Scotland XV for Autumn Internationals

First topic message reminder :

Right let's get down to business shall we?!

9/11/13
Scotland vs Japan
KO - 2.30pm

17/11/13
Scotland vs South Africa
KO - 3pm

23/11/13
Scotland vs Australia
KO - 6pm

First of all, the schedule for these three matches is super. Unlike last few years, Scotland will play a less formidable team first before two tough matches against SA and Aus. SA are on a roll at the moment and will be a good, stern test for Scotland before Australia. Injuries may be an issue however as we saw in the summer.

If Scotland beat Australia that will make it 3 wins in a row vs the Wallabies which would be a fantastic achievement. But obviously wins over any of these three teams will be great.

Players

Backs M Bennett (Glasgow), C Cusiter (Glasgow), De Luca (Edinburgh), A Dunbar (Glasgow), M Evans (Castres), T Heathcote (Bath), R Jackson (Glasgow), S Lamont (Glasgow), G Laidlaw (Edinburgh), S Maitland (Glasgow), H Pyrgos (Glasgow), M Scott (Edinburgh), T Seymour (Glasgow), D Taylor (Saracens), G Tonks (Edinburgh), T Visser (Edinburgh), D Weir (Glasgow).
Forwards J Barclay (Scarlets), J Beattie (Montpellier), K Brown (Saracens), B Cowan (London Irish), G Cross (Edinburgh), D Denton (Edinburgh), A Dickinson (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), C Fusaro (Glasgow), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh) R Grant (Glasgow), J Gray (Glasgow), R Gray (Castres), J Hamilton (Montpellier), R Harley (Glasgow), A Kellock (Glasgow), S Lawson (Newcastle), K Low (London Irish), M Low (Glasgow), P MacArthur (Glasgow), E Murray (Worcester), A Strokosch (Perpignan), T Swinson (Glasgow), J Welsh (Glasgow)

*Sorry for not updating this sooner. My girlfriend and I broke up a few weeks ago after four and a half years, three living together. I've been in a pretty bad place. However, I'm getting better and looking forward to these games so I'll continue to contribute when I can

cakeordeath wrote:Can we get Kellock and Ford off

+100

Someone tell ford to hook ffs

MacArthur and Gray need to come on to replace the incompetent ford and kellock

This is turning into quite an enjoyable game!

It is, but Scotland should have put this away by now

What a try

This might be the first calendar year since forever that we scored 30+ points in TWO matches

Great hands by stroker.

Lovely try!

Its starting to come now, the wearing down process is taking its toll. How many times have we seen that happen to Scotland in the past.

Another great try!

Laidlaw is having the worst day with the boat I have ever seen from him. We'd be way gone if the kicks had gone over!

Laidlaw is having the worst day with the boat ?

I thought Kellock was skipper  

I think that Japanese winger should be MoM. He won't be, but he should be.

Try. Got to be

Yay Sean

That YC wasn't a penalty try because the player coming onto it was Sean Lamont. Have you seen his score rate

Yeah. I agree Ineff. I wonder if he would like to play with the warriors

cakeordeath wrote:Yeah. I agree Ineff. I wonder if he would like to play with the warriors

Shouldn't we give Burgh at least one good back player?

Swinson well deserved MOTM, put everything into it today.

Need to give Scott more of the ball.

alive555 wrote:Laidlaw is having the worst day with the boat ?  

Ops!

Ineffable wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:Yeah. I agree Ineff. I wonder if he would like to play with the warriors

Shouldn't we give Burgh at least one good back player?

No

6 tries. that's the stat which counts today

Cheers Scotland, I really enjoyed watching that game. Wasn't expecting to, so was pleasantly surprised.

Chris Paterson is right, it is an 80 minute game and the work you do early on often pays off later on. Should have been 50+ with some half decent kicking, but Greg has done it for us in the past so we will let him off.

Most of the team put up their hands for next week, the exceptions probably being Kellock and Ford. Of the others on trial De Luca played well as did Denton, Seymour, Murray and Lamont. A couple of wild passes apart, Jacko did not have a bad game either.

Swinson a well deserved MoM but I thought Maitland had a very good game and was pretty close. Scott really came on in the second half as well.

All in all a pretty solid game. I particularly liked the way they came straight back after the 2 Japanese tries. In the past heads have gone down at those moments but not today. They certainly wanted it! I think SJ will be pretty pleased with that.

Only changes I'd make next week is Gray for Kellock and MacArthur for Ford.

tigertattie wrote:Only changes I'd make next week is Gray for Kellock and MacArthur for Ford.

Hard to argue with that. Though I would not be surprised if there are a few other tweaks, Barclay may play as well.

BigGee wrote:

tigertattie wrote:Only changes I'd make next week is Gray for Kellock and MacArthur for Ford.

Hard to argue with that. Though I would not be surprised if there are a few other tweaks, Barclay may play as well.

Agreed. The bench might change to make room for some of the rest of the squad.

Good to see Weir did well straight off too - he did that in 2012 for Scotland too. Makes you feel a bit more confident about the 10 jersey.

Quick thoughts:

Jackson was poor

Seymour did well in attack but fairly suspect in defence

Kellock - thanks for your efforts but enough is enough!

Maitland looks really good at 15


Team performance - good to get the tries but if we had been playing against a better team today we would have been pumped.

Ineffable wrote:

BigGee wrote:

tigertattie wrote:Only changes I'd make next week is Gray for Kellock and MacArthur for Ford.

Hard to argue with that. Though I would not be surprised if there are a few other tweaks, Barclay may play as well.

Agreed. The bench might change to make room for some of the rest of the squad.

Good to see Weir did well straight off too - he did that in 2012 for Scotland too. Makes you feel a bit more confident about the 10 jersey.

Will be losing the Rev as well given its a Sunday.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Quick thoughts:

Jackson was poor

Seymour did well in attack but fairly suspect in defence

Kellock - thanks for your efforts but enough is enough!

Maitland looks really good at 15


Team performance - good to get the tries but if we had been playing against a better team today we would have been pumped.

Thought Jackson had a mixed game rather than poor, did some decent things along with some not quite so decent.

Scott-12 & NDL did well together with Scott coming into the game more later on.
Schlong was very good, full of running and enthusiasm.
Swinson deserved his MOTM award.

Bit disappointed that a lad with one eye taped shut did so well against us, but all in all a decent performance to build on.

Jackson threw some shocking passes and his kicking was poor.

Weir just looks so much more composed at this level!

EWT Spoons wrote:
Thought Jackson had a mixed game rather than poor, did some decent things along with some not quite so decent.

I think a bit harsh to say poor as well. He threw a couple of wobbly passes early on, but also made both of Seymour's with great hands and almost put in De Luca for the try that never was. He also kicked well. Decent game I would say with a few glimpses of what he can do.

Weir isn't as effective in attack. Weir is consistently average. Jacko is wacko and runs hot and cold.

And I'll tell you something. I'm not looking forward to the SA game seeing them ripping Wales apart just now.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

Weir just looks so much more composed at this level!

Hard to judge on a cameo, the game was won when he came on. It would be good to see him get a start in one of the games.

I'm not basing it in this cameo - he's done well in the past, particularly during the 6n

tigertattie wrote:Only changes I'd make next week is Gray for Kellock and MacArthur for Ford.

Don't think Kellock did anything wrong, he does what he does, but if we are looking to the future I suppose it will be Gray in his place. As long as it isn't Hamilton, I don't mind.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I'm not basing it in this cameo - he's done well in the past, particularly during the 6n

Whilst I agree Weir did well, and has done for Scot in the past, v composed, I don't think Jackson did enough to merit being swapped out to him yet. It's a shame that SA are next b/c I'd like to see Weir v SA and Jackson v Aus, whereas I think we'll keep Jackson and bring Weir on for Aus.

