritchie was denied a clear cut penalty. And Hogg denied a try due to ref incompetence after italy score 1.

That doesn't excuse the blow up in the last 10min. We continue to miss more tackles than we should (I'm fed up moaning about it), Harris needs to talk more for the 2nd. Jones wouldn't have made that mistake. Jones despite the odd miss tackle is important to the defensive shape. Hastings and Harris must do better for the 3rd.

We did get key guys off early like Rambo who no doubt will be playing 70-80min next week.

Swap Gray, Hardie, the Hornes and Maitland in the 23 for Skinner, Graham, Price, Hastings and Harris it looks a decent 23.

Brown back for France and I think we are in a decent place with more to come back and add completion.

[Big D]

I also think we need to remember where we are in the grand scheme of things. Take the number of guys we missed yesterday and consider how reasonable a 23 we named. We aren't England or Ireland with massive depth and yet we managed to get by still fairly comfortable really.

Of course it won't be good enough for what comes next but we take 1 game at a time.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Have you seen Ford recently? Barely 3rd choice at Edinburgh. Kerr didn't do a lot wrong to make me want Ford back. 1 blown line out was all he really did wrong.

Wouldn't be throwing Zander back in after 4 months out.

I feel better having watched it back. Even with all who were missing, our usual slow start (Toony needs to stop this in happens too often) we were 33-3 up with 69min gone and Ritchie was denied a clear cut penalty. And Hogg denied a try due to ref incompetence after italy score 1.

That doesn't excuse the blow up in the last 10min. We continue to miss more tackles than we should (I'm fed up moaning about it), Harris needs to talk more for the 2nd. Jones wouldn't have made that mistake. Jones despite the odd miss tackle is important to the defensive shape. Hastings and Harris must do better for the 3rd.

We did get key guys off early like Rambo who no doubt will be playing 70-80min next week.

Swap Gray, Hardie, the Hornes and Maitland in the 23 for Skinner, Graham, Price, Hastings and Harris it looks a decent 23.

Brown back for France and I think we are in a decent place with more to come back and add completion.

I'm not suggesting Ford start or even come off the bench but he's a superior player to Lawson, why can't he fill the role he filled last year? Pick two green hookers to blood as opposed to 3.