Wales v Scotland 6 Nations Championship Saturday 12 February 2022

First topic message reminder :

Wales v Scotland
6 nations Championship

Principality Stadium
Cardiff

Saturday 12 February
KO 14.15


Well round 2 comes around quickly enough.

On the basis of the first round matches this is a match for Scotland to push on and prove that they are genuine contenders and not just a team that can beat any team on their day. For wales, who did not have such a good start to the tournament, it is a chance to salvage their season and gain some kind of redemption, their fixtures don't get any easier in the next couple of rounds and they may really be up against things if they lose this one.

On paper this could/should be a win for Scotland but we still don't really know how well this team will cope with the mantle of being favourites, especially in a stadium that has been a grave yard for them for a long long time and where we have fallen short on expectations on many a previous visit.

We will certainly see a different Welsh team this weekend as well. They won't have found that performance and result against Ireland, albeit was an extremely professional performance from the men in green, in any shape or form. The players and the public will demand a lot better at home.

So, as usual, another intriguing encounter coming up, which may well define the seasons of both teams.

I think we will see a Scotland team something like this:


1, Schoeman - probably the better of our 2 LHs against England
2. Turner
3. Fagerson Z
4. Gilchrist
5. Skinner
6. Bradbury
7. Watson
8. Fagerson M
9. Price
10. Russell
11. DVDM
12, Redpath - time to bring him in
13. Harris
14. Graham
15. Hogg


Subs:

Sutherland
McInally
Nel
Gray
Darge
White
Kinghorn
Tuipolotu

Oof thats an abrasive XXiii. Good to see Redpath on the bench, big game for Tuiloptu at 12. I thought Johnson might get dropped this week, he was a bit quiet against England albeit doing nothing wrong.

I suspect coaches are expecting a physical battle with Wales and want to have a side who can dominate more than last weekend. Having two excellent scrummagers starting may be the coaches thinking they can win an advantage at scrum time. I missed Ireland vs France so don’t know how well Wales scrummaged. Having scrum dominance would be a huge win for Scotland gaining the territory they need to attack more often. But it was really encouraging to see Scotland get two trys from limited opportunities last weekend. That was what I hated about Gatland’s Wales. They always seemed to find a way to score even if they appeared to not be playing very well. It feels weird as a Scotland fan to have a team that is capable of such victories now.

RiscaGame wrote:Wales: Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Owen Watkin, Nick Tompkins, Louis Rees-Zammit; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Will Rowlands, Adam Beard, Taine Basham, Jac Morgan, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Aaron Wainwright, Gareth Davies, Callum Sheedy, Jonathan Davies.

Apart from Cuthbert, who I don't think has shown the form at club level to deserve his squad place, I quite like the team. I know that many do not like Watkin, but for me he's our strongest defender in the backs, and we've always had that in our centres when we've been successful (Shanklin, Roberts, Davies before he started to slow)

Agree Chris, that we had to have a stronger defender there (well a natural centre anyway). As I've said, I don't think it was Pivac's intent though. For me it would be Watkin as he has done, or he would have had to play Davies at 12. Watkin is a better option currently.

I am right too. Adams has been ruled out.

RiscaGame wrote:I suspect Adams is injured there, otherwise he surely wouldn't be dropped completely. Otherwise the team suggested was bang on.

'tight calf'

Watkin is poor for Ospreys at 12 and worse at 13. Still no James Ratti, despite the fact he is a good carrier.

Tramptastic wrote:teams oot:

15. Stuart Hogg - Exeter Chiefs - (Captain) - 89 caps

14. Darcy Graham - Edinburgh Rugby - 23 caps

13. Chris Harris – Gloucester Rugby - 32 caps

12. Sione Tuipulotu - Glasgow Warriors - 2 caps

11. Duhan van der Merwe - Worcester Warriors - 14 caps

10. Finn Russell – Racing 92 - (Vice-Captain) - 59 caps

9. Ali Price – Glasgow Warriors - 47 caps



1. Pierre Schoeman - Edinburgh Rugby - 5 caps

2. Stuart McInally - Edinburgh Rugby - 44 caps

3. WP Nel - Edinburgh Rugby - 44 caps

4. Jonny Gray – Exeter Chiefs – 65 caps

5. Grant Gilchrist - Edinburgh Rugby - (Vice-Captain) - 49 caps

6. Sam Skinner - Exeter Chiefs - 16 caps

7. Hamish Watson - Edinburgh Rugby - 46 caps

8. Matt Fagerson - Glasgow Warriors - 18 caps



Replacements

16. George Turner - Glasgow Warriors - 21 caps

17. Rory Sutherland - Worcester Warriors - 17 caps

18. Zander Fagerson - Glasgow Warriors - 43 caps

19. Magnus Bradbury - Edinburgh Rugby - 15 caps

20. Rory Darge – Glasgow Warriors - Uncapped

21. Ben White - London Irish – 1 cap

22. Blair Kinghorn - Edinburgh Rugby - 28 caps

23. Cameron Redpath - Bath Rugby – 1 cap

Oooft, I really like the look of that team - looks really solid and lots of impact off the bench. Can't wait for Darge to be unleashed, he has been absolutely superb this season and deserves this shot.

I like that Scotland team.

Gone for the reverse ferret with the front row, strongest scrumagerrs on first. More mobility later. In truth there is very little in between our front rows these days.

Skinner can fill into the second row if required, he has an 80 minute engine and the being on a jackle and a carrier later on.

It will be good to see what damage Sione can do from 12 early on, he will test the Welsh defence and then hopefully Rrdpath can stretch it when he appears.

Can't wait for this game

Slightly worried if we get a 2nd row injury. Skinner can move over but come the 70min mark we’d have two very tired locks on the pitch.

Backs look handy though. Hopefully he who smiles has another good game and is able to deploy some fire power around the fringes.

I keep saying it, bearding England is great, but if we don’t back it up with another win here it will ultimately mean hee haw.

Ps, so glad that Edinburgh can continue to be relied on for decent forwards

chris_501 wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Wales: Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Owen Watkin, Nick Tompkins, Louis Rees-Zammit; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Will Rowlands, Adam Beard, Taine Basham, Jac Morgan, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Aaron Wainwright, Gareth Davies, Callum Sheedy, Jonathan Davies.

Apart from Cuthbert, who I don't think has shown the form at club level to deserve his squad place, I quite like the team. I know that many do not like Watkin, but for me he's our strongest defender in the backs, and we've always had that in our centres when we've been successful (Shanklin, Roberts, Davies before he started to slow)

Did you see Watkin in this fixture last year? Did you watch him against Sale? He couldn't defend in either.

Unless McNicholl's injured, it seems interesting to look at Finn Russell's kicking against England and choose to draft in Cuthbert. He's tall I guess, that's in his favour.

Speaking of height, our back row's not the tallest, which won't help an already fallible lineout.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Speaking of height, our back row's not the tallest, which won't help an already fallible lineout.

Might be why Toonie has picked 3 locks to start, with the intent to attempt to attack the set piece

Expect Scotland to put a lot of boot to ball on saturday!

mikey_dragon wrote:

chris_501 wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Wales: Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Owen Watkin, Nick Tompkins, Louis Rees-Zammit; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Will Rowlands, Adam Beard, Taine Basham, Jac Morgan, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Aaron Wainwright, Gareth Davies, Callum Sheedy, Jonathan Davies.

Apart from Cuthbert, who I don't think has shown the form at club level to deserve his squad place, I quite like the team. I know that many do not like Watkin, but for me he's our strongest defender in the backs, and we've always had that in our centres when we've been successful (Shanklin, Roberts, Davies before he started to slow)

Did you see Watkin in this fixture last year? Did you watch him against Sale? He couldn't defend in either.

I don’t remember him being bad against Scotland last year, wasn’t it him who tap tackled DVDM? Every time I’ve seen him he’s looked more physical in defence than Halaholo, Tompkins or Adams.

Quite an unexpected turn of events. Swap out the front rows, start three locks and change the inside centre. It is weird, but I am feeling confident for Saturday after seeing the line-ups.

Wales have a big front five and a jackling back row so I would usually think they want to secure set piece and get penalties. No real carriers in the centres either to help a Moriarty out. I expect Wales to put the most emphasis on territory and trying to either kick penalties or get it in the 22 to maul or get wide quick to Rees-Zammit and hope he does something.

Scotland have picked arguably our strongest scrum with Skinner providing height for the line-out and bulk around the park. If Wales have issues at line-outs and want to attack with mauls, Skinner is probably the best we can do to deny that. We have plenty of carriers across the pitch so I would not be surprised if we try to control possession around halfway, use our size to put Wales on the backfoot and get the ball out around the Welsh 22 and test out Elias' throwing.

So Wales by 5 after a red card to J Gray for punching someone.

Wales playing what I understand are two specialist opensides and if we see Darge and the Mish on the field at the same time, the breakdown could become the proverbial swamp of madness.

Don't even remember seeing Owen Watkin before. What can we expect from him? Strengths and weaknesses?

One strength is that he's actually a centre!

George Carlin wrote:Wales playing what I understand are two specialist opensides and if we see Darge and the Mish on the field at the same time, the breakdown could become the proverbial swamp of madness.

Don't even remember seeing Owen Watkin before. What can we expect from him? Strengths and weaknesses?

You didn't watch last years match at Murrayfield then? He ankle tapped VDM in the closing stages...

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Speaking of height, our back row's not the tallest, which won't help an already fallible lineout.

It won't, but then I also think that we could have five 10ft forwards and the Scottish line out would still fancy a crack at our throwers.

Oakdene wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Wales playing what I understand are two specialist opensides and if we see Darge and the Mish on the field at the same time, the breakdown could become the proverbial swamp of madness.

Don't even remember seeing Owen Watkin before. What can we expect from him? Strengths and weaknesses?

You didn't watch last years match at Murrayfield then? He ankle tapped VDM in the closing stages...

Nope, I didn't. One of the reasons that I maintain borderline acceptable mental health today.

chris_501 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

chris_501 wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Wales: Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Owen Watkin, Nick Tompkins, Louis Rees-Zammit; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Will Rowlands, Adam Beard, Taine Basham, Jac Morgan, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Aaron Wainwright, Gareth Davies, Callum Sheedy, Jonathan Davies.

Apart from Cuthbert, who I don't think has shown the form at club level to deserve his squad place, I quite like the team. I know that many do not like Watkin, but for me he's our strongest defender in the backs, and we've always had that in our centres when we've been successful (Shanklin, Roberts, Davies before he started to slow)

Did you see Watkin in this fixture last year? Did you watch him against Sale? He couldn't defend in either.

I don’t remember him being bad against Scotland last year, wasn’t it him who tap tackled DVDM? Every time I’ve seen him he’s looked more physical in defence than Halaholo, Tompkins or Adams.

You might want to go back and look at it then.

An ankle tap, really? If there was ever straw-clutching.

There is no doubting that Watkin was good when he burst onto the scene but that hasn’t been the case for a while. When he burst onto the scene, Steve Tandy was still Ospreys coach, so quite a while ago now…

RiscaGame wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Speaking of height, our back row's not the tallest, which won't help an already fallible lineout.

It won't, but then I also think that we could have five 10ft forwards and the Scottish line out would still fancy a crack at our throwers.

Alas do not fear as out line outs have been a bit suspect for a while now also.

That being said, we do now have 3 locks in the starting 15

mikey_dragon wrote:

chris_501 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

chris_501 wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Wales: Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Owen Watkin, Nick Tompkins, Louis Rees-Zammit; Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Will Rowlands, Adam Beard, Taine Basham, Jac Morgan, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Aaron Wainwright, Gareth Davies, Callum Sheedy, Jonathan Davies.

Apart from Cuthbert, who I don't think has shown the form at club level to deserve his squad place, I quite like the team. I know that many do not like Watkin, but for me he's our strongest defender in the backs, and we've always had that in our centres when we've been successful (Shanklin, Roberts, Davies before he started to slow)

Did you see Watkin in this fixture last year? Did you watch him against Sale? He couldn't defend in either.

I don’t remember him being bad against Scotland last year, wasn’t it him who tap tackled DVDM? Every time I’ve seen him he’s looked more physical in defence than Halaholo, Tompkins or Adams.

You might want to go back and look at it then.

An ankle tap, really? If there was ever straw-clutching.

There is no doubting that Watkin was good when he burst onto the scene but that hasn’t been the case for a while. When he burst onto the scene, Steve Tandy was still Ospreys coach, so quite a while ago now…

I guess we’ll see come Saturday. I’m happier him being at 13 than Adams.

The Tombola is back from the dead!

There's some clear themes from this selection. We've picked the biggest, meatiest, most physical team to start to weather the Welsh backlash. We've then got an incredibly dynamic bench to keep the tempo high later in the game.

Will it work? Who knows.

I've never been a huge fan of Skinner at 6 at international level as I just don't think he's dynamic enough, and that's a Wales backrow full of poachers (which he is not). The issue with Darge coming on is it will likely mean Watson coming off, and Hamish has made some key interventions for us in the 79th minute in recent years!

