Super Saturday, Game 2: Scotland v Ireland

First topic message reminder :

     
SCOTLAND v IRELAND
Saturday 21 March 2015
KO: 14:30
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Referee: Jérôme Garcès (FFR)
AR1: Pascal Gauzere (FFR)
AR2: Federico Anselmi (UAR)
TMO: Graham Hughes (RFU)

***********************

A. Teams

SCOTLAND

15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)
14 Dougie Fife (Edinburgh Rugby)
13 Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors)
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby)
11 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors)
10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors)
09 Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester)

01 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors)
02 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby)
03 Euan Murray (Glasgow Warriors)
04 Jim Hamilton (Saracens)
05 Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors)
06 Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors)
07 Blair Cowan (London Irish)
08 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby)

16 Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors)
17 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby)
18 Geoff Cross (London Irish)
19 Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors)
20 Rob Harley (Glasgow Warriors)
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby)
22 Greig Tonks (Edinburgh Rugby)
23 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby)

IRELAND

15 Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster)
13 Jared Payne (Ulster)
12 Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht)
11 Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock/Leinster)
10 Johnny Sexton (Racing Metro)
09 Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster)

01 Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
02 Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
03 Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
04 Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster)
05 Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster) captain
06 Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
07 Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster)
08 Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster)

16 Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
17 Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
18 Martin Moore (Lansdowne/Leinster)
19 Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster)
20 Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
22 Ian Madigan (Blackrock/Leinster)
23 Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster)

B. Head to Head

119 Played 119

58 Wins 56

56 Losses 58

5 Draws 5

187 Tries 200

96 Conversions 102

128 Penalties 104

32 Drop Goals 15

1,234 Points 1,301

Ok. Who let 21st in?

Does anyone remember the name of the thread where we discussed which of our players are "scottish"?

Oi you pleaded with me !!!!!

Brilliant, re yesterdays phenomenon, from The W's forum . That was no eclipse - it was Gordy (Shrek - Gordon Reid) on the trampoline

Right huge day today folks, there's pride, spoons & silverware on the line. Sod the 6 Nations trophy, it's all about the Centenary Quaich!

I expect Fitzgerald to move to 13 at some stage, as that can be the only explanation for his inclusion over Zebo. If Schmidt had been simply looking for a different wing surely he would have gone for the in form Gilroy?

Fitz to 13 will probably depend on whether Ireland are in the lead in the third quarter though.

The Great Aukster wrote:I expect Fitzgerald to move to 13 at some stage, as that can be the only explanation for his inclusion over Zebo. If Schmidt had been simply looking for a different wing surely he would have gone for the in form Gilroy?

Fitz to 13 will probably depend on whether Ireland are in the lead in the third quarter though.

If Schmidt is planning this then he has made an even bigger mistake in not selecting Earls as Earls has been the form 13 and is a much better winger than Fitz. I do wonder if he does have a small eye on this and drop Payne to 15 if Kearney is having another off day but he would have put Zebo there if Kearney was having an off day. Its just a confusing selection for me.

Yes the Payne to 15 thing is something I wondered about but then why Jones on the bench? It would be a total snub to Felix to move someone on field to 15 ahead of him.

Exactly, its all very confusing for me. Not sure what Felix's job in the team is now. I am sure he has explained it all to them but I cant work it out.

He just wants 3 players playing centre. Henshaw & Payne to defend, Luke Fitz to try and attack and hopefully pass to a forward to score!

Matt Williams saying it as it is in the Irish Times today.

Sin é wrote:He just wants 3 players playing centre. Henshaw & Payne to defend, Luke Fitz to try and attack and hopefully pass to a forward to score!

Matt Williams saying it as it is in the Irish Times today.

The mind boggles... Play that way then surely TOD was by far the better option than SOB as he is far more mobile and runs better lines...

all will be revealed lads.... all will be revealed. I had the blueprints delivered to my doorstep for approval this morning by courier. I stamped them and rushed them back on the helicopter to Scotland.

I hope Fly, I truly do but I must admit to not feeling very confident after the team announcement. Still think that Ireland will win but wont win by enough to win the 6N. Hope I am wrong though

It will be a (penalty) try fest

I'll be really peed off if Ireland don't win possibly Paul O'Connell's last 6Ns.

A loss would not be in the script...but is possible.

I've got a spare ticket if anyone is interested - south 6, £35.

You'd have to sit with me though!

PM if interested.

They're going to use the prototype Walking Rugby tactics and bamboozle the running Scots!

Sin é wrote:Matt Williams saying it as it is in the Irish Times today.

If you can't do- write.

He's obviously right that we need to be scoring more tries, but he's entirely wrong about the noises coming out of the Ireland camp. They have been at pains to show respect to Scotland.

Our greatest weakness this year has been our jabbering journalists.

