Scotland - The Generic Moaning Thread 2024

[George Carlin]

First topic message reminder :

Scotland v Tonga
Sunday, September 24
Stade de Nice - 4.45pm kick-off.

Scotland v Romania
Saturday, September 30
Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille - 8pm kick-off

Scotland v Paddy Cousins
Saturday, October 7
Stade de France - 8pm kick-off

***

The 20 teams are divided into four groups as follows:

Pool A – New Zealand, France, Italy, Uruguay, Namibia

Pool B – South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Tonga, Romania

Pool C – Wales, Australia, Fiji, Georgia, Portugal

Pool D – England, Japan, Argentina, Samoa, Chile

The top two teams from each pool advance to the quarter-finals. The teams who finish third secure automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Australia in 2027.

The quarter-final draw is as follows:

QF1 – Pool C winner v Pool D runner-up

QF 2 – Pool B winner v Pool A runner-up

QF 3 – Pool D winner v Pool C runner-up

QF 4 – Pool A winner v Pool B runner-up

That means if Scotland manage to progress from the group stages they would be likely to face New Zealand or France in the quarter-finals if results go as expected.

The semi-final draw is as follows:

Winner of QF 1 v Winner of QF2

Winner of QF 3 v Winner of QF 4

The 2023 Rugby World Cup final takes place on Saturday, October 28, at the Stade de France, kick-off 8pm.

[No 7&1/2]

That should have been a red. Won't impact the result but how that's a yellow I don't get .

[Duty281]

Yellow?!!! What on earth?

Another day of confusion in rugby.

[Heuer27]

That’s utter nonsense

[Heaf]

The bunker decisions have been all over the place in this tournament ...

[BigGee]

Scotland not getting the rub with RC calls this WC!

[No 7&1/2]

It seems to ignore that any dip by Ritchie has to be sudden and significant.

Nice try.

[TheMildlyFranticLlama]

Here we go, Scotland mode activated. Hang on gents, it’s going to get stressful

[tigertattie]

Looking forward to Farrell’s next shoulder charge to see what colour of card he gets.

It’s quite pathetic actually. Years we’ve been working on removing avoidable head collisions and in one world cup ot becomes open season

[Geordie]

What a try

[Heaf]

On a different subject - been running behind until half-time ... did anyone think the line-out call when CP was supposedly dragged out was a bit premature - not sure he was ever in touch?

[lostinwales]

I hope Kata plays as well in the premiership. He could end up being a very popular player.

[Duty281]

Job done by HT. That'll do for Scotland.

Hang on, this is Scotland, we don't do things the easy way remember!

Yeah, I was thinking Tonga would be down to 14 for the remainder, not back to 15! Game still on.

[NeilyBroon]

Ben Whitehouse is our new Joubert

[lostinwales]

Job done by HT. That'll do for Scotland.

Hang on, this is Scotland, we don't do things the easy way remember!

Yeah, I was thinking Tonga would be down to 14 for the remainder, not back to 15! Game still on.

Simple, he's not English

[Heaf]

Ben Whitehouse is our new Joubert

Is he the FPRO for this match?

[NeilyBroon]

He's the tmo so I guess so!

[Heaf]

Thought the TMO and FPRO were two different officials?

[Heuer27]

How many times is the Tongan prop going to pop whilst going backwards before the ref blows

[BigGee]

Very well worked try, that should be the game now

[Heuer27]

Hahaha another yellow.

[Heuer27]

This is a complete joke. Both of those challenges are straight red cards.

[NeilyBroon]

Not convinced with this bunker nonsense. Just red card them if it's a red!

[Heaf]

It's certainly not working in terms of consistency that's for sure ....

[NeilyBroon]

This is possibly the most frustrating game I've watched from an officiating perspective.

[Heuer27]

Am I the only person to be very frustrated by this Scotland performance. Despite the score line they have been very loose and inaccurate

[Heaf]

Think yourself lucky you don't have to watch Dickson in the prem ...

[NeilyBroon]

I think we'll take the bonus point but will need to be on our game against Romania. 40 points won't do, we need 50-60+

[Heaf]

Isn't PD only likely to make a difference if it's a 3-way tie?  And even then not the first decider?

EDIT: Think I read something on another thread that misled me - finally found the rules and it sounds like PD would come into play next if there was a 3-way tie ...

