QF4: Australia v Scotland, 18 October

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AUSTRALIA v SCOTLAND

18 October 2015
16:00 BST (UTC+01)
Twickenham, London

Live on telly

Ref: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
ARs: Glen Jackson (New Zealand) and Pascal Gauzere (France)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

A. Head to Head

28 Played 28
19 Won 9
0 Drawn 0
9 Lost 19
671 Points 330

B. Recent Form

23 November 2013
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
15 – 21 to Australia

5 June 2012
Hunter Stadium, Newcastle
6 – 9 to Scotland

21 November 2009
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
9 – 8 to Scotland

25 November 2006
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
15 – 44 to Australia

20 November 2004
Hampden Park, Glasgow
17 – 31 to Australia

C. TEAMS:
AUSTRALIA

15 Kurtley Beale; 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell; 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia;

1 Scott Sio, 2Stephen Moore, 3 Sekope Kepu, 4 Kane Douglas, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Scott Fardy, 7 Michael Hooper, 8 Ben McCalman.

Substitutes: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Quade Cooper.

SCOTLAND

15 Stuart Hogg; 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne 11 Tommy Seymour; 10 Finn Russell,  9 Greig Laidlaw;

1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Ross Ford, 3 Willem Nel, 4 Jonny Gray, 5 Richie Gray, 6 Blair Cowan, 7 John Hardie, 8 David Denton. 


Substitutes: 
16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Richie Vernon, 23 Sean Lamont.

I think there are a lot of Grant haters after his indifferent season post-Lions then the whole court case.

Seems a daft decision imo, Welsh can cover the LH so why not call up a more experienced TH ( Cross, Low, Cusack ).

He'll only be a travelling reserve so there's a very low chance he'll even play!

Not to be all weird but it's been a pleasure preparing to play Scotland this week.  You focus on your own options, aren't paranoid, and seem hard to offend.  I've beenreading'The Scotsman' and I've enjoyed it.   In the spirit of rugby I wish you well,  and hope you suffer a defeat!

Edit - didn't like the way it read.

boomeranga, welcome to the thread. Yes we do things slightly differently here. We are a broad church and tend to balance quite serious technical discussions with weirdly surrealist flights of fancy and loads of anti- Edinburgh/Glasgow drivel.

My tips/ hopes for the weekend;

France go all French and play like marauding angels and slay the darkness

The Pumas maul Ireland

Wales and the Bok battle each other to a standstill

Scotland show the world just how good they can be, and win.

boomeranga wrote:Not to be all weird but it's been a pleasure preparing to play Scotland this week.  You focus on your own options, aren't paranoid, and seem hard to offend.  I've beenreading'The Scotsman' and I've enjoyed it.   In the spirit of rugby I wish you well,  and hope you suffer a defeat!

Edit - didn't like the way it read.

I've enjoyed it too - if Wales had topped the group I don't think the pre and post much would have been nearly as civil, and I'm not talking about on here.

We've got a much better recent record against Australia!

RDW_Scotland wrote:

boomeranga wrote:Not to be all weird but it's been a pleasure preparing to play Scotland this week.  You focus on your own options, aren't paranoid, and seem hard to offend.  I've beenreading'The Scotsman' and I've enjoyed it.   In the spirit of rugby I wish you well,  and hope you suffer a defeat!

Edit - didn't like the way it read.

I've enjoyed it too - if Wales had topped the group I don't think the pre and post much would have been nearly as civil, and I'm not talking about on here.

We've got a much better recent record against Australia!

I think part of the reason for the civility is threat level the Austrlian public and media perceive Scotland as (No offence intended).

Post England Wales the Australian media went into meltdown about how England were cheating here there and everywhere, and then post England they started on the Welsh team...

Post group they have gone a bt quiet and I think they consider the best way to deal with Scotland is just to deal with Scotland, as in a road bump toward the semi's.

Now I doubt any of the official team are thinking that whatsoever, but I know a lot of Australian fans were releived to have topped the group and have the easier ride to semi finals.

I hope Scotland can pull it out of the bag, underdogs to beging with, then losing key figures in the lineout, they have nothing to lose, and with the maturity of the last 20 mins against Samoa they showed I think this will be tighter than some people think.

Good luck Scotland!

jimbopip wrote:boomeranga, welcome to the thread. Yes we do things slightly differently here. We are a broad church and tend to balance quite serious  technical discussions with weirdly surrealist flights of fancy and loads of anti- Edinburgh/Glasgow  drivel.

My tips/ hopes for the weekend;

France go all French and play like marauding angels and slay the darkness

The Pumas maul Ireland

Wales and the Bok battle each other to a standstill

Scotland show the world just how good they can be, and win.