Neil foot-in-arrogant-mouth-guff-talk Francis. At least he had the good grace to take his medicine and admit he acted an eegit.

Now Matt Williams saying that Irish players are intimating that they're going to wipe the floor with the Scots?? Has this been said by Irish players? I didn't hear anything along those lines?

But if people keep asking coaches or players if they are one trick ponies, then of course some of them will feel the slight and suggest in clear terms that they think they have other tools available to them.

If they said 'What you see is all we have' Matt would be complaining that they're going to turn up mentally defeated even before they KICK a ball in anger

Wish I lived in Edinburgh RDW, as it is I'll have to settle for the crown and two chairmen in soho

On a side note, I somehow managed to top the predictions game this year for the past 4 games. Just logged in my final picks I actually think Scotland will win today but I went with Ireland (conservative option). Good luck to anyone else who is in with a shot of topping the predictions game after todays results, its gonna be close!

Nachos Jones_1 wrote:

Sin é wrote:He just wants 3 players playing centre. Henshaw & Payne to defend, Luke Fitz to try and attack and hopefully pass to a forward to score!

Matt Williams saying it as it is in the Irish Times today.

The mind boggles... Play that way then surely TOD was by far the better option than SOB as he is far more mobile and runs better lines...

The mind boggles when you're listening to Sin and taking his word on Irelands tactics as gospel.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

Nachos Jones_1 wrote:

Sin é wrote:He just wants 3 players playing centre. Henshaw & Payne to defend, Luke Fitz to try and attack and hopefully pass to a forward to score!

Matt Williams saying it as it is in the Irish Times today.

The mind boggles... Play that way then surely TOD was by far the better option than SOB as he is far more mobile and runs better lines...

The mind boggles when you're listening to Sin and taking his word on Irelands tactics as gospel.

So what do you think Luke will bring to the present table as a winger?

Solid defense,good kicking game,solid under the high ball,an ability to beat players in tight spaces and excellent support running.I don't think he'll be an improvement on Zebo just something slightly different and my guess (note that it's only my opinion) is that Schmidt sees Fitz in his WC squad and wants to see him him in a meaningful game to prove that his belief in Fitz is justified.

now we need to win by 21 points to have any chance could we see the ball been throwing around a lot more?

Golden wrote:now we need to win by 21 points to have any chance could we see the ball been throwing around a lot more?

Sadly, I doubt it.

Ireland haven't looked like scoring many tries yet, why would it change today? Ireland won't win this year.

I'm not sure... BBC are missing the fact 21 points will not get us ahead of England if they win. We actually probably need a win by 30-35 points when you consider France have nothing to play for and England have everything. I don't see anyone getting that kind of win at Murrayfield in normal circumstances bar the All Blacks so we're talking about needing one of the all-time great performances in our rugby history to stand a chance.

I don't think we can go all-out attack from the outset. We'll play too much into Scotlands strengths and they'll take confidence and momentum from that. We could end up losing if we get too loose too quickly. Going to require a truly amazing Irish performance from the Irish pack to hit that target, and a poor Scotland performance and some considerable luck.

If we do do it, it will be done in the second half.

my predictions are; Wales, Ireland and then England.

Wales have just put a cricket score on Italy, Ireland will struggle for the first 60 minutes and then pull away with some free flowing rugby and then France will have their one good game of the six nations against us

Greg Laidlaw is smiling.

That's 7 points on the board for Scotland already.

Come on Scotland you can beat these Paddies

Whenever Ireland get near your line just say NO...because you're good at that

Let's joust win the game and see what happens.

do they always drop the band music for that part of the anthem? made hairs on my arm stand on end!

looking forwards to this one.

How the hell did we lose to that Italian team?

Should have scored then ireland

POC in my dream team happy days

they just did!

Wow, some expansive play from Ireland

Big try for POC

Great try from POc.

Well, thats a helpful start if it's awarded. Much more ambitious attacking play and a superb backs move but when the ball gets slow our lack of ball carriers up front is painfully obvious.

Ireland might do it. Scotland look hopeless.

Ref looking interference beyond the ruck which is what ireland got pinged for alot last week

Good stuff.

14 point margin to close the gap.

That's how you start.

soft penalty to give away by scotland

Ireland are going to win the 6N

You know who I really feel sorry for?

The poor pigeons at murrayfield!

Look out lads!

Now this is how I imagined Ireland playing. Much better from them.

Nachos Jones_1 wrote:Now this is how I imagined Ireland playing. Much better from them.

why they haven't been playing like this all six nations unless they are hiding a few moves for the world cup

Unsurprisingly , Schmidt proves Ireland can indeed play like leinster when they want- passing reminiscent of leinster 2012 fitzgerald v bath

Ireland getting pinged at the breakdown again, they need to react quickly to the ref

Scotland needs to be more streetwise and aggressive. Ireland know how to play dirty and cheat and get away with it!