[BigGee]

Nice finish from Darcy, but we probably left 20 points out there in that second half.

That will likely cost us later on.

Still we would probsbly have taken thst score at the start of the match.

[Heuer27]

Part 1 complete. 5 points done.
Romania next up. Hopefully another 5

[BigGee]

Well I guess we should be happy if we go into the Ireland game with a chance of us qualifying.

It was always likely to come down to that.

[BigGee]

Apparently McInally is now out of the squad with s neck injury, without ever playing

Everyones favourite scouser Johnny Mathews joins the squad and will likely win his first cap off the bench next week against Romania!

[Heuer27]

Can the citing officer get involved in the yellow card incident after it’s been reviewed by the bunker guys?
Was Farrells red card reviewed in that manner initially, I can’t remember offhand

[tigertattie]

Can the citing officer get involved in the yellow card incident after it’s been reviewed by the bunker guys?
Was Farrells red card reviewed in that manner initially, I can’t remember offhand

Yup. Exact same process.

Remember though, the initial citing officer declared the incident a yellow too. It was world rugby themselves who then appealed it and pushed for the upgrade to a red

Hell knows what’s going on now with the bunker folk in Paris. It’s like they’ve been told not to give reds as they really do hammer the offending team

[Mcsweens]

Ultimately quite frustrated by that. We did some good things, but we're nowhere near the intensity levels of the two teams last night, and nowhere near clinical enough.

You could see them trying to score points and show ambition, but the skill level and decision making isn't all there, Russell excepted.

[BigGee]

Can the citing officer get involved in the yellow card incident after it’s been reviewed by the bunker guys?
Was Farrells red card reviewed in that manner initially, I can’t remember offhand

Yup. Exact same process.

Remember though, the initial citing officer declared the incident a yellow too. It was world rugby themselves who then appealed it and pushed for the upgrade to a red

Hell knows what’s going on now with the bunker folk in Paris. It’s like they’ve been told not to give reds as they really do hammer the offending team

Not quite

Farrell got a red at the match then the disciplinary committee downgraded it

World Rugby then appealed thst decision which they won.

[Heuer27]

Rambo has been crocked and they have called up Johnny Mathews. Couldn’t make this up.

[BigGee]

Rambo has been crocked and they have called up Johnny Mathews. Couldn’t make this up.

Knowing JM he'll likely score a hat trick on his debut, he certainly knows his way to the try line!

[Heuer27]

Rambo has been crocked and they have called up Johnny Mathews. Couldn’t make this up.

Knowing JM he'll likely score a hat trick on his debut, he certainly knows his way to the try line!

Haha probably, think his tries per games is up there with Darcy and Duhan’s.

[bsando]

That looked like the performance of a side who have been out for two weeks after losing a tough match in round 1. I’m glad Scotland have these two matches before Ireland to get up to speed. Still far too many errors in the Scottish game.

Gray hasn’t really played that well so far. Given the quality of Irish second rows I think the selection calls there will be crucial.

[RDW]

Good win but shame we didn't absolutely spank them to put a real statement down like Ireland did.

Sounds a frustrating one with the officiating!

My old man is over visiting Australia so look forward to watching it on replay with him this morning.

[BigGee]

That looked like the performance of a side who have been out for two weeks after losing a tough match in round 1. I’m glad Scotland have these two matches before Ireland to get up to speed. Still far too many errors in the Scottish game.

Gray hasn’t really played that well so far. Given the quality of Irish second rows I think the selection calls there will be crucial.

Hmm, I am not sure our lineout improved that much after he went off!

Always hard to know for sure where a lineout is going wrong, but the addition of Ashman and the substitution of RG seemed to be a turning point and we could not catch a cold afterwards.

[NeilyBroon]

Good win but shame we didn't absolutely spank them to put a real statement down like Ireland did.

Sounds a frustrating one with the officiating!

My old man is over visiting Australia so look forward to watching it on replay with him this morning.

Well the more I think about it the more I think the officiating took a lot of momentum out of our game. Infringement after infringement from Tonga in the red zone led to no consequence for them. Two red cards, but Tonga were with 15 men for 65 minutes and we lost our captain for the game as a result of the first head to head tackle.

Yes our execution was left wanting a lot but I think the wind was also taken out of our sails by that point. To be honest, I'm hoping if we make a statement it'll be against Ireland! Tonga were always a potential banana skin and I think we did OK.

