The Rugby Thread

[Buzzo]

One thing you mentioned at the start has ended up being fairly true.

The country which manages to avoid injury will have a a massive advantage. The Welsh have somehow come through almost unscathed. The continuity this provides in executing pre-planned moves has to be massive. And familiarity over a short tournament.

We have had a tournament to forget, and yet have had chances in all of the games we lost despite the injuries.

I'm worried we are gong to get absolutely put to the sword by the English though

Onwards to the rest of the domestic season and then to the World Cup.

[Irishnev]

Injuries play a massive part, it’s really only Eng and France who have real depth. Wales have had some injuries but in positions with depth.

The underdog tag will suit us and we might have Kearney, Berine and Leavy back which will help. They’ll be pumped, the crowd will be pumped and I’d love to spoil their party but it would most likely hand the championship to England.....

[Buzzo]

Injuries play a massive part, it’s really only Eng and France who have real depth. Wales have had some injuries but in positions with depth.

The underdog tag will suit us and we might have Kearney, Berine and Leavy back which will help. They’ll be pumped, the crowd will be pumped and I’d love to spoil their party but it would most likely hand the championship to England.....

Yeah, you need us to win at Twickenham don't you?

Not happened since I was 7.

They want us big time after last year also.

[Irishnev]

Yeah, you need us to win at Twickenham don't you?

Not happened since I was 7.

They want us big time after last year also.

A full strength Scotland would have a decent cut, you looked v disjointed vs Wales and had enough chances to win. Missing the cutting edge in your replacements.

[Buzzo]

Thats Kinghorn and Seymour now out for the weekend after the injuries v the Welsh, and Hogg confirmed as injured for this also.

**** knows who we play at 15? Hastings came on and played well tbf, but it was literally the first time he had ever played full back (obvs has a chance at having decent FB genetics). I think Maitland is injured also.

[Cormack74]

Injuries play a massive part, it’s really only Eng and France who have real depth. Wales have had some injuries but in positions with depth.

The underdog tag will suit us and we might have Kearney, Berine and Leavy back which will help. They’ll be pumped, the crowd will be pumped and I’d love to spoil their party but it would most likely hand the championship to England.....

And . . . ?

Did you hear me complaining when your boys won the GS last year or when Buzzo's mob beat us? (Actually I think I did whinge a bit about Care's try being disallowed, but that really was a terrible piece of refereeing by Nigel Owens).

Obviously I want England to win but I also think they've played the best rugby. If it weren't for the Grand Slam winning team getting 3 extra points it would be (theoretically) possible for England to go level on points with Wales with a BP win this w/e and win the title on most points or tries scored.

Now clearly that rule was brought in to prevent potential anomalies like this but whilst Wales would be worthy champions in terms of winning all their games, scoring the same number of tries as wooden spoon specialists Italy is hardly an advert for great northern hemisphere rugby

[Irishnev]

And . . . ?

Did you hear me complaining when your boys won the GS last year or when Buzzo's mob beat us? (Actually I think I did whinge a bit about Care's try being disallowed, but that really was a terrible piece of refereeing by Nigel Owens).

Obviously I want England to win but I also think they've played the best rugby. If it weren't for the Grand Slam winning team getting 3 extra points it would be (theoretically) possible for England to go level on points with Wales with a BP win this w/e and win the title on most points or tries scored.

Now clearly that rule was brought in to prevent potential anomalies like this but whilst Wales would be worthy champions in terms of winning all their games, scoring the same number of tries as wooden spoon specialists Italy is hardly an advert for great northern hemisphere rugby

- come on Cormac do I really need to answer that...., it’s a minority thing. We all like to see England lose, no offence

I have a feeling we might beat Wales this weekend

[Cormack74]

I'm really confident you will

And when you do, I just hope Buzzo's mob don't put in the performance of their lives and break the 35 year Twickenham hoodoo to spoil it for us

[Buzzo]

I think the Irish are going to beat Wales also.

Sadly no chance of us winning at Twickenham so we’ll all end up unhappy with England winning the championship.

It would be an almighty challenge with our strongest XV, but with third and 4th choice backs it’s not happening. The fundamentals of how we try is playing fast and loose but we require players that can spot breaks and scan defences like Hogg and Jones.

Hamish Watson was good when he cane on so at least our back row is getting shored up.

[Cormack74]

Fast and loose by Scotland is still the way IMO even without key personnel.

If I was GT I'd have had them playing touch all week to hone their offloading game.

It might all go tits up but equally that's got to be better than dying wondering. And TBH if Nev's boys do the right thing in their game then maybe England will be a bit nervous with the championship within their grasp.

So say Scotland had a dream first 10 minutes and went 14-0, who knows how that pressure might affect things?

[Buzzo]

Last time we went to Twickenham Fraser Brown got carded within 60 seconds, so I uses anything is an improvement.

I always sit down with hope. But it will be a tiny flickering candle on Saturday.

Thank **** it is a WC year and I don’t have to wait 12 months for meaningful internationals.

[Irishnev]

Looks like we have Leavy and Kearney inline to start vs Wales, big boost

[danperkins]

Wales are tough to beat at home, it's going to be a some battle but England have this wrapped up imo.

[Buzzo]

The 22 minutes of Hamish Watson How different our tournament might have been...

It was one of the highlights of the Scotland v Wales game, no matter what your nationality.

The sight of Scottish replacement Hamish Watson tearing up the Murrayfield turf within seconds of coming on in the 65th minute was genuinely something to behold.

It was a 15 minute tour de force that almost saw Wales legend Martyn Williams give him the official man-of-the-match award and left the pundits asking what on earth he'd had for breakfast.

He had briefly appeared earlier for seven minutes during the first-half as a blood replacement and, combined with his later brief cameo, he astonishingly managed to beat 10 defenders - the most ever by a Scotland player in a Six Nations match. It was twice as many as any other player on the pitch managed in the entire 80 minutes.

It also places him sixth in the leaderboard for defenders beaten in the entire 2019 Six Nations Championship, despite the fact those 22 minutes are the only ones he's played after recovering from a broken hand.

He's just two behind Keith Earls and Wales' Liam Williams, who are both on 12.

Watson carried the ball five times after coming on, leaving two defenders lying in his wake on average each time. He made a total of 35 metres in all.

Even the likes of Alun Wyn Jones and Hadleigh Parkes were seen bouncing off him in the final quarter.

The mulleted back rower is a huge favourite among Scotland fans, with his low body position and powerful hand-offs making him rather difficult to stop.

[Red_Polo]

He was absolutely phenomenal and really threw us on the back foot.