Well that was the first time I have been able to watch Scotland without hiding behind the sofa. Always thought we had far too much for the Japanese.

It was proper bo (excellent) to see Matt Scott showing some serious intent. He is the real difference between Scotland today and 5 years ago. Thought Maitland, Swinson, and Jackson all looked in control like they had got their Christmas presents purchased and wrapped, plum puddings baked and cards sent. Nice.

Agreed on Seymour RDW, good in attack but he really was done by that Japanese 11 a couple of times.

My main thought was whether that Japanese 11 has enjoyed his time in Edinburgh. There's a professional (sort of) rugby team in Edinburgh who could use a winger with blistering pace and a deadly side step.

Swinson rightly MOTM. Must say I really enjoyed the game, and Japan played a huge part in that.

Too late. I called dibs on him for Glasgow

cakeordeath wrote:Too late. I called dibs on him for Glasgow

Ah but a devious plan has already been put into motion to kidnap him and give them Lee Jones in return. They'll never notice. Well, not until their first training session anyway

I can't see how Jackson was poor. A few dodgy passes earlier on but he came away from this match with a few try assists and a good all round game.

Scotland played deeper once weir came on because he stood back further. I think that Jackson should start next week then weir come on like today towards the end of the match.

Tommy Allan played for Italy today. That door is now shut. Interestingly it looks like he scored a try. He better not do that against Scotland in the spring......

My opinion on Jackson is based in what I saw at Murrayfield - granted I couldn't see the detail of his game that you get when watching on tv.

I just think an international 10 needs to have composure, consistency and the ability to run a game. I'm not saying Weir has that, just that he's impressed me more than Jackson.

Jackson did a lot of fancy miss passes which look good, but in reality it's just chucking the ball from touchline to touchline without tying in defenders or making meaningful gains - do that against SA and we'll get nowhere.

I maybe should watch it back, but I just wasn't impressed with him at all.

Also a man of his experience should not be throwing as many bad passes as he did. His pass for Seymour's 2nd try made up for those a little bit though!

Jackson also had a hand in Seymour's 1st try and Dickinson's, showing sharp hands on both occassions. Very harsh to say he had a bad game, his performance was mixed at worst. Weir offers us a nice contrast though, but i'm yet to be convinced by his attacking capabilities. He can sure hammer the leather off the ball, and he's a stuedy bloke in contact and defence, but Jackson can ignite a backline. It's close, and I agree that Weir was useful in the 6 Nations.

Jackson and Weir have completely different playing styles, Jackson can get the backline moving just as good as any other 10 out there and sometimes his unpredictability helps even more, Weir is solid in defence and can boot the ball from half way and kick the territory. Its good to have the two different styles depending on how the game is going.
Hopefully Heathcote if he gets more game time and working with the Scotland coaches can be a blend of both.

Too tired for any proper analysis just now. But very impressed by Japan yesterday, strong in the tackle & wonderful on the attack. That one eyed winger has wheels!
What impressed me most though was at the end when they came across to the East Stand & bowed to the crowd. A lovely & respectful touch that  

I'll post something up properly tomorrow

I actually thought Jackson had a good game, and I am one of his more vocal critics. This season he seems to be reducing the "wacko Jacko" moments. There will still a few on show today, the pass to nobody was the most obvious, but I thought on the whole he was good, with his quick hands setting up three (?) scores?

What I really enjoyed about todays performance was Matt Scott stepping in as first receiver. He runs fantastic lines, and gets over the gain line more often than not, but if we can see him alternate that with stepping in as an auxiliary ten, it will give our attack a whole new dimension.

I do agree with Matt Scott looking good when he came in at 1st receiver. It's something Glasgow did very well last season. I remember watching Glasgow vs Munster at scotstoun and Jackson along with Pete Horne and Stuart Hogg all stepped in at 1st receiver so at any given time there was always a creative player able to spark something.