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!

I wonder when Matt Scott is due back, as he could come into contention at 12 as well.

EWT Spoons wrote:I wonder when Matt Scott is due back, as he could come into contention at 12 as well.

Matt Scott and Blade Thompson have been unlucky and they would both surely have gotten their chance this autumn had they not had their head injuries.

I suspect the fact that they have been sent back to clubs rather than being kept with the squad suggests they might be out for a bit longer. I guess we will see if there are any changes to the squad on Monday.

They probably both have more chance of getting a run against Argentina. I suspect we will go with strongest available team next weekend then a bit of rotation for the last week.

This may also do the pro clubs a favour as they won't be getting their international players back in bits prior to the euro games.

I don't think South Africa is the time to try out Hastings-Russell, certainly not starting. I'd quite like to see Kinghorn, Maitland and Hogg in the back three, with Dunbar and Jones, Russell and Laidlaw with Horne, Hastings and Seymour on the bench. That way we've got a back three of full-backs, a juggernaut at 12 and experience in the half backs with a bit of electricity on the bench.

We’re just a different team at home. Very very odd

For the saffas I’d honestly go with

Dell, McInally, Nel
Gray, Toolis
Skinner, Strauss, Watson (or Ritchie but he’s played two games so deserves a rest)
Wee Greig, Russell
Maitland, Dunbar, Jones, Seymour, Hogg

Benching
Allan, brown, Berghan
Gilchrist
Wilson
Wee Horne
Harris
Kinghorn

Physical team with a decent bench

Not a bad 23 Tattie, but would you have Harris ahead of Furra Linee?

Also, while I agree that the extra grunt at 6 would be a good thing would you drop Mrs Gibbins? (I realise Scotland fans are either "keep him he's fantastic" or "get shot of him and place an exclusion order which prevents him coming within twenty miles of anyone wearing a Scotland jersey".) I'd be tempted to keep Skinner at 5 and Mrs Gibbins at 6.

Interestingly, I am very impressed with Toonie's man-management; centres and back three had possibly become a little complacent but yesterday they all looked as if they were really playing for their places. Which is exactly as it should be.

I think I'd go with:
Dell, MacInally, Nel
Gray, Skinner
Ritchie, Fagerson, Watson
Laidlaw, Russell
Kinghorn, Dunbar, Jones, Maitland
Hogg

Allan
Brown
Berghan
Gilchrist
Strauss
Horne
Hastings
Seymour


Ritchie was good over the ball and against physical teams we've done best when we've taken them apart at the breakdown; with MacInallly, Ritchie, Fagerson, Watson and Dunbar on the pitch we should be well stocked in that department. In terms of the back three, there's a lot of pace in there but also security under the highball (not that Seymour isn't also quite good). The front row kind of picks itself, you've got to go first choice in that department. In the second row there simply aren't the players to outfight the Saffer pair but there are the players to outwork them. Laidlaw and Russell pick themselves at this stage. On the bench I'd have Horne and Hastings to inject pace into proceedings if A. We need something special B. We have them on the ropes. I'd have Seymour there because he obviously knows the way to the line. Strauss would be my bench cover for the back row as he offers a genuine Plan B.

Depending on fagersons injury I'd expect we may see strauss starting. I'd like to see the impact ashe could have as he's has a great physicality and skillset and has shown good form.

I doubt toonie would drop batman, though he probably deserves a rest and others deserve rotation. Hopefully blade will get a shot soon tii, as we could do with competition at 6 and 8.

Seconds I'm definitely with you on that.

Backs, harsh to drop Seymour to the bench i reckon. I'd have blair benching to cover FB/wing and hastings to cover 10, finn to cover 12.

Scrum halves pick themselves really.

Whatever happens the boys need to raise their game. It was a good win but Fiji looked really poor for a lot of it. Better defence is a must as SA will punish mistakes and then not let us back in.

Play with the same aggression we did against england, we'll come out on top. But this is very much a rejuvenated boks side, so it could go the way of the wales game if we're not careful. Always have a proper plan b and not just "organised chaos" as that only really beats disorganised teams.

Apparently Fagerson only came off with a dead leg so should be fit for SA.

Gary Graham called up to replace Thomson!

Interesingly he's now claiming he's Scottish through and through and only agreed to join the England squad because they asked first....that may be the case but doesn't look great.

