Scotland V Fiji Saturday 10th November

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Scotland v Fiji
Satuyrday 10th November
BT Murrayfield Stadium
Edinburgh

KO 14.30

Well this match has got bannana skin written all over it for Scoltand! A tough , flamboyant opposition in a game that Scotland should be expected to win. What could possibly go wrong?

We lost to the Flying Fijians the last time we meet when we played them at home. The conditions were less than ideal for us, but Toonie was not particularly impressed by the way some of the team played that day. Josh Strauss in particular, has never really come back into contention for the henious crime of not turnng up! Toonie, depite his affiable personality, does have an edge as a coach and will remember these things.

In our favour this time, we will be playing at home in a full stadium in weather conditions that will suit us a lot better than they did in Suvla! We have also got a game under our belt and you would hope that we will not play as sluggishly as we did against wales, particularly in the first half. we will also have our full squad available for this one and we will need them!

It is hard to see that Finn and Greg will not be involved in the squad in some shape or form and will quite likely start. Sean Maitland is also likely to come in.

Our problems are likely to be in the back row and the centres, areas where we thought we were pretty well stocked but injuries have taken some toll in recent weeks.

Blade Thompson was apparently up and about after the match on friday, but as he was out cold it is hard to imagine that he will play this weekend, hopefully he gets back for one of the other games. Matt Fagerson made a pretty good impact from the bench, so he may get the starting spot over Ritchie for this one, giving a back row of Watson, Fagerson and Wilson. Ritchie may well stay on the bench, in the absence of anyone else fit. I suppose there is an argument for bring in Rob Harley for some defensive solidity, but we would then lose other aspects of our game. I think Rob is better off in the second row these days in any case.

Centres is also a conundrum. Huw Jones poor tackling cost us two tries and the fact that he was singled out by Toonie for that suggests he was not pleased and will take some action. The only other obvious 13 in the squad is Chris Harris, probably much better defensively, but we would lose a lot in our attacking shape with him on board. Dunbar could move out, but I think he is better at 12. Matt Scott may also be gunning for that position if he is fit.

There could defiitely be some interesting selections coming up!

Also weeeeee Greeeeg bosses the team - the "little general"  He is what we were missing against Wales

Skinner has had a very good debut, looks very comfortable at this level.

I did not see what happened to MF though, suddenly was gone

An early 2nd half try would really help settle the nerves!

BigGee wrote:Skinner has had a very good debut, looks very comfortable at this level.

I did not see what happened to MF though, suddenly was gone

HIA

I got what I asked for!

That was a good try

Silly penalty from GG

Harris on for Dunbar

That's brave

It’s all gone a bit flat.

We’re starting to lose the physical battles again too.

What's happened to the scrum? Skinner has had a great game

Dell has had a good game

RDW_Scotland wrote:What's happened to the scrum? Skinner has had a great game

I think we will be seeing plenty more of him in a Scotland shirt

Nice try - Horne has had a good game 2 on 1 miss aside

Great turnover from Ritchie. Has had a good game at 7

Ritchie a real standout too - 7 definitely his best position and looking a great back up to Watson

Mata has had a quiet game. Luckily!

That was better from Harris, he can play a bit

Hatrick from Tommy S

Lovely try! Well done by Harris - didn't panic while in space which is a good trait

Who would have thought a month ago our backrow would be Skinner - Ritchie - Strauss at one point??

Just shows there's so much that can change between now and the world cup

That was the old Josh!

Well we're getting to see the Russell - Hastings combo!

Ritchie MOTM

Ritchie scores

MoM for me

Skinner not far behind

Horne 3rd place probably

Skinner gets it, hard to argue with that

Well I don't think any of us expected a 50 pointer

Scotland have played very well. Fiji have run out of gas

Well I don't think anyone expected that scoreline. First half wasn't the best but absolutely blew them away in the 2nd.

Lots of strong performances from up and coming players!

Biggee we've been copying each other!

Which muppet said he was worried about this game?

The pleasing thing is that this was mostly a pragmatic win.

Ritchie was motm for me.

Great game from:
Ritchie
Skinner
Dell
Seymour

Good game from
Strauss
Horne
Maitland

Solid game from everyone else really. My old mate Wilson didn’t do much other than throw a forward pass and a couple of knock ons

All in all it’s surely a tick in box after last week

RDW_Scotland wrote:Biggee we've been copying each other!

Telepathy!

