Scotland v France 6 nations Championship Saturday 26th February 2022

Scotland v France
6 Nations Championship

Saturday 26th February 2022
BT Murrayfield Stadium
Edinburgh

KO 14.15


Well the Auld Alliance trophy is up for stake between Scotland and France.

France who are probably everybodies favourites for the championship now +/- a Grand Slam to boot but they have found Scotland a hard nut to crack over the past few years and it has likely cost them 2 championshipos. They won't be taking us lightly this time, nor will they probably throw the game a way with a silly punch or crazy run from their own line with the clock dead.

They will be tough to beat though, all the more so as they will be taking this game very seriously.

As for Scotland, well how different this game might have been had we played well and beaten Wales. The optimism around Scotland following the first game against England has evaporated. Add to that we have now got an injury list that will test our now improved depth. However we look at it though, Ritchie, JG, Sutherland and Cummings will be missed.

Still Scotland are back were they are happiest, underdogs with no-one giving them much of a chance. We will surely play better than we did against wales, we will need to!

I am thinking about a side something like this:

1. Schoeman
2. McInally
3. Fagerson Z
4. Gilchrist
5. Skinner
6. Bradbury
7. Watson
8. Fagerson M (if fit) - Baylis if not
9. Price
10. Russell
11. DVDM
12. Redpath
13. Harris
14. Graham
15. Hogg

Bench

Keeble
Turner
Nel
Hodgson
Darge
White
Kinghorn
Tuipolotu

Redpath is also an injury casualty, with James Lang taking his place in the squad.

Seems a reasonable side to me. Perhaps controversial but I'd be tempted to drop vdm for steyn. I think it's like the old visser Vs Maitland argument. Maitland obviously isn't in toonies consideration at the moment but I just think steyn has a better all round game than VDM and we won't lose much by having him play. It also leaves a bench spot for vdm as steyn also covers centre.

Seems a reasonable side to me. Perhaps controversial but I'd be tempted to drop vdm for steyn. I think it's like the old visser Vs Maitland argument. Maitland obviously isn't in toonies consideration at the moment but I just think steyn has a better all round game than VDM and we won't lose much attacking capability by having him play. It also leaves a bench spot for vdm as steyn also covers centre.

RDW wrote:Redpath is also an injury casualty, with James Lang taking his place in the squad.

The amount of injuries the lad has already endured I'll be amazed if he can carry on in a professional career beyond 25...

Scotland Squad


Forwards

Ewan Ashman - Sale Sharks – 2 caps

Josh Bayliss – Bath Rugby – 2 caps

Simon Berghan - Glasgow Warriors - 31 caps

Magnus Bradbury – Edinburgh Rugby - 16 caps

Andy Christie - Saracens - uncapped

Allan Dell - London Irish - 32 caps

Rory Darge – Glasgow Warriors – 1 cap

Matt Fagerson - Glasgow Warriors - 19 caps

Zander Fagerson - Glasgow Warriors - 44 caps

Grant Gilchrist - Edinburgh Rugby – 50 caps

Nick Haining – Edinburgh Rugby – 10 caps

Jamie Hodgson - Edinburgh Rugby – 3 caps

Oli Kebble - Glasgow Warriors - 11 caps

Stuart McInally – Edinburgh Rugby – 45 caps

Kiran McDonald – Glasgow Warriors – uncapped

WP Nel - Edinburgh Rugby - 45 caps

Pierre Schoeman - Edinburgh Rugby - 6 caps

Sam Skinner - Exeter Chiefs - 17 caps

Marshall Sykes - Edinburgh Rugby - 1 cap

George Turner - Glasgow Warriors – 20 caps

Hamish Watson - Edinburgh Rugby – 45 caps

Backs

Mark Bennett - Edinburgh Rugby - 22 caps

Darcy Graham - Edinburgh Rugby - 24 caps

Chris Harris - Gloucester Rugby - 33 caps

Stuart Hogg - Exeter Chiefs - 90 caps - Captain

Rory Hutchinson - Northampton Saints - 5 caps

Sam Johnson - Glasgow Warriors - 22 caps

Blair Kinghorn - Edinburgh Rugby - 30 caps

James Lang - Edinburgh Rugby – 6 caps

Rufus McLean - Glasgow Warriors - 2 caps

Ali Price - Glasgow Warriors - 48 caps

Kyle Rowe - London Irish - uncapped

Finn Russell - Racing 92 - 60 caps

Ollie Smith - Glasgow Warriors - uncapped

Kyle Steyn - Glasgow Warriors - 3 caps

Sione Tuipulotu- Glasgow Warriors – 3 caps

Duhan van der Merwe - Worcester Warriors - 15 caps

Ben Vellacott - Edinburgh Rugby – uncapped

Ben White - London Irish – 2 caps

Matt Fagerson in the squad, which bodes well.