Still - another good player to add to the mix.

Someone want to do the next match thread?

So GG eats a healthy portion of humble pie and makes the phone call to Toonie!

I am actually pleased to see him back in the fold, he was done up by EJ, who never had any intention of playing him and maybe in the past 12 months he has had the chance to reflect on that.

He is another hard working, physical back row player who also has reasonably good hands and seems to score a few tries for Falcons. He will be in the mix no doubt and I would be surprised not to see him capped over the next two games.

Unfortunately it does not look like we are going to see Thompson this autumn. It did look like a bad one at the time and much better he gets his chance to recover properly. He may get a shout in the 6N if he keeps on playing as well as he has been.

That’s quite a turnaround from him.

Social media is fun on that issue already with folk lambasting him for choosing England and apparently making disparaging comments about Scotland (didn’t see them) and now agreeing to play for us.

Hopefully if he gets a game (I’m sure Toonie will want to cap him) he plays well and folk forget about it.

Still strange for him to make such a u turn.

I think GG was a bit guilty of opening mouth without engaging brain, no doubt egged on by various jounos.

His dad was a bit like that as well. Fortunately for him, Toonie does not seem to want to bear a grudge about it, he knows what EJ is like and can see the bigger picture. Once or twice he has made the comment that you are never unavailable until you are capped and it is also true what he says about it being difficult for dual qualified players to make these choices.

Maybe some of the others who are wavering may come our way as well.

Mark Palmer has recently tweeted some comments he made, which could be what they are referring to;

GG via MP wrote:England want to be No.1 in the world & I'm not sure Scotland will ever be anywhere near.  I've grown up here so, yeah I feel more English than Scottish

These were made about 9 months ago following his call up to England.

Given in the SRU press release he's saying he has always felt Scottish and only went with England because they asked first, it's hard to know if he believes either statement

I bet GG was hoping those comments wouldn't resurface! Reminders me of the Shingler debacle - he tweeted #jockforlife after being announced in the Scotland squad then quickly had to back track when it turned out he wasn't Scottish.

As someone else said, he probably should have held off saying anything until he was actually capped.

He's got a lot of comp for his places at Scotland too, so there is a chance (slim) he might not get a cap for us and be back in the England squad again come the 6n. Would be fun for him to change from one squad to the other, each time there is a training camp.

Never heard of GG but for me, the beard is a mistake.

Is he any good?

George Carlin wrote:Never heard of GG but for me, the beard is a mistake.

Is he any good?

Yes, he has been a revelation at Newcastle. Came into their first team almost as soon as he arrived last year from Jersey and been making waves ever since.

A classic example of someone grabbing their opportunity with both hands.

Is he good enough for international rugby? Jury is still out on that one.


By the way George, did you clock where the new boy Sam Skinner's family in Scotland came from?

Let's just say it is a seaside town renown for producing world class players!

His grandfather was the minister there apparently.

Minister For Sport was that?

GG wrote:I'm absolutely delighted to get this opportunity. I phoned [head coach] Gregor Townsend to assure him I wanted to play for Scotland, and always wanted to play for my country.

But thats just not true is it Gary, why have you gone all Trump on us? Doesn't sit well with me, and I'd have left him to keep bashing his head against an Eddy shaped wall.

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:

GG wrote:I'm absolutely delighted to get this opportunity. I phoned [head coach] Gregor Townsend to assure him I wanted to play for Scotland, and always wanted to play for my country.

But thats just not true is it Gary, why have you gone all Trump on us? Doesn't sit well with me, and I'd have left him to keep bashing his head against an Eddy shaped wall.

Gregor Townsend school of Espionage
Send a Scottish player to England squad, get them to not quite play well enough and then bring them back with all the information. I'm actually surprised world rugby don't have a two year cooling off period as he could turn up to Scotland now with all the lineout calls and potentially backs moves if he's been listening properly.

What would be funny is if Townsend sticks him on for 30 seconds and then subs him back off standing with his fingers in a V sign at him and then passes an England shirt back to him. It's almost as good as Steve Shingler's famous line that he "always knew about Scotland" before that fiasco.

The biggest issue for me is how is Grant Gilchrist going to feel about his initials now being used for someone else?

GG the rugby player and GG the Luvvie?