Six Nations 2016 Wales vs Scotland

Wales v Scotland

4:50pm - Saturday the 13th of February 2016

Principality Stadium, Cardiff

Teams

Wales
15 Liam Williams
14 George North
13 Jonathan Davies
12 Jamie Roberts
11 Tom James
10 Dan Biggar
9 Gareth Davies
1 Rob Evans
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Samson Lee
4 Luke Charteris
5 Alun Wyn Jones
6 Sam Warburton (c)
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Taulupe Faletau

Reps: Ken Owens, Gethin Jenkins, Tomas Francis, Bradley Davies, Dan Lydiate, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Priestland, Gareth Anscombe

Scotland

15. Stuart Hogg
14. Sean Maitland
13. Mark Bennett
12. Dunc Taylor
11. Tommy Seymour
10. Finn Russell
09. Greig Laidlaw (c)

01. Alasdair Dickinson
02. Ross Ford
03. Willem Nel
04. Richie Gray
05. Jonny Gray
06. John Barclay
07. John Hardie
08. David Denton

Reps: McInally, Reid, Fagerson, Swinson, Cowan, Hidalgo-Clyne, Weir, Lamont



Referee is unfortunately George Clancy (IRFU) which ruins the game generally.

Touch judges: John Lacey (IRFU) & Federico Anselmi (UAR)

TMO: Graham Hughes (RFU)

Enough pouring over last weekends matches... Time to crack on, not much time before the next game and plenty of work to do for both coaches.

A few injuries to Wales players. Biggar unlikely to make it last I heard.

A few selection decisions including both captains not setting the world alight, are they droppable?

Fly halves/scrumhalfs made blunders that could have changed the results, Finns lack of pass, Lloyds awful kick.

Biggest issue for Wales is Biggar being out.

Priestland is woeful! That one injury makes me think Scotland can win it.

After Saturday's performance I am not looking forward to this one. Hogg was about the only Glasgow player who was able to shrug off the malaise of a dreadful domestic campaign and look anywhere near his best. Russell, Bennett (was he playing?) and Seymour all played poorly. A special mention to Maitland for jogging meekly into touch. Ford's dodgy darts meant the lineout was a lottery and we couldn't get on the front foot enough in open play. Unless there is a dramatic improvement in performance and a huge reduction in the error count I cant see past a comfortable win for Wales ( by 10 to 20 points?)

I think this Welsh outfit will be far too strong. They absolutely pummeled Ireland physically and I just don't think we can even come close to the intensity of the Irish defence.

This one will not be for the faint hearted.

I think if Scotland get their centres into the game they will cause Wales some issues. Hogg was the only point of attack last week and it was far too easy to defend against. Scrum looked good, lineout missed a few but not bad either.

Defence was poor around the fringes, so was Wales's.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Biggest issue for Wales is Biggar being out.

Priestland is woeful! That one injury makes me think Scotland can win it.

Priestland did well, wasn't that big a deal at all. I think we were all nervous when Dan went off but Priestland did a good job, kicked well under pressure and kept us in the game to the end.

Young Lloyd Williams needs to work I his box kicks though.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Biggest issue for Wales is Biggar being out.

Priestland is woeful! That one injury makes me think Scotland can win it.

I thought Priestland did ok against Ireland.

I think we'll struggle for all the reasons given by Radge. The Welsh side is very direct and physical and whilst Ireland had great defensive intensity and good breakdown skills, they still only managed a draw. Ireland also have better attacking players than we do.

That's not to suggest we can't win. England have a good defence and yet we created chances. Losing the ball in contact is certainly something we don't want to make a habit of and it can be remedied. We ran some good lines, particularly in the 2nd quarter of the game, and I thought some of our ball carrying around the fringes in changing the point of contact was clever - Hardie in particular reminded us that teams can very often get lazy around the fringes (as Wales did to let in Connor Murray) and you don't always need to pull off a great backline move to score points (remember Horne's try against Australia in the World Cup). With a bit more composure and cutting out the new trend of dropping the ball in contract, we do have players that can ask questions of the Welsh defence. I also think we can give their scrum some problems. I'm not yet sold on the Welsh front row.

funnyExiledScot wrote: I'm not yet sold on the Welsh front row.

Hard to know whether they did well or not without seeing Ireland or Wales play another team. I am not sure whether they will be good or bad. But it is all we have, that was probably the best front row we have.

Scotts certainly scrimmaged solidly. But if the ball just goes up in the air or straight to Hogg on a line then you won't gain a thing from the scrum.

maestegmafia wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote: I'm not yet sold on the Welsh front row.

Hard to know whether they did well or not without seeing Ireland or Wales play another team. I am not sure whether they will be good or bad. But it is all we have, that was probably the best front row we have.

Scotts certainly scrimmaged solidly. But if the ball just goes up in the air or straight to Hogg on a line then you won't gain a thing from the scrum.

Yeh, I'm not predicting Scottish dominance at the scrum or anything like that, but I do think we'll have the edge there, and enough for a solid platform. I think we'll also be able to put a bit of pressure on Wales, although Faletau is clearly more than capable at number 8 of dealing with that.

maestegmafia wrote:Enough pouring over last weekends matches... Time to crack on, not much time before the next game and plenty of work to do for both coaches.

A few injuries to Wales players. Biggar unlikely to make it last I heard.

A few selection decisions including both captains not setting the world alight, are they droppable?

Fly halves/scrumhalfs made blunders that could have changed the results, Finns lack of pass, Lloyds awful kick.

If Priestland starts where at a huge disadvantage.

Who do you think wasn't setting the world alight?

Agree, both our No.9s were awful but that should just be a one off for Davies. The sooner Webb is back in the 23, the better.

mikey_dragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Enough pouring over last weekends matches... Time to crack on, not much time before the next game and plenty of work to do for both coaches.

A few injuries to Wales players. Biggar unlikely to make it last I heard.

A few selection decisions including both captains not setting the world alight, are they droppable?

Fly halves/scrumhalfs made blunders that could have changed the results, Finns lack of pass, Lloyds awful kick.

If Priestland starts where at a huge disadvantage.

Who do you think wasn't setting the world alight?

Agree, both our No.9s were awful but that should just be a one off for Davies. The sooner Webb is back in the 23, the better.

Priestland had a good game, mine is not a unique opinion, the majority of articles on the match all concur.

Considering two major reshuffles just prior to the start of the match including a change of halfbacks we were not going to be able to play at our best.

Priestland will be criticised regardless of how well he plays.

maestegmafia wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Enough pouring over last weekends matches... Time to crack on, not much time before the next game and plenty of work to do for both coaches.

A few injuries to Wales players. Biggar unlikely to make it last I heard.

A few selection decisions including both captains not setting the world alight, are they droppable?

Fly halves/scrumhalfs made blunders that could have changed the results, Finns lack of pass, Lloyds awful kick.

If Priestland starts where at a huge disadvantage.

Who do you think wasn't setting the world alight?

Agree, both our No.9s were awful but that should just be a one off for Davies. The sooner Webb is back in the 23, the better.

Priestland had a good game, mine is not a unique opinion, the majority of articles on the match all concur.

Considering two major reshuffles just prior to the start of the match including a change of halfbacks we were not going to be able to play at our best.

Yawn. The problem being that a game in which he has a low error count is considered a good game. That just goes to show what people expect of him, and he never fails to disappoint on that front. He lacks composure, still makes errors, and missed two drop-goals from good field positions - if I was a forward I'd be fuming with that. I don't think he's a competent international and firmly believe that if he starts then Scotland gain an advantage.

Umm, I'm not really sure what major rehsuffles they were? Admittedly the team was rusty but if you're alluding to what I think you are then that's quite the exaggeration. And who wasn't setting the world alight? You couldn't possibly be talking about your favourite open-side now, could you...

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Priestland will be criticised regardless of how well he plays.

He played okay (therefore exceeding my expectations). When that happens everyone seems to think he's played amazing. He isn't a competent international and that's just stating the truth - if you think that's me being critical for the sake of it then you're rather touchy. The constant preferential treatment for RP from some fans and pundits does my head in tbh, which is probably why I happen to talk about RP too often.

mikey_dragon wrote:The problem being that a game in which he has a low error count is considered a good game. That just goes to show what people expect of him, and he never fails to disappoint on that front. He lacks composure, still makes errors, and missed two drop-goals from good field positions - if I was a forward I'd be fuming with that. I don't think he's a competent international and firmly believe that if he starts then Scotland gain an advantage.

Umm, I'm not really sure what major rehsuffles they were? Admittedly the team was rusty but if you're alluding to what I think you are then that's quite the exaggeration. And who wasn't setting the world alight? You couldn't possibly be talking about your favourite open-side now, could you...

RE-SHUFFLES - Anscombe injured and Williams brought in the right before the game. Then, Dan Biggar injured in the first Quarter and a change of Flyhalf...!

Regarding Priestland, actually think he gets the backline moving better than Biggar, he has a better pass. I don't think he let us down. Quiet the opposite, kept us in the game well. One silly kick by a reserve third choice scrum half cost us a win in a nervy tough game against a decent team.

Think we missed Lydiate's tackling yesterday, how much difference that would have made I have no idea. Both teams were defensively resolute.

If Biggar is out who do we play? Priestland was ok, didn't do much wrong, didn't do much good either, we can call that job done from him. Anscombe? Much as I like his passing game I'm on the fence wether he's good enough for an International 10, but then, he can't do any worse than Priest, who was ok.

We could call up Patchell, he's too flaky and Hook-like for me. Sam Davies? Nah he's not ready if he'll ever be.

Bit of a conundrum there.

For Scotland I think pretty much the same team - we don't really have a lot of choice.

I don't like Priestland as a player, in fact he's one of the players I dread to see on the field, but being fair he played well against Ireland, at the very least the back line was moving better than when Biggar was on.  Fly Half is such an important position and I don't think anyone can say in fairness he was any kind of a liability.  I also noticed that when he did make a minor mistake he seemed to have shrugged it off, not dwell on it, which has been a problem for him in the past.

Going in to the Scotland game, I hope Scotland make their usual error of trying to mix it up with us.  Were bigger, faster, stronger, are more talented, and more experienced.   Scotland also seem to have similar psychological issues when they play against Wales, as Wales do when they play the Tri Nations teams.  If you want to beat Wales then you need to hold your ground when their big men run at you, and get the ball from the ruck quicker than they can get their defense organised.  In a freezing cold Northern Hemisphere February that's hard to do.  

I'd swap Lydiate for Tipuric in this one, I'd rather his tackling ferocity, and possibly bring Tipuric on for the last 20 minutes.  I don't think Tipuric and Warburton are the right combo for Denton in terms of stopping him.

Roof open is probably better for Wales in this instance.  I expect to see Wales trying to send North and Roberts down the channel between Scott and Russell.  Then again I think JD has the beating of Bennett as well.  Basically if we see Wales getting over the gain line often while attacking Scotland will have a really hard day.

Blueschief wrote:Think we missed Lydiate's tackling yesterday, how much difference that would have made I have no idea. Both teams were defensively resolute.

If Biggar is out who do we play? Priestland was ok, didn't do much wrong, didn't do much good either, we can call that job done from him. Anscombe? Much as I like his passing game I'm on the fence wether he's good enough for an International 10, but then, he can't do any worse than Priest, who was ok.

We could call up Patchell, he's too flaky and Hook-like for me. Sam Davies? Nah he's not ready if he'll ever be.

Bit of a conundrum there.

I don't honk the will look past Anscombe or Priestland for next weekend I would imagine that injury to Anscombe as well makes that decision easy. Though I am guessing that they will add a player to the squad this week that covers and it will be Patchell ahead of Hook or Davies

Next call would be whether we do need to sure up defence around the rucