Scotland Rugby

With about twenty minutes to play, it seemed as though the first team to score a try would win the match.

Because no tries were scored in this match, however, it was Scotland, carried by the boot of Dan Parks, that came away with the 15-6 victory over Georgia in pool play.

Parks scored all 15 points for Scotland with his foot, kicking four penalty goals and one drop goal.

Though a win is a win, one has to imagine that Scotland is again disappointed with its performance.

After a hard-fought win against Romania on the second day of the World Cup Tournament, the Scots made it known they would be ready to send a message against Georgia.

Instead, the Scots bobbled the ball when they had scoring opportunities, were tackled and stopped when they had an open field, dropped kicks and overall, allowed a team to hang around within striking distance while supposedly having control the entire game.

Hopefully for Scotland, the lackluster play against Georgia can be chalked up to the rain and the wet field and ball.

Though Scotland showed moments of superiority over Georgia, both physically and athletically speaking, they were never able to deliver a knock out punch.

With the bottom half of the pool behind them, Scotland will need to prepare for Argentina (ninth in the world) and England (fourth in the world), the team's last two games in pool play.

A long rest should serve Scotland well, as they do not play Argentina until the 25th of September.

Scotland take on Wales at Murrayfield in what could turn out to be the battle to avoid the wooden spoon.

Scotland didn't cover themselves in glory against France last weekend, whilst Wales lost at home to England for the first time since 2003.

Scottish overview

Scotland coach Andy Robinson was bullish after losing to France, pointing out that each of France's four tries came as a direct result of Scottish turnovers.

However, this ignores the fact that his side were badly outplayed and that France were so far ahead that they almost stopped playing for the last 20 minutes, allowing the Scots to score two free tries.

Scottish pack

The one area of their game that the Scots were not supposed to find problematic was the scrum, but they were absolutely destroyed by the French.

Euan Murray, supposedly one of the best props in the world, was completely overpowered and the experiment of playing Nathan Hines in the back row was a disaster.

The only redeeming factor was the outstanding performance of young second row Richie Gray, with captain Al Kellock not far behind him.

However, among the several changes expected for Saturday's clash, Richie Gray's doubtful status is the most troublesome.

Scottish backs

Scotland's main problem against France was that their backs were too slow moving the ball, too lateral in their running and tended to cough the ball up in the tackle.

Nick de Luca was particularly culpable and can count himself fortunate to get a second chance.

Joe Ansbro, on the other hand, was a revelation, running powerfully and taking intelligent lines.

Nikki Walker almost looked like a different player, as he was stronger and more forceful and could have a big role to play this weekend.

Welsh overview

It is hard to believe that Wales could play so badly for two games in a row.

They were particularly woeful against England, though, with Jamie Roberts almost anonymous, Shane Williams not much better and the back row missing in action far too often.

A vast improvement is needed this weekend.

Welsh pack

Former captain Ryan Jones gets the start at number eight as Andy Powell is injured, but otherwise, this is the same pack which began the game against England.

The front row started well in that game but faded, and only the mercurial Bradley Davies can say he actually played for the whole game.

Dan Lydiate can think himself particularly lucky to retain his place on the blind side, especially as the retention of Hines by the Scots would suggest that this was a more natural opportunity to return Jonathan Thomas to the fold.

Welsh backs

The big move for the Welsh is to bring James Hook forward to fly half, where he finished the game in Cardiff. It is a gamble, especially as they have been forced to retain Mike Powell at scrum half despite his awful showing against the English.

Injury to Dwayne Peel means that uncapped youngster Tavis Knoyle is the scrum half replacement, and if he is forced on, expect Hook to give way to Stephen Jones, too.

Wing Morgan Stoddart faces a late fitness test on a broken bone in his hand, so there could be a late change to the three quarter line.

Where the game will be won or lost

On paper, Wales have a much better back line, but both sides were so poor at the weekend that gauging just how well they will play on Saturday is almost impossible.

The packs are fairly evenly matched, so the game will turn on whether Wales play to their potential among the backs or simply show up.

Prediction

A close game, but Wales win.

Both of these sides lost their opening games, but Scotland will probably have emerged from the first weekend the happier of the two, having scored three tries at the Stade de France.

Under coach Andy Robinson, Scotland have been steadily improving over the last few seasons, and they showed this last autumn by beating South Africa. Wales, on the other hand, are moving in completely the other direction, having not won in eight tests.

