What next for Scotland?

After, what was our poorest display against Ireland, with players still making mistakes, and IMO it looking like we a re directionless on the pitch - what can be done to save this team

We have some new youngsters in the squad, but we can not expect them to save us. What about the old guard, who has done their bit and who should we keep. Is it time for a radical over haul with an eye on 2015, or is that throwing the baby with the bath water

My first thoughts

Captain - not sure if Ford is the righ person - he has talked more, but comes across aggressive and is warned byt the ref to shut it most games - needs to calm down and talk in a friendlier manner to get the ref on side - Also noted that our team all back chat to the ref - that has to be stamped out by the Captain

Chunk - time to bring in a new loosie - not a go at him, but coming to the end of his career and we need replacements
Tight head - a disaster for us - time to ditch the current batch and pray for a miracle -
2nd Row - need back up for Hamilton - Kellock no there just now - Starting 2 ok for me though
Back row - need more strnght at 6 - other positions fine - bring in the young uns
Scrum half - Cusiter - go away and find form - Blair - stay young - Laidlaw - move here
10 - oh dear - Weir develop, otherwise we are terrible there too - Laidlaw not the answer - Jackson - needs more and form
12 - Bring in the young uns
13 - I dispair
14 - Max Evens - ok, but not the full deal I am afraid - need a couple of flyers (and Visser)
11 - Sean Lamont - still there abouts, but not the future. See 14
15 - Hogg - needs to keep developing - needs back up


Coach - not going there

WHat are you thoughts, who are the players to come in

I have said it a few times, i feel that Richie Gray would be the perfect Scotland captain.

eirebilly wrote:I have said it a few times, i feel that Richie Gray would be the perfect Scotland captain.

+1

Felt he came across really well in pre match interviews that i caught up with last night. Polite, measured and calm. He is also the 1st name on the team sheet for every scotland poster.

Felt Ross Ford has done ok though.

What Andy Robinson has done is take the weakest aspects from Edinburgh (defencive concentration) and Glasgows weakest aspect (lack of cutting edge) and somehow brought them to Scotland. Now I think the reason for this is his choice in the backs.

Big lumbering behemoths in the centre = S.Lamont, Morrison and the fliers outside (Hogg, Jones) who are not renowned for their defencive play get no ball from the lumbering guys inside. Jones, NDL, Scott et al play their best rugby at Edinburgh with free flowing ball to work with, they are getting none of that with Lamont and Morrison at 12 and teams know they are weak in the tackle area so this is being exploited by teams.

Selection has been woeful.

Onto the future though. Edinburgh in the HC have actually been pretty good defencively, conceding a below average ammount of tries. All AR had to do to do well in the 6N is use the Embra backline with Lamont in for Visser and Hogg in for Mossy.

The forwards more or less pick themselves if picking on form. Gray was superb again.

Ross Ford has arguably been in some of his best form since being named captain, he seems to thrive on it. However some of the decision making has left me scratching my head!

A prime example would be kicking for the corner several times winning 3 penalties inside Irelands 22 and then when the referee is forced to give the Irish boys a warning, Ford decides to let Ireland off the hook with a relatively cheap 3 points!?

I think Richie Gray will be captain one day, but for now I think he should be left to concentrate on his own game.

Manky-Flanker wrote:Ross Ford has arguably been in some of his best form since being named captain, he seems to thrive on it. However some of the decision making has left me scratching my head!

A prime example would be kicking for the corner several times winning 3 penalties inside Irelands 22 and then when the referee is forced to give the Irish boys a warning, Ford decides to let Ireland off the hook with a relatively cheap 3 points!?
I think Richie Gray will be captain one day, but for now I think he should be left to concentrate on his own game.

I have to admit that blew me away as well. As an Irishman i was so thankfull with only loosing 3 points at that stage because it looked like Scotland were going to score or at least force another penalty and see an Irishman binned for 10. It was very bizarre.

Manky-Flanker wrote:Ross Ford has arguably been in some of his best form since being named captain, he seems to thrive on it. However some of the decision making has left me scratching my head!

A prime example would be kicking for the corner several times winning 3 penalties inside Irelands 22 and then when the referee is forced to give the Irish boys a warning, Ford decides to let Ireland off the hook with a relatively cheap 3 points!?

I think Richie Gray will be captain one day, but for now I think he should be left to concentrate on his own game.

+1 Agree with that.

Scotland have shown flashes of good stuff but simply can't seem to nail down the elusive win. I think there has been so much focus on trying to score tries/playing more exciting rugby that the winning part has been put to the side.

Scotland need to go back to basics. Tighten things up. Most importantly learn to be clinical.

Doesn't matter how many tackles you miss if you don't concede many tries. Equally doesn't matter how many breaks/defenders you beat if you don't consistently score tries.

Gray has the extra factor of being inspirational. He really is a top top player and a cert for one of the lions spots.

Props are a worry for Scotland as is back three but visser coming in gives you another option. The backrow has the makings of a fine unit but I would drop barclay. The big ginger lad at Glasgow has been decent whenever i have seen him and Kelly brown as well can d a job here.

I would be playing weir for Scotland. I'm not convinced he can get a back line going but his basics are very good and that's a good platform to build off. He is still very young.

Get rid of Robinson - it all comes back to him. the buck stops with him.

prime example would be kicking for the corner several times winning 3 penalties inside Irelands 22 and then when the referee is forced to give the Irish boys a warning

How Ireland didn't lose a man prior to the warning confused me as there was a lot of desperately cynical play going on. Agree Ford should have applied the pressure and I think Scotland would have got either a try or 3 pointer and YC.

Scotland have come on well during the 6N they just need to firm up the defence and get the set pieces running reliably. I think against Ireland they were missing a bit of beef from the backrow and it was a game where they needed somebody more physical at either 6 or 8. Some of criticisms of Sean Lamont seem a bit harsh as he is probably your most consistent player.

I will tell you what is next for Scotland once I have taken my head out of the rabbit hole that I've shoved it down in order to ensure that I can't see the disasters that have befallen - until then, i will be saying nothing

I was going to post an article about Scotland’s glass, in terms of it being half full or half empty. Scotland does have some really good young players, but Andy Robinson has tried to blend the 2 Scottish Pro sides that play polar opposites in terms of the brand of rugby they play.

Edinburgh play a free flowing, offloading and try scoring game.
Glasgow play a tighter positional game.

Robinson has taken both of these sides weaknesses and brought them to the international stage.

Robinson is the head coach and surely he must realise that his selections are and have been fundamentally flawed. It’s taken him too long to get the best players on the pitch and in truth he has only played the likes of Hogg, Laidlaw, Jones and Scott because injuries and retirements have demanded it. His latest howler was the bringing on of Jackson against Ireland. Jackson can be a good player and he has shown this in the past. Recently though after coming back from injury he has done nothing to merit his selection for Scotland and Duncan Weir can feel rightly hard done by.

Another player who can feel hard done by is James King. Barely put a foot wrong for Edinburgh all season and he and NDL is one of the reasons Edinburgh have been playing the way they do. Having Morrison at 12 is nullifying the flair and pace we have out wide.

We have been wounded sorely this 6N but there is a silver lining in the clouds. Our forwards are strong, we need a couple of Props but lets just look at what we could have at next years 6N.

1. Sheils/Welsh
2. Ford/MacArthur
3. Cross/Kalman/Murray (needs a move away from Newcastle)
4. Gray/Kellock/MacKenzie
5. Hamilton/Gilchrist
6. Brown/Harley/Denton/McDonald
7. Rennie/Barclay/Fusaro
8. McInally/Beattie(2010 form) / Vernon
9. Blair/Laidlaw/Cusiter
10. Laidlaw/Weir/Jackson/
11. Visser/ Evans / S.Lamont
12. Leonard/Scott/King
13. Bennet/NDL/Ansbro
14. Jones/Brown/
15. Hogg/R.Lamont/JT

I’m sure I have missed others but we have the players to win games. All we need is a coach to pick them, let the gel as a team and the wins will come.

Found Saturday profoundly depressing. Poor tactics/selection have not helped. Against an back row like Irelands we needed to have someone chopping down their big ball carriers - those players exist but instead we played 2 open sides - grrrr

Ross Ford - I thought he's been outstanding this 6N and his performance level seems to have stepped up with being awarded the captaincy. He needs to work on his tactical awareness and ref management but that can be learnt. (As an aside I don't think having a coach who constantly bemoans the referees sets a good example for the players)

Scrum - We seem to fall apart as soon as we make the changes. I don't know what the answer is but I'd start by looking at who the form players are and getting them in the squad. I'd apply some bias in favour of youth as this season is over for us now. I'd also not select Murray as if you can't be avaialble for every game you're destabilisaing the selection and preventing other candidates gaining experience and a consistent run in the team.

Back Row - Gotta pick a balanced combination which means a chopper at 6. Its unfortunate on Barclay (who I think has played well)

Back line - I'd give the Edinburgh line a go for the game against Italy with Lamont and Hogg replacing Visser and Paterson.

To me this 6N campaign has already been a failure in terms of results so we may as well go into the game against Italy trying someting new and starting to build a team for next year.

If AR just goes with the same old same old then its a sign that he is bereft of ideas and we really need a change - if he can sieze the day and bring something different (and I don't think he will) then maybe there's some hope.

That then leaves us with difficult proposition of who to replace him with ...