do scotland deserve to be winning?

do scotland deserve to winning more games than they do?

where do you think they deserve to be in the world rankings,

Why, do you think they don't deserve to win more games than they are?

I see where this is going but Scotland will win the games they deserve to win. They are close but they just need that hard bitten edge to close a game out. That will come.

i do think they deserve to but as a scotland fan i would,

i just think scotland have played some really impressive rugby but stupid errors usually cause us to slip up,

i still think our deffense is rubbish, the forwards are good but the backs are very weak, eg fofana's try i counted 3 that should have still taken him out and that was a second mistake after laidlaw got thrown off, lee jones missed tackle casued the other try.

they have done it for years now but they do something good, like score they seem to back off again and then eventually left chasing the game.

last week they stormed off into a 10nil lead and i dont think they should have looked back but they eased off, arguably the injuries interupted momentum took it away but to me i feel that should fire them up even more, im left frustrated and confused at what to think this year

Performances have improved but I can't say that we deserved to beat Wales or France, both are better sides with better players.

I think our performance deserved more against England, but the fact remains we lost.

I don't think we deserve to win if we can't win when the game is there to be taken and we don't take it. I can safely say we've not deserved to win a game this Six Nations, the pity vote shouldn't be allowed for Scotland, as it gives the players the wrong attitude, these guys have won at club level, if they can't transfer it to the international stage then they shouldn't be lauded as brave losers, there should be questions about Scotland as a functional unit. I feel there's too much of the "unlucky" tag right now. In rugby you create your own luck by getting the upper hand and exploiting the opposition, something which Scotland have failed to do DESPITE possession stats etc. We need something truly special for this side to click but they don't deserve to win right now!

NeilyBroon wrote:I don't think we deserve to win if we can't win when the game is there to be taken and we don't take it. I can safely say we've not deserved to win a game this Six Nations, the pity vote shouldn't be allowed for Scotland, as it gives the players the wrong attitude, these guys have won at club level, if they can't transfer it to the international stage then they shouldn't be lauded as brave losers, there should be questions about Scotland as a functional unit. I feel there's too much of the "unlucky" tag right now. In rugby you create your own luck by getting the upper hand and exploiting the opposition, something which Scotland have failed to do DESPITE possession stats etc. We need something truly special for this side to click but they don't deserve to win right now!

+1

agree with you Neily! The last two 6 nations for me we have not been worthy of an unlucky losers tag. We're not closing out games despite creating good chances to do so.

Look at France vs Ireland, 17 all. Ireland took two great chances and got as many points as we did against France. They even did all their scoring in the 1st half and never scored again. They were very tight as a team and despite several errors they stayed composed!

I still think we lack a lot of composure and proper support for break away runners, as well as that gritty determination that wins games.

You could see the determination in the French team as they battled again and again to get into a drop goal position against Ireland. They really wanted that game. That should have been what we were doing in the dying stages against France, but the players looked spent. It was as if they'd forgotten that there was still time to win the game.

We also need to stop giving away 7 points immediately after we score a try or a drop goal. There needs to be an increased degree of focus after we score, even if only for ten minutes or so. Collect the restart and really put the pressure on the opposition again, nothing fancy, no loose passes that provides opportunity for a counter attack. Just a few phases and a good kick into touch, then put the pressure on defensively in the oppositions half, force them to kick the ball away into touch. By letting that clock tick down any thoughts the opposition might have had about revenging that try or drop goal will seep away.

I think we have deserved to lose all our games so far. We had our chances in all three games but managed to blow them all. However, certain players are getting better with each performance which is very encouraging. Hopefully this trend will continue and we'll come away with a win in ireland.

poddy89 wrote:do scotland deserve to winning more games than they do?

where do you think they deserve to be in the world rankings,

In short yes. Very unlucky against the English, and pushed us hard with 15. Not sure what happened against France but they fell apart in the last 15 especially in the scrum. I think they could give Ireland a very tough afternoon, especially at the breakdown where Rennie has been fantastic. It could be quite reasonably argued that he is in front of Warburton on form.

Scotland have not really lost out on any games where they could claim a poor reffing decision cost them the game. So going by that they don't deserve to be winning more games.

That said they have been playing better than their current position in the 6Ns (and world rankings) would imply. I do think that if they had beaten England in the openning match of the tournament they may well have had the confidence in themselves and been able to have pushed on further. Hopefully when they manage to get that first win they will, but I have a feeling that the win will be against Italy in the last game, which doesn't really help as then it won't be until the summer when they play again which doesn't really give them any momentum.

