Well it was probably me being deluded but I expected a better performance than that.

The curse of supporting Scotland.

I really don't see when or how we're going to start winning games with tries.

All I can suggest is completely reboot our backline, no old rubbish anymore, get in the new young guns.

I wouldn't be surprised if Andy Robinson threw in the towel now and just said "F**k this, I'm going home".

The problem is bigger than I thought... Time for comfort in the form of a pint.

Mind if I hijack this thread to start an official apology to Welsh fans thread instead?

All those people that said the Welsh posters were arrogant for saying we thought Wales could win and said Scotland were poorly coached, with poor players who couldn't take their chances...

Or shall we just accept that Scotland are poorly coached and don't turn possession into points and call it quits?

They don't have poor players I admit, they have the nucleas of a talented team to be fair.

I thought there were a lot of good things from Scotland.

who cares? Wales weren't exactly taking advantage of a terrible Scottish side today.

I don't think Welsh fans are arrogant, but most of them show a lot more respect for the opposition regardless of how good they are.

All you're doing on this blog is antagonising supporters, which doesn't help the Welsh arrogance card. I disagree, Welsh fans are not arrogant, its just the ones who are really stick out like a sore thumb.

BlueNote wrote:I thought there were a lot of good things from Scotland.

The problem I have blue is that there's always a few good points and never a complete performance. We delude ourselves into thinking it was a good performance when in reality any other team would deem it unacceptable. We need to raise our standards and actually start winning!

NeilyBroon wrote:(previous post was to alyn btw)

Yes I got that bit, but I normally consider myself to be even tempered. Yet the way the Scottish and English were on to us last night for having the cheek to say Wales could win and win well, you'd think we were proclaiming ourselves World champions. If we hadn't of had 5-6 members of our pack missing, and a proper openside flanker (not a lock forward, playing at 7) then maybe Wales could of done a bit better today.

First big thing to do for Scotland - start Hogg at 15 every match for a bit of flair. Really impressed by him.

I would say that was a far better performance than last week to be honest. we were very competitive apart from three monumental Flip by individuals (Cusiter, De Luca, Lamont of course). Just like two years ago. I can't believe it happened again, I have no idea what those guys were thinking. But as a team I thought we played very well. Very encouraged by Laidlaw and Hogg, and as usual Gray, Rennie and Denton were superb.

Anyway I'm nowhere near as annoyed as last week, since I didn't really expect to get a win today.

AlynDavies wrote:Mind if I hijack this thread to start an official apology to Welsh fans thread instead?

All those people that said the Welsh posters were arrogant for saying we thought Wales could win and said Scotland were poorly coached, with poor players who couldn't take their chances...

Alyn it wasn't because you said Wales will win. Most of us thought Wales will win, we were all hoping for a competitive match up.

It was because some called scotland rubbish.

I really don't think Scotland are that far away.

Why doesn't Scotland look at bringing Weir in at 10 and leaving Laidlaw at 9, or at least have him as the understudy to Cusiter?

I am choosing not to regard those 3 mistakes as part of the overall performance. Maybe thats just cos it makes me feel better. I would probably drop all three for the France game actually, Blair should play alongside Laidlaw anyway, Hogg showed he is good enough to start at full back, and hopefully Ansbro will be fit enough to take De Luca's place, although he didn't play badly apart from the yellow card.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:First big thing to do for Scotland - start Hogg at 15 every match for a bit of flair. Really impressed by him.

Most Scottish posters on here have been begging for him to start this season. He's been the best 15 in Scotland all season. In most countries that means to get to start for your country. Not in Scotland. Similarly Laidlaw. Imagine if he'd started the game against England. He's been the best 10 in Scotland this season, and I thought he was quite a step up from Parks today. Yes, he missed a tackle of Cuthbert, but it was a real mismatch, I can't get too excited about it. He shouldn't have gone for that early penalty though, outside his range. No issue in admitting that, CP used to do it all the time. Rather than losing the ball he should have just gone to the corner.

Hopefully we'll take the attitude we showed against Wales in the 2nd and 4th quarters of that game and deploy it against France. But that would need Robinson to start Blair rather than Cusiter, and he doesn't like admitting he got selection wrong.

I was also pleased with Lee Jones today. Nice sharp player.

The IRB seem to be going easy on Wales, well since Warburtons sending off in fact.

Why didn't the ref go to the TMO?

biltongbek wrote:Alyn it wasn't because you said Wales will win. Most of us thought Wales will win, we were all hoping for a competitive match up.
It was because some called scotland rubbish.

Rubbish might be too strong a word, but until they walk the walk as well as talk the talk, then Scotland will just have to accept the negative things people say about them.

Wales can go from a white wash to a Grand slam in a single year, we are up and down more than Katie Prices knickers yet as inconsistent as we are we have now beaten Scotland NINE times in the last 10 games.

Any country that loses nine games in 10 to Wales is a poor one, because Wales are so inconsistent, in reality the results should be 50/50 between our countries.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Why doesn't Scotland look at bringing Weir in at 10 and leaving Laidlaw at 9, or at least have him as the understudy to Cusiter?

Because Laidlaw has been on excellent form for Edinburgh in the Heineken cup playing at 10 and has got far more tries out of his backline than Weir. Although that probably has a lot to do with the fact that he's had Matt Scott at 12 instead of Graeme Morrison! Shouldn't be long before Weir gets capped though and Blair/Cusiter are aging so Laidlaw at 9 and Weir at 10 will probably be how it goes in the next couple of years.

Who do Scotland have coming in through the centres in the future? That is where they need a bit of creativity the most I feel. Similar to Ireland in that regard.

Robinson remains the problem. the team we ended up with today ( apart from lawson at hooker) should have been the starting team last week pretty much. Its what all the fans have been crying for. How much better would we have been with Laidlaw, Blair, Hogg on the park?

Some good stuff from Scotland today and at least we ere beaten by a better side today.

robinson must go. He must carry the can. he should have gone after the WC

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Who do Scotland have coming in through the centres in the future? That is where they need a bit of creativity the most I feel. Similar to Ireland in that regard.

Matt Scott - another one who could / should have got a game - maybe off the bench

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Why doesn't Scotland look at bringing Weir in at 10 and leaving Laidlaw at 9, or at least have him as the understudy to Cusiter?

Because Laidlaw is more creative at 10 than Weir. Blair and Laidlaw as a duo have been the launchpad for Edinburgh HC campaign. They should have started the game against England, rather than Cusiter and Parks.

Weir is where he should be, in second place on the bench. He'll get his chance. I'd be quite tempted to have Weir on the bench without a covering 9. That would allow us to have Matt Scott on the bench. He's a top prospect for us at centre, and I'd rather use Blair for 80 minutes or switch Laidlaw to 9 than have Cusiter coming on at 9, just so we can have a look at Matt Scott at 12.

And who does he play for? I have to catch up on more scottish rugby.. unfortunately I only see them when they play Ulster really and at the 6 nations. Was impressed by them today, especially by Hogg, Denton, Rennie and Gray. Some potentially world class players out there. They are bringing young players like Gray and Denton in the forwards, and dropping Barclay for Rennie, so they should be doing the same with the backs.

pick a different set of backs

Blair, Laidlaw at half back
Scott, Ansbro at centre
Hogg at 15

Just maybe they will have a chance then.

Scotland's biggest problem is the same as Irelands - the coach

Scotland really need to stop persisting with players such as De Luca, for a supposedly creative player he has offered really very little to our game. I hope Ansbro is fit to return soon and perhaps Scott should be now be given a chance at 12 for the next game. Hogg was fantastic when he came on, a real shame he was robbed of a debut try,can't believe the TMO wasn't consulted.
Forwards were superb overall, less said about Jacobsen blowing the try scoring chance at the end of the first half the better.

geoff999rugby wrote:pick a different set of backs

Blair, Laidlaw at half back
Scott, Ansbro at centre
Hogg at 15

Just maybe they will have a chance then.

Scotland's biggest problem is the same as Irelands - the coach

This, definitely.

I'm actually feeling much more positive after that game. Stuart Hogg was brilliant (that was a try) and Greig Laidlaw looked pretty good. Thought Duncan Weir was unlucky not to get on.
We got a try which takes a bit of pressure of the guys for the France game. De Luca deserved the yellow card but I'm pretty sure that a Welsh player knocked it on before that so it should have been called back for a scrum.