Rugby Union

[Detournement]

POM doing his trademark move.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

Just now, Mark Connolly said:

Yes, those things are exactly the same. Well done.

The 50:22 rule is making a large assumption that a team in its own half would not see defending a line out in the opposing 22 as a positive. And that defending teams were not covering the kicks to the sideline.

 

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

As flat as the passes for the first 2 SA tries...

I guess they are ignoring the body angle and that the NZ passer was facing slightly backwards.

[Stirlingblue]

How is that not a yellow at the try line. Cynical in the extreme from the Irish.

[GAD]

New Zealand have been very poor here.

[Detournement]

Hit in the air no pen. 

Make up call at the lineout.

[GAD]

I mean, what the f**k was that kick?

[Detournement]

Ireland deserve that (with the obvious exception of POM). 

The All Black performance has me feeling better about Scotland. 

[Honest_Man#1]

That interview with Lowe was absolutely bizarre. Outright saying his dream was to play for NZ but wasn’t quite good enough, then goes on a lengthy spiel about how great it was listening to the NZ anthem and watching the haka. Doesn’t mention Ireland once.

[GAD]

54 minutes ago, Detournement said:

Unbelievably Ireland have been far more legal at the breakdown than our opponents. 

Still stewing on the game how much better are our chances today with Maitland for McLean and Cherry for Ashman? South Africa are rolling out Kriel, Koch, Frans Steyn ahead of younger prospects because they know how to win. We are in constant flux. 

Hutchinson for Scott is the other option but not on the same level. 

Yeah, just been stewing on it a bit myself. Maitland is an obvious one that should have been playing. I sometimes wonder if Townsend has a problem with him, or if it's all to do with age. We missed guys like Gray, Cummings and Sutherland as well. Last week had me thinking we had a bit more depth there now, but it was brutally exposed when SA brought the subs on today. We've just not got that.

[Detournement]

39 minutes ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

That interview with Lowe was absolutely bizarre. Outright saying his dream was to play for NZ but wasn’t quite good enough, then goes on a lengthy spiel about how great it was listening to the NZ anthem and watching the haka. Doesn’t mention Ireland once.

Can you blame him?

 

[come on shire]

Scotland's scrum went to bits early doors. Then the ref just took a side. We had the heavier pack but the Boks just did their usual out muscling us. 

Watson should have been on from the start. Unless he's injured Kyle Steyn should've started. McLean could be a star but he's not experienced enough yet. 

The line out was shoddy too. Especially when we changed hooker. Finn's kicking was amateur hour. 

On the other hand we're progressing. We beat Australia then led today at HT. Rassie Erasmus had to change the front row at HT. We lost too many penalties in the 2nd half though.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

1 hour ago, come on shire said:

Scotland's scrum went to bits early doors. Then the ref just took a side. We had the heavier pack but the Boks just did their usual out muscling us. 

Watson should have been on from the start. Unless he's injured Kyle Steyn should've started. McLean could be a star but he's not experienced enough yet. 

The line out was shoddy too. Especially when we changed hooker. Finn's kicking was amateur hour. 

On the other hand we're progressing. We beat Australia then led today at HT. Rassie Erasmus had to change the front row at HT. We lost too many penalties in the 2nd half though.

I always think the Boks are being severely underrated when people talk about them only being a team based on strength. 

Watch them today. Their technique in the set piece is second to none. They win scrum after scrum not because they out-muscle opponents, but because they outplay them. 

Not only that, they have razor sharp backs who can turn a game in a second, and their precision in pretty much everything they do is the best in the world along with the AB's. 

Scotland....a team aspiring to win 6 Nations, compete in the world cup, and break into the world top 5....were schooled in almost every aspect of the game. 

We have a talented team on an upward curve, but we need far, far better mental and physical precision and much better game management. Conceding 16 penalties is rugby suicide, and so it proved. 

We have a lot to look forward to come February, but we need to take this onboard as a learning experience and use it to improve ourselves.

 

[John Lambies Doos]

I'm fearing our visit to the aviva in 6N. Just can't see us winning there

[GAD]

I keep thinking about that game and how much Toony fucked it now. It's not just Maitland and Cherry, but imagine how much better it would have felt to have Wilson and Ritchie Gray starting, or coming off the bench? 

I know we have to build "depth" but you do that against Tonga, Japan and even Oz. World champions at home in a game you realistically can win? Play your best fucking team, like Ireland did.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

2 hours ago, GAD said:

I keep thinking about that game and how much Toony fucked it now. It's not just Maitland and Cherry, but imagine how much better it would have felt to have Wilson and Ritchie Gray starting, or coming off the bench? 

I know we have to build "depth" but you do that against Tonga, Japan and even Oz. World champions at home in a game you realistically can win? Play your best fucking team, like Ireland did.

If there's one thing Toony loves it's a bit of left field thinking, and I've no doubt that in his mind he saw replacing Sam Johnson with Matt Scott as some kind of master stroke. 

Didn't work out that way. Scott remains a defensive liability, offered little going forward, and in retrospect it was nuts to drop a very consistent Johnson from the squad completely. McLean's inclusion was a bit more justifiable, given that Darcy would be targetted with high balls, but while he's a talented player with ball in hand he's also still learning the defensive side of the game, and he was done like a kipper twice yesterday. 

Likewise, Haining for Watson in a desperate (and futile) attempt to compete with SA by adding weight to the scrum. Given that the scrum got annihilated and we were pummelled in the breakdown, I would hope that Townsend may be thinking that it would have been better to play our best players from the start. 

Everyone acknowledges that this is a talented Scotland side, probably the best we've had in 20 years, but there were worrying signs yesterday that if you scratch the surface there remain some elements of the mentally and technically weak sides that we've had to suffer for a while now. 

 

[Mark Connolly]

Utterly fucking stupid from Eroni Sau

[GAD]

Oh Fiji, please please do this.

[S7C]

Is there a country in rugby as consistently lucky as Wales?

[git-intae-thum]

 

We could have won. We definitely have the game to beat South Africa. However it will require a far better team performance than what we saw yesterday.

South Africa won by doing the basics well and ensuring the game was played to their strengths. They dominate the set piece, have a fast aggressive defence and a brilliant kick and chase game to pound the opposition back three and force knock-ons or turnovers.

To beat South Africa requires possession. Too many of our players were off the pace. We were always on a hiding in the scrum, but a disorganised lineout, too many handling errors and penalties cost us. Cost us possession.

Even though we had a lead at half time, it was very much against the run and we honestly never really had a spell in the game when we were dominant. This ruined any kind of platform to play our own fast expansive game.

The only positive is that it shows the levels of consistent accuracy and discipline that will be required if we are to challenge the best. A valuable lesson for our very talented squad.