honestly united

Not sure there is much of an argument tbh. Russell has shown nothing in 6 nations to have him starting for Lions (especially a Gatland Lions Team). Only criticism is that there is an obvious slight in back row where I'd have Watson. But ultimately we really don't deserve much Lions representation. After our win at Twickenham, and also after the Wales game, he was down as nailed down starter for the Lions by all the pundits. I think he will go, but wont start as Gatland will want someone to kick to the corners etc. For me Hogg, Russell and Watson are already on the plane. Potentials are Grey (if Exeter do well he's in with a shout), Zander would be but his red has dented his chances, Ritchie and Maitland / Duhan. The players are lucky that the France game has been moved back as it gives them a last chance to shine while the rest are not playing. If we can get a win in Paris (where we would finish 2nd in the 6 Nations) would probably be enough to give some of the others a chance at getting on the plane.

I'll go with the standard response to whenever someone calls for the managers head in who do you think we could get in to do a better job? Being an Ayr fan sometimes the relief of removing an underperforming manager is soured by the reality of the shortlist to replace them! I wouldn't want either Cockerill or Wilson anywhere near the job, although im sure there are a few NZ / Aussie / SA's that would do a decent job, i've not been close enough to SH rugby to know if there are any standout candidates, there doesn't seem to be anyone that sticks out. Baxter is probably the standout coach in england, but should be next in line after Eddie leaves.

I think the draw at Twickenham sums up both Townsends coaching and the players. Periods of being dreadful, followed by periods of utter brilliance, but finished off by ultimately not getting the wins required. I see the Welsh players have come out and said they are glad Pivac has stuck by his game plan as its now come good and they are one game away from a Grand Slam after being written off in the Autumn. When you look at Scotland, we were solid last year, defensively sound, just not scoring enough, we were a few tweaks away from being in contention. We won away at Wales, France and Ireland in the Autumn wsan't great but we were without Russell and Hasting at 10. You then get a performance like England which is the stuff of dreams. Dominating up front, and looking more dangerous in attack. But its been downhill since then, England being fairly dreadful probably takes some sheen off the performance but we would have beaten Wales bar the sending off / indiscipline which you cant blame the coaching for that. Against Ireland I dont think we even had any systems, it looked like 15 guys out for a run about having never met before, yet still came within 3 minutes of getting something out the game. It was flashes of excellent play, with large amounts of being bettered by a not very good Irish team. Some of the blame has to lie with Townsend for changing the systems and styles of play so often that the players dont have a settled systems to play, was the fastest rugby in the world the correct choice, we will never know - it was good to watch and fitted the players we had, would the more pragmatic approach eventually come good, we will never know. It just looks like we are in a bit of limbo inbetween at the moment and the players are not sure what they are meant to be doing.

Pray tell the positives from our last two outings, apologies if you being tongue and cheek. We didn't win the last two games because deep deep deep down we didn't believe we could. We are mentally weak arseholes against the Welsh and Irish; and they feckin know it For me the problem is player development. In other countries they are coaching kids, along with the general skills, how to win rugby matches. They are also in the most cases playing / developing in an enviroment where winning is key, and they are playing games that mean something. From looking at the Scottish dev pathway apart from those playing in the Scottish private schools system, no one is playing meaningful games in that 16-20 age bracket that breed that win at all cost mentality. We are developing technically good players, but we are not developing winners. I used to play with a guy, who's pre match team talk was along the lines of needing to be a winner, things like he would push past his wife to get out the door first, he wouldn't talk eating dinner to ensure he finished first, etc but that is the mentality we need to instill in the players. Our best players techniclally are as good as Wales or Ireland, they are just not winners. Its gotten that bad in the youth development, that we got relegated from the Euro U20's (along with Ireland), threw a hissy fit and all the home nations pulled out, just leaving France and Italy playing in it. We do nothing in the U20 6 nations, and have been relegated from the World U20 top tier and are now behind Italy, Fiji and Georgia. I was hoping the Super 6 would start to provide a competition to give these players a decent grounding, and we've seen some benefits in the young guys at Glasgow, but so far it doesn't grab you as a competition players are going to be desperate to win.

great try from Jones

Were missing a Paul O'conell / Alun wynn Jones type to drag the team through rough patches

Surely we can only get better in the 2nd half, again Ireland sealing off every ruck, hopefully Poite notices at some point

For me the Connacht player is stood still and doesn't move and Davidson drives his head into his shoulder. Never a red, never a pen for that matter.

