Scotland team for Samoa!

First topic message reminder :

A youthful team selection for Samoa match:

Greig Tonks (Edinburgh),
Sean Lamont (Glasgow),
Alex Dunbar (Glasgow),
Matt Scott (Edinburgh),
Tim Visser (Edinburgh),
Tom Heathcote (Bath),
Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh),
Ryan Grant (Glasgow),
Pat MacArthur (Glasgow),
Euan Murray (Worcester),
Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh),
Alastair Kellock (Glasgow),
Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan),
Kelly Brown (Saracens) (Captain),
Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier).

Replacements: Stevie Lawrie (Edinburgh), Alasdair Dickinson (Sale), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow), Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow), Peter Horne (Glasgow), Duncan Taylor (Saracens).

Not a very dynamic second row pairing or a well balanced back row but nice to see MacArthur, Dunbar and Tonks getting their debuts.
Discuss

Makes a tough forward contest even tougher. presume the ARU will call up another prop. Welsh perhaps?

S?

I of course meant the SRU. Im sure that the ARU will would love to call up another good prop to their squad for the Lions games but i dont think they have any!!!

Is Welsh injured? Otherwise I can't think why he would have been left at home.

I’d like to think my Twitter outrage campaign had something to do with him being the next person selected

RDW_Scotland wrote:I’d like to think my Twitter outrage campaign had something to do with him being the next person selected

cough cough.... hardly a solo effort.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:I’d like to think my Twitter outrage campaign had something to do with him being the next person selected

cough cough.... hardly a solo effort.

I'll say! Three cheers for us, the keyboard campaigners!

Yep - Glove and Radge were integral too!

And Brian Moore, Will Greenwood, Craig Chalmers and Peter Wright – but I’d like to think it was us ordinary punters….

So does this mean Grant won't be playing in SA this weekend?

Nope - scrum beast Ali Dickinson is starting with Low on the bench. Massive drop in quality.

I think Welsh is fit now, Scotland will surely need to call up cover at prop with only 4 remaining, can't rely on no further injuries. Available props would be Welsh, Reid, Kalman, Traynor or an emergency call to Jacobsen to come out of retirement!

Chunk will have probably gained 2 stones in beer weight since retirement!

Welsh or Reid would be the likely lads, I'd plum for Gordy to be honest as he deserves it for his work this season and was very unlucky not to play vs Tonga in the Autumn!

They should call up Jon Welsh, particularly given he covers both sides.

I think Dickinson will find this a tough assignment, and I've never been convinced by Low at loosehead. I don't think he is a poor player, but he's giving away alot of weight to the Samoan tightheads.

Welsh called up.

That has to be the right decision.

It's going to be a tough game tomorrow for Scotland. Hopefully the backline can capitalise on chances, as I can see the Samoans scoring some points against us.

Was doing some calculations over lunch, cause that's how cool I am, and in the front row Samoa have a 7 stone advantage over us. (Would have done the rest of the pack but can't find stats for one of the Samoan second rows) So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out tomorrow. Quick ball in & out, no hanging around at scrums?

It's not just about weight. Scrummaging is a technical effort too.

Captain_Sensible wrote:It's not just about weight. Scrummaging is a technical effort too.

With Dickinson playing I was hoping it wasn't going to come to that....

7 stone - That's 1 Scott Lawson!

Is Welsh injured?

Surely he should come out and replace Grant.

reallybored - he has been called up..

It's funny - my Friday afternoon is considerably brighter after Grant's call-up.

Right now I'm that annoying guy in the office who whistles all the time and dances slightly while standing at the photocopier...

IanBru wrote:It's funny - my Friday afternoon is considerably brighter after Grant's call-up.

Right now I'm that annoying guy in the office who whistles all the time and dances slightly while standing at the photocopier...

Damn you for being that person.

Ha ha, right now it's 'Jungle Boogie' by Kool and the Gang...

"Get down, get down, do do dodo..."

Got to agree IanBru - as ridiculous as it sounds Ryan Grant really has made my day!