The usually solid Scottish scrum was taken apart by the French last weekend, and they know they will have to improve in this area in order to compete with the Welsh. The most threatening attacking players for Wales currently are amongst the forwards, and Scotland will have to be aware of the ball-carrying abilities of Bradley Davies, Sam Warburton and Dan Lydiate.

Wales have moved James Hook into the fly-half position, and he will have to inspire a faltering back line. The more experienced backs, such as Shane Williams and Jamie Roberts, will need to perform better if this area of the team is to function properly. The out-of-form Lee Byrne will replace Hook at fullback, and this is possibly an area Scotland could look to target.

Last week, both Max Evans and Jo Ansbro impressed for Scotland, and they also have the physical presence of Richie Gray if he is fit to trouble the Welsh defence.

These players will be crucial to Scotland’s chances of scoring tries this weekend. Where Scotland fell down against the French was conceding turnovers and exposing themselves to counterattacks. They cannot afford to do this again, because Wales will surely punish them heavily for mistakes in this area.

It is important not to underestimate the significance of this game for both teams, because the loser will have no realistic chance of finishing in a decent position at the end of the tournament. This match should be very close, but on the basis of current form and the fact that this game is at Murrayfield, Scotland should just be able to edge it.

If it is February, it must be time for the Six Nations, the rugby competition so venerable that it makes every other contest—the World Cup, the Tri-Nations—look like a pretentious young upstart.

The final game of opening weekend sees Scotland travel to Paris to take on a French team hopeful of a repeat of last year's tournament victory

French overview

As is his wont, French coach Marc Lievremont has shuffled his side again.

The lack of continuity of selection doesn't seem to bother the French as much as it does commentators, but there were times in the last year when they won despite themselves rather than because of the supposed genius of the coach.

French pack

The pack is the same as the victorious one from 12 months ago.

Imanol Harinordoquy gets the start at No. 8 ahead of Sebastian Chabal and the wonderfully exotic Fulgence Ouedraogo (who doesn't even make the bench).

Domingo, Servat, Mas, Nallet and Pierre are a front five to rival any in the world and it will be a real surprise if this pack doesn't dominate from the off.

French backs

The back line is where Lievremont has been tinkering, with legendary centre Yannick Jauzion dropped for the promising Maxime Mermoz.

He is paired at centre with the albino pony that is Aurelien Rougerie, who has won all of his previous caps on the wing and who always seemed to have the defensive skills of an overripe tomato.

The other big surprise is that Damien Traille, who played stand off in the autumn internationals, now becomes a full back in place of Clement Poitrenaud, the electric runner who so excited everyone in 2010.

Scottish overview

Scotland have only won their opening game of the Six Nations once in the last 11 years and could not have picked a harder starting fixture.

That said, they will play with the abandon of men with nothing to lose and if they could only score some tries—they only have seven in 13 games since coach Andy Robinson took over—then they would stand a chance of an upset.

Scottish pack

Captain Alistair Kellock returns to the second row, which means a move to the blindside for Nathan Hines.

How he will cope against the speed of the French back row is anyone's guess, but with Kelly Brown shifting to eight and John Barclay on the open side, the Scots will still be as mobile as any other side in this competition.

Euan Murray's star has fallen somewhat in the past couple of years and he will welcome the chance to reclaim his crown as best loosehead in the northern hemisphere as he takes on Mas.

Scottish backs

Scotland's main failing comes in their backs, where there is a lack of genuine quality.

Nick de Luca returns to the centre, where he has promised so much and delivered so irregularly. Next to him, Joe Ansbro starts his first Six Nations match, whilst Max Evans moves back to the wing.

Dan Parks is at stand off, which remains a problem position of Ben Nevis proportions for the Scots.

Where the game will be won or lost

Scotland's only real hope is to keep the ball away from the French backs.

Expect plenty of tactical kicking from Parks and a lot of hard running from the loose forwards.

France, on the other hand, will be looking to use the power of their front five wherever possible, before unleashing the talent they believe that they have in their three-quarters.

Little Morgan Parra at scrum half will be vital to their game plan and how well his Scottish opponent Rory Lawson can mark him will be key to stemming the flow of French ball.

Prediction

An easy French win. There is simply no way that Scotland get close in this one.

Following Scotland's surprise victory over the Argentinians on Saturday, coach Andy Robinson said "There is still a long way to go for us, this is just a start", and he is right.

Despite a historic 24-17 victory in which Robinson's men became the first team to beat Argentina in Tucuman, this is only the start to a period that will be crucial to Scotland's hopes of success at next autumn's World Cup in New Zealand.

The Scottish outfit face a second test on Saturday against the Pumas, in which they will try to complete a 2-0 series win.

They then have a tough Autumn home schedule in which they will take on New Zealand, defending World Champions South Africa and the fifteen man version of recently crowned World sevens champions Samoa in consecutive weeks. 

While not expecting miracles in these fixtures Robinson will be looking for confident and dynamic performances in which they play with a fearless attitude, allowing their very talented backs to run at defences, in order to score the tries they are lacking currently.

In order to do that they will need to utilise the talent of Dan Parks. The 32 year-old fly half has been instrumental in Scotland's recent successes including all 24 of their points on Saturday.

Despite being from New South Wales he has been accepted into the hearts of the fans and is now a favourite of many.

The combination of Parks and the ever Impressive Mike Blair provides a quality half back pairing which should provide the foundation needed for Robinson to build a match winning side.

Robinson has a plethora of talented backs to choose from and providing the likes of Sean Lamont, Max Evans and Hugo Southwell among others stay fit, there is enough try scoring talent to test even the most dogged of defences.

Following their tough Autumn schedule, the Scots follow up with an equally tough Six Nations campaign.

They open up with an away trip to defending grand slam champions France, before returning to Murrayfield for tests against Wales and Ireland. 

If this wasn't tough enough they make the short trip to South-West London to face the English.

They finish up with a return to Murrayfield to face the Italians.

This is a very testing schedule but if successful will provide sufficient momentum ahead of the World Cup in New Zealand.

They will have a very tough time in New Zealand joining England and Argentina in a group also featuring Georgia and a qualifier to be confirmed from the playoff competition.

That being said, Robinson's side has already shown it has the beating of both of the bigger sides in recent years, and will be confident of the prospect of qualifying for a quarter final berth.

All of that though relies on how they handle the tests to come over the next 15 months, and it will be intriguing to see whether or not Andy Robinson can prove all his doubters and critics wrong, and guide a team of talented players to the level of success they deserve.

Flanker Scott Gray has been called up to the Scotland squad to cover Rennie and the big Stroker who are still suffering from knocks.

What, no Roddy Grant?

Gray has been mostly on the bench this season so who knows if he is in the same form that displaced John Barclay last year or not. He should get more chances now that Neil Best is moving to Worcester. Still, I reckon Grant would have been a cheaper train fare for the SRU’s budget to stump up… from the BBC

Richie Gray is also sitting out training after being so omnipresent vs Biarritz that Jerome Thion had to punch him in the face to make him stop, breaking his nose in the process. A citing is on the way… from the Scotsman

Edinburgh MSP Sarah Boyack has hammered BBC Scotland over its unwillingness to cover Scottish rugby.

Quite right too now that Heather the Weather has gone Reporting Scotland is pish, unless there is rugby in the sports bit— and even then it’s only five seconds less pish.

Who cares who Kilmarnock has just signed?

Apart from Kilmarnockians, obviously,write to your MSP/MP and tell them to get on the case, that you are a single issue voter, that issue is rugby, and if they don’t sort it out they are fired in May… from the Scotsman.

I’ve also got a preview piece up on scrum.com 6 Nations fanzone . The drums in the jungle tell me Al may be working on the SRBlog version shortly…

Scotland 23-10 Fiji

But having said that, it was more clinical than we are used to, wasn’t it? How many times have we seen the scrum-half break (usually Mike Blair) with no-one on his shoulder and the move fizzles out?

This time when Cus went through the gap, pack-attack-captain Beattie was on his shoulder and lo-and-behold, try! While on other days a better (Aussie?) defence might have stopped that one, or the pass for Morrison’s try would have been given as forward.

Scotland don’t usually get the breaks in International rugby so we’ll take them against a team that were ranked higher than us. So far, so good—a win’s a win and all that.

The game and the Scotland team went a little to sleep in the second half though, and there were still signs of the odd silly error or turnover of old. The defence was up to the Fijians attempts to counter on the day. The opposition will be much stiffer next week and I think the intensity and concentration levels will need to go up a bit.

Hopefully the crowd levels will go up a bit too—it’s extremely poor not having some sort of ticket buying facility on the day. It’s not rocket science SRU, it means you can make more money!

Even if Andy Robinson is a fan of big wings, there is a pretty good argument for bringing Thom Evans in for Danielli. Given that pace, confidence and ball skills seemed to serve the Irish backs well against Australia yesterday (easily game of the weekend that one) and Evans has these in spades, the move makes sense.

Alex Grove made a solid debut in the 13 shirt, where he tackled well and made very few mistakes that I saw, along with a couple of nice passes that hinted at what he might offer in attack if the ball got to him more.

To replace him or not if Cairns is fit possibly becomes Robinson’s biggest decision this week. On the other side, the Wallabies have ball skills up the yahoo but there is still a fair amount of inexperience in their backline (Matt Giteau aside), so it’s almost an even contest in terms of experience if Scotland can find any sort of platform with which to take them on.

The improved Wallaby front-row could make the scrum an even contest (or worse) but with Moray Low and Kyle Traynor on form and Euan Murray still to come back at least we’re starting to get some depth on both sides of our props department.

The line-out went well despite the second-rows being generally quiet, but as always with Scottish hookers it could be a different story if their throwing-in is challenged by the opposition (or the ref).

Looking at the level of effort Ireland needed just to get a draw against Australia, it looks like quite a hill to climb for Scotland and Robinson. If we can get close enough to be in it with a few minutes left there’s a chance, but where is the Scottish Brian O’Driscoll who can create a bit of last-minute magic just when you need it most?

Oh, the lunchtime news tells me they’re going to fire the Scotland football coach (where of course it counts as news news, not sport news—which will also be all football). Maybe they should hire an Englishman? It’s working for us so far.

Well done to Alex Grove on his debut cap; I reckon it’s a good idea to give him a shot against Fiji.

More interesting even than that is the suprise absence of Thom Evans from the 22, given that he had been pretty much the creative spark for the Scotland national rugby team all of last season. It does put a fair bit of pressure on the back three to try and maintain the scoring form that the Evans boys seemed to help Scotland discover.

Other than that, though, the team looks decent enough, and it's good to see former Highland man Moray Low gets another cap! New co-captain Chris Cusiter gets his shot to start and the Lamont boys make a return to add ballast to the backs. Ross Ford, meanwhile, needs to kick on from the Lions tour, sort out his throwing, and bring the power carrying game (along with Hines) that can make him a real threat.

Let’s not forget Fiji are above us in the IRB rankings, but we should still be looking to beat them and get Robbo’s stint as coach off to a good start. And I didn’t even mention Mossy, but he’s on the bench as 10 cover pretty much as expected.

Scotland team to play Fiji: Rory Lamont, Sean Lamont, Alex Grove, Graeme Morrison, Simon Danielli, Phil Godman, Chris Cusiter, Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Moray Low, Nathan Hines, Alastair Kellock, Alasdair Strokosch, Johnnie Beattie, John Barclay.

Replacements: Dougie Hall, Kyle Traynor, Jason White, Richie Vernon, Mike Blair, Chris Paterson, Nick De Luca

Also, it would be great if any of you could sponsor me in Movember, please! Along with all the Wallaby team at the weekend, I saw a photo that looks like Cus may be sporting some chops too, though it could just be the light.

My facial hair silliness should be in evidence for the Argentina game at the end of the month, ticket availability permitting...and don’t forget to check out Front Up’s offer below!

Well done to Edinburgh for a good result away from home, facing down an admittedly poor Cardiff team and coping with the usual performance from G. Clancy, Esq.

Did I say Edinburgh?  Oh, I meant Glasgow.  Telling the difference between the Scottish pro teams must be getting hard for poor old BBC Wales, which made several references to John Beattie, Firhill, and playing Biarritz next week during the coverage of Edinburgh’s piss-poor display against the Ospreys.

Granted, Beattie (junior, I can only imagine) and Ally Hogg may share a hairdresser, and Edinburgh may have “Aberdeen” on their shirts to confuse matters further, but BBC Wales’s commentary "standards" (never mind the bias) gave me something to get excited about and shout at the telly for (not really the TV’s fault, I suppose), given I was long past the point of shouting at Edinburgh’s general ineptitude.

Roddy Grant looked sharper at the breakdown than pretty much the whole team put together, and Ospreys turned Edinburgh over almost at will.  A few chances went begging, but the inability to (or lack of desire to) keep the ball proved pretty foolish against an international class (and in many places, Lions equal world class) backline, who promptly cut them to shreds.

Good to see Nikki Walker looking sharp, though. Godman kicked perfectly from tee, so Mossy was not missed in that regard, but as one of the chaps pointed out on the BBC boards, his marshalling of the defensive line was sorely absent.  Stand-in fullback and new signing Steve Jones didn’t cover himself in glory, shall we say, but he should not be the scapegoat.

Meanwhile, new Glasgow fullback Peter Horne got one kick of the ball on Saturday and sclaffed it into touch.  As it was to end the match, I can’t really complain.  Still, it’s a good sign for a youngster that he looked thoroughly disappointed in himself even for something that had no bearing on the game.

The match had long since been won by the combined work of Colin Gregor and Thom Evans behind a sturdy pack effort, and this time, Glasgow did not surrender their halftime lead.  Huzzahs all 'round for pseudo-Highlander Moray Low’s boot up field that eventually led to Johnnie Beattie’s try (see Jonathan, he was playing for Glasgow).  With Cusiter undoubtedly the best nine Glasgow have, perhaps they should find somewhere else to bring Gregor’s skills into play on a more regular basis—10 or 15, perhaps?

Big Nathan looks like he would have had fun during the Leinster 30-0 demolition of Munster that brought several tries, a bit of controversy, and no doubt plenty of niggle.  A much better range of highlights from STV this week too; they are learning a game of rugby is not just the penalty offences that lead to points, and I reckon it’s getting better.

Next weekend—Heineken Cup!

Bit of a news digest this week, hope you are enjoying the off season!

• Andy Robinson has announced his 44 man Scotland training squad for later in the month including all four Lions, several fresh faced youngsters like Ruaridh Jackson, Alex Grove and Richie Gray, and a missing Simon Taylor who has requested not to be involved at this stage. All very mysterious. Nick De Luca has been named, but I think he is carrying an injury so presumably won’t be doing any physical training. Good to see the Rory Lamont helicopter back into challenging for the full back shirt…

Scotland squad for three day training camp at St Andrews, Monday 17th-Wednesday 19th, August:

Backs: Mike Blair, Ben Cairns (both Edinburgh), Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors), Simon Danielli (Ulster), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh), Thom Evans, Max Evans (both Glasgow Warriors), Phil Godman (Edinburgh), Alex Grove (Worcester Warriors), John Houston (Edinburgh), Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), Rory Lamont (Toulon), Sean Lamont (Scarlets), Rory Lawson (Gloucester), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh), Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Nikki Walker (Ospreys), Simon Webster (Edinburgh)

Forwards: John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie, Kelly Brown (all Glasgow Warriors), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh), Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester), Ross Ford (Edinburgh), Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Gray (Northampton Saints), Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Craig Hamilton, Jim Hamilton (both Edinburgh), Nathan Hines (Leinster), Allister Hogg, Allan Jacobsen (both Edinburgh), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Lawson (Gloucester), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors), Alan MacDonald, Scott MacLeod (both Edinburgh), Euan Murray (Northampton Saints), Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester), Kyle Traynor (Edinburgh), Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors), Jason White (Clermont Auvergne).

• Speaking of Clermont, Glasgow take them on in the Challenge Auvergne mini-tournament tomorrow night, having won their previous game 20-11. Lineen seems to be rotating the squad and blooding plenty of the new signings, but Rob Dewey seems to be in the thick of the action whether at wing or centre.

Glasgow Warriors team to play Clermont Auvergne at the Challenge Auvergne in Issoire, France, on Friday 7th August (kick-off 8pm local time):

Bernardo Stortoni, Rob Dewey, Peter Murchie, Peter Horne, Colin Shaw, Ruaridh Jackson, Mark McMillan, Justin Va’a, Dougie Hall, Hamish Mitchell, Richie Gray, Dan Turner, Calum Forrester, Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s)*, Johnnie Beattie

Not present will be scrum half Sam Pinder, who has announced he is leaving Glasgow for a coaching position in Hong Kong. With Cusiter coming in as clear number one scrum half it was always going to be tricky given McMillan and Gregor are probably ahead of Pinder in the pecking order too…