honestly united

I think Toony is wanting to play a faster offloading game rather than the rumble it up the middle game, but not withstanding we are still missing some ball carriers. Fagerson jr is probably the best option coming through at the moment for the back row. On Kinghorn, im suprised he wasn't included in the squad, as I had assumed the only reason he didnt go in June was so he could play in the u20 WC. Cracking going forward, still a bit suspect in defence, but still a young lad. Also a bit worried about what sort of squad Rennie will be left with for the Leinster match, given Scotland will get preference I am assuming.

This had given me nightmares. Seriously though these were some of the better Scottish backs during that time, there was much worse

Had thought Fagerson and Gray might have been rested but otherwise strong team, but still resting plenty of players. Good to see the other Fagerson back in the team (I rate him higher than his brother and wont be long until he is in the Scotland squad) as well as Grant, hoping he can regain some sort of form

If he was fit then yes, my point being that we have so many first choice or fairly close call back ups either injured or not selected that you look at the 37 man squad Townsend has selected and instantly know the best 15 without to much pondering on options

Going back to the Scotland squad my biggest concern is how obvious the best 15 is, its like going back to the bad old days when you knew exactly who was going to play due to the lack of top quality players. Apart from who partners Grey in the 2nd row, any maybe hooker from the squad selected i dont think you can make any argument of the best 15 not being Nel, Ford, Fagerson, Grey, Swinson, Barclay, Watson, Wilson, Price, Russell, Jones, Dunbar, Jones, Seymour, Hogg Granted you could have a team of (with a couple out of position) Dell, Brown, Dickinson, Grey, Denton, Hardie, Ashe, Strauss, Laidlaw, Scott, Visser, Taylor, Bennett, Hughes, Maitland, with a bench of Reid, McArthur, Allan, Cowan, Horne, Weir, Tonks with the players missing, but would still have a squad where there are options in all positions that dont drop the quality of the team on the pitch

From the SRU, "Unavailable through injury: Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors), Mark Bennett (Edinburgh Rugby), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Allan Dell, Alasdair Dickinson (both Edinburgh Rugby), Richie Gray (Toulouse), Rory Hughes (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Clermont Auvergne), Sean Maitland (Saracens), Gordon Reid (London Irish), Matt Scott (Gloucester), Duncan Taylor (Saracens)." I get the impression that Townsend has had a falling out with Strauss, hence why he didn't get a new contract at Glasgow. I have seen Marfo play for Edinburgh, but had assumed he was some foreign import, no idea he was actually Scottish. McGuigan at 28 must have come on leaps and bounds at Sale as he was decidely uninspiring last time I saw him play. He is the leading try scorer in the Premiership though All the new caps are mid 20's, which goes to show the problem with just 2 pro teams, unless you are a standout, you dont get game time. Fagerson (21), Cummings (20) and Ritchie (21) are the only youngsters in the squad, and when you think Marfo, Bhatti, Hamilton, Fowles and Harris are all the same age as Russell, Hogg and Gray who are the established spine of the team and Burleigh is probably the oldest player in the team at 31. Given we are 3 centres down you can make a case for Harris being included, Cummings and Ritchie are solid picks and should go on to be good players. Hamilton has played pretty much every game the last 2 years for Leicester so should be solid.

Since the move to 5 pools, the lowest points as best 2nd place to go through was 16 (3 wins, 2 tries and 2 losing bp's), but average is closer to 18 or 19 points being required to get through to quarters.

4 wins could be enough to see us get through as best 2nd place. Hopefully if Montpellier have chucked it we can get 2 big wins to get us started

Only caught the 2nd half but the Munster game except that has been the exact same as every other Glasgow performance this season poor in the forwards and hoping the backs run in tries Gribbens must be wondering what he signed up for

I think we look ok at ruck and maul, its the scrum mainly we are struggling with

Although SA pick players from Europe it tends to be first choice home grown, then overseas to fill gaps

I think Scotland, Italy and Ireland are the only tier 1 countries that don't have some sort of requirements in players to play in their own league.

Ignore my link, doesn't seem to working - thought it would as I watched the other Russian match last week

Anyone interested in watching the Embra game seemingly like on youtube here

Another 2 names being banded about are vellacot from Gloucester and Steele from London Irish, both dual qualified with England I believe. Not sure if either have played any age grade rugby or interested in playing for us.

Didn't watch much of the Lions as it was a farce of a tour, just caught up as i heard someone from NZ mention it in terms of Laidlaw's injured / Scotland need a 9 / they will probably see who they can get from NZ.

hadnt realised we had a Scottish scrum half playing for the Chiefs in Super rugby https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlay_Christie

I agree with your thinking in terms of if we had a lead Laidlaw would be ideal to come on to control the game and look after it, however not so great if we are playing catch up. Agree not sure who is best option for the bench, I would guess pyrgos but he hasn't been great either, not sure about SHC either. If Horne jr had had a bit more game time I would have gone with him.

Dependant on where the SA teams finish a 5th place finish in your conference will see you entering the play off for the last Euro space, Embra should be aiming for that as a minimum. Gutted Barclay is out, (Laidlaw not so much), will be interesting to see what Townsends first squad looks like.

Only saw the extended highlights on BT Sport of the Glasgow game so maybe missed some important points, but in general, the plus points were the forwards, and specifically the scrum seemed to hold up quite well against Exeter. Having seen them destroy some of the packs of the top english teams I was expecting a hammering up front, but we coped well. The negatives were our game management, we kicked too much in the attacking half (granted our 2 tries came from kicks) and a lot of the kicks were poor, when we could have done with holding on to the ball for a but, but conversely we didn't kick enough when we were in our own 22, far too often trying to run it out. I know thats what to expect with a player like Russell but someone should be having a word with him during the game, as there is a time and a place for it.

Sat through an hour of the new Mummy, with Tom Cruise, utter drivel, with extra nonsense of Russell Crowe supposed to be Dr Jekyll. Didnt watch the end as it was that bad, when the effects are worse than the 1990's versions you know something is wrong

Either that or Allan has pissed him of big time

Fear the walking dead starts as the outbreak begins, and they are now maybe a few months after (6 months max, more likely 2 or 3 months), Walking Dead starts with Rick having been in a coma and walking up with the outbreak in full effect, so likely about a month in at most. Given Judith is now a toddler that makes it about 2 years post outbreak at least. My thinking would be that given the current location of around the US border in Tijuana and further east into the dessert for Fear the walking dead, its not that far to Texas and it might play into the start of Eugene's back story

Glad we got the extra day recovery, will be interesting to see the team for Exeter to see who gets rested.

For me the French travel well if they are still in with a chance of qualifying, so if they have picked up points first 2 games will be a threat, and given their front row I think will be the toughest challenge, but if they have lost the first 2 it will be pretty much there reserves. Agreed you need to win all 3 home games, and you probably need at least 1 win on the road, as well as a good amount of BP's to progress. Since the move to 5 pools, the lowest points as best 2nd place to go through was 16 (3 wins, 2 tries and 2 losing bp's), but average is closer to 18 or 19 points being required to get through to quarters. Just having looked at the current tables and based on form the group we would have wanted was Wasp, Racing and Ospreays with the hardest on current form being either Scarlets or Exeter from the first seeds, from the 2nd seeds Toloun or Saracens but not much difference with Leinster and La Rochelle, 3rd seeds of Ulster or Montpellier but again not much above Bath and Leicester so in reality only Wasps, Clermont, Racing and Ospreays having a losing record to date.