Scotland squad for the 6 Nations

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Been browsing some Rugby news sites...

Regarding the delay in announcing the Scotland captain, Johnson can't really be thinking about playing Stroks at 6 instead of brown can he?

Riskysports wrote:So Brown is confirmed as Captain then

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/21228971

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:http://www.scottishrugby.org/content/view/3377/2/

Right decision IMO, Kelly Brown as captan for the Calcutta Cup Clash.

Kelly Brown, the 30-year-old back-row forward, is to continue as Scotland captain for the opening game of the 2013 RBS 6 Nations Championship – the Calcutta Cup clash against England at Twickenham on Saturday.

The candidacy of Brown – who skippered Scotland during all three of the EMC Tests in November – has been endorsed by interim head coach Scott Johnson and his new management team.

Johnson said: “It was right and proper that the coaches considered captaincy at the same time as we were looking at selection of our squad for the England game.


“We believe Kelly has the qualities we’re looking for to captain Scotland. Captaincy is about deed in my book, not Churchillian oratory, and the knowledge and experience that Kelly brings to the Test match arena is good for this team. We are also looking at our leadership group and I’ll be naming two vice-captains in the team that we announce tomorrow.”

The 52-times capped Brown (Saracens) has not played against England since the corresponding match at Twickenham two years ago.
“As I said back in November, it’s a huge honour to captain Scotland. The job now, though, is to work with all the other players in the squad to deliver a performance to make the country proud this weekend.

“It’s a while since I’ve played against England. I missed out through injury in last year’s Six Nations and I was sidelined during the Rugby World Cup match in Auckland as well, so I’m really raring to go,” Brown said.

Johnson has trimmed the squad that were in camp last week from 35 to 27, all of whom will remain attached to the national team with none featuring on Scotland A duty.

The only addition to those who were in Glasgow last week is flanker Alasdair Strokosch who was excused the camp as his wife gave birth to their second child

Interesting to note he hasn't been named as captain for the whole tournament......

Riskysports wrote: RuggerRadge - did you know that Chris patterson has retired from International rugby - No, I did not think so

I am the pulse of this nation -

Scotland to upset England at HQ?
Iain Morrison

http://www.espnscrum.com/six-nations-2013/rugby/story/176147.html

I know that many of you will have to stuff your hands into your mouths just to stop from laughing out loud at this suggestion. But I think that Scotland will win their first game at Twickenham for 30 years on Saturday. Despite the odds, the form book and, let's be honest here, plain common sense.

Most people question whether Scotland should even bother turning up? The Scots lost to Tonga, England beat the All Blacks and, boy, didn't they tell us all about it.

What they failed to mention was the fact that the New Zealand camp had been hit by a virus in the week leading up to that match so in the final twenty minutes, when Richie McCaw and co are usually at their best, the All Blacks were on their knees, out of puff and out of the game.

I don't want to detract from England's achievement. They attacked the Kiwis at the breakdown, which is the only way of stopping them, and when the All Blacks threatened to rally with two quick-fire second half tries, England came back at them and sealed the deal.

That took some guts but England are still developing as a team. Why did the English press focus solely on them beating the All Blacks instead of paying some attention to the fact that England also lost to a patchy Wallabies side (beaten by Scotland in Australia) that had just been smashed by France to the tune of 33-6?

Do you remember the scrums in the Wallabies match? Joe Marler does. He wakes up in a cold sweat thinking about how the unheralded Aussie front row, which conceded the winning penalty to Scotland, had the Harlequins prop doing an un-scheduled yoga class at Twickenham and setting his career back by several years.

England will likely miss Manu Tuilagi and various abrasive and athletic breakaways who are injured (Calum Clark, Tom Johnson etc) but the biggest loss will come at the coal face. Scotland will field a bigger pack of forwards and while size isn't everything England are without one of their key scrummagers in the injured Alex Corbisiero.

The giant Scottish prop Euan Murray will be licking his lips whoever Stuart Lancaster picks to replace him. Scrumming has been at the centre of the English game for a long time now and if you take away that advantage or even, heaven forbid, gain the upper hand in that department it has a similar effect on the English psyche as crocodiles have on Captain Hook.

England have Owen Farrell to direct traffic and kick goals at ten (we would love to have him) but the Scots have Greig Laidlaw to do the same at nine for us. He is out of the French mould where the scrummy (rather than the fly-half) often shapes the game.

Most importantly Scotland come with a few bullets to fire in the backs. The Kiwi flyer Sean Maitland once showed a clean pair of heels to Sitiveni Sivivatu, which is not something many can claim. The flyer scored 54 tries for the Crusaders and two of them came at Twickenham against the Sharks.