Just think what we'd be like if we got 15 lions....!

RDW_Scotland wrote:7 stone - That's 1 Scott Lawson!

....or 7 Andy Titterall's!

funnyExiledScot wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:7 stone - That's 1 Scott Lawson!

....or 7 Andy Titterall's!

or 14 Craig Joiners

Riskysports wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:7 stone - That's 1 Scott Lawson!

....or 7 Andy Titterall's!

or 14 Craig Joiners

28 Chris Patersons?

As has been raised Grant is only going as "cover". He better get some game time in Oz. Otherwise we have significantly weakened our team to provide a bench warmer over there.

I wouldn't worry. Corbisiero is made of glass, and Vunipola breaks down at the thought of light jogging for 80 minutes. That combined with the fact that Jenkins is struggling suggests to me that this call-up will turn into more than bench warming.

Anyway, I'm pleased that Jon Welsh is now involved with Scotland. Good experience for him.

Agree. No point posting any more on the other thread as I can't fight my way through the terrible lack of objectivity any more. Corbs may well fall to bit and he cannot possibly offer more than a fully fit Grant at the moment, regardless of what anyone may ignore patent fact to say.

There has been justice for the Kirkcaldy One and that's all I care about. Liking Scott Johson's wry understatements more and more. His line that he thinks Gatland will be "pleasantly surprised" by Grant was beautiful.

The lack of knowledge about Grant by posters from other nations is depressing. Saw someone post asking if Grant had ever played against Southern Hemisphere opposition!

GLove39 wrote:The lack of knowledge about Grant by posters from other nations is depressing. Saw someone post asking if Grant had ever played against Southern Hemisphere opposition!

I am not surprised by that, not every player gains prominance unkess he is a regular starter and does enough to make an impression.

For props especially it is much harder to make an impression.

True Bilt but I would think much more of some posters if they happily just said "don't know much about this feller, good luck to him, hope he's good" rather than leading with "I don't know this person, given how awesome my knowledge undoubtedly is, ergo this can only mean that he can't be any good".

You can't possibly be conversant with all players in all leagues at all times (the reason I set up the 'teach yourself something' thread) so why do people absolutely refuse to acknowledge this?

George Carlin wrote:True Bilt but I would think much more of some posters if they happily just said "don't know much about this feller, good luck to him, hope he's good" rather than leading with "I don't know this person, given how awesome my knowledge undoubtedly is, ergo this can only mean that he can't be any good".

You can't possibly be conversant with all players in all leagues at all times (the reason I set up the 'teach yourself something' thread) so why do people absolutely refuse to acknowledge this?

Of course you are correct George, unfortunately you will always find those who refuse to admit they don't know everything.

Will Big Welshie take Angela with him to SA to keep his cuticles neat and tidy ?

Great news for Ryan Grant - well overdue by the Lions coaching numb nuts ! I had just read the Herald article where Matt Taylor was having a right go at Fruit Gums for overlooking Grant for the Glass Slipper Corbs and was in a foul mood when boom - 606v2 and Ryan 'The Fife Fixer' is on the plane to Oz. Really put a spring in my step on a warm sunny day.

Right time for the main event. Imagine it's going to be pretty tight, hopefully not as tight as Apia park though!

Come on Scotland!!

With regards to this morning, thought Gray was superb and Hogg disappointing. He'll have learnt a hell of a lot from that experience though - he had to deal with an absolute barrage in the first 40!

Great crowd....

RDW_Scotland wrote:Great crowd....

and even better start from Heathcote...

Anyone got a link?

wow, we just got burnt big time

Samoa are really impressive. Huge forwards.

Great driven maul - much better.

These commentators are terrible

Bloody rucks!! Stop standing in the backs!

God knows how we're only 5 behind!

Its like the 6N, we just dont seem to want to play for anymore than 3 or 4 phases. You cannot win games if you cant control the ball.

Infuriates me that we still don't commit enough to rucks.

Dickinson carrying well