Week 4 : Scotland v Argentina

[Jock42]

Bhatti has had a nice cameo. Good caley lad.

I count 5 out there.



20 odd point win and still pissed off. Good interview with Finn I thought.

[ASMO]

Hard to work out what to think of that. Argentina just brainless decisions right through the game. Scotland really poor at exploiting that. Would have been interesting if the Pumas managed to keep 15 on the field what might have been.

[Slick]

Never been as frustrated with a 20+ point win.

Och, it was OK in the end. That period when they were 3 players down was rubbish but overall OK

[Yr Alban]

Never been as frustrated with a 20+ point win.

Yup. Fitting end to the game that Arg scored, although you did get the impression the ref wasn’t going to blow until they did.

Classic curate’s egg from Scotland. Some really good stuff, interspersed with some truly howling play at times. Whoever said our worst spell was at 15 v 12 was absolutely right. We seemed to have no idea what to do, and started playing ridiculous Hollywood passes rather than keeping it simple and letting the numbers tell.

At the end of the day it’s another Test marred by an avoidable red card. Would we have won without it? I suspect we’d have sneaked it, but it would have been a whole lot closer.

[Big D]

Never been as frustrated with a 20+ point win.

Och, it was OK in the end. That period when they were 3 players down was rubbish but overall OK

What have we really learned over the NIs? That if it comes down to Russell v Townsend always choose Russell and if Russell is out our gameplan is buggered?

[Yr Alban]

Never been as frustrated with a 20+ point win.

Och, it was OK in the end. That period when they were 3 players down was rubbish but overall OK

What have we really learned over the NIs? That if it comes down to Russell v Townsend always choose Russell and if Russell is out our gameplan is buggered?

To be fair, Finn when he is on form is genuinely world class. There isn’t a team in the world who wouldn’t miss a player like him. So the fact we look weaker without him is hardly a surprise.

What we’ve learned, TBH, is that we have good players, decent depth, and we can mix it with anyone on our day. But our discipline is still iffy, our game management is atrocious at times, we almost completely lack composure (Finn a notable exception today) and we still make the same stupid unforced errors.

[Tichtheid]

To be fair, Finn when he is on form is genuinely world class. There isn’t a team in the world who wouldn’t miss a player like him. So the fact we look weaker without him is hardly a surprise.

What we’ve learned, TBH, is that we have good players, decent depth, and we can mix it with anyone on our day. But our discipline is still iffy, our game management is atrocious at times, we almost completely lack composure (Finn a notable exception today) and we still make the same stupid unforced errors.

Yeah, that's probably all fair.

I never thought we'd lose today, not before the game or at any point in it. Yeah the card changed things, but you can only beat what's in front of you as the cliche goes and that means all of it, their stupidity too.

It's impossible to tell of course, but I would wager we'd win by only a slightly smaller margin in 15 v 15

[charltom]

Still undecided who is world champion dimmest side.

At 52-22? You must be pretty thick then.

I assume you missed the last few weeks? And Arg have at least beaten NZ and Aus: this year too.

Dude you're the one who declared it a world championship dimness match, no-one else! And once you're in a final, history is irrelevant.

It's pretty clear who lost your match. If you can't work that out then what a shame.

[charltom]

Oh and Finn has played very well in every single match in the last month. Yep, he's consistent.

[Yr Alban]

Oh and Finn has played very well in every single match in the last month. Yep, he's consistent.

Someone said he’d grown up. I think that assessment is spot on. He kept the head today when everyone else lost theirs. He’s gone from an erratic genius to possibly the real deal. Sure, maybe next game he’ll be back to maverick Russell again, but where used to get Alfa performance from him (flashy, looks good, utterly unreliable), he was a Rolls-Royce today.

[Uncle fester]

Never been as frustrated with a 20+ point win.

Och, it was OK in the end. That period when they were 3 players down was rubbish but overall OK

What have we really learned over the NIs? That if it comes down to Russell v Townsend always choose Russell and if Russell is out our gameplan is buggered?

Who else have you?
King Blairhorn isn't the first cousin of a 10 and Hastings is meh.

[Torquemada 1420]

At 52-22? You must be pretty thick then.

I assume you missed the last few weeks? And Arg have at least beaten NZ and Aus: this year too.

Dude you're the one who declared it a world championship dimness match, no-one else! And once you're in a final, history is irrelevant.

It's pretty clear who lost your match. If you can't work that out then what a shame.

Read what I wrote and not what you'd like to think I wrote.

On balance, I think Scotland does more to damage its own chances than any other team.