Maitland has nothing but good memories of Twickenham as does his fellow winger Tim Visser. The big Dutchman scored a brace of tries when helping the Barbarians beat England a couple of years back and he won the sevens one year whilst still with Newcastle Falcons. Just recently, when thinking out loud, Visser suggested that he had yet to lose at Twickenham.

Admittedly there is much that can go wrong with the Scotland game plan but the talk coming from the camp is that Scotland's English coach Dean Ryan is doing his rabid dog impersonation and the young boys in the squad are lapping it up. The unequivocal passion and enthusiasm of Ryan and his boss Scott Johnson has to mean something and, after a couple of insipid outings, this Scottish team know that they owe themselves and their fans a big performance.

What I am trying to say is two things: England are not quite as good as they think they are and Scotland are not quite as bad as everyone thinks they are. This opening match between the two teams will set the tone for the tournament and I suspect it will come down to the bounce of the ball or which goal kicker has his radar on target.

I think Scotland have a fighting chance of causing the mother and father of upsets next Saturday but only if they come out swinging.

To be honest I'd rather they didn't win. I have a small sum of money riding on the draw at 33-1 and them's good odds for two teams who boast an average winning margin of 6 points over their last six matches.

Key Player: Ryan Grant made his Test bow in the historic win over Australia last year and the loose-head has since forged a reputation as a brutal technician at scrum time with a hunger for work in the loose. His name has also been mentioned as a potential Lions tourist with the Six Nations set to be a key proving ground.

Rising Star: The rapid ascent to the Scotland ranks of New Zealand-born Sean Maitland has generated many headlines but the fleet-footed winger is set to let his feet do the talking during the Six Nations - in the words of his coach Scott Johnson: "He's certainly got some shoes."

Crunch Clash: There is little doubt that the showdown with England at Twickenham will set the tone for the Scots' campaign. While a shock victory would see them embark on three successive home clashes with renewed confidence, even a gutsy showing in defeat will offer cause for hope that they have turned the corner.

Coaching Clinic: Interim head coach Scott Johnson will no doubt be hoping to follow the lead of England coach Stuart Lancaster who began last year's Six Nations in a similar position and is now firmly ensconced in the Twickenham hotseat. Free of the pressure that plagued his predecessor Andy Robinson, Johnson knows an improvement on last year's wooden spoon will boost his chances of taking the job full time while a repeat will mean a return to his previous role within the support staff - if he is lucky.

Verdict: The relative home comforts of Murrayfield will certainly help the Scots banish the memory of their shock defeat at the hands of Tonga in the autumn but there remain significant question marks about the ability of a new-look squad to go toe-to-toe and beat their title rivals. As has become the case of late, the game against Italy on the second weekend of action will go a long way to defining their campaign.

Odds: Scotland are 28/1 to win the tournament outright with Bet365 and 11/4 to pick up the wooden spoon once again.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

Riskysports wrote: RuggerRadge - did you know that Chris patterson has retired from International rugby - No, I did not think so

I am the pulse of this nation -

I really shouldn't be reading articles like this though. It just brings back all those inevitable emotions of positivity and optimism.

Scotland to upset England at HQ?
Iain Morrison

http://www.espnscrum.com/six-nations-2013/rugby/story/176147.html

I know that many of you will have to stuff your hands into your mouths just to stop from laughing out loud at this suggestion. But I think that Scotland will win their first game at Twickenham for 30 years on Saturday. Despite the odds, the form book and, let's be honest here, plain common sense.

Most people question whether Scotland should even bother turning up? The Scots lost to Tonga, England beat the All Blacks and, boy, didn't they tell us all about it.

What they failed to mention was the fact that the New Zealand camp had been hit by a virus in the week leading up to that match so in the final twenty minutes, when Richie McCaw and co are usually at their best, the All Blacks were on their knees, out of puff and out of the game.

I don't want to detract from England's achievement. They attacked the Kiwis at the breakdown, which is the only way of stopping them, and when the All Blacks threatened to rally with two quick-fire second half tries, England came back at them and sealed the deal.

That took some guts but England are still developing as a team. Why did the English press focus solely on them beating the All Blacks instead of paying some attention to the fact that England also lost to a patchy Wallabies side (beaten by Scotland in Australia) that had just been smashed by France to the tune of 33-6?

Do you remember the scrums in the Wallabies match? Joe Marler does. He wakes up in a cold sweat thinking about how the unheralded Aussie front row, which conceded the winning penalty to Scotland, had the Harlequins prop doing an un-scheduled yoga class at Twickenham and setting his career back by several years.

