Scotland ring the changes to Face Ireland

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Scotsman Article

So from the above article it seems Robinson is resting Kelly Brown, Mike Blair, Chris Cusiter, Euan Murray and Nathan Hines for this weekend's clash with Ireland.

Under those circumstances what do we think the XXII will look like for Ireland and what tactics could be employed to beat them.

As noted in the article the backrow is the area that is giving Robinson a headache but he has also eluded to NDL and Morrison training well for the centre berth.

I think this weekend will see a XXII something like this.

1. Jacobsen
2. Ford
3. Cross
4. Gray
5. Kellock (C)
6. Harley
7. Barclay
8. Denton

9. Laidlaw
10. Jackson
11. Danielli
12. S. Lamont
13. Ansbro
14. R. Lamont
15. Mossy

Dickinson, S Lawson, Hamilton, Beattie, R Lawson, Morrison, Cuthbert

I think this gives us a good mix of some of our newer players and some of the more experienced guys. it will also give AR a chance to check if Beattie is fit enough to be back in the 1st XV without the pressure of a Starting position.

It will also give Denton and Harley a chance to test themselves against Irelands Wrecking ball backrow combo of Ferris and SOB if Kidney decides to play them. What you guys think?

Edit, KRD - just combining some of the Scotland vs Ireland threads.
Actual team as named:

15 Chris Paterson (Edinburgh)
14 Nikki Walker (Ospreys)
13 Joe Ansbro (London Irish)
12 Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors)
11 Sean Lamont (Scarlets)
10 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors)
9 Rory Lawson (Gloucester) (C)

1 Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh)
2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh)
3 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh)
4 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester)
5 Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors)
6 Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester)
8 Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors)
7 Ross Rennie (Edinburgh)

Substitutes

16 Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors)
17 Alasdair Dickinson (Sale Sharks)
18 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors)
19 David Denton (Edinburgh)
20 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh)
21 Nick De Luca (Edinburgh)
22 Jack Cuthbert (Bath)

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:I'm hoping that R Lamont is already nailed on, so that might be one from Cuthbert, Danielli & Walker?

If you're right I wouldn't be too surprised if both Parks and R Lamont started the Italy game. Personally I wouldn't do that, I'd far rather the 1st XV had a proper run out with reserves getting time from the bench, and that means Jackson getting both games. It'll be interesting to see what Robinson does for the Italy game given this selection.

Good to see that Ireland are planning to use a replica of the England shirt for their matches.

Or is that meant to be all-black but got mixed in the wash?

Pot Hale- I don't get it...

It seems the Scotland side is a lot closer to full strength than ours. I sense an upset if reports over the composition of our pack are accurate.

Not sure what "an upset" means, but if Ireland go for a second string pack, it would be an "upset" if Ireland won in my opinion.

The Ireland 1st XV is a strong side, but there's little depth in the front five. Whoever plays in the Ireland backs will have a creative edge on us, but there are some big strong running backs in that Scotland team, and first up tackles from Ireland will need to be very good to halt momentum.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Not sure what "an upset" means, but if Ireland go for a second string pack, it would be an "upset" if Ireland won in my opinion.

I agree, if Ireland turn up with a shell or a skelleton of a team I think it will be a very long afternoon for them. I have heard some experimental centre combinations being mentioned on the Ireland team speculation thread, none of which are overly renowned for their defensive prowess.

With Beattie, Strokosch, Lamont, Morrison and Walker battering up the 10-12 channel all day I think it will only be a matter of time before the defense breaks. If rumours and hear-say are to be trusted, BOD will play no part in the game against Scotland and under those circumstances I think the Irish backline despite being dangerous going forward will be under immesne pressure defensively.

I too am really looking forward to seeing what Cuthbert and Denton can do. Dents is a big powerful ball carrier and so is Cuthbert. I would like to see Jackson creating some half gaps for these guys to run at. If we can create those sorts of chances the tries will come.

Maybe I'm reading behind the lines of the Scotsman pieces from yesterday and today; but I think we'll see a completely different team next weekend.

Like some of the above posts I think it might be a mistake. But clearly Robbo is looking at these games as critical trials and a chance to try combinations and not a chance for the 1st team to gel.

Low, Kellock, the Killer B's (as a group), Shugs at 12, Max (now his trial has been postponed til post RWC), Parks and Danielli will all play a part in the Italian game.

Alongside the following if they are fit - Murray, Hines and Cus / Blair, R Lamont.

As it stands I think the following look like they'll miss the cut.

Hopefully the 3 question marks will be sorted by the end of the Italian game - injuries and fitness permitting.

