Rugby

[J-C]

Peter Wright summed it up perfectly, he criticised the defence coach saying the forwards, particularly the front 3 weren't nasty or hard enough. The initial hits are not driving players backwards, as I said in another post, you have to win the game in the forwards 1st before playing your expansive game.

[weecounty hibby]

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Peter Wright summed it up perfectly, he criticised the defence coach saying the forwards, particularly the front 3 weren't nasty or hard enough. The initial hits are not driving players backwards, as I said in another post, you have to win the game in the forwards 1st before playing your expansive game.

Correct, it's a very old saying that in rugby it's forwards that win matches the backs decide by how much. You can have the best set if backs in the world but without ball they can't do a thing. Except our backs like to kick the ball away when they have it. And that is 100% a tactic that has been deployed by Townsend. We even kick the ball away inside the opposition 22!!

[hfc rd]

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Yeah, the next 6 Nations has to be an improvement or he'll be gone I reckon. We're not far off being a really good team and I like the style of play in attack that we are trying to play, but the team is so open that we just leak tries at an alarming rate.

One of the problems is that we can't seem to hold on to the ball for any great length of time. Japan actually play a very similar style of rugby to the one Scotland are trying to play, but they accuracy they do it with is so much better than ours which means they hold onto the ball longer and build up momentum and pressure on the opposition. We just always seem to make that one mistake or bad decision which means the ball is handed back to the opposition.

We need to be able to be more accurate and not kick the ball away so much, play some possession rugby. Townsend and the players need to be a bit more pragmatic.

Townsend still has the best win rate of any of the Scotland coaches in my lifetime (including the 1990 grand slam side) and has turned us into an exciting attacking team scoring more than 3 tries a match on average. I still have nightmares about the bad old days under Andy Robinson where we were scoring less than a try a game.

We're capable of beating anyone on our day, but equally capable of losing, Townsend needs a to get some consistency into the team and, I think, win 3 games in this years 6 Nations. Winning at home vs France (on current inconsistent form) should be do-able, and England at home has got to be targeted for a win. Then beating Italy away is expected. Do that and he'll buy some time.

Despite the maddening play sometimes, I'd still rather watch us playing this way and sometimes losing than some of the dross we have been subjected to in the last 19 years.

You make some very good points and I agree with majority of what you are saying.

However, it’s been pointed out massively that we don’t have a plan B when we come up against nations that are going to prove a big challenge to Scotland and that the expansive style of rugby isn’t going to work. Playing the expansive style of rugby is definitely great on the eye and works so well against the smaller rugby nations like Canada, Georgia & Russia etc but when he deploys it against nations that are better than us i.e. Ireland, Wales etc we get battered as they know how to work round it.

Will see what happens at this upcoming 6 Nations. As mentioned not only does he need results but also good performances that make you feel at the end of the game, we were fantastic and deservedly won/unlucky to have lost. Bring that positive feel good factor back that we had under Vern Cotter. Make us more solid defensively and cut out those silly errors. Show us that he can make us compete away from home as other than the 2nd half at Twickenham earlier this year, we have been brutal on the road for a very long time.

[Mibbes Aye]

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This can't be a coincidence on the back of our defeat:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...iness-50041728

And yet folk slagged off Theresa May

[Hibernia&Alba]

I'm going for England, South Africa, Wales and New Zealand.

[weecounty hibby]

England, SA, France and NZ for me

[Steve-O]

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Correct, it's a very old saying that in rugby it's forwards that win matches the backs decide by how much. You can have the best set if backs in the world but without ball they can't do a thing. Except our backs like to kick the ball away when they have it. And that is 100% a tactic that has been deployed by Townsend. We even kick the ball away inside the opposition 22!!

I’m no rugby expert having only really started watching in 2011, but is that kicking game as inexplicable to folk who know the game as it is to me? Absolutely baffling how often we quite literally gift the ball back to the opposition.