Bennett looked very trashed at the weekend, but maybe not as bad as it looked.


Redpath just can't catch a break, hope it is nothing serious this time.

So no Redpath leaves the 12 shirt as probably the most open in the squad, Tuipolotu, Johnson, Hutchinson and Lang all have a reasonable claim to it.

Lang can also cover FH, so maybe becomes a decent bench option for this game as well, where a 6/2 bench split might make a lot of sense as well.

Tuipolotu did not do a lot wrong on his first start, but is more of a blunt instrument than Hutchinson. He would likely be the pick if we want a ball player more in Redpath's mould. If we want to stick with a battering ram, then stick with Sione.

Steyn could be the centre and wing bench cover over Lang doin 10 and centre.

I also still think blairhorn will bench for 10, wing and 15.

Second row will need to be skinner and GG now. Which means we’ll need to have backrowers in the backrow.

Who’d be a selector at these times eh

The call ups and sent backs are very interesting.
Among those Returned To Sender the prop Javen Sebastian is the only one not listed as injured.
The Call Ups are "interesting".
2 props
2 second rows
1 12/10
1 back three but mainly 15.

Kebble and Berghan are probably the two biggest props Toonie could have called upon, which may provide an insight into how we will line up on Saturday.
McDonald and Sykes replacing Cummings and Gray is, probably, a loss in terms of all round quality. However, again Sykes is a big lump and not lacking in belligerence. McDonald is not as dynamic as Cummings, but not many second rows are.
Lang hasn't looked like getting into the squad in a while; Johnson, Tuipulotu, Hutchinson are all ahead of him so maybe it's the fact he can play 10 that puts him into the squad.
The thought of Blarehorn coming on for Dancer after 5 minutes against France

Ollie Smith Mind, excluding Hogg and Blarehorn we have five, yes 5,other back three players in the squad. However, Smith already looks to be a very, very good broken field runner and has a howitzer of a boot on him. Against a big, heavy France pack kicking them back into their 22 could be a smart tactic. The French also tend to be "creative" in the way they defend in open play. Common sense says Smith is there for experience and also, perhaps, as a message to NoMaits.

My 23?
1. Shoey / Kebble
2. Rambo/ Turner
3.Ragnar/Berghan (I think Nellie may be too small for the France front row)
4. GG
5. Sykes / Skinner ( I think that we lacked a bit of "see you, pal" against Wales, so bugger mobility and creativity just do what locks are meant to do: be horrible.)
6. Bradbury
7. Hamish
8. Fagerson / Darge (I'd be tempted to start with Darge at 6 and tell him just to run around malkying anyone with garlic on their breath)
9. Aldi Price /White
10.Dancer
11. ADHD Kid
12. Tuipoulotu
13. Harris/Seaman
14.Blarehorn
15. Hogg
The Tombola may decree a 6/2 split with Blarehorn covering 10/11/14/15 so most likely VDM on the wing and Haining as the sixth forward replacement.

Like the thinking jimbo, especially with Smith who is on form and impressing for Glasgow. Some opportunities coming up and I would really like to see someone make a case for their continued involvement like Redopath did last year. There are a lot of non match day XXIII players floating about that squad at the moment so who will be getting their shot?

Darge would be a blinside starter for me. Tuipilotu did well last weekend and with Redpath sadly injured I would personally revert to Johnson starting and add Steyn to the bench to cover wing and centre, but I'm expecting Tuipolotu to be selected at 12 once more.

I'm finding it a bit hard to see what Townsend is trying to achieve by excluding so many experienced backline players. The squad to me feels like a summer tour squad now rather than a "Let's win the 6N" squad. If Toonie rings the changes for France and we lose where does that leave us? I'd prefer to see a settled and experienced lineup for France with one or two new faces on the bench.