R Grant
Murray / or an extra back?
A Kelly
Vernon
Harley
M Blair
Cairns
Southwell
Cuthbert / R Lamont
Walker / Danielli

nick, Shugs is out of the squad thru injury and Andy Kelly sadly never made it

Unless Blair comes out and plays like he did in 2008 I would be pretty hard pressed to see why he deserves to go over Lawson, Laidlaw (who finished very strongly for Edinburgh) or Cusiter if he is fit enough.

He has been a disapointment for the last 2 seasons.

Yikes, did I say Shugs. I meant Sean Lamont.

Did Kelly not come into the squad to cover Ferg?

Whatever the answer he isnt going to make the plane in my opinion.

To be clear, the list at the end of my post are the boys who won't make the plane.

No, Robinson decided that Kelly was too good for Scotland, and went with Dougie Hall instead.

My own view on that decision is that it's really windy in New Zealand, and Robinson needed a hooker in the squad that can't throw, in order to simulate what it'll be like for Kellock, Gray et al in New Zealand receiving line out ball in a blowing wind. What better hooker for the job than Dougie "are my line out jumpers wearing blue?" Hall.

I have no Idea why Hall has even been considered. He was rubbish when he strated proffesional rugby and he is rubbish now.

Andy Kelly is a far better option.

Just as an aside, in this starting XV, 5 from Edin, 4 from Glas, & 6 Exiles (8,6 & 8 in the XXII respectively)

A good balance that in my view. Let's hope it doesn't shift one way or the other in the near future, or rather away from the domestic players.

Ireland Team for Saturday has been released :

15. Kearney
14 .Trimble
13. McFadden
12. Wallace
11. Fitzgerald
10. Sexton
9. O'Leary

1. Court
2. Cronin
3. Buckley
4. Ryan
5. Cullen
6. McCarthy
7. Ronan
8. Leamy

I reckon our backrow will be pretty effective against that line up. What does everyone else think Robbo's game plan will be up against that team?

I'd want to put pressure on O'Leary, test out an untried centre partnership, and see how affected Kearney is by lack of match fitness

Aye Plenty of high balls aimed at Kearny would be the way I would go. Get Beattie/Denton, Lamont, Morrison, Stroks et al crashing into the midfield all day too.

I reckon we will have that backrow's number at the breakdown too. I think it will be a tight game though.

We should aim for set piece dominance. Thats not their strongest scrummaging pack, and we know Gray can take on anyone in the lineout.

In open play, get Lamont coming in off his wing and hitting Wallace. Minimise the kicking game since Kearney's playing, have Rennie put Sexton under pressure all day long, and maybe target Fitzgerald aswell whos lacking in confidence atm i feel.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Aye Plenty of high balls aimed at Kearny would be the way I would go. Get Beattie/Denton, Lamont, Morrison, Stroks et al crashing into the midfield all day too.

I reckon we will have that backrow's number at the breakdown too. I think it will be a tight game though.

High balls are a Kearney strength given his GAA background, and I wouldn't want to be testing a strength and inviting him to counterattack

I mean more from the point he has not played for a while. Any full back coming back from such a long lay off will have to shake the cobwebs off.

Really hope you target Kearney with the high balls. Definitely prefer having possession to not having possession

Definitely keep the ball away from Kearney, rusty or not!

Hopefully with our backrow compared to the Irish we should have plenty possession and not have to kick it away.

I disagree on the kicking point Radge. Our scrum and lineout should be better, our back row should be stronger and with the size and power of our backs, we ought to be able to retain the ball fairly easily.

Kearney, Sexton and Wallace are all strong kickers, certainly better than Jackson (and Morrison).

Our key will be to dominate possession and look for the breaks and half breaks that ought to naturally come with the various size mismatches we have across the team. The scrum and line out should be solid sources of ball, and with Lamont and Walker on the wings, there should be scope to have them running hard onto soft shoulders.

We should beat that Ireland side with some to spare.

OK! OK! OK!

I get the point! Don't kick to Kearney! Jeezy Peeps! I was a hooker you know! I'm not really clued up on what goes on outside of the number 9!

A hooker!!!? Radge, get the blue jersey on right now - surely you'd still be better than Dougie Hall........

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:OK! OK! OK!

I get the point! Don't kick to Kearney! Jeezy Peeps! I was a hooker you know! I'm not really clued up on what goes on outside of the number 9!

Jeez, there's stuff goes on beyond 9?! Why did noobdy tell me?!

Radge - be honest, were you in the Deans or the Douglas Hall mould?

More importantly, why did no-one tell Frank Hadden!!?

funnyExiledScot wrote:A hooker!!!? Radge, get the blue jersey on right now - surely you'd still be better than Dougie Hall........

