6N 2017 : Scotland vs Italy Murrayfield Edinburgh "THE BACKLASH?"

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ITALY VS SCOTLAND

Date: Saturday 18th March
Venue: Murrayfield Edinburgh
Kick Off: 12h30
Referee:  Pascal Gauzere (France)
TV Coverage: Live on BBC

Scotland and Italy will get proceedings underway on the final weekend of the 2017 Six Nations Championship when they meet at the BT Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday 18th March.

Scotland ended a run of nine straight Six Nations defeats when they beat Italy 36-20 in the 2016 Championship.

Scotland and Italy have contested a total of 26 rugby test matches since their first meeting in 1996. Scotland have won 18 of those matches, whilst Italy have won 8 matches.

Teams

Scotland

TBC

Italy

TBC

BP win and 0 points to Italy - I'll take that!

Well done Scotland. Not a great performance but did what they had to do. Great job done by Cotter, he has certainly given Scotland more direction and ability to finish off their chances.

Good response to last week from Scotland, good tournament overall.

Got to say though Italy are terrible and seem to be going nowhere. Maybe it's time to look at promotion and relegation in the 6N?

I still can't work out how Italy failed to score when they had that period of about 10 mins bashing away at the Scottish line ...

Italy were guff - their worst performance of the tournament.

Fingers crossed for Scotland finishing 2nd now

Vern crying - don't go!!!!

Italy finishes with zero wins, zero (bonus) points and zero points in their last game. Has to be their worst ever 6N?

RDW_Scotland wrote:Vern crying - don't go!!!!

So much this

cakeordeath wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Vern crying - don't go!!!!

So much this

Come to Ireland Vern

eirebilly wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Vern crying - don't go!!!!

So much this

Come to Ireland Vern

Spoke to Vern he said no, and not to bother him again.

cakeordeath wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Vern crying - don't go!!!!

So much this

Come to Ireland Vern

Spoke to Vern he said no, and not to bother him again.

Bugger

Workman like performance. Bonus point and kept Italy off the score sheet. Hogg with a very impressive defensive display. Nailed on lions 15 now!

According to John inverdale, if Wales hasn't lost to England and Scotland they'd be chasing the grand slam

Wow. Just wow

He's such a plank ...

I don't understand how the BBC keep employing him. We all hear what he say's don't they?

Sky are as bad with Barnes

RiscaGame wrote:Job done to be fair Geordie. Yes the game is pretty boring, but it's a very professional performance.
Think if that idiot winger hadn't butchered two tries and the ten had kicked his pens, maybe 29-16 would be a fairer score line, but as I said Scotland have done all they've had to.

Very true Risca and bar Irelands victory no Italy game has been pretty

Vern getting all choked up nearly got me going. So sad to see him leaving!

Farking Welsh. We'd be second in the table if they hadn't conceded that last minute score.

Well have to say we had a really good day out at Murray field. It was not a classic but the weather was sh1t and let's not forget that we lost to Italy last time at home and. ost recent games have been close. A bonus point win and a nil for them is more than enough to keep me happy.

So who said Hoggy can't defend? He had a good game today as did FR, who showed that he can control a game and probably put himself back in the Lions frame. He is a cool customer no doubt and can put a bad game out of his head as well as any player. We should remember as well that at the beginning of the tournament we thought he was not an international class kicker. well he kicked excellently again today and has as good stats as anyone, probably better than most, of all the tournament kickers. That should not stop him being picked.

Other players who I thought stood out included Zander again, who was immense in the loose and funnily enough Grant Gilchrist. Very lucky to be on the field and yet showed a lot more than he seems to have for Edinburgh this year. He owed VC one for picking him and he repaid.

Their was a bit of a carnival atmosphere in the stadium and at no point were we ever going to lose. Even the Italians seemed to realise that and obliged by even missing their easy kicks. I don't really approve of Mexican waves during matches but by then the only question was whether we would get a bonus point or not and I never really doubted that we would not. The last try was the pick of the bunch, patient and great skill by Hoggy toget Seymour away in the end.

It was really good in the end as well that so many people stayed behind to applaud the team on a lap of honour and to say goodbye to Vern. The fans do appreciate the great improvements that we have made in his tenure and we are going to miss what he has brought. Toonie has a lot to live up to but I feel confident. A lot of these guys are his players and he knows what makes them tick. They will play for him just as they have done for Vern.

We have quite enjoyed our weekend in Edinburgh as well. I don't usually stay in Edinburgh, it being family policy to get back on the train to Glasgow ASAP! Still I have to say it has not dissapointed, apart from the weather, we walked up Calton Hill this morning and could hardly see the bottom. Still we went to the National Gallery yesterday and saw the Monarch of the Glen on the day it was saved for the nation and we are going to the National Museum of Scotland before flying home tomorrow.

The trams though. Great for the airport hop but a nightmare for going to the game. We gave ourselves an hour and a half to get to ground from Princess St and only got there with 10 mins to spare. They were all rammed and really slow. Eventually had to tuck the wife under my arm and just crash into an already full tram. A tactic lots of others were using as well. It was worse than anything I ever experienced on the tube.

When we got to Murray field, each tram took over 5 mins to unload, which probably is the cause of all the delays. Everyone has to walk over the tracks in front of the tram before they will release it from the platform, letting the next one come in. Another overlooked design flaw!

We decided to walk back into town!

cakeordeath wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

cakeordeath wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Vern crying - don't go!!!!

So much this

Come to Ireland Vern

Spoke to Vern he said no, and not to bother him again.