JUst catching up on the Glasgow game now. 2 minutes in and already im raging at the ref. Ospreay player knocks on then falls on the ball. There is no tackle or ruck, so Harley is entitled to go for the ball as no offside line, yet the ref pings him for side entry. Not a good start for my blood pressure!! Raging as its lead to a try. Edit to add - To go from bad to worse, thats never a try as its clear even if the player takes the ball he's being tackled. May as well just stop now as the ref is desperate for them to win - i thought it was a marginal call on deliberate, the fullback has his hands up as he is coming in to tackle, and the Ospreays winger throws the ball at him from about a metre away. Edit to add number 2, just realised its Grove Wright the scottish ref!! If this was an Irish or Welsh ref they would be making sure the home team wins, Scottish refs go the other way!

Murdoch and Chalmers are just not a good partnership. I dont think Murdoch has come back from his injury as good a player, but its not surprise he has looked much better with Muirhead beside him

Im assuming Hogg is the option to cover 10. You would assume Lang is a better option to cover 10/12/13 - although as he has dropped out completely assume he must be injured, and Skinner gives more options than Gilchrist - including being much better at 2nd row, other than Kebble not sure what else you would change though

Its nearly 29 years and 2 months since Ric Flair won the Royal Rumble

If anyone was waiting with baited breath on the Scotland line up for this weekend, Dobie and MacLean have been released to play for Glasgow, while Johnson and Jones who played last week have been retained by Scotland

Hopkin is a bit meh. He ticks all the boxes of experienced (didn't want a first time manager), managed at this level and above (so know the teams and players round about us), and won promotion to the top league. I think I would have preferred Petrie or S McCall, but will be behind Hopkin and will give him a chance.

I'll wait and see what CVC's plans are before making a judgement. IF all they are going to do is whore the 6 Nations for as big a TV deal as they can get i'll not be impressed. However if they are going to look to make some headway in the big european markets (ie Spain & Germany) then i'll be on board. The problem the 6N's have with sponsors is that its a very limited market. I think merging the 6N's with Rugby Europe under one umbrella would be the way forward, and opens up the rest of Europe to advertisers / sponsors as the 6N's is no longer a closed shop. Hopefully this is used to grow the game everywhere, not just add to the gulf between T1's and T2's

Im really hoping its someone that no one has mentioned yet, just for the WTF moment, like a Gary Teale & Stevo double act (with his gran on scouting duties) or Andy Walker deciding to give being a manager is better gig than being a pundit. Seriously though, im still wondering on the comment from Smith, and hoping its someone above the level of McIntyre or Hopkin

Hearing the lastest form the MLR we are going to be struggling to sign players soon. As an example LA have just signed Matt Giteua, to add to Adam Ashley Cooper, along with Billy Meakes and Angus Cottrell are all players you would take, mixed with the ex Glasgow contingent in DTH, Adam Ashe and Glen Bryce

If we keep the discpline we have a chance of winning as Ireland just rely on winning penalties and kicking. The problem we have is we dont ever seem to back up a good result. Back in AUtumn, we had a good win away at Wales, then limped home against Italy, a narrow loss to France, then capitulation against Ireland. We started the 6 nations with excellent result against England, then lost our discipline against Wales to lose the match. If we dont give away stupid penalties the game is there for the taking as Ireland are no great shakes at the moment.

Dont think it could have got much worse

Skinner and Haining called up to the 6 Nations squad as Grey Sr misses out due to injury

There under 20's have been really strong for a few seasons as well, a lot of them now bedding down in the senior squad

Not great, but BP win is as much as you can do

I thought we started brightly, but not taking the couple of opportunities, then letting Zebre take the lead seems to have knocked the stuffing out the team

Glasgow Warriors (v Zebre at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Saturday @ 1.30pm): O Smith; R McLean, H Jones, S Johnson, C Forbes; R Thompson, J Dobie; O Kebble, G Stewart, E Pieretto, R Harley, H Bain, G Brown, T Gordon, R Wilson (c). Substitutes: J Matthews, D Evans, D Rae, J Scott, L Nakarawa, S Kennedy, I Keatley, N Grigg.

I've thought Sinisalo has been one of our better players, Miller was signed as a bench filler / utility and has been decent at RB and CM so pass marks there. Reading started really well, but fell away after a couple of poor games. Walsh, Chalmers and Zanatta have been underwhelming at the least