I'd have him in the line out thats for sure.

funnyExiledScot wrote:More importantly, why did no-one tell Frank Hadden!!?

Yeah if you kick to Kearney all day I think you will find that something of a tactic that fires straight back at you!!!

hold on to the ball, wear us down in the pack, kick for touch and not territory.

For us to beat you, we need to get the backs the ball as they are quicker and more creative than yours, no offense intended.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:Yeah if you kick to Kearney all day I think you will find that something of a tactic that fires straight back at you!!!

hold on to the ball, wear us down in the pack, kick for touch and not territory.

For us to beat you, we need to get the backs the ball as they are quicker and more creative than yours, no offense intended.

None Taken, can't argue with facts. However your backs may see very little of the ball in open play and even less quick ball. I reckon Ireland will really struggle at the breakdown.

No offense taken, you are quite right.

The key for Ireland will be to avoid an arm wrestle, get the likes of Buckley and Cronin carrying ball, and have Ronan and McCarthy follow the rucks all day long in order to keep things mobile. The moment it gets slow, put up a high ball and get Trimble chasing onto it. Keep the ball alive and look to counter and keep it moving. Sexton and Wallace are both strong playmakers, and will not work well with slow ball. Vary the play, lots of chips, grubbers and offloads. You won't crash through the likes of Morrison and Walker, but if the game is quick enough and you manage to turn them, then you'll have a good chance.

Lamont, Walker and Morrison are all painfully slow for the positions in which they play, with only CP and Ansbro offering gas. In contract Fitzgerald, Kearney, Trimble and McFadden are all fast, and Wallace and Sexton are both good steppers. Very contrasting backs line-ups.

Maybe a touch harsh on Lamont, he has the pace to play 12 or 13, but probably not the wing. I would cite his try saving tackle against Jamie Roberts against Wales in the 6N as an example he does have a wee bit pace.

Granted it was Scotland's only real highlight that entire game though. In all honesty though Scotland do not really have any proper Speed Machines in the backs. Ansbro, Mossy, Cuthbert, Evans and Jackson being the only ones I can think of.

Poor Thom...... he really would have brought something Scotland lack.

The Irish obviously experimenting with that pack, but even with mainly 2nd string backs there's some who might help our cause.

Their forwards will obviously win some possession, and those on the fringe of selection will probably try to play out of their skins. Our forwards must look to take control by the 20 minute mark and then squeeze them out of it. At some point though we need to start making breaks and show we can put sides away. If we keep it too tight for too long it might backfire and give them a chance.

We've got about 8 1st choice starters so it's a no lose for Ireland, if we win then "it was very experimental team" if we lose then "great strength in depth". We need to win by 2 clear scores (whether we will is of course another question) to show we are on course for Eng/Arg.

Be good to see if Jackson can control this kind of game, will be good practice for Georgia and Romania.

Ross Ford "Burnt out" during 6N

Interesting artcile in the Scotsman today that may shed some light on why Ross Ford seemed so out of sorts in the 6N. This might explain why Ireland's speed bump Ronan O'Gara managed to flatten the Collosus from Kelso in the Ireland game and may go some distance to Explain why our front row was regularly vapourised by teams we would normally expect to dominate at scrum time.

Until this year. His insatiable desire had always been applauded by coaches as the model example of what it takes to compete with the best in sport, until the lines on medical graphs began to veer worryingly into the red.

Heart-rates are monitored regularly in games and training and further analysis of Ford's readings towards the end of the RBS Six Nations Championships had the medics holding their hands up and calling 'stop!'. He was diagnosed with "over-training syndrome" and Scotland coach Andy Robinson agreed to withdraw the hooker from the end-of-season games at his club.

He said Ford's case was the most pressing and that had he been allowed to play on his body could have broken down so severely he would have faced as long as two years out of the game recovering.

"I never knew I had that (syndrome]," Ford said this week, "I just knew in playing and training that I was more tired doing things that I would normally do fine. It was really annoying because I pride myself on being pretty fit, but I was feeling worse than I should have been and it was really getting to me. I wasn't feeling as sharp as I should have and wasn't playing as well as I should have been.

"It (heart-rate] was higher than normal for me, but it was nothing dangerous or as drastic as heart attack territory. The graphs showed I was working a lot harder than I should have needed to for my body, and that's why I wasn't feeling great."

The whole article is a decent read and it's nice to hear him say at the end he feels fitter and stronger than ever. Truth is we'll need him to be when our only other options at 2 are a Penalty magnet and a man who's accuracy at the line out is so poor that he couldn't hit water if he fell out a boat.