Vern who?

My player ratings:

Reid - 7

Strong scrummaging was a welcome bonus - hitting Italy hard where they would have expected the upper hand

Ford - 7

Strong scrummaging as per Reid and played his part in a strong pack performance

Fagerson 8

Another big game in the loose and for the first time had the upper hand in scrums. His apprenticeship is surely over - he's going to be a top tighthead for many years to come.

Gilchrist - 7

One knock on aside he actually did pretty well - always willing to carry and a few lineout steals

Gray - 7

His usual self - we need him to really start dominating games however, to be picky

Barclay - 7

Yellow was harsh IMO but played his part in a solid pack performance

Watson - 7

Always willing to carry and always makes ground - the 7 shirt is his now to lose.

Wilson - 6

Didn't last long and it looked like he wasn't really fit to play in the first place.

Price - 6

His passing was been very loopy of late but had a fairly solid game - he will have learnt a lot this 6N.

Russell - 8

The 3 games we've won he played very well, the 2 games we've lost he's played badly - .says all we need to know. His goal kicking was been a welcome surprise.

Visser - 7

Another great high ball take and well taken try - we're lucky to have such good wing options.

Dunbar - 8

A very good performance after a nightmare last week - huge in defence and gave us great go forward

Jones/Scott - 7.

Jones was very dangerous before he tripped over his own feet and injured himself! Scott did what we expected - very physical and direct. We're very lucky to have so much depth.

6 Seymour

Relatively quiet game to end a relatively quiet 6N

Hogg - 8

Just class, and showed some welcome defensive strengths.

whocares wrote:Italy finishes with zero wins, zero (bonus) points and zero points in their last game. Has to be their worst ever 6N?

All other sides have relatively improved though. Italy were just unfortunately caught out being the same. Add the incentive of the try points system and you can see why Italy might have suffered that bit more this season. I think the new rules were always going to pressure Italy more than other sides. Where once sides might have been happy to win depending on their position in the Championship etc, now they need to hunt down those important tries. So Italy don't get as much leisure to have some purple patch moments of attack.  

The new rules make all sides more resolute in attack and unmerciful. Italy, in O'Shea's first term, just don't have the ammo yet to have been ready for that extra pressure.

When was the last time Italy or anyone were nilled in the six nations? Has it ever happened?

Think France are the only other side to have ever done it.

GunsGermsV2 wrote:When was the last time Italy or anyone were nilled in the six nations? Has it ever happened?

Think France are the only other side to have ever done it.

Two recent ones that I can think of.

France beat Italy 29-0 in 2015.

England beat Scotland 20-0 in 2014.

I'd argue a bit with your numbers. Gilcrest 4. As usual gave away a load of stupid pens and did nothing much with the ball. I just don't understand what anyone sees in him. He is just a penalty machine

Cyril wrote:

GunsGermsV2 wrote:When was the last time Italy or anyone were nilled in the six nations? Has it ever happened?

Think France are the only other side to have ever done it.

Two recent ones that I can think of.

France beat Italy 29-0 in 2015.

England beat Scotland 20-0 in 2014.

It hasnt happened very often. England have never nilled Italy.

GunsGermsV2 wrote:

Cyril wrote:

GunsGermsV2 wrote:When was the last time Italy or anyone were nilled in the six nations? Has it ever happened?

Think France are the only other side to have ever done it.

Two recent ones that I can think of.

France beat Italy 29-0 in 2015.

England beat Scotland 20-0 in 2014.

It hasnt happened very often. England have never nilled Italy.

It's nice of you to say, but they've never lost to Italy either.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

It's nice of you to say, but they've never lost to Italy either.

One day it'll happen. Most earthlings might be living on mars by then, but one day....................

GunsGermsV2 wrote:

Cyril wrote:

GunsGermsV2 wrote:When was the last time Italy or anyone were nilled in the six nations? Has it ever happened?

Think France are the only other side to have ever done it.

Two recent ones that I can think of.

France beat Italy 29-0 in 2015.

England beat Scotland 20-0 in 2014.

It hasnt happened very often. England have never nilled Italy.

Have Wales and Ireland?

Can we just keep a picture of Karen Gillen on our threads at all times?

TJ wrote:I'd argue a bit with your numbers.  Gilcrest 4.  As usual gave away a load of stupid pens and did nothing much with the ball.  I just don't understand what anyone sees in him.  He is just a penalty machine

Gilchrist was good by his usual usual standards, but by normal standards he was poor. He gave away too many silly penalties, the 2 from the line out on our 5m line spring to mind.

Also we need to learn to defend mauls. What exactly is our forwards coach doing, we have been destroyed up front this campaign.

I suspect that Gilchrist just signed his test rugby death warrant with that performance.

Ben Toolis is much more Toonie's style of player and surely now deserves his chance. Gilchrist is currently competing against two current Glasgow players (Jonny, Tiny Tim) and one ex-Glasgow player (Richie). It doesn't look good for him.

Gilchrist is neither as powerful as the likes of Donnacha Ryan or Courtney Lawes, as mobile as Saint Maro of Itoje, as hard working as Joe Launchbury, as specialist as Devin Toner, as technically accomplished as George Kruis or as Welsh/handsome/legendary/world class (delete according to personal taste) as Alun Wynn Jones. Quite difficult to understand what he's for. Being a big soft lump at lock is not enough any more.

George Carlin wrote:Can we just keep a picture of Karen Gillen on our threads at all times?

I whole heartedly endorse this proposal