Schoeman
McInally
Z Fagerson
Skinner
GG
Darge
Watson
M Fagerson
Price
Russell
VDM
Johnson
Harris
Graham
Hogg

Replacements: Turner, Kebble, Nel, Hogdson, Christie, White, Kinghorn, Steyn

https://www.theoffsideline.com/scotland-v-france-six-in-and-five-out-as-townsend-adjusts-squad-for-les-bleus-clash/

A neck injury for Cam Redpath with no idea of the severity given.

Does not sound massively promising for Matt Fagerson either, despite him staying in the squad.

With Scotland playing at home they should win this game.

So far any one playing at home except for Italy as won.

With regards to Redpath injured again, is he being rushed back to play too early?

Redpath played 3 times for Bath prior to doing 10 mins off the bench for Scotland, so probably not rushed. The injuries seem unrelated as well.

He just seems to be a player who is very injury prone unfortunately. Hopefully he will get a better run of luck soon.

I think Villiere is the only enforced absentee from France's 23 against Ireland.
Could be replaced by a winger (from Toulouse of Racing) or Fickou might be shifted out wide to accommodate the return of Vakatawa, who is back playing well for Racing.

Think France might have us this time. We’ve had some great results in recent years but surely they’ll be more wary this time and be looking to dominate the match early on. Last year they were chasing a big score that ultimately left them in a desperate situation by the end of the match. I’m sure they’ll be happy with 4 points this time and a BP being a less important factor.

As a Scotland fan I just want to see Scotland keep the score tight so we can grab another losing BP if it is to be a loss for us. LBP’s could determine if we finish 4th or 5th in the event of losing this weekend and away in Ireland. A repeat of the loss to SA in the autumn would be very disappointing. The team lost their heads in the final twenty.

The team seem up for it though. I am expecting a response from the Wales loss and having the home crowd will be a big boost. France still form favourites though IMO.

Yes, I have that faint feeling of nausea about this one. I just think that France have too much for us all over. I think that we'll get mauled all over the park and we'll get kicked to death with penalties. We'll probably score a couple of spectacular tries but I think we'll get ground out.

France should be too strong for us. They genuinely are targeting the next World Cup. We are nowhere near being able to confidently say we’re at the top table on a regular (includes away games) basis.

I’ll be happy with a good performance. I’m really not fussed about BPs in anyway. The difference between 5th and 4th really doesn’t matter.

Losing count of the Private Frasers on here.

In my head I keep hearing Simone Favaro when the interviewer in the Scout Hut asked him if we should fear Ulster, "Fear? Fear! We are Glasgow. we are at home. We Are WARRIORS!!! We fear no-one."

Forget all the smart talk about tactics and selections. Just send out 15 men who want to give it some laldy. That's all we can ask.

Scotland to win.

Or France to stuff us royally. I'm not too sure.

Any game is winnable!
If the team put themselves in the position to win it for 80 minutes then home advantage will come into play and Scotland can and will get over the line. Pretty simple really!

So in short, I agree with Jimbo that we'll either get pasted or win. I don't think there'll be an inbetween! France aren't like Ireland and don't have a habit of suffocating everything we try to do. However they are capable of giving any team in the world an absolute mauling on their day.

All this said, Scotland by a baw hair.

Seeing as we should have put Wales to the sword (on paper) and managed to lose, maybe this game will be the inverse...France by 20

In terms of a side, I actually quite like the idea of putting Haining at BS with Bradbury at 8 if M Fagerson is out. Before Haining, Strauss also tended to have good games against France for some reason. Bayliss scored an excellent try against Leicester on the weekend but get the feeling he is a touch small and does not give us enough at the line-out to justify a start. Maybe between Bayliss and Christie for bench as I thought Darge looked underpowered against Wales.

Something like:
Schoeman - Turner - Nel (Kebble - Ashman - Berghan)
Gilchrist - Skinner (Hodgson)
Haining - Bradbury - Watson (Christie)

Price - Russell (Vellacott - Kinghorn)
S Johnson - Harris
DVDM - Hogg - Graham (Steyn)

Oh, forgot to mention, haven't forgiven Zander yet for his discipline issues.

As a glass half empty kind of guy I do like the unbridled optimism of the Scottish threads before an international, although I feel more comfortable with the doom in the aftermath (more often than not).

Good luck at the weekend

That's a very Luvvie leaning pack.

jimbopip wrote:That's a very Luvvie leaning pack.

When you need a good pack you need to turn to Scotland’s proper rugby team.

I’m still not sold on gaining though. I’d be tempted to give Bayliss the nod at 6 or on the bench

Only 1 change for the French, enforced by Villiere's injury.
Moefana slips out to the left wing and his place is taken by the fit again Jonathan Danty. Oh dear.