Not sure that 'deserve' is quite the right word - at the moment (as the stats for the 3 games posted elsewhere show), Scotland are playing well up to about the attacking 22, but have struggled to capitalise on the opportunities they have created - butchered a couple of good chances against England and competed hard against Wales but never really looked like winning the game because of not taking their chances.

Some positives from the France game (in executing moves that led to tries), but although they established a lead, they were unable to maintain the level and close out the match. As others have already pointed out, while Laidlaw may be getting the attack going better (helped by the introduction of Hogg and Jones), his one on one defending is inadequate and a couple of French scores came from players running over / through him.

As such, I don't think they 'deserve' better results, but have been close to taking them - the main point is that there is not much of a gap in quality between the 6Ns sides, and the deciding factor in most games has been the taking or spurning of one or two chances. Scotland (and England v Wales) have lost because of the failure to take these half chances.

dummy_half wrote:Not sure that 'deserve' is quite the right word - at the moment (as the stats for the 3 games posted elsewhere show), Scotland are playing well up to about the attacking 22, but have struggled to capitalise on the opportunities they have created - butchered a couple of good chances against England and competed hard against Wales but never really looked like winning the game because of not taking their chances.

Some positives from the France game (in executing moves that led to tries), but although they established a lead, they were unable to maintain the level and close out the match. As others have already pointed out, while Laidlaw may be getting the attack going better (helped by the introduction of Hogg and Jones), his one on one defending is inadequate and a couple of French scores came from players running over / through him.

As such, I don't think they 'deserve' better results, but have been close to taking them - the main point is that there is not much of a gap in quality between the 6Ns sides, and the deciding factor in most games has been the taking or spurning of one or two chances. Scotland (and England v Wales) have lost because of the failure to take these half chances.

dummy_half, not quite true - Laidlaw got run over once by Trinh-Duc in the phase preceding that in which France scored, altho as you note, this left Scotland light on one side given Morrison had to move in to help Laidlaw out, but SLamont still shot out of the defensive line, to open up the line for Fofana to cut thru and score. The other try came from Jones's mistackle on Malzeiu, no sign of Laidlaw anywhere near that one

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Scotland have not really lost out on any games where they could claim a poor reffing decision cost them the game. So going by that they don't deserve to be winning more games.

That said they have been playing better than their current position in the 6Ns (and world rankings) would imply. I do think that if they had beaten England in the openning match of the tournament they may well have had the confidence in themselves and been able to have pushed on further. Hopefully when they manage to get that first win they will, but I have a feeling that the win will be against Italy in the last game, which doesn't really help as then it won't be until the summer when they play again which doesn't really give them any momentum.

Spidey, I'm not going to claim that the results would have been any different (as Scotland contrived to lose these games in other ways anyway), but a number of refereeing decisions have gone against them recently - Wayne Barnes in the game against Argentina missed Contemponi offside by a mile when he charged down the (admittedly feeble) attempt at a DG, Poite missed Hogg's try against Wales (and apologised for doing so) and he also missed Jenkins or Jones (sorry, can't remember which - doh) hand in the ruck just before half time when Scotland were pressing the Welsh line which may (or may not) have hindered Chunk's botched attempt and a pick&go, plus arguably Jamie Roberts' big knock-on in his tackle in midfield which led to JD2's hack-on and NdL's moment of madness, and then contentious TMO decision against England to deny Laidlaw a (possible) try, not to mention not going back for the penalty that had already been awarded.

Asbo - I stand corrected. Maybe I should change that line to 'the Scottish don't moan about bad reffing decisions costing them the game' instead.

Trust me, I would moan if I thought it would have made a difference to the outcome!!

I'd say the fans are unlucky more than anything!

1) We have to endure the wrong choices week-on-week

2) We're patronised by every pundit team

3) We see promise but never results

So I think we should have the unlucky losers tag! Normally at this point I'd turn to club rugby to make myself feel better but Wasps are just dodging relegation! It's a bad year for me as a rugby supporter!!

NeilyBroon wrote:I'd say the fans are unlucky more than anything!

1) We have to endure the wrong choices week-on-week

2) We're patronised by every pundit team

3) We see promise but never results

So I think we should have the unlucky losers tag! Normally at this point I'd turn to club rugby to make myself feel better but Wasps are just dodging relegation! It's a bad year for me as a rugby supporter!!

CLub Rugby is the only thing keeping me going! Sure Embra are doing mince in the Pro12 but Tolouse on the 7th is keeping my chin up!

Black 'n' Red Army!