I was supporting Scotland but after this... ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐ jimbopip

Good stuff billy! Arty response too. You're multi-talented. Everyone's agin us lately! - we must be doing something right for a change.

For what it's worth, I want Ireland to win

Not got any Argies in my fantasy team!

Neither Australia nor our media went into meltdown mate. The expectations haven't been high for years. Marler does what he does to survive and heeeeaps of people here talked about it last November, It just got no attention because we were losers at that stage. The winner is always way smarter even if the score was close.

boomeranga wrote:Neither Australia nor our media went into meltdown mate.  The expectations haven't been high for years.  Marler does what he does to survive and heeeeaps of people here talked about it last November,   It just got no attention because we were losers at that stage.  The winner is always way smarter even if the score was close.

Except the English scrum was trending worldwide like no other due to Australian media, Bob Dwyer and Jonathan Kaplan both came out publicly, the roar actually started a #scrumstraightjoe campaign.

Aus media are a high pressure, high stakes bunch of organisations, they really put a huge amount of pressure on ref knowing exactly what they were doing. That hihglighted the threat they saw from England and this group, and it was evident that Marler if not Poite himself were got to.

eirebilly wrote:

jimbopip wrote:boomeranga, welcome to the thread. Yes we do things slightly differently here. We are a broad church and tend to balance quite serious  technical discussions with weirdly surrealist flights of fancy and loads of anti- Edinburgh/Glasgow  drivel.

My tips/ hopes for the weekend;

France go all French and play like marauding angels and slay the darkness

The Pumas maul Ireland

Wales and the Bok battle each other to a standstill

Scotland show the world just how good they can be, and win.

I was supporting Scotland but after this... ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐ jimbopip

Billy, no anti-Irish sentiment there: I just think we'd have a better chance of beating the Pumas in the semis. p.s. love the artwork.

Ok so I am back to supporting Scotland

Fanster wrote:

boomeranga wrote:Neither Australia nor our media went into meltdown mate.  The expectations haven't been high for years.  Marler does what he does to survive and heeeeaps of people here talked about it last November,   It just got no attention because we were losers at that stage.  The winner is always way smarter even if the score was close.

Except the English scrum was trending worldwide like no other due to Australian media, Bob Dwyer and Jonathan Kaplan both came out publicly, the roar actually started a #scrumstraightjoe campaign.

Aus media are a high pressure, high stakes bunch of organisations, they really put a huge amount of pressure on ref knowing exactly what they were doing. That hihglighted the threat they saw from England and this group, and it was evident that Marler if not Poite himself were got to.

It trended 'cause your media picked it up this time. It was there last November as well but there was no reason to your guys to pick it up. You'd already won that game.

Our media is high pressure but it's also widely spread. The weekend we played you was also AFL and NRL grand final weekend. Beating you at rugby does not compare to the importance of those two events. Along with the Melbourne Cup they are the ducks nuts of oz sport.

Fanster wrote:

boomeranga wrote:Neither Australia nor our media went into meltdown mate.  The expectations haven't been high for years.  Marler does what he does to survive and heeeeaps of people here talked about it last November,   It just got no attention because we were losers at that stage.  The winner is always way smarter even if the score was close.

Except the English scrum was trending worldwide like no other due to Australian media, Bob Dwyer and Jonathan Kaplan both came out publicly, the roar actually started a #scrumstraightjoe campaign.

Aus media are a high pressure, high stakes bunch of organisations, they really put a huge amount of pressure on ref knowing exactly what they were doing. That hihglighted the threat they saw from England and this group, and it was evident that Marler if not Poite himself were got to.

Errmmm - from this neutrals point of view it was quite right and acceptable - England had been scrumming illegally quite clearly and its not wrong to draw the refs attention to this.

Neutral in I couldn't make my mind up which team I wanted to lose more

Poopie THE BED!!!

SRU wrote:BREAKING: Ford & Gray are free to play with immediate effect after Scottish Rugby successfully appealed 3-week ban.

But haven't been named in th 23 so surely can't play tomorrow?

Great news. Hopefully Scotland can still slot them both in, even if not for injuries, although there is injures and then there's injuries.

Munchkin wrote:Great news. Hopefully Scotland can still slot them both in, even if not for injuries, although there is injures and then there's injuries.

highland_scot wrote:

Munchkin wrote:Great news. Hopefully Scotland can still slot them both in, even if not for injuries, although there is injures and then there's injuries.

Seems like they are both free to play. Just a question if Cotter will play them?