England will likely miss Manu Tuilagi and various abrasive and athletic breakaways who are injured (Calum Clark, Tom Johnson etc) but the biggest loss will come at the coal face. Scotland will field a bigger pack of forwards and while size isn't everything England are without one of their key scrummagers in the injured Alex Corbisiero.

The giant Scottish prop Euan Murray will be licking his lips whoever Stuart Lancaster picks to replace him. Scrumming has been at the centre of the English game for a long time now and if you take away that advantage or even, heaven forbid, gain the upper hand in that department it has a similar effect on the English psyche as crocodiles have on Captain Hook.

England have Owen Farrell to direct traffic and kick goals at ten (we would love to have him) but the Scots have Greig Laidlaw to do the same at nine for us. He is out of the French mould where the scrummy (rather than the fly-half) often shapes the game.

Most importantly Scotland come with a few bullets to fire in the backs. The Kiwi flyer Sean Maitland once showed a clean pair of heels to Sitiveni Sivivatu, which is not something many can claim. The flyer scored 54 tries for the Crusaders and two of them came at Twickenham against the Sharks.

Maitland has nothing but good memories of Twickenham as does his fellow winger Tim Visser. The big Dutchman scored a brace of tries when helping the Barbarians beat England a couple of years back and he won the sevens one year whilst still with Newcastle Falcons. Just recently, when thinking out loud, Visser suggested that he had yet to lose at Twickenham.

Admittedly there is much that can go wrong with the Scotland game plan but the talk coming from the camp is that Scotland's English coach Dean Ryan is doing his rabid dog impersonation and the young boys in the squad are lapping it up. The unequivocal passion and enthusiasm of Ryan and his boss Scott Johnson has to mean something and, after a couple of insipid outings, this Scottish team know that they owe themselves and their fans a big performance.

What I am trying to say is two things: England are not quite as good as they think they are and Scotland are not quite as bad as everyone thinks they are. This opening match between the two teams will set the tone for the tournament and I suspect it will come down to the bounce of the ball or which goal kicker has his radar on target.

I think Scotland have a fighting chance of causing the mother and father of upsets next Saturday but only if they come out swinging.

To be honest I'd rather they didn't win. I have a small sum of money riding on the draw at 33-1 and them's good odds for two teams who boast an average winning margin of 6 points over their last six matches.

Key Player: Ryan Grant made his Test bow in the historic win over Australia last year and the loose-head has since forged a reputation as a brutal technician at scrum time with a hunger for work in the loose. His name has also been mentioned as a potential Lions tourist with the Six Nations set to be a key proving ground.

Rising Star: The rapid ascent to the Scotland ranks of New Zealand-born Sean Maitland has generated many headlines but the fleet-footed winger is set to let his feet do the talking during the Six Nations - in the words of his coach Scott Johnson: "He's certainly got some shoes."

Crunch Clash: There is little doubt that the showdown with England at Twickenham will set the tone for the Scots' campaign. While a shock victory would see them embark on three successive home clashes with renewed confidence, even a gutsy showing in defeat will offer cause for hope that they have turned the corner.

Coaching Clinic: Interim head coach Scott Johnson will no doubt be hoping to follow the lead of England coach Stuart Lancaster who began last year's Six Nations in a similar position and is now firmly ensconced in the Twickenham hotseat. Free of the pressure that plagued his predecessor Andy Robinson, Johnson knows an improvement on last year's wooden spoon will boost his chances of taking the job full time while a repeat will mean a return to his previous role within the support staff - if he is lucky.

Verdict: The relative home comforts of Murrayfield will certainly help the Scots banish the memory of their shock defeat at the hands of Tonga in the autumn but there remain significant question marks about the ability of a new-look squad to go toe-to-toe and beat their title rivals. As has become the case of late, the game against Italy on the second weekend of action will go a long way to defining their campaign.

Odds: Scotland are 28/1 to win the tournament outright with Bet365 and 11/4 to pick up the wooden spoon once again.

This sort of article is really bad for me. As I said I'm just setting myself up for the yearly wallop of disapointment.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:On another interesting note there are a lot of comments on Risky's Beeb article of people predicting England to be up by 50 points at half time.

I'm not sure if I should let these comments anger me because of their arrogance or if that kind of mullering is trully on the cards.

I really don't know what to expect this weekend...

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

Riskysports wrote: RuggerRadge - did you know that Chris patterson has retired from International rugby - No, I did not think so

I am the pulse of this nation -

I really shouldn't be reading articles like this though. It just brings back all those inevitable emotions of positivity and optimism.