Btw do we now have our own version of the bomb squad with those two front rows? I can't see them being subbed on 39 minutes like SA but can see a full front row replacement at the same time last last week.

BBC Wales wrote:Cuthbert, who joined Ospreys from Exeter in the summer of 2021, will play his 50th international when he wins his 49th Wales cap to go alongside one Lions test appearance against Australia in 2013.

It will be his first Six Nations game in five years with his last tournament display coming against England in a 21-16 defeat in Cardiff in 2017.

The 31-year-old returned from the wilderness with a try-scoring appearance against Fiji in November 2021, but was not considered last weekend because of injury.

"He's big, strong and quick and a very good finisher, as we saw against Fiji," added Pivac.

"Hopefully, we get the ball in his hands a little bit more than we did last week."

That's right Wayne. Cuthbert didn't get the ball in his hands at all last week....

RDW wrote:The Tombola is back from the dead!

There's some clear themes from this selection. We've picked the biggest, meatiest, most physical team to start to weather the Welsh backlash. We've then got an incredibly dynamic bench to keep the tempo high later in the game.

Will it work? Who knows.

I've never been a huge fan of Skinner at 6 at international level as I just don't think he's dynamic enough, and that's a Wales backrow full of poachers (which he is not). The issue with Darge coming on is it will likely mean Watson coming off, and Hamish has made some key interventions for us in the 79th minute in recent years!

Btw do we now have our own version of the bomb squad with those two front rows? I can't see them being subbed on 39 minutes like SA but can see a full front row replacement at the same time last last week.

I’m hoping that skinner has been told as he’s at 6 to run himself into the ground and skinner will come off at the 60 and Darge goes in at 6. Apparently he has played at 8 a lot in his younger years so Darge could even go to 8 and MF (MOTM, really?) could move over to 6.

Alternatively skinner could move to the row if JG needs a breather instead of skinner

Either way, unless watson is injured, he needs to stay on for the full 80.

tigertattie wrote:

RDW wrote:The Tombola is back from the dead!

There's some clear themes from this selection. We've picked the biggest, meatiest, most physical team to start to weather the Welsh backlash. We've then got an incredibly dynamic bench to keep the tempo high later in the game.

Will it work? Who knows.

I've never been a huge fan of Skinner at 6 at international level as I just don't think he's dynamic enough, and that's a Wales backrow full of poachers (which he is not). The issue with Darge coming on is it will likely mean Watson coming off, and Hamish has made some key interventions for us in the 79th minute in recent years!

Btw do we now have our own version of the bomb squad with those two front rows? I can't see them being subbed on 39 minutes like SA but can see a full front row replacement at the same time last last week.

I’m hoping that skinner has been told as he’s at 6 to run himself into the ground and skinner will come off at the 60 and Darge goes in at 6. Apparently he has played at 8 a lot in his younger years so Darge could even go to 8 and MF (MOTM, really?) could move over to 6.

Alternatively skinner could move to the row if JG needs a breather instead of skinner

Either way, unless watson is injured, he needs to stay on for the full 80.

Darcy got robbed! An assist and match winning turnover surely deserved MOTM.

Ritchie will be missed as a link between the backs and forwards. He’s always getting his hands on the ball and distributing to the backline via set piece. Others can do it too obviously but it’s one of my favourite attributes of Ritchie.

I’m feeling confident about this one which is not good. But I don’t think last weekends scoreline for Wales has any relevance at all on how this match will go. If Scotland had a big winning margin I would be hugely surprised. Another 20-17 win would be fantastic please.

I will be honest, I didn't think I would see the day that Scotland would be favourites for a game in Cardiff. I don't think many teams should be outsiders for their home games to be honest. Shows how low Wales' stock currently is.

We can't even call Scotland 'dark horses' any more.

This is real test of the mentality of this Scottish team now.

We have beaten big teams. Home and away recently. But in none of them were we clearly being labelled as favourites in the way we are now.

It is not something we can deflect this time either, so we have to embrace it. This is a major step jn us moving from a decent to s good team.

For Scottish fans, we have not been in the position fir a long long time and as you can see from the comments here, we are uneasy about it.

Fortunately the players seem to be a lot more switched on than we are!

Whatevef the result. It is going to be a very nervy 80 mins on saturday!

I'm riding the inevitable rollercoaster of being a Welsh fan & have already passed the "there is no way we will win" along with "I think it will be close" & have arrived at "We might just sneak this"....

mikey_dragon wrote:We can't even call Scotland 'dark horses' any more.

You could for old times sake... "member when Scotland were terrible at rugby and kind of still are but nobody knows for sure? yeh, member Dan Parks and Nick de Luca and Geoff Cross and Marcus di Rollo and Nick Dewey? Yeh, member..."

*Rob Dewey

Dan Parkes?
Did he not retire from international rugby? was it after a 6natuions or a rugby world cup?

Oakdene wrote:I'm riding the inevitable rollercoaster of being a Welsh Scottish fan & have already passed the "there is no way we will win" along with "I think it will be close" & have arrived at "We might just sneak this"....

The best posts are the recyclable ones. Rather like tigertattie's jokes.

I think Scotland are on the verge of something ....7 wins away from home in the first 20 years on the 6 Nations; and 5 of them in Rome A win today and it's five away wins IN A ROW

Can't happen.
Won't happen.
Never happen.

You know I think it might just be our day.

Right, I’m off to the pub! It’s been a while since I’ve felt this pre-match anxiety and feeling a bit sick and on edge! Covid stopped that last year. But it’s back with a vengeance! I’ve been pacing all morning and finding small jobs to do to keep my mind occupied.

Good luck everyone. Remember, no matter what happens rugby is still the best sport on the planet (notable mentions to Kabaddi and women’s beach volleyball)

As a neutral I'm really looking forwards to this match - despite Wales performance last week I think it could be a cracker ...

Think we will see Wales go full nuclear in the first twenty mins. If Scotland can hold on and not lose contact then they will sneak the win. If not and Wales get a ten point gap the crowd will push Wales along, then it could be another long afternoon for Scotland.
Scotland by ten. (The optimist)
Wales by 15. ( the pessimist)
Someone by there ( the realist)

Oracle, I've just picked herself up from the hairdressers and shocked her by suggesting a little lunch before going home. It would have filled an hour and got me brownie points before sitting in front of the box. Sadly, we couldn't get parked and had to return home.
Let's hope that's not the only result I'm celebrating today.
Will your shambles of a side (it's like my local club's thirds, "Yes I know you haven't played wing at this level for 5 years but you're not busy on Saturday are you?") against our side which is on step 128 of Toonie's masterplan.

Who knows how the dice will land.

Heuer27 wrote:Think we will see Wales go full nuclear in the first twenty mins. If Scotland can hold on and not lose contact then they will sneak the win. If not and Wales get a ten point gap the crowd will push Wales along, then it could be another long afternoon for Scotland.
Scotland by ten. (The optimist)
Wales by 15. ( the pessimist)
Someone by there ( the realist)

I think the crowd will have a big impact if Scotland are not on their game. It's a cauldron of noise at the Millenium stadium unlike Murrayfield that can be pretty quiet unless Scotland are on the ascendency. I'd like to think Scotland have the better side, the run of form but I can't agree with that thought process. Too many bad results in Cardiff, too many controversial moments and too much heartbreak.

This will be an interesting game, form says Scotland should win, but Wales have to put in some sort of performance after last week and they are at home, so think they may just have enough to scrape over the line.

Part of me wants Scotland to win just to see how a few vocal minority Twitter fans will find a way to blame the Irish.

jimbopip wrote:

Oakdene wrote:I'm riding the inevitable rollercoaster of being a Welsh Scottish fan & have already passed the "there is no way we will win" along with "I think it will be close" & have arrived at "We might just sneak this"....

The best posts are the recyclable ones. Rather like tigertattie's jokes.  

I think Scotland are on the verge of something ....7 wins away from home in the first 20 years on the 6 Nations; and 5 of them in Rome A win today and it's five away wins IN A ROW

Can't happen.
Won't happen.
Never happen.

You know I think it might just be our day.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Don’t mention the war. Scotland on the verge of something.

Oh dear god it’s the hope that gets you

Well. That was breathless

And yes, was a great run by MF

Odd decision. It's a pen on 2 accounts!

Hoggy got away with one there!

Very lucky boy!

How can that not be deliberate - why are SH refs so poor? Plus the offside afterwards too. Hogg should be having a sit down for 10 mins.

Well Wales deserved that penalty

Bit of waste having the best ref as a linesman.

I thought he'd retired from internationals?