[cabbageandribs1875]

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I’m no rugby expert having only really started watching in 2011, but is that kicking game as inexplicable to folk who know the game as it is to me? Absolutely baffling how often we quite literally gift the ball back to the opposition.

the best team running it from the back is,unsurprisingly, the all blacks, i love watching them running it from the back they're so good they don't need to kick possession away, other teams that are confident they won't muck-up going forward will run it, and the others teams not so confident just want to clear the decks even if only briefly, having said that i confess to not knowing enough about rugby tactics to understand if there's other reasons for kicking away possession so often at the back

[cabbageandribs1875]

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I'm going for England, South Africa, Wales and New Zealand.

ditto get a wee ££ on it but with odds of that 4-fold @ 1/3 it's going to have to be handicaps



i'l skip the 8:15 am ko for england v australia as i suspect australia will start slowly again and not be able to claw it back

NZ v ireland a respectable northern hemisphere ko time @ 11:15 am


i'l get up for the wales v france game on sunday @ 8:15 tho

[hfc rd]

Looking forward to the quarters this weekend.

England vs Australia - Going for an England win

New Zealand vs Ireland - All Blacks to win

Wales vs France - You could flip a coin with this one. Either side could win it. I didn’t see Wales’ game last week against Uruguay, in fact didn’t see any of the Sunday matches other than Scotland’s disappointing defeat to Japan. Heard Uruguay gave them a decent game. France always are the dark horses in RWC’s and I’m predicting them to narrowly nick it.

Japan vs South Africa - Would love Japan to repeat a 2nd miracle of Brighton again. Been an absolute joy to watch and my favourite team of the tournament so far. You’d expect South Africa to win but I’m not going to write this Japanese team off. Head says South Africa win but heart says Japan to shock the world again. It’s set up to be a fantastic match and the one I’m most looking forward to watching!

[Danderhall Hibs]

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the best team running it from the back is,unsurprisingly, the all blacks, i love watching them running it from the back they're so good they don't need to kick possession away, other teams that are confident they won't muck-up going forward will run it, and the others teams not so confident just want to clear the decks even if only briefly, having said that i confess to not knowing enough about rugby tactics to understand if there's other reasons for kicking away possession so often at the back

I’m sure I read somewhere that NZ kick the ball more than any of the other top teams. They just kick it at the right times and in the right positions more often as well.

[cabbageandribs1875]

14-3 down and australia take the penalty in front of goal, i don't understand why they didn't kick for a line-out and try get more points...they need them

[Danderhall Hibs]

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14-3 down and australia take the penalty in front of goal, i don't understand why they didn't kick for a line-out and try get more points...they need them

Plenty time left - no need to panic and throw away the easiest 3 points they could get.

Decent game so far though.

[cabbageandribs1875]

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Plenty time left - no need to panic and throw away the easiest 3 points they could get.

Decent game so far though.

and then they give away a penalty straight away, i still think they should have went for more points as they're not going to be down the english try-line very often


yes it's been pretty decent

[Danderhall Hibs]

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and then they give away a penalty straight away, i still think they should have went for more points as they're not going to be down the english try-line very often

I know - I was typing as Farrell was lining it up!

Kick was the right choice at the time I reckon.

[Danderhall Hibs]

That was an excellent try. Back in it.

[cabbageandribs1875]

if we get what has been the normal australian 2nd half performances this could get very interesting



and then england score another try, australia need to stop giving away points after just getting points themselves :)

[Danderhall Hibs]

As a former prop, I love seeing a prop running a try in from that far out - even if he is playing for England.

[Danderhall Hibs]

I can’t stick Itoje - all his squealing and shouting irritates me.

[cabbageandribs1875]

england to win this 15+

[Danderhall Hibs]

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england to win this 15+

I was hoping their extra weeks rest would work against them but at the moment it looks like the opposite.

Still if they win it it’s tainted.

[cabbageandribs1875]

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I was hoping their extra weeks rest would work against them but at the moment it looks like the opposite.

Still if they win it it’s tainted.

[cabbageandribs1875]

i didn't notice australia taking off the gadgy who's silly pass led to that last english penalty

[cabbageandribs1875]

aussies muck up

[CloudSquall]

That defensive play by England could be the key point in the match.

[cabbageandribs1875]

sensible decision taking the penalty, 30-16 this should be enough to win it


the aussies like their risky long passes huh



40-16 it's a romp now

[CloudSquall]

Very impressive from England, fitness looks fantastic, very strong contenders.

[Danderhall Hibs]

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Very impressive from England, fitness looks fantastic, very strong contenders.

They do. Getting a mini break at the end of the group stage has really set them up for the knockouts.

[JimBHibees]

England were very good excellent defensively and took their chances well. Australia was a lot like watching Scotland so many simple errors and shot themselves in the foot.

[Danderhall Hibs]

Cmon Ireland.

Bored of the Haka now - far too choreographed.