honestly united

Only for actual signings / transfers from other clubs - if a player is freed by their club before the window closes we can sign them at any point. I think we can also sign players on "emergency" loan at any point

Ritchie is far too inconsistent. Depending on Injuries I think it will be Watson, Thompson, Barclay, Wilson and Fagerson or Bradbury with Skinner being able to cover 6 as well. Richie Grey played 62 minutes for Tolouse yesterday in their 1st league game - I wonder if he actually said if he wasn't gauranteed a place in the squad he didn't want to miss pre-season and first few games of the season with his club. He would be right down the pecking order at his club if he missed pre-season and the first few games then not to get picked in the Scotland squad would be big blow.

Over the last 2 games the majority of turn overs have come from Barclay, and him at Watson at flanker give a good balance. Given the game we are trying to at is a good option

Needs a play off between north juniors a new Tayside league if it ever happens and NCL as feeders to hfl. A few years and it will be heavily Aberdeen / Dundee bias in hfl

England up to 50 against Ireland

will take a win, and an improved performance, but still short of were we need to be.

Kinghorn has been ok on the wing, if weve lost skinner that will be a blow. A bit of a more controlled performance in the 2nd half

Not disputing this, but despite hype over last couple of years I still feel we are a bang average side. Yes, on our day we can beat anyone especially at home..but on a consistent basis we are bang average Agreed, when everythings firing we can beat anyone, when were not we can lose to anyone. THe issue is our game plan doesn't lend itself to consistent performances, and some of our players are prone to blowing hot and cold as well

So far defence is much better, and the odd stupid mistake aside the attack looks mich better Gordy Reid having a good showing so far, but Finn not having the best of games so far

Normally, although it might have been agreed before hand between the 2 countries.

FFS, 2 minutes

3 episodes in and fair enjoying it so far. I had expected it to have more Bruce Waynes dad and them becoming friends but the shift to be more Alfred and his mates is a good shift. I am waiting for the "my names Alfred Pennyworth" and a "your only supposed to blow the bloddy doors off" given the MIchael Caine accent, and quite suprised at how good Paloma Faith has been as the pyscho woman gangster. Agreed as a stand alone show without the batman connection it would still work, there is still a kind of comic book feel to it with some of the alternative history and secret societies etc but you dont have anyone with superpowers etc to make it too unbelievable

Its a pity we didn't have the fixtures the other way round, Georgia first then France as we could have played the fringe players first against Georgia without taking a hammering, then we would be playing France with just the 31 WC squad to pick from. Saying that I know Georgia are targetting the home game and will be at full strength for that, its there first ever home game vs a Tier 1 nation and are ear marking it as a chance to get their first win vs a Tier 1 nation as they are desperate to make a point that they should be included in the 6 Nations and given our away form we might just give them it

Scotland team announced for the return game vs France - still an experimental look to it, but much stronger than last weeks, Bradbury, Johnson and Brown missing through injury. Probably still only 50% first choice, Harris & Horne at centre giving me the fear already Scotland: Hogg, Seymour, Harris, P Horne, Maitland, Russell, Laidlaw (capt); Reid, Turner, Nel, Cummings, Skinner, Wilson, Watson, Thomson. Replacements: Stewart, Dell, Berghan, Gilchrist, Barclay, G Horne, Hutchinson, Kinghorn.

On Ecrepont last year he was in the Scotland U17's (i think or maybe U18's) not sure if they have any fixtures (or if there is an age group team at his age now) at the same time but he maybe missing as well

It may be GT is looking to take only 5 props, 2 loose / tight and someone that can play both in an emergency which may be Bergham if he played both for a bit yesterday. Apologies I just had Nel down first as we need him to anchor the scrum!!

On the front row, I wasn't paying enough attention, did Fagerson come on and play Loosehead (he's normally a tighthead)? and when Gordy Reid came on did they swap over? If we didn't have Hogg I would be starting Hasting at full back. I think he is a really talented player, i really rate him i just dont think he is an international class 10. He has a strong tackle for his size, good under the high ball, has an eye for gap and is a good runner with ball in hand. I just always get the feeling he is always looking at what he can do when on the ball, rather than trying to put others into space. Maybe that will come with more game time and experience. I can get that he probably doesn't want to be compared with his old man, but I think someone should sit him down and tell him to focus on being a full back. I think Jones just needs a good rest and a break as the spark to his game seems to have gone. Taylor gets talked up loads in the media, but I dont think I've seen him do much in a Scotland shirt, but thats probably mostly down to injuries. I haven't watched enough Sarries games with him playing to make a judgement on how he plays at club level, but most of the hype seems to be around he is first choice at Sarries and they could probably sign anyone to play if they wanted so must be good. On to next week and I would like to see the following team starting (if fit) - good enough to beat France and also gets Thompson capped, and gives game those that should be on the plane that haven't had it yet Nel Brown Dell Gray Skinner Bradbury Watson Thompson Laidlaw Russell Seymour Johnson Taylor Maitland Hogg Subs Fagerson, Reid, Turner, Cummings, Wilson, Horne, Horne, Graham Just having looked through the squad without Hardie & Graham we only have Watson as an out and out openside, Ritchie & Bardbury are both blind sides that can play openside if necessary - we need more pace in the back row for the style we want to play which may mean we have to sacrifice Strauss as the ball carrying 8 to play either Fagerson / Barclay / Wilson at 8 to give us more mobility

For me this was a classic friendly match, with France looking close to full strength, and Scotland giving game time to a couple of players coming back from injury and playing some fringe players to see what they can do. A few players may have cost themselves a seat on the plane with their performances. Bhatti looked off the pace and the scrum improved with Fagerson coming on, and his brother put in a shift when he came on. Both Gilchrist and Toolis didnt do enough to suggest they should be starting ahead of Grey. Both Barclay and Strauss were average performances but both can be so much better and I thought Ritchie was poor again - he seems to be better coming off the bench and their is definitely a player in their but too inconsistant for me. Price was ok, but Hastings is not an International standard 10 and we will struggle if anything happens to Russell. I still think he is a better 15 than he is 10 so would take him for the bench. Taylor and Jones I wasnt impressed with, but its Taylor's first game in a long time, and Jones just doesn't look the player he was when he first came on the scene a few years back. Hogg was probably Scotlands best player on the night, and the 2 wingers didn't really get a chance to shine, but defensively weren't great. Kinghorn though should not get anywhere near getting on the plane to Japan as again he was woeful when he came on. He's great with ball in hand and in space, but cant tackle, shies away and looks like he actively shies away from his defensive duties. Major worries over the set piece and defense, if you dont get these right it doesn't matter what your attack can do as you wont have the ball to unleash it. However hopefully we are closer to a 1st choice team next week to show what sort of performace we are capable of.

I would rather have Owens than anyone else, still probably the best and fairest refs around, even if we were playing Wales I'd probably still take him over most other refs. Although this probably has more to do with my dislike for most of the current refs

I wonder if it was added so we didn't ask for a training fee?

Ooft, just heard we now have Ayrshire bulls and boroughmuir bears in the super six along with the Southern Knights, disappointed by that

I thought Steyn had an outside chance as he can play wing and centre and had a strong finish to the season, so would have been a good option to have on the bench, but I would think Taylor takes that spot now, if he isn't starting

Grigg, Steyn, Pyrgos and Graham cut from WC squad. From that I assume Taylor is fit and raring to go, Pyrgos and Graham no real suprise

Melrose to change their name to the Southern Knights for the Super Sixes [emoji849]

The only real wide player we have is Ross, with Forrest, McCowan and McGuffie who IMO more attacking centre mid type players who can play out wide and Geggan who is defensive wide mid, yet we are seeing Murdoch, Kelly and Docherty shunted out there already rather than playing people in there proper positions