Let's see how Romania goes. I'd be tempted to start Horne over white.

[RDW]

On the yellow that wasn't a red, who knows really given how inconsistent things are just now. But to be fair to the bunker, Ritchie was on a downward trajectory and the defender was actually crouched down in a tackling stance - he just powered upwards. So potentially there is some mitigation.

Still, it was a shoulder to the head and when that happens need there really be an opportunity for mitigation? Ultimately the defender could still have avoided that situation through a better tackle technique. And ultimately the offender only got 10 minutes out whereas Ritchie may miss the next two games because of his actions.

[George Carlin]

If I was Tom Curry I'd be pretty angry about this.

That shot on Ritchie looked identical to Curry's tackle. Guidance says that the movement downwards by the tackled player must be sudden and that's not what I took from the slo mo replays.

In terms of our performance, we just don't seem to maintain downwards pressure on teams. I'm sure that we'll put 70 points on Romania, but so what?

I think that Ireland will beat us by 14. I just want a fighting performance, regardless of the score.

[BigGee]

Toonie did not hold back about it at the presser, he strongly criticised the whole system, saying it disempowered the ref and the bunker officials were looking for reasons not to give reds when they were deserved.

Not like Toonie to be so outspoken but someone needed to say it.

I like the principle of the bunker system, which lefts the game flow with no long delays, but when you see these decisions you do think it is a cop out,

[BigGee]

If I was Tom Curry I'd be pretty angry about this.

That shot on Ritchie looked identical to Curry's tackle. Guidance says that the movement downwards by the tackled player must be sudden and that's not what I took from the slo mo replays.

In terms of our performance, we just don't seem to maintain downwards pressure on teams. I'm sure that we'll put 70 points on Romania, but so what?

I think that Ireland will beat us by 14. I just want a fighting performance, regardless of the score.

George, that shot was much worse than Curry's, which you could say was more of a timing issue if you were being charitable.

This one was deliberately upwards towards the head and carried considerable force.

Ritchie was really groggy afterwards and I am not surprised he failed the HIA.


Tom English in the SRU pidcast just after the game was scathing about the Tongan tackling saying it came from another age. A few other bad ones were missed as well including kne that flattened Kinghorn.

The one on Russell was described as an assault!

[BigGee]

In amongst all the discussion of the headshots, we have maybe forgotten that there were some pretty good individual performances out there.

Finn was agsin excellent saw the soace and used it well.

Sione had a much better game as well and made the hard yards as well as spreading the ball wide.

Turner hit his jumpers very accurately, this week and was rampaging jn the loose, no doubt about our number one hooker now.

Shout out to Rory Sutherland as well , who held the scrum up well against Big Ben and hsd a few impressive rumbles. He may well start against Ireland, hd is probably a better scrumsger than Schoeman.

White, I thought was a bit off his game and I agree that yhere is a decent case for Horne to start agsinst Ireland.

[NeilyBroon]

In amongst all the discussion of the headshots, we have maybe forgotten that there were some pretty good individual performances out there.

Finn was agsin excellent  saw the soace and used it well.

Sione had a much better game as well and made the hard yards as well as spreading the ball wide.

Turner hit his jumpers very accurately, this week and was rampaging jn the loose, no doubt about our number one hooker now.

Shout out to Rory Sutherland as well , who held the scrum up well against Big Ben and hsd a few impressive rumbles. He may well start against Ireland, hd is probably a better scrumsger than Schoeman.

White, I thought was a bit off his game and I agree that yhere is a decent case for Horne to start agsinst Ireland.

The Greg Wallace critique

[TAFKA The Oracle]

In amongst all the discussion of the headshots, we have maybe forgotten that there were some pretty good individual performances out there.

Finn was agsin excellent  saw the soace and used it well.

Sione had a much better game as well and made the hard yards as well as spreading the ball wide.

Turner hit his jumpers very accurately, this week and was rampaging jn the loose, no doubt about our number one hooker now.

Shout out to Rory Sutherland as well , who held the scrum up well against Big Ben and hsd a few impressive rumbles. He may well start against Ireland, hd is probably a better scrumsger than Schoeman.

White, I thought was a bit off his game and I agree that yhere is a decent case for Horne to start agsinst Ireland.

The Greg Wallace critique

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