Scotland 2019 - where do we go from here?

First topic message reminder :

I am a Scot so am very angry and disheartened at how far back we have gone this tournament to what we were last year so, what has happened this year and, should Gregor take a share of the blame!? I don't that he needs sacked just yet but the world cup will be huge for him and, imho will determine his future. Some fellow fans want him sacked but I just don't see how that will help our preparation for the world cup, especially if we don't play any matches in the lead up.

I know we have had a vast number of injuries but tbh, I don't think that is an acceptable excuse for our abysmal performances!

Also, I believe that our defence coach needs sacked though because we are far to easy to score against, in every match, a team has scored 3 tries against us which is pathetic, it seems that the players are not learning from the errors.

That'd be the most effective the sru PR has ever been

I switched off after half an hour and had to be told to put it back on such was the disaster of the first half. It was truly humiliating. Our outside defence was shocking and they were getting outside of our centres with ease. I thought it was Grigg who was getting out of position by shooting up and getting beaten by the pass, something that stopped in the second half having rewatched.

Something with the coaching is not right and, thankfully, Russell said it. If Toonie tries to drop him, he will be fired after the World Cup and it would be the wrong lesson. Each coach needs to go look at themselves and how others play. Eight weeks together with so many near misses and injuries would have taken a toll on the psyche and they need to reflect on where that extra 5% accuracy can come from without relying on new players. It is not just the injuries where it went wrong, that side was good enough to beat France and had more than enough chances against Wales. The last 2-3 minutes against England can be added to the same boat. The first half is more a lesson in what to do when things go wrong and that there has to be a plan B.

Looking over the strewn debris of the Six Nations, outside of Italy, every other side has taken a blow to their reputations with some real poor play so at least we were not the only ones who seriously underperformed.

At the least, we found or rediscovered a few players who may not have had a chance to (Skinner, Ritchie, Bradbury, Strauss, Hastings, S Johnson, D Graham). It also has shown that several players are either at the end of their careers or really have to get some form together to go to the WC (J Gray, Swinson, Harley, Laidlaw, P Horne, Seymour). The good news coming out of this Six Nations are that we can lose 12 - 18 players who would likely be on the plane if healthy/in-form and still compete with every NH team. The bad news is that there are serious concerns our coaches are like P Horne or Swinson (great at club/lower international level, poor at the top)

The Scottish defence has always been a little holey compared to likes of England, Ireland and Wales, and it is very frustrating when Scotland are doing some very good things to then concede soft scores. The best defence Scotland had in my opinion was when Andy Robinson was head coach but Scotland couldn't get the scores to win off that defence. Going forwards I'd be interested to see if Scotland maybe try to change the gameplan to something a little more conservative now they have some good attacking talent and promising forwards. It would be a big shift in mentality though. personally, I have faith in Matt Taylor and the Scottish coaches but I would just like that defence to tighten up a little bit for the RWC.

The first half of yesterday seemed to be a few individual defensive line errors followed up by some poor scramble defence. Once Scotland sorted their s*** out it all looked much better. However, there was still vulnerable moments and England maybe left a few opportunities out there in the 2nd half.

The big thing for me was the minute Scotland got that go forward ball off Bradbury, Gilchrist and Watson especially, they gave Russell the platform he needed to start putting guys through holes and they gave Price clean ball which he barely got against Wales. Having that space and time to think resulted in better decision making and better running lines.

The ref had a huge influence on that go forward ball too, he did an outstanding job at penalising any lingering players at ruck time which I think needs to be enforced by every referee. Against Wales the ball was so slow all game because they were so good at slowing it down and the ref wasn't penalising it very fast, he was just giving warnings to the player. Yesterdays ref did a much better job in my opinion and that is why we had such an incredible game with free flowing rugby.

The more I think about it the more I feel yesterday was another “glorious defeat” by Scotland.

England went to sleep and we fired up and went from hee haw to 38 points. We had nothing to lose and went for it. But then when we went into the lead we went into headless chicken mode.

We’ve got a psyche issue where if we’re behind we play with fire and intensity but when we get into the lead or into the position to try and take the lead, be just fall to bits.

Just seen an article saying Shaun Edwards hasn’t signed a contract with Wigan after all apparently.

Toony, pay the man whatever he asks for and set him the unenviable challenge of sorting our defence!!!

I can't imagine this thought ever going through the players' heads, but was anyone else screaming at the TV to let them score right on the corner making the conversion much more difficult?

Let's face it we were completely on the rack and haven't exactly showed impressive defending on our line, and there was a real inevitability that they'd score once they got near our line.

RDW wrote:I can't imagine this thought ever going through the players' heads, but was anyone else screaming at the TV to let them score right on the corner making the conversion much more difficult?

Let's face it we were completely on the rack and haven't exactly showed impressive defending on our line, and there was a real inevitability that they'd score once they got near our line.

Yep, I was hoping they would push him out or let him get perfectly in the corner. Would have been Ford's first kick for goal since warm-up!

Scots hammered England in that 2nd half. Biggest half of their lives. And in doing so proved they do have a unique brand of rugby which reminds me a lot of Super rugby. Russelll leverages quick ball unlike any other NH 10.

Hazel Sapling wrote:

RDW wrote:I can't imagine this thought ever going through the players' heads, but was anyone else screaming at the TV to let them score right on the corner making the conversion much more difficult?

Let's face it we were completely on the rack and haven't exactly showed impressive defending on our line, and there was a real inevitability that they'd score once they got near our line.

Yep, I was hoping they would push him out or let him get perfectly in the corner. Would have been Ford's first kick for goal since warm-up!

Well hopefully it's been taken on board because stupid things like this are what can be really important in the RWC where you just need to win your games. It is obviously very unsporting to let the team score but it would have given England one last really nervy kick to try and convert rather than the easy one in front.

I was just just disappointed Scotland couldn't defend a few more sets cleanly which gave England the penalty. Fraser Brown was the culprit I believe for not rolling away. Real shame, because at that point it was nearly time and Scotland had good field position.

https://www.606v2.com/t68580-scotland-6-nations-postmortem-and-wc-chat#3791876

Thought I'd pull all our chat together onto one thread and give us a home for the build up to the world cup