Not sure why Nichol is bigging Russell up - thought he was quiet

RDW_Scotland wrote:Not sure why Nichol is bigging Russell up - thought he was quiet

A bit harsh, he made at least two of the tries and really got the line moving in the second half. Just because he does not do the flamboyant stuff does not mean he has not played well.

BigGee wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Not sure why Nichol is bigging Russell up - thought he was quiet

A bit harsh, he made at least two of the tries and really got the line moving in the second half. Just because he does not do the flamboyant stuff does not mean he has not played well.

I'm not saying he was bad by any means but Nichol was making out like he single handedly won us the game! Probably am being harsh to be fair just thought it was a bit OTT!

This match looked good when I kept flicking over to it. What was score in the end?

54-17 - bit of a pumping. Shows you need a lot more at international level than world class individuals! Fiji were actually really disappointing.

RDW_Scotland wrote:54-17 - bit of a pumping. Shows you need a lot more at international level than world class individuals! Fiji were actually really disappointing.

Yeah northern sides have far better structure than the Island sides these days and have very good backplay, not the case a decade and more ago. Fiji rely a lot on natural talent and speed, individuality. Cant beat structure easily with that.

Fiji will likely improve the more they play together. We may have done well to get them first up

We did not look great first time out either

So Peter Horne.  anyone eating their words?  A good performance from him

TJ wrote:So Peter Horne.  anyone eating their words?  A good performance from him

Problem is his consistency. He's put in performances like that before for Scotland then followed up with glaring errors.

He was good tonight but we absolutely dominated Fiji as a team - he needs to follow that up next week of picked.

The 2 on 1 miss was criminal though - not his first time too!

Agreed, I really hope he can cut the inconsistency out because when he's on form he can be a pretty special player. But he's been here before, put in big performances like that in a Scotland shirt and he's always dipped back into rolling out some howlers.

Very happy with the result. It's such a shame that Fiji aren't able to operate on a level playing field with other top international sides - they could be a real force.

Delighted for Skinner, great debut. Looked like he was getting on well with his new teammate Hoggy at the end too

What do you call a Welshman how doesn’t infringe at a line out?

I’ll tell you if I ever see one!

Thoroughly enjoyed that performance, especially the second half. It’s about time we put away non tier one teams like that.
I’d quite like to see the Russell-Hastings axis more often. I suspect it’s too small for international rugby but the two of them with Hogg and Jones in the wide channels could be something special

My player ratings:

1 Dell - 7

Solid enough and took his try well but began to tire

2 Brown - 7.5

Similar to Dell, should have had 2 tries

3 Nel - 7

Keeping up the all round solidity in the front row anchoring the scrum before also tiring

4 Skinner - 9

Barnstorming debut - we're going to see a lot more of him!

5 Gilchrist - 7.5

A physical performance and very good in the lineout

6 Wilson - 7 

Does what he usually does - apparently quite a lot we just don't tend to see it! 

7 Ritchie - 9

My MOTM - great carries and turnovers and a huge work rate. Genuine competition to Watson if he keeps that up

8 Fagerson - 6 Strauss 8

Fagerson didn't get s chance to make an impression before going off early. Strauss had some big carries reminding Townsend who he is!

9 Laidlaw - 7.5

We just look better as a team when he plays, simple as that.

10 Russell - 7.5

Had an armchair ride and involved in a lot of our tries. Classic moments of eccentricity to keep us on our toes!

11 Maitland 7

His other wing took the headlines but he put in a solid shift

12 Horne - 7.5

Some great carries in an all action display - loses half a mark for that 2 on 1

13 Dunbar - 7

A good physical display but I think he's better suited to the 12 channel. Not fast enough for a top outside centre IMO

14 Seymour - 8.5

Brilliant hattrick will do his confidence a world of good

15 Hogg - 7

Couldn't tell he has just had ankle surgery and a class display as always, albeit without any trademark breaks.

Some credit to the bench as well, though other than Strauss, the game was won by the time they came on.

Horne G certainly adds some pace at the end a game.

The front row all were very solid and it did not look like we would lose a lot if any of them started.

Johnny Gray, unsurprisingly is good on a cameo as he is in an 80 min stint. I fancy him and Skinner to start next week and GG to bench.

Chris Harris finally showed us what Toonie has clearly seen in him for a while. It just takes a while to get used to international rugby.

Adam Hastings showed he can combine with Finn in the 10/12 role. We may see a bit more of that going forward as well.