France: Jaminet, Penaud, Fickou, Danty , Moefana, Ntamack, Du Pont: Baille, Marchand, Atonio, Woki, Willemse, Cros, Jelonch, Alldritt

Bench: Mauvaka, Gros, Bamba, Flaminet, Taofeffanua, Cretin, Lucu, Ramos (covering 10 and 15)

All hail the messiah has returned.

What odds will you give me of Bennett come if I’m at the 60 min mark and scoring the winning try for Scotland?

Good side! Glad to see Skinner in the boiler room and Darge getting his first start. Glad to see a consistent selection and not mad changes after the defeat in Wales. Bennett deserves to be involved, an experienced and on form player who can help Scotland out if they begin to fall behind. Haining is another nice selection, he adds bite and aggression from the bench. Very much looking forward to this one

Scotland team to face France in the 2022 Guinness Six Nations at BT Murrayfield live on BBC One, Saturday, 26 February – kick-off 2.15pm.

15. Stuart Hogg - Exeter Chiefs - (Captain) - 90 caps

14. Darcy Graham - Edinburgh Rugby - 24 caps

13. Chris Harris – Gloucester Rugby - 33 caps

12. Sione Tuipulotu - Glasgow Warriors - 3 caps

11. Duhan van der Merwe - Worcester Warriors - 15 caps

10. Finn Russell – Racing 92 - (Vice-Captain) - 60 caps

9. Ali Price – Glasgow Warriors - 48 caps


1. Pierre Schoeman - Edinburgh Rugby - 6 caps

2. Stuart McInally - Edinburgh Rugby - 45 caps

3. Zander Fagerson - Glasgow Warriors – 44 caps

4. Sam Skinner – Exeter Chiefs – 17 caps

5. Grant Gilchrist - Edinburgh Rugby - (Vice-Captain) - 50 caps

6. Rory Darge - Glasgow Warriors - 1 cap

7. Hamish Watson - Edinburgh Rugby - 47 caps

8. Magnus Bradbury - Edinburgh Rugby - 16 caps


Replacements

16. George Turner - Glasgow Warriors - 22 caps

17. Oli Kebble - Glasgow Warriors - 11 caps

18. WP Nel – Edinburgh Rugby – 45 caps

19. Jamie Hodgson - Edinburgh Rugby - 3 caps

20. Nick Haining - Edinburgh Rugby - 10 caps

21. Ben White - London Irish - 2 caps

22. Blair Kinghorn - Edinburgh Rugby - 29 caps

23. Mark Bennett - Edinburgh Rugby - 22 caps

Probably as good a side as we can manage in the circumstances,

Very pleased for Bennett, Darge and Hodgson. Haining played well last week as well and has a good record against France.

Guess picking Darge over Haining is us wanting to try and run France around/slow their ball than send them backward.

France going for a 6-2 split suggests they are looking to overwhelm us in the front five. If Zander can cut out the penalties, our work in the loose should be fine and we have a shot at keeping the scrum even. Schoeman vs Atonio is a massive match-up.

After seeing the line-ups, I am not looking forward to this one. The only positive is Russell will have a much better game against France than Wales as that was probably as bad as he has been for a while.

Dead pleased to see Bennett on the bench, hoping he gets a good run out as he could be a game changer.

I'm still not feeling too pessimistic. Ask me before the tournament and I'd say this is mostly first choice (though I'd be asking if Hastings had been injured!). We can't be as bad as we were against Wales, I'm hoping it's put a bit of a rocket up the team's erse and even if we get rollocked we go down swinging!

I'm pretty pleased with that team, and it's the sensible selection. Darge at 6 is s risk but he's an all action player so let's see how he goes. Great to see Bennett back.

I do worry about the scrum when the subs come on though - hopefully he doesn't do a full on swap on 44 minutes again.

Ted, is that right? ADHD Kid has 2 more caps than the messiah? That's just mad that is.

Would Toonie not have been better going with the front rows as units?

Shoe (Edinburgh) Rambo (Edinburgh) Penalty boy (Glasgow)
Kebble (Glasgow) turner (Glasgow) Nel (Edinburgh)

Wouldn’t it have been better to swap the two tightheads over?

Tattie - yes, probably, but we're going to get squished in the tight 5 anyway and so I'm happy to see how combos work.