Agreed, Radge, explains a lot - I rate Ford highly, and I don't think that's just my national bias - his performance vs Australia in AIs 2009 was one of the best for a hooker I've seen in a while - hit his jumpers, scrummaged well, made yards with ball in hand, and tackled until he dropped. He doesn't seem to impress the fans of other nations tho?

Yeah I'm not really sure why, I reckon he was sold really short in the 2009 lions tour. I would say he is considerably better than Rees and Mears. He also played very well in the final test, but feel he never really got a decent chance and was always destined to be a dirt tracker.

I actually played against him at U18 level and he was a brute then, very little seems to have changed.

When it comes to other nations I think the main reason he isn't held in such high regard is that he has a reputation for being a poor lineout thrower. Sometimes this is deserved but I don't think he is as bad as people make out and he is significantly better now than he used to be. There are a good few international hookers who are worse in the lineout! A lot of our recent line out woes weren't just because of Ford too- sometime people weren't jumping at the right time or just not jumping at all!

Unfortunately people get labelled with stereotypes that are hard to shake off! Another case in point is Ben Cairns - he was steam rollered by Shanklin in the 6 nations and ever since has been labelled somewhat of a liability. Those who watch him week in week out for Edinburgh know that his defence is generally OK and he never normally misses tackles, but looks like that one game hasn't helped his reputation with Andy Robinson!

True, RDW. I guess when Sean Fitzpatrick thinks he is a top quality hooker, then I'd be inclined to accept his view!

Sorry to interrupt the discussion but does anyone know if this match is being televised and if so by what station? I just checked the listings for the Irish channels and they're not showing it.

BBC2 Scotland. It was fairly late in the day (only last week I think) that the SRU announced they had arranged a deal.

It is just BBC I think in Ireland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/programmes/schedules/england/2011/08/06

You have to love Kidney who has called the Irish team "a very experienced side with only 1 uncapped player".

True that

Our experience shall win the day, I'm sure of it!

Notch wrote:True that

Our experience shall win the day, I'm sure of it!

I wonder what part of the 11 seconds Cullen got against France in the 6N, Kidney feels will benefit the team most?

Also when asked about Rob Kearney, Kidney said:

"Rob will be judged by a certain standard and there will be comments that he hasn't played for a while. Whether he has a storming game or a not so good one, it's just one game."

The mans so casual. Any more so he'd be horizontal.

roddersm wrote:

Notch wrote:True that

Our experience shall win the day, I'm sure of it!

I wonder what part of the 11 seconds Cullen got against France in the 6N, Kidney feels will benefit the team most?

you would have to imagine it would be those six seconds after the five it took him to run from the sidelines to the place on the pitch!

red_stag wrote:Also when asked about Rob Kearney, Kidney said:

"Rob will be judged by a certain standard and there will be comments that he hasn't played for a while. Whether he has a storming game or a not so good one, it's just one game."

The mans so casual. Any more so he'd be horizontal.

What does that mean? is he actually saying that even if he doesn't play well it won't show negativly on him? Bloody hell, what to coaches judge players on these days if it isn't their playing ability?

clivemcl wrote:

red_stag wrote:Also when asked about Rob Kearney, Kidney said:

"Rob will be judged by a certain standard and there will be comments that he hasn't played for a while. Whether he has a storming game or a not so good one, it's just one game."

The mans so casual. Any more so he'd be horizontal.

What does that mean? is he actually saying that even if he doesn't play well it won't show negativly on him? Bloody hell, what to coaches judge players on these days if it isn't their playing ability?

Nah its deep and mysterious

Kidney is smart enough not believe that. However his statement will :

1 - Take pressure off Kearney going into the game

2 - Minimise any knee jerk reactions to a bad display

3 - Prevent Kearney losing the run of himself should he turn in man of the match display

red_stag wrote:

clivemcl wrote:

red_stag wrote:Also when asked about Rob Kearney, Kidney said:

"Rob will be judged by a certain standard and there will be comments that he hasn't played for a while. Whether he has a storming game or a not so good one, it's just one game."

The mans so casual. Any more so he'd be horizontal.

What does that mean? is he actually saying that even if he doesn't play well it won't show negativly on him? Bloody hell, what to coaches judge players on these days if it isn't their playing ability?

Nah its deep and mysterious

Kidney is smart enough not believe that. However his statement will :

1 - Take pressure off Kearney going into the game

2 - Minimise any knee jerk reactions to a bad display

3 - Prevent Kearney losing the run of himself should he turn in man of the match display

Getting a little carried away with number 3 there, but we can dream!