Bench all added a lot but I'm not getting too carried away as we were all over them by then and Fiji weren't putting up much resistance!

RDW_Scotland wrote:My player ratings:

1 Dell - 7

Solid enough and took his try well but began to tire

2 Brown - 7.5

Similar to Dell, should have had 2 tries

3 Nel - 7

Keeping up the all round solidity in the front row anchoring the scrum before also tiring

4 Skinner - 9

Barnstorming debut - we're going to see a lot more of him!

5 Gilchrist - 7.5

A physical performance and very good in the lineout

6 Wilson - 7 

Does what he usually does - apparently quite a lot we just don't tend to see it! 

7 Ritchie - 9

My MOTM - great carries and turnovers and a huge work rate. Genuine competition to Watson if he keeps that up

8 Fagerson - 6 Strauss 8

Fagerson didn't get s chance to make an impression before going off early. Strauss had some big carries reminding Townsend who he is!

9 Laidlaw - 7.5

We just look better as a team when he plays, simple as that.

10 Russell - 7.5

Had an armchair ride and involved in a lot of our tries. Classic moments of eccentricity to keep us on our toes!

11 Maitland 7

His other wing took the headlines but he put in a solid shift

12 Horne - 7.5

Some great carries in an all action display - loses half a mark for that 2 on 1

13 Dunbar - 7

A good physical display but I think he's better suited to the 12 channel. Not fast enough for a top outside centre IMO

14 Seymour - 8.5

Brilliant hattrick will do his confidence a world of good

15 Hogg - 7

Couldn't tell he has just had ankle surgery and a class display as always, albeit without any trademark breaks.

Knew I should have watched that one. The tier 1 ones were all a bit bland, bar the France SA one.

Biggest winner for scotland is having 2 players we either didnt know we had, or didnt know could play top standard international rugby

As previously noted, unexpected size of victory. The team looked far more cohesive and the backs far better organised with Laidlaw-Russell controlling the strings.

Interesting that Skinner seemed to prefer the backrow in his interview. We need a carrying blindside and with Bradbury out, he could get a real opportunity to make that shirt his. End up being a reverse of what Henderson did for Ulster/Ireland. Toolis was good against Wales and should have his seat pencilled into one of the three lock spots. The one thing we have to be careful of is not falling into the Eddie Jones trap of Itoje/Lawes at six. He should be given a chance and, if failed, put back into the locks.

Also I like what Barclay said. It was a good win, but SA will not allow 2-3 goes at certain opportunities. I think P Horne is guilty of this and is why he is good at club level/lower tier internationals. He creates opportunities and seems to require 2-3 goes to actually get the ball over the line.

Ritchie earned another opportunity with his performance today as did Strauss and Harris (who knocked on only once). Only Strauss would get into my side for the next game and that is largely based on Bradbury, Denton, Thomson, Barclay and M Fagerson all being out. Ritchie may end up benching.

All in all there are several positives winning by 30+ against a weakened Baa-Baas squad and some headaches we need to sort for next week.

Horne is an odd one for me, I watched the game with my cousin and we both thought he was quite poor at points. I do think that in every game for Scotland he misses an important tackle and messes up a try. The first Fiji try was by no means solely his fault but if you watch he rushes up and makes no appreciable impact on the Fijian. Then that try that he very nearly screwed up. That's potentially a fourteen point swing. Against Ireland again in the Six Nations he threw an interception pass and failed to give a scoring one, again a fourteen point swing.

Don't get me wrong he's a very good rugby player and a very efficient operator but rugby is fundamentally a game of moments. Too often Horne gets these moments wrong.

No-one has nailed down the 12 shirt so far, that's for sure. Both Dunbar and Horne have been a bit of a curates egg, some good stuff but not entirely convincing.

You can't get away with the fact though, that in most of our best wins recently, Horne has been playing. He is a bit like Ryan Wilson in the pack, no-one seems entirely sure why, but he does seem to make a difference.

On paper, Duncan Taylor is still the man, but his injury record is horrendous and you do wonder if he will ever get back to his best level.

I think we may see a bit more of the Russell/Hastings combo as well going forward, though probably more of the bench and less as a starting option.

For next weekend, I think he may go back to the Dunbar/Jones option and give that one more try, with Horne or Hastings on the bench. I guess he has to experiment a little bit during these games, it will be one of his last opportunities to do so.