[Jock42]

Och, it was OK in the end. That period when they were 3 players down was rubbish but overall OK

What have we really learned over the NIs? That if it comes down to Russell v Townsend always choose Russell and if Russell is out our gameplan is buggered?

Who else have you?
King Blairhorn isn't the first cousin of a 10 and Hastings is meh.

Thompson who is comfortably 4th choice at the minute. Fin Smith (potentially) but I've not seen much of him. I think you're being a bit harsh on both of those btw, Kinghorn is settling in pretty well at 10 for Embra and, granted I don't see much English rugby, Hastings stepped up well in the 6N.

[Yr Alban]

Och, it was OK in the end. That period when they were 3 players down was rubbish but overall OK

What have we really learned over the NIs? That if it comes down to Russell v Townsend always choose Russell and if Russell is out our gameplan is buggered?

Who else have you?
King Blairhorn isn't the first cousin of a 10 and Hastings is meh.

Kinghorn is still developing as a 10. He’s done better than most of us expected, I think. His main issue is that he isn’t Russell.

Hastings was a bit disappointing v Fiji, but he was decent for us when Russell and Townsend had their first big spat.

The next two off the rank are Ross Thompson and Charlie Savala. Both are young and inexperienced. It’s strongly rumoured that Toony has been trying to persuade Fin Smith (whose grandfather was a Scotland and Lions player) to declare for us. Also rumoured that Russell would not have been back in the squad if Smith had said yes (not sure I believe that one).

[charltom]

I assume you missed the last few weeks? And Arg have at least beaten NZ and Aus: this year too.

Dude you're the one who declared it a world championship dimness match, no-one else! And once you're in a final, history is irrelevant.

It's pretty clear who lost your match. If you can't work that out then what a shame.

Read what I wrote and not what you'd like to think I wrote.

On balance, I think Scotland does more to damage its own chances than any other team.

You wrote "This game will be for the undisputed crown of the stupidest side in rugby."

You can use cards instead of points if you prefer. It's still pretty clear.

Just as it's clear how consistently well Finn Russell is playing.

Give it a rest.

[Big D]

Och, it was OK in the end. That period when they were 3 players down was rubbish but overall OK

What have we really learned over the NIs? That if it comes down to Russell v Townsend always choose Russell and if Russell is out our gameplan is buggered?

To be fair, Finn when he is on form is genuinely world class. There isn’t a team in the world who wouldn’t miss a player like him. So the fact we look weaker without him is hardly a surprise.

What we’ve learned, TBH, is that we have good players, decent depth, and we can mix it with anyone on our day. But our discipline is still iffy, our game management is atrocious at times, we almost completely lack composure (Finn a notable exception today) and we still make the same stupid unforced errors.

We knew all of that already though.

Are we any further forward that we were after the Ireland game other than we know the Edinburgh 6 are back in good graces. We're supposed to be building to the world cup.

[Uncle fester]

Not familiar with the others in fairness but Kinghorn will be doing well to become a consistent, serviceable 10 at URC. Massive ask for him to extend that to international level.

Hastings. He's 26 now. Just don't see it.

[Yr Alban]

What have we really learned over the NIs? That if it comes down to Russell v Townsend always choose Russell and if Russell is out our gameplan is buggered?

To be fair, Finn when he is on form is genuinely world class. There isn’t a team in the world who wouldn’t miss a player like him. So the fact we look weaker without him is hardly a surprise.

What we’ve learned, TBH, is that we have good players, decent depth, and we can mix it with anyone on our day. But our discipline is still iffy, our game management is atrocious at times, we almost completely lack composure (Finn a notable exception today) and we still make the same stupid unforced errors.

We knew all of that already though.

Are we any further forward that we were after the Ireland game other than we know the Edinburgh 6 are back in good graces. We're supposed to be building to the world cup.

Oh, I quite agree. I meant to put ‘so essentially what we knew already’ at the end and forgot.

No, I believe we are no closer to being competitive against SA or Ireland. Both of them will strangle us to death.

[Slick]

Not familiar with the others in fairness but Kinghorn will be doing well to become a consistent, serviceable 10 at URC. Massive ask for him to extend that to international level.

Hastings. He's 26 now. Just don't see it.

Whatever the pros and cons of Kinghorn, he has been absolutely shafted this series and it’s not on

I think your under rate Hastings, he was great when Finn had his first hissy fit and rarely lets anyone down

[Yr Alban]

Not familiar with the others in fairness but Kinghorn will be doing well to become a consistent, serviceable 10 at URC. Massive ask for him to extend that to international level.

Hastings. He's 26 now. Just don't see it.

Whatever the pros and cons of Kinghorn, he has been absolutely shafted this series and it’s not on

I think your under rate Hastings, he was great when Finn had his first hissy fit and rarely lets anyone down

I agree with all of this. Kinghorn hasn’t been treated that well, but he’ll get over it. There’s no shame in having a player of Russell’s ability take your shirt.

Hastings was genuinely good when filling in for Finn and has been solid for us.

[Jock42]

I'll third all of that

[Tichtheid]

Not familiar with the others in fairness but Kinghorn will be doing well to become a consistent, serviceable 10 at URC. Massive ask for him to extend that to international level.

There was an interview with Mike Blair (Edinburgh coach) in the press last week, he said that Kinghorn had the most assists (ie created more tries than anyone else) in the northern hemisphere in the last year.

[Tichtheid]

This is the quote


“I think he’s one of the players with the highest rugby IQ I have come across,” said the Edinburgh coach. “When he was injured last year, he did a couple of previews for us and he did them better than the coaches would do them.

“You can hear him on the ref mic during games, having conversations with players about what opportunities there are and what things need to change, so I think he’s a brilliant guy to coach.

“But we’ve got to understand that across all teams and all personnel, there are going to be some mistakes in there, so it is about how you react to them. Blair will make the occasional mistake, but let’s look at everything he does well. Last season he had the highest number of assists in the northern hemisphere, so some people will look at it and say ‘Blair made this pass error’ while others look at it and say ‘Blair created all these tries’.

“I believe there is a huge amount of upside in Blair and what he’s trying to do,” concluded Blair, whose Edinburgh team play at Cardiff in the URC on Sunday afternoon.

[Slick]

This is the quote


“I think he’s one of the players with the highest rugby IQ I have come across,” said the Edinburgh coach. “When he was injured last year, he did a couple of previews for us and he did them better than the coaches would do them.

“You can hear him on the ref mic during games, having conversations with players about what opportunities there are and what things need to change, so I think he’s a brilliant guy to coach.

“But we’ve got to understand that across all teams and all personnel, there are going to be some mistakes in there, so it is about how you react to them. Blair will make the occasional mistake, but let’s look at everything he does well. Last season he had the highest number of assists in the northern hemisphere, so some people will look at it and say ‘Blair made this pass error’ while others look at it and say ‘Blair created all these tries’.

“I believe there is a huge amount of upside in Blair and what he’s trying to do,” concluded Blair, whose Edinburgh team play at Cardiff in the URC on Sunday afternoon.

Which is all fine if you want to be a mid table team that entertains, but not if you want to be winning tight games against better teams

[Tichtheid]

This is the quote


“I think he’s one of the players with the highest rugby IQ I have come across,” said the Edinburgh coach. “When he was injured last year, he did a couple of previews for us and he did them better than the coaches would do them.

“You can hear him on the ref mic during games, having conversations with players about what opportunities there are and what things need to change, so I think he’s a brilliant guy to coach.

“But we’ve got to understand that across all teams and all personnel, there are going to be some mistakes in there, so it is about how you react to them. Blair will make the occasional mistake, but let’s look at everything he does well. Last season he had the highest number of assists in the northern hemisphere, so some people will look at it and say ‘Blair made this pass error’ while others look at it and say ‘Blair created all these tries’.

“I believe there is a huge amount of upside in Blair and what he’s trying to do,” concluded Blair, whose Edinburgh team play at Cardiff in the URC on Sunday afternoon.

Which is all fine if you want to be a mid table team that entertains, but not if you want to be winning tight games against better teams

That is a hilarious take on that quote.

Or really quite sad, one of the two.

[Slick]

This is the quote


“I think he’s one of the players with the highest rugby IQ I have come across,” said the Edinburgh coach. “When he was injured last year, he did a couple of previews for us and he did them better than the coaches would do them.

“You can hear him on the ref mic during games, having conversations with players about what opportunities there are and what things need to change, so I think he’s a brilliant guy to coach.

“But we’ve got to understand that across all teams and all personnel, there are going to be some mistakes in there, so it is about how you react to them. Blair will make the occasional mistake, but let’s look at everything he does well. Last season he had the highest number of assists in the northern hemisphere, so some people will look at it and say ‘Blair made this pass error’ while others look at it and say ‘Blair created all these tries’.

“I believe there is a huge amount of upside in Blair and what he’s trying to do,” concluded Blair, whose Edinburgh team play at Cardiff in the URC on Sunday afternoon.

Which is all fine if you want to be a mid table team that entertains, but not if you want to be winning tight games against better teams

That is a hilarious take on that quote.

Or really quite sad, one of the two.

Or 3, completely bleeding obvious to anyone looking at him playing 10 objectively

[Tichtheid]

Which is all fine if you want to be a mid table team that entertains, but not if you want to be winning tight games against better teams

That is a hilarious take on that quote.

Or really quite sad, one of the two.

Or 3, completely bleeding obvious to anyone looking at him playing 10 objectively

What, like Mike Blair, the professional rugby coach?

You're to Kinghorn what Torq is to Finn, only worse, at least Torq acknowledges that Finn can be brilliant

[Slick]

That is a hilarious take on that quote.

Or really quite sad, one of the two.

Or 3, completely bleeding obvious to anyone looking at him playing 10 objectively

What, like Mike Blair, the professional rugby coach?

You're to Kinghorn what Torq is to Finn, only worse, at least Torq acknowledges that Finn can be brilliant

His professional rugby coach

And please dont talk bollocks, you can go through all my posts about Kinghorn and you will see I’m always fair and praise him when he plays well. He can undoubtedly do many brilliant things but he also has too many flaws for him to be considered a top class 10.

I’m not sure if it’s because you are so blinkered and have put so much energy into backing him or have zero knowledge of stand off play, probably a mix of the the two, but You’re the outlier here, not me.

[Jock42]

That is a hilarious take on that quote.

Or really quite sad, one of the two.

Or 3, completely bleeding obvious to anyone looking at him playing 10 objectively

What, like Mike Blair, the professional rugby coach?

You're to Kinghorn what Torq is to Finn, only worse, at least Torq acknowledges that Finn can be brilliant

Thats uncalled for.

We all disagree with coaches decisions on here, including yourself, but to stoop to equating Slick to torq is below the belt.

[Tichtheid]

Nah, I'm going to give the lad more than a year to see if he can make it as a top class 10.

The difference between now and 12 months ago is huge.

[Tichtheid]

Or 3, completely bleeding obvious to anyone looking at him playing 10 objectively

What, like Mike Blair, the professional rugby coach?

You're to Kinghorn what Torq is to Finn, only worse, at least Torq acknowledges that Finn can be brilliant

Thats uncalled for.

We all disagree with coaches decisions on here, including yourself, but to stoop to equating Slick to torq is below the belt.

Slick says he's not a ten, ie he shouldn't even be playing the position.

[Yr Alban]

Which is all fine if you want to be a mid table team that entertains, but not if you want to be winning tight games against better teams

That is a hilarious take on that quote.

Or really quite sad, one of the two.

Or 3, completely bleeding obvious to anyone looking at him playing 10 objectively

Let’s look at this objectively for a sec. Who did we have before we had Russell? Parks. We had Parks. Or Godman, which was somehow worse. Or Laidlaw, who tried hard but was always a transplanted scrummie.

Now we have one actually world class 10, one serviceable backup, one transplanted 15 who is actually pretty damn good going forward, and two coming down the track. I’ll take that.

[Slick]

That is a hilarious take on that quote.

Or really quite sad, one of the two.

Or 3, completely bleeding obvious to anyone looking at him playing 10 objectively

Let’s look at this objectively for a sec. Who did we have before we had Russell? Parks. We had Parks. Or Godman, which was somehow worse. Or Laidlaw, who tried hard but was always a transplanted scrummie.

Now we have one actually world class 10, one serviceable backup, one transplanted 15 who is actually pretty damn good going forward, and two coming down the track. I’ll take that.

Don’t disagree with any of that, pretty much exactly my thoughts

[Big D]

Worth remembering as well that if Hastings wasn't injured that Finn would likely have been left in France.

[Yr Alban]

Worth remembering as well that if Hastings wasn't injured that Finn would likely have been left in France.

Indeed. There was a rumour going around that Finn would be brought back in for NZ, to which Toony said ‘No’ when asked.

[Tichtheid]

Worth remembering as well that if Hastings wasn't injured that Finn would likely have been left in France.

Finn is possibly the best 10 in the world just now, or at least on the list. I hope this spat between Townsend and him is now over, because Finn is more important to the team than Gregor is, imo.

I always liked Hastings, but the way I see things going is that Kinghorn is absolutely nailed on as a bench option now, probably at the expense of Hastings, because of his pace Kinghorn covers 10, 11, 14 and 15. So you need a scrum half and a centre on the pine, or you have the option of 6/2