"The appeal committee dismissed the finding that the players had committed an act of foul play as the player had not been dropped or driven and therefore the tackle was not dangerous," read the appeals

"The players are therefore free to play again immediately."

Neither player had been selected in Vern Cotter's starting XV for Sunday's game and it remains to be seen whether the Kiwi coach puts them in at this late stage."

Can't see either being left out.

If Cotter manages this right then it's a tremendous boost for the Scotland squad.

You've got to feel sorry for Strokes and Bryce who will probably drop out of the 23.

still, everyone likes to see a happy ending. Cobber.

WTF happened?

Could the massive social media campaign and ridicule, not to mention pressure on an Australian citing commisioner have been the catalst for actual justice?!

If both are free to play and are selected then a huge amount of respect for everyoe involved from my POV will be gained!!!

So pleased for Ford especially, would've been a horribly unjust way to end his World Cup career so delighted that he's cleared to play

Delighted they have been cleared but it seems a perverse decision. Not even deemed a yellow card offense? Presumably we will see a full judgement some time and I am especially pleased for Ford who was obviously the less culpable and for whom it would have been a sad way to end his WC career.

Fantastic news. I did think they would both would still be "guilty" but get their bans reduced to 1 match especially as most said that Gray was guilty of something.
Anyway, I am sure Stroksoch and Bryce know they are only in the match day 23 because of the initial bans so can't be too miffed if they can be dropped.
If we can, do we start both Gray and Ford? We will have been practicising making an arse of restarts without them so how can we be sure they will show the correct levels of utter incompetence to fit in seemlessly?

Well its a good decision but you can't get away from the fact that the original one was a complete nonsense and it may have mucked up our preparation. The whole system needs seriously looking at!

Still am very glad to get the two of them back and I want to see them on the bench at the very least, I do wonder if he will be able to start them at this stage.

I'm sure they'll be ready to play. He's got until 24hrs before ko to make any changes, so I'd imagine confirmation soon.

Good point Spoons. Injuries can occur in warm-ups and the final training session so we must be able to change the team now

InjuredYetAgain wrote: We will have been practicising making an arse of restarts without them so how can we be sure they will show the correct levels of utter incompetence to fit in seemlessly?

:-)

Means we have no excuse or moral high ground now though

Just have to win it lol

We've got up until 1 hour before kick off to change the squad apparently

Riskysports wrote:Means we have no excuse or moral high ground now though

Just have to win it lol

No no no no no no.

Our preparation was irretrievably and cynically disturbed by the rugby illuminati

RDW_Scotland wrote:We've got up until 1 hour before kick off to change the squad apparently

Is that why you take your boots to every game, RDW?

One of these days I'll be required!

I think it'll be best to bench both over Bryce and Strokosh - too much disruption to the starting team.

Don't agree.
Joking about restarts aside, Gray and Ford will have practiced more than enough with the rest of the pack over the last few months to fit back in easily

An outbreak of common sense by World Rugby FFS ! We could even win tomorrow now with that amount of flying pigs

Thinking about it and from what the law say - 2 things must occur for it to be a tip. Legs lifted above hips / above horizontal AND player dropped or driven into the ground. As the tackled player never left the ground he cannot have been dropped or driven into the ground. got off on a technicality!

So I was wrong in thinking it was a tip.

Gray must play - Ford not so important. Scotland should feel ten feet tall after that.

Will Australia unleash Folau and Pocock now?

TJ wrote:Thinking about it and from what the law say - 2 things must occur for it to be a tip. Legs lifted above hips / above horizontal AND player dropped or driven into the ground.  As the tackled player never left the ground he cannot have been dropped or driven into the ground.  got off on a technicality!  

So I was wrong in thinking it was a tip.  

Good point Vince: if they were "rested" then doubts might be sinking in.

I think Scotland should wait until 1 hour and 1 minute before kick off before announcing any changes - time to play mind games of our own!

Bit strange Australia having the same ref two game on the trot gives Aust an advantage knowing his calls, at least Barnes is not the ref, good luck Scotland your defence is good unlike in the past.

Thanks for the support Alun. Unfortunately, our defence was awful against Samoa. There is now a Glasgow 10, 12, 13 combo which may help (unless they all need their methadone at the same time in which case, it might get ugly)

I bloody can't wait until tomorrow! I feel like a kid at Christmas

I think I may have to watch from behind the sofa

Ooops

Firstly I took savea out my dream team and then I forgot you could have more than 3 players for a country in your team at one time

#fantasyteamfail

Got to say, the All Blacks were scarily good. Savea in particular, I don't think he can be human!

... imagine Visser playing opposite him

Aye these All Black fellas are going to provide a real stern test in the final for us!