We will probably lose this so I'm absolutely delighted to see Darge and probably also the Forgotten Messiah get some proper game time. Tests like this are the making of young players.

I'm going to the game tomorrow, so really looking forward to a good day out - first time back at Murrayfield too.

I'm pretty certain we're going to get a hosing though (how's that for optimism), France physically battered Ireland in a way I didn't think was possible - they've set up with a 6/2 split to batter us and then batter us again, with our injuries in the pack I can't see us having enough to withstand physically.

We haven’t seen the players use the choke tackle as much this tournament. Hopefully they can utilise that again tomorrow, it really slows down the opposition attack which will be vital against France.

Predictably as the match draws closer I start to feel more optimistic (why??). It feels like we’ll see a response from Cardiff’s meek showing. I think VDM will finally get involved a bit more and we’ll see a strong performance from the pack. Historically it takes Scotland a few games to get into their rhythm, as with other international sides. It’s a must win game, but hopefully we keep it tight on the scoreboard.

Darge, Watson and Bradbury all playing their best rugby would be a huge boost for the team. I’ll be focusing on that area closely tomorrow.

Enjoy the match EST! Hopefully it’ll be just as enjoyable as the Calcutta cup was (touch wood).

https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam/status/1497270167004352514?s=20&t=R-lY90qT566Bg7uw_TMslQ

Bad news guys

Well, we're doomed. Doomed I say.
Hamish has covid.
Haining at 6
Darge to 7.
It gives us a bit more beef at blindside and probably more direct carrying. Hamish is a huge loss but Darge just might produce something special tomorrow.
I'm now beginning to feel unduly optimistic.
Bugger.

I think Watson has been somewhat undercooked so far this 6Ns so this may actually be a good refresh. I think Darge will carry his form to international level and it'll be good to have another player blooded at 7. Him, Haining and Bradbury sound like quite a handy back row!

Yeah I agree and I see that Christie will be on the bench. What an opportunity for him! If he plays well he may be given an other opportunity or even a start against Italy. With the World Cup next year this isn’t so bad looking ahead. Still a big loss losing Ritchie and now Watson.

F u covid.

F u

Looking on the bright side though, we can now use hamish’s antibodies to end covid now

Letter of the law that’s a red but it’s one of these rugby collisions for me. A penalty and a warning to keep the tackles lower would have done but I guess you can’t penalise the outcome but the act

tigertattie wrote:Letter of the law that’s a red but it’s one of these rugby collisions for me. A penalty and a warning to keep the tackles lower would have done but I guess you can’t penalise the outcome but the act

I think it was reckless, even if it was accidental. The tackler has gone in upright, and risked the head on head collision. In my eyes that is reckless, and rugby needs to take steps to change it.
It's tough on the French lad, and imo, a yellow and penalty, given the outcome, would have been more sppropriate.
12 months ago Russell got a red for being on the receiving end of a tackle like that, but because he handed off with an elbow to the tacklers chops.
The red was wrong 12 months ago, and a yellow would have been right tonight.
The sooner that all tackles are mandatory at naval level or below, the better.
I think anything head on head where the ball carrier is upright, should be a minimum yellow for the tackler.

Was redundant anyway. Absolutely smashed by a 14 man french side.

We really need to look at our youth setup

If this is the best that we have at this age group, I don't think it matters what the set up is.
The commitment, skill level and fitness has been 2nd best by a long way in this game.
We've shown more urgency from minutes 70 to 76 than the previous 70 mins put together.
And that is nothing to do with playing against 13 men.

Looking at the readjusted side it may lack some key names but it doesn’t lack in talent. Darge, White and Christie are all deserving of their places in the team. Tuipolotu has proven he’s a hard ball carrier who is tough to bring down. I think we’ll see some exciting play from Scotland even if we do lose.

I look at this game and think France should win at a canter, no problem.

But Scotland are at home and they are a totally different beast at home so could spring a big surprise and turn France over.

Looking forward to what should be a cracking game.

Well, just over two hours to go.
I tight head who gives penalties with the predictability of Gee giving good advice.
A third choice second row pairing.
A brand new back row.
An out of form 9.
No back up 10 for when Dancer takes his now customary ten minute rest.
A 13 who sees preventing tries being scored as his raison d'etre; tries by either side that is.

Can't wait. We're going to smash them.

Was looking forward to this one, but I've just found out Karl Dickson is refereeing.

France look too strong and settled for Scotland and it should be a comfortable win for the away side.