Robinson was right!

Despite the loss my faith in Robinson has been restored, the back row was immense, Blair was fantastic when he was on, Morrison had his best game in a while and De Luca was at his best just unfortunate that the little things went against us- missed tackles, Refereeing decisions and other small stuff

My team for Ireland:

15.Hogg
14. Jones
13. De Luca/ Evans
12.Scott
11. Evans/ Sean Lamont
10. Weir/Laidlaw
9. Blair
8.Denton
7. Rennie
6. Barclay
5. Gray
4. Hamilton]
3. Murray
2. Ford
1. Cross

No he wasn't because Scotland are still losing, and for all Robinson honest efforts, Scotland are once again going to be fighting it out with Italy for the wooden spoon.

Progress is measured in wins to be honest and Scotland are still making mistakes and losing games they are capable of winning.

Warren Gatland can turn poor regional players into World Class winning players, Robinson can't.

Honestly all along I have said Scotland are not a bad side. It feels like Wales before 2005 or even in 2010 where they couldnt win for love nor money but were clearly getting better every match. Once the breakthrough comes Scotland will go on a roll.

You have to keep in mind the size and quality of the pool of players Robinson has to work with though Alyn. I think he's doing very well with what he got.
Hes blooding in these youngsters slowly, perhaps too slowly in some peoples minds but i think hes doing it right.
From today's showing it looks as though Scotland have a good gameplan and more importantly one that suits their strengths. The backs still look a bit clueless, but thats Townsends job. The forwards, which are Robinson's responsibility are exceptional at the moment.
The main problems imo are support play and turnover defence. We've seen Scotland make a lot of breaks but the support isn't quick enough. The backs, especially the wingers need to work harder off the ball and make it there. Thats what separates the best teams from the average ones.
Regarding the turnover defence. To be fair France's turnover attack is among the best in the world if not the best! But Scotland are very slow at getting back into formation.
I don't know if its poor fitness or just switching off mentally but they need to work on these

Happy with:
Hogg - has a lovely sidestep (skinned Dusautoir), and real pace. I wish he had backed himself a little more during his second half break, but hats off to the lad for breaking in the first place. Still, he scored a try. Hurray.
Rennie - Born to strip ball. FINALLY back to the form he hinted at pre-injury. I've a feeling he'll be mentioned rather more on the 'Lions XV if played tomorrow, but not on form, discounting injuries, and assuming BOD was 5 years younger' thread than he was last week. The Scots and Welsh talking him up felt like lone voices in the wilderness.
Blair - I'm convinced if we'd stayed on the pitch, we'd have won. Ho hum. He played with ambition (what Scotland have lacked since Cardiff 2010), and was let down by a lack of support. Scotland will/must learn to support.
De Luca - Answered some of Twitter's worst with an assured performance. Came on in difficult circumstances, following a horrible injury to Rory Lamont, and played a vital part in Jones' try.
Barclay - Whisper it quietly, but Barclay was alright at blindside. He isn't in Brown's league, but he was lively today
Crash ball attack - quite simply, it worked. Gray, Morrison, Sean Lamont and Denton were all pretty tireless in attack. There wasn't a lot of imagination involved, but for 70-odd minutes of the game, there didn't need to be.

Unhappy with:
Scotland front row - Scrummed off the park in the last 20 minutes. It's never a good situation where, if you knock on, you know you'll be defending a line out in your 22 three minutes later. Just when Scotland needed a bit of impetus to steal a result, the previously bountiful supply of ball was choked off at source.
Kalman - It's always going to be difficult to mesh with an established front row, but Ed looked worried from the moment he came on the pitch, was guilty of a number of errors (early engagement in particular). He can still be a useful front row option, but it's clear that the gulf in class between Cross/Murray and the next step down is considerable.
Overall vision - A number of times I found myself screaming at the TV (sign of a diseased mind, for sure) when there was an obvious gap in the French line and our half-back pairing haven't noticed it. There's no clear solution to this beyond better communication and taking a quick look before digging the ball from the ruck.
Composure in the last 20 minutes - We could have won that game. France didn't suddenly become fantastic in the last twenty minutes, and we could have come back to win that game. We gave back possession too easily after Jones' try, and made a series of crucial handling and scrum errors that destroyed any chance of fluency.
Wayne Barnes Let's be clear - Scotland didn't lose because of Barnes, and would have lost if Joubert had reffed instead. However, it has to be said that Barnes was totally inconsistent in his reffing of the breakdown,
Inconsistent length of advantage - Barnes awarded France a penalty advantage, allowed them to kick through, and then called them back for the penalty. How is that different from Laidlaw's kick-through against England, or England passing out to Strettle against Wales, when the refs ruled that advantage had been played. Captains shouldn't have to ask the referee how he will officiate this question; the IRB should provide a clear rule that can be applied across the board.

123456789 wrote:Despite the loss my faith in Robinson has been restored, the back row was immense, Blair was fantastic when he was on, Morrison had his best game in a while and De Luca was at his best just unfortunate that the little things went against us- missed tackles, Refereeing decisions and other small stuff

My team for Ireland:

15.Hogg
14. Jones
13. De Luca/ Evans
12.Scott
11. Evans/ Sean Lamont
10. Weir/Laidlaw
9. Blair
8.Denton
7. Rennie
6. Barclay
5. Gray
4. Hamilton]
3. Murray
2. Ford
1. Cross

numbers, no he wasn't, sorry. A number of players stood out today, but our midfield was not one of those areas, even if SLamont and Morrison did ok. We made a number of breaks thru the middle, and that is where you need your inside backs right on the shoulder of the player offering support.

Your team selection looks decent, altho I'd have Rob Harley at 6, and Cross is not a loosehead, so if you're wanting to drop Chunk, it'll need to be Jon Welsh

AlynDavies wrote:No he wasn't because Scotland are still losing, and for all Robinson honest efforts, Scotland are once again going to be fighting it out with Italy for the wooden spoon.

Progress is measured in wins to be honest and Scotland are still making mistakes and losing games they are capable of winning.

Warren Gatland can turn poor regional players into World Class winning players, Robinson can't.

+1 and I'm Scottish.

Too little too late - the only reason I think we should keep Robinson is because there's no obvious alternative, and Scotland are getting there slowly. But no, Robinson was not "right".

AlynDavies wrote:No he wasn't because Scotland are still losing, and for all Robinson honest efforts, Scotland are once again going to be fighting it out with Italy for the wooden spoon.

Progress is measured in wins to be honest and Scotland are still making mistakes and losing games they are capable of winning.

Warren Gatland can turn poor regional players into World Class winning players, Robinson can't.

Which presumably is why Wales lost those 3 games in the world cup which they couldve won....

Robinso was wrong - again. NDL came on and improved the team.

the youngsters that have been forced on Robinson have been the best backs and half-backs

If Robinson was right why do you want a different team?

Scotland are improving with every game and the selection is getting better too.
As I've said on other threads, Scotland tactics seem to be right but a couple of on the field bad decisions and to be fair the Scots don't seem to be getting the rub of the green with referring decisions. This is not, AR's fault though. His bad selections were but I think other than starting with Weir (thats just my opinion) the selection is about spot on now. I wouldn't be surprised to see Scotland wining their remaining games, I wouldn't be surprised if they lost them either but things are definately going the right way. I'd keep AR for now.
Then again it's easy for me to say, I'm not Scottish.

I wouldn't say Scotland tactics seem to be right. We've swung from one extreme to the other - kicking the ball into the corner would have really helped our cause a few times. I can't personally remember us not kicking the ball and it ending up in their back three (although it was only a few times!)

It is still just 2 wins from the last 13 Six Nation's matches.

If it had not been for the wins in Argentina things would look even worse.

12 in the world now

Behind Italy? That's disgraceful.

Are we playing both Tonga & Samoa in the summer? Being behind those three, for all Scotland's failings, is a weeny bit ridiculous - when's the last time we lost to any of those sides? Italy 2010 in Rome oh dear :-(

TJ wrote:12 in the world now

No they are still 11th, Italy would have had to have won to overtake them.

not according to the thread on irb rankings.

It was a mistake ( now corrected ) by Portnoy.
Bot Italy and Scotlands ratings went down by a tiny margin, but no chnages to their positions.

Itsonly the ridiculous world cup win against France thats put Tonga ahead, you struggle to make a convincing argument that Tonga really are better than Scotland.