Scotland to upset England at HQ?
Iain Morrison

http://www.espnscrum.com/six-nations-2013/rugby/story/176147.html

I know that many of you will have to stuff your hands into your mouths just to stop from laughing out loud at this suggestion. But I think that Scotland will win their first game at Twickenham for 30 years on Saturday. Despite the odds, the form book and, let's be honest here, plain common sense.

Most people question whether Scotland should even bother turning up? The Scots lost to Tonga, England beat the All Blacks and, boy, didn't they tell us all about it.

What they failed to mention was the fact that the New Zealand camp had been hit by a virus in the week leading up to that match so in the final twenty minutes, when Richie McCaw and co are usually at their best, the All Blacks were on their knees, out of puff and out of the game.

I don't want to detract from England's achievement. They attacked the Kiwis at the breakdown, which is the only way of stopping them, and when the All Blacks threatened to rally with two quick-fire second half tries, England came back at them and sealed the deal.

That took some guts but England are still developing as a team. Why did the English press focus solely on them beating the All Blacks instead of paying some attention to the fact that England also lost to a patchy Wallabies side (beaten by Scotland in Australia) that had just been smashed by France to the tune of 33-6?

Do you remember the scrums in the Wallabies match? Joe Marler does. He wakes up in a cold sweat thinking about how the unheralded Aussie front row, which conceded the winning penalty to Scotland, had the Harlequins prop doing an un-scheduled yoga class at Twickenham and setting his career back by several years.

England will likely miss Manu Tuilagi and various abrasive and athletic breakaways who are injured (Calum Clark, Tom Johnson etc) but the biggest loss will come at the coal face. Scotland will field a bigger pack of forwards and while size isn't everything England are without one of their key scrummagers in the injured Alex Corbisiero.

The giant Scottish prop Euan Murray will be licking his lips whoever Stuart Lancaster picks to replace him. Scrumming has been at the centre of the English game for a long time now and if you take away that advantage or even, heaven forbid, gain the upper hand in that department it has a similar effect on the English psyche as crocodiles have on Captain Hook.

England have Owen Farrell to direct traffic and kick goals at ten (we would love to have him) but the Scots have Greig Laidlaw to do the same at nine for us. He is out of the French mould where the scrummy (rather than the fly-half) often shapes the game.

Most importantly Scotland come with a few bullets to fire in the backs. The Kiwi flyer Sean Maitland once showed a clean pair of heels to Sitiveni Sivivatu, which is not something many can claim. The flyer scored 54 tries for the Crusaders and two of them came at Twickenham against the Sharks.

Maitland has nothing but good memories of Twickenham as does his fellow winger Tim Visser. The big Dutchman scored a brace of tries when helping the Barbarians beat England a couple of years back and he won the sevens one year whilst still with Newcastle Falcons. Just recently, when thinking out loud, Visser suggested that he had yet to lose at Twickenham.

Admittedly there is much that can go wrong with the Scotland game plan but the talk coming from the camp is that Scotland's English coach Dean Ryan is doing his rabid dog impersonation and the young boys in the squad are lapping it up. The unequivocal passion and enthusiasm of Ryan and his boss Scott Johnson has to mean something and, after a couple of insipid outings, this Scottish team know that they owe themselves and their fans a big performance.

What I am trying to say is two things: England are not quite as good as they think they are and Scotland are not quite as bad as everyone thinks they are. This opening match between the two teams will set the tone for the tournament and I suspect it will come down to the bounce of the ball or which goal kicker has his radar on target.

I think Scotland have a fighting chance of causing the mother and father of upsets next Saturday but only if they come out swinging.

To be honest I'd rather they didn't win. I have a small sum of money riding on the draw at 33-1 and them's good odds for two teams who boast an average winning margin of 6 points over their last six matches.

Key Player: Ryan Grant made his Test bow in the historic win over Australia last year and the loose-head has since forged a reputation as a brutal technician at scrum time with a hunger for work in the loose. His name has also been mentioned as a potential Lions tourist with the Six Nations set to be a key proving ground.

Rising Star: The rapid ascent to the Scotland ranks of New Zealand-born Sean Maitland has generated many headlines but the fleet-footed winger is set to let his feet do the talking during the Six Nations - in the words of his coach Scott Johnson: "He's certainly got some shoes."

Crunch Clash: There is little doubt that the showdown with England at Twickenham will set the tone for the Scots' campaign. While a shock victory would see them embark on three successive home clashes with renewed confidence, even a gutsy showing in defeat will offer cause for hope that they have turned the corner.

Coaching Clinic: Interim head coach Scott Johnson will no doubt be hoping to follow the lead of England coach Stuart Lancaster who began last year's Six Nations in a similar position and is now firmly ensconced in the Twickenham hotseat. Free of the pressure that plagued his predecessor Andy Robinson, Johnson knows an improvement on last year's wooden spoon will boost his chances of taking the job full time while a repeat will mean a return to his previous role within the support staff - if he is lucky.

Verdict: The relative home comforts of Murrayfield will certainly help the Scots banish the memory of their shock defeat at the hands of Tonga in the autumn but there remain significant question marks about the ability of a new-look squad to go toe-to-toe and beat their title rivals. As has become the case of late, the game against Italy on the second weekend of action will go a long way to defining their campaign.

Odds: Scotland are 28/1 to win the tournament outright with Bet365 and 11/4 to pick up the wooden spoon once again.

This sort of article is really bad for me. As I said I'm just setting myself up for the yearly wallop of disapointment.

Solid8 wrote:The fact that he hasn't been given the nod for the whole tournament may be a good sign that going forward the match form of players will be more important to selection than their prowess on the training field.

Is anyone surprised with the revised match day squad?

Backs – Max Evans (Castres), Stuart Hogg, Peter Horne, Ruaridh Jackson (all Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby), Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland, Peter Murchie, Henry Pyrgos (all Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott and Tim Visser (both Edinburgh Rugby)

Forwards – Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier), Kelly Brown (Saracens), Geoff Cross, David Denton, Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist (all Edinburgh), Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Sale Sharks), Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester), Robert Harley, Alastair Kellock, Moray Low, Pat MacArthur (all Glasgow Warriors), Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors) and Alasdair Strokosoch (Perpignan).

Fusaro isn't in there so Brown, Denton and Beattie to start as widely predicted? Can't imagine that Brown will be expected to Skipper the team and play out of position.

jimbopip wrote:
We have a better pack

jimbopip wrote:
if Tuilangi is 100% fit

jimbopip wrote: Can we win?

lostinwales wrote:Oh and If I read one more time about how NZ were 'on their knees' for the last 20 minutes I might burst into flames. They werent. They were all over England like a rash and were very unlucky not to score more points. It didnt matter they were a beaten team at that point.

The virus may well have hit their preparations, the training and the fine tuning but not the stamina on the day.

GLove39 wrote:Manu will miss the Calcutta cup match http://www.espnscrum.com/six-nations-2013/rugby/story/176185.html (ESPN) - thank duck for that!

George Carlin wrote:

GLove39 wrote:Manu will miss the Calcutta cup match http://www.espnscrum.com/six-nations-2013/rugby/story/176185.html (ESPN) - thank duck for that!

Is this what Peter Horne needs to get his start?

funnyExiledScot wrote:I know - but I think it's a mistake.

Of the available options it has to be Lamont.

The question is Horne or Evans on the bench - I'd go with Evans, purely because he better covers more positions.

George Carlin wrote:FES - having watched Horne all season, I would say that he actually has been playing well. Are you referring to any matches in particular where you think that he hasn't?

Or is the requirement to be playing in the same position another one of your micro rules without adherence to which You Cannot Be Capped (the others being that you must have played for at least one professional season and your name cannot be M*** B******).

So you wouldn't play Keith Earls in your team if you could?

I really hope that it's not Murchie at 15 and Hogg at 13 - I really would be gutted at that.

jimbopip wrote:GC yet again I find myself agreeing with you.
13 seems to be our one spot where no-one is screaming to be picked.
Schlong has the defensive capabilities but you could replace Maitland and McVisser with me and thee for all the ball that we would see.
Evans is strangely deceptive; he will break the line and beat the first defender more often than most but nothing ever comes from it.
Horne is a big laddie, (bless Bill McLaren) , who has very fast feet and a good sense of when to pass. Is he ready to be thrown into a Calcutta cup match?
I would throw caution to the wind and start Horne, but my job isn't on the line.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:I wonder how long into the tournament we'll be before everyone starts talking about how much we miss NDL at 13...

George Carlin wrote:

jimbopip wrote:GC yet again I find myself agreeing with you.
13 seems to be our one spot where no-one is screaming to be picked.
Schlong has the defensive capabilities but you could replace Maitland and McVisser with me and thee for all the ball that we would see.
Evans is strangely deceptive; he will break the line and beat the first defender more often than most but nothing ever comes from it.
Horne is a big laddie, (bless Bill McLaren) , who has very fast feet and a good sense of when to pass. Is he ready to be thrown into a Calcutta cup match?
I would throw caution to the wind and start Horne, but my job isn't on the line.

That's because you have wisdom beyond your years Jimbo young feller me lad.