Rugby Union

[Mark Connolly]

2 hours ago, honestly united said:

I get that end of season could be an issue, but surely people are aware of what games are on when ie if its the end of the season, it runs however many weeks are left in the season, then picks up again at the start of the next?

While I agree in principle, there are issues with that as well. Summer tours would be the obvious one - you could have several players all facing bans in the same period, but actually serving them at different times depending on selection, international retirement, number of games their country has in that window etc.

The whole thing is a ballache regardless of how it's managed. I actually prefer the blanket "banned from playing" to football's "banned in that competition unless it was a certain type of red card" approach, but it's definitely trickier to work it.

[GAD]

7 hours ago, Mark Connolly said:

They did it in weeks in the past, but had a similar issue where guys were banned for 12 weeks, but only missed one game after being sent off in the last game of the season.

Did Joe Marler not end up missing zero games during his "ban" for feeling up AWJ because it was administered just as the Covid lockdown came into place?

I think I actually prefer the football system where it's games you are banned for, and in the competition you commited the offence, unless it's violent conduct (which I guess it pretty much always is in rugby). Regardless, the ban POM got is a joke. It's another example of the main deciding factor being who you are and who you play for, rather than what you actually did.

[ajwffc]

1 hour ago, GAD said:

Did Joe Marler not end up missing zero games during his "ban" for feeling up AWJ because it was administered just as the Covid lockdown came into place?

I think I actually prefer the football system where it's games you are banned for, and in the competition you commited the offence, unless it's violent conduct (which I guess it pretty much always is in rugby). Regardless, the ban POM got is a joke. It's another example of the main deciding factor being who you are and who you play for, rather than what you actually did.

he did miss no games in the end as they fucked up and did not use the rule that would let the ban only count when game are on that they use for end of season  bans 

[AngusTheBull]

Squad announced midday today I believe. Plenty of rumours Ritchie is struggling to make it and will be replaced by Graham in the back row - if this is the case I'd be tempted to go with Thompson to put more pressure on a struggling Welsh lineout.

 

George North has been ruled out for Wales, so Wales are looking pretty bare at centre also missing Johnny Williams and Jonathan Davies. Liam Williams is back for them, up there with the biggest c***s in international rugby alongside Biggar, Farrell and Sexton. 

[ajwffc]

Squad announced midday today I believe. Plenty of rumours Ritchie is struggling to make it and will be replaced by Graham in the back row - if this is the case I'd be tempted to go with Thompson to put more pressure on a struggling Welsh lineout.
 
George North has been ruled out for Wales, so Wales are looking pretty bare at centre also missing Johnny Williams and Jonathan Davies. Liam Williams is back for them, up there with the biggest c***s in international rugby alongside Biggar, Farrell and Sexton. 

Mid day 2 days before the match is the normal squad naming time for the NT, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

Buying fully into the hype train I was having some fun earlier and thinking about players from the shite and "nearly" teams over the last 15 years or so I've been watching Scotland who would add something to this team which looks the best all round in that period. Presuming fitness and top form obviously came up with:

• Peak Barclay/Brown at 6 over Ritchie maybe? Probs not
• Simon Taylor/Johnny Beattie at 8?
• Cusiter or Blair would be terrific with this pack in front of them and backline outside them.
• Alex Dunbar at his best would be pretty perfect for what we're looking for from a 13 at the moment, but Mark Bennett is one who if it hadn't been for injury could have been a Jonathan Davies level all round 13.
• Chris Paterson, to do the Maitland job and kick lots of lovely goals

Bit daft but I do enjoy these sort of what-ifs

Edited February 11, 2021 by Genuine Hibs Fan

[Snobot]

Redpath, Maitland and Ritchie injured. Lang, Graham and Thomson come in. 
 

Definitely losing something from the team with those injuries.

[Mark Connolly]

2 hours ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

Buying fully into the hype train I was having some fun earlier and thinking about players from the shite and "nearly" teams over the last 15 years or so I've been watching Scotland who would add something to this team which looks the best all round in that period. Presuming fitness and top form obviously came up with:

• Peak Barclay/Brown at 6 over Ritchie maybe? Probs not
• Simon Taylor/Johnny Beattie at 8?
• Cusiter or Blair would be terrific with this pack in front of them and backline outside them.
• Alex Dunbar at his best would be pretty perfect for what we're looking for from a 13 at the moment, but Mark Bennett is one who if it hadn't been for injury could have been a Jonathan Davies level all round 13.
• Chris Paterson, to do the Maitland job and kick lots of lovely goals

Bit daft but I do enjoy these sort of what-ifs

Cusiter, Blair and Lawson were all really unlucky to be around at the same time as each other, although you could also argue they pushed each other to those levels. Still think Cusiter was the best if the 3, and we could have saved a lot of hassle if they had got Lawson playing 10, which he did a fair bit at school.

Controversial, but Paterson couldn't "do the Maitland job" - he wasn't as good defensively or under the high ball, although he was a superb broken field runner, and obviously the goal kicking was nae bad.

Bennett could have been a superstar, such a shame that he kept getting injured.

Here's a challenge - pick your best XV since 2000, with a worst XV to face it. Guarantee you'll forget some prime contenders for both!

[honestly united]

2 hours ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

Buying fully into the hype train I was having some fun earlier and thinking about players from the shite and "nearly" teams over the last 15 years or so I've been watching Scotland who would add something to this team which looks the best all round in that period. Presuming fitness and top form obviously came up with:

• Peak Barclay/Brown at 6 over Ritchie maybe? Probs not
• Simon Taylor/Johnny Beattie at 8?
• Cusiter or Blair would be terrific with this pack in front of them and backline outside them.
• Alex Dunbar at his best would be pretty perfect for what we're looking for from a 13 at the moment, but Mark Bennett is one who if it hadn't been for injury could have been a Jonathan Davies level all round 13.
• Chris Paterson, to do the Maitland job and kick lots of lovely goals

Bit daft but I do enjoy these sort of what-ifs

Its a difficult one as different players offer different things and wouldn't necessary fit how we want to play now.

Front row, you need to go back to Tom Smith, then David Sole era to find anyone better

Second row, again back to Doddie Weir and that era to get anyone better

At 6 I agree on Barclay and Brown, but would add White into the mix

Agree Cusiter and Blair were ahead of what we have now

For me Dunbar is more of an inside centre and had a great partnership with Bennett at the time it was the best centre partnersip in years, but would have Johnson / Jones from 2 years ago ahead of them

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

4 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

Cusiter, Blair and Lawson were all really unlucky to be around at the same time as each other, although you could also argue they pushed each other to those levels. Still think Cusiter was the best if the 3, and we could have saved a lot of hassle if they had got Lawson playing 10, which he did a fair bit at school.

Controversial, but Paterson couldn't "do the Maitland job" - he wasn't as good defensively or under the high ball, although he was a superb broken field runner, and obviously the goal kicking was nae bad.

Bennett could have been a superstar, such a shame that he kept getting injured.

Here's a challenge - pick your best XV since 2000, with a worst XV to face it. Guarantee you'll forget some prime contenders for both!

Agreed on Paterson tbh, was just trying to include him as goal kicking is one of our "problems" (not really, Finn's capable of better kicking than he showed at the weekend) at the moment.

I'll take you up on that challenge when I have the time to look through them all. 

Just now, honestly united said:

Its a difficult one as different players offer different things and wouldn't necessary fit how we want to play now.

Front row, you need to go back to Tom Smith, then David Sole era to find anyone better

Second row, again back to Doddie Weir and that era to get anyone better

At 6 I agree on Barclay and Brown, but would add White into the mix

Agree Cusiter and Blair were ahead of what we have now

For me Dunbar is more of an inside centre and had a great partnership with Bennett at the time it was the best centre partnersip in years, but would have Johnson / Jones from 2 years ago ahead of them

Aye White was one I realised I'd forgotten straight away. And agreed on Dunbar but he usually looked pretty comfortable at 13. I was more thinking of the way we play right now where the 13 is the defensive lynchpin/hard yards maker in midfield, which I think is where he always excelled. I never particularly liked Johnson/Jones as a partnership tbh.

 

[honestly united]

Scotland: Stuart Higg; Darcy Graham, Chris Harris, James Lang, Duhan Van der Merwe; Finn Russell, Ali Price; Rory Sutherland, George Turner, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Johnny Gray, Blade Thomson, Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson.

Replacements: Dave Cherry, Oli Kebble, WP Nel, Richie Gray, Gary Graham, Scott Steele, Jaco Van der Walt, Hugh Jones.

 

Wales: Leigh Halfpenny; Louis Rees-Zammit, Nick Tompkins, Owen Watkin, Liam Williams; Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies, Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Aaron Wainwright, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Rhodri Jones, Leon Brown, Will Rowlands, James Botham, Kieran Hardy, Callum Sheedy, Willis Halaholo.

[Detournement]

Thomson and Lang.

Two guys who have shown next to nothing in a Scotland shirt, time to step up. The Wales midfield looks weak so it's gutting that Redpath isn't playing.

[GAD]

9 minutes ago, Detournement said:

Thomson and Lang.

Two guys who have shown next to nothing in a Scotland shirt, time to step up. The Wales midfield looks weak so it's gutting that Redpath isn't playing.

Yeah, it shows the problem we have with squad depth in that we've lost one forward, a centre, who only played his first game last week, and a winger and immediately look a fair bit weaker.

[parsgooner]

4 minutes ago, GAD said:

Yeah, it shows the problem we have with squad depth in that we've lost one forward, a centre, who only played his first game last week, and a winger and immediately look a fair bit weaker.

Our best 15 is a match for anyone but yes a few injuries and we look substantially weaker. Graham will likely be targeted under the high ball and Lang and Thomson have yet to show that they are international level.

Before I was confident of a win but now I'm more 50/50.

[GAD]

1 minute ago, parsgooner said:

Our best 15 is a match for anyone but yes a few injuries and we look substantially weaker. Graham will likely be targeted under the high ball and Lang and Thomson have yet to show that they are international level.

Before I was confident of a win but now I'm more 50/50.

Yeah, I think we are just so much stronger with Maitland, especially considering Williams is back for them. Can imagine they'll be dropping box kicks on top of Graham and Duhan all afternoon.

[John Lambies Doos]

Buying fully into the hype train I was having some fun earlier and thinking about players from the shite and "nearly" teams over the last 15 years or so I've been watching Scotland who would add something to this team which looks the best all round in that period. Presuming fitness and top form obviously came up with:

• Peak Barclay/Brown at 6 over Ritchie maybe? Probs not
• Simon Taylor/Johnny Beattie at 8?
• Cusiter or Blair would be terrific with this pack in front of them and backline outside them.
• Alex Dunbar at his best would be pretty perfect for what we're looking for from a 13 at the moment, but Mark Bennett is one who if it hadn't been for injury could have been a Jonathan Davies level all round 13.
• Chris Paterson, to do the Maitland job and kick lots of lovely goals

Bit daft but I do enjoy these sort of what-ifs

Patterson, are you having a laugh. He's get absolutely nowhere near this current team

[Mark Connolly]

34 minutes ago, Detournement said:

Thomson and Lang.

Two guys who have shown next to nothing in a Scotland shirt, time to step up. The Wales midfield looks weak so it's gutting that Redpath isn't playing.

Bit harsh on Lang. he was pretty good in the game against them at LLanelli, and has very similar qualities to Redpath.

Agree on Thomson though, I'm not sure what he brings

[GAD]

Just now, Mark Connolly said:

Bit harsh on Lang. he was pretty good in the game against them at LLanelli, and has very similar qualities to Redpath.

Agree on Thomson though, I'm not sure what he brings

I expect he's in because he plays with Owens at Scarlet's and we think he might be able to get in and about their lineout a wee bit.

[Mark Connolly]

Just now, GAD said:

I expect he's in because he plays with Owens at Scarlet's and we think he might be able to get in and about their lineout a wee bit.

Are you suggesting Owens won't know what way to sidestep when he sees teammates on both sides of the gap?

[honestly united]

12 minutes ago, GAD said:

Yeah, it shows the problem we have with squad depth in that we've lost one forward, a centre, who only played his first game last week, and a winger and immediately look a fair bit weaker.

 

5 minutes ago, parsgooner said:

Our best 15 is a match for anyone but yes a few injuries and we look substantially weaker. Graham will likely be targeted under the high ball and Lang and Thomson have yet to show that they are international level.

Before I was confident of a win but now I'm more 50/50.

Its not lack of depth, its lack of depth in the "bubble" as we are only choosing from the 35 man training squad. There was only 5 backrow players so it was a choice between Thompson and Graham one starting one on the bench. Same at centre the choice was between Taylor, Jones and Lang.

I think the strength in depth is ok, as we have the likes of Bradbury, Haining, Du Preez and Skinner at back row (and Cowan who played in the AI's), and you could add in the youngsters like Crosbie etc and its plenty.

Centre we have even more that aren't in the squad, on the 3 above you can add in Johnson and Hutchinson who you can make a case for starting, never mind just being in the squad, then there are fringe players like Bennett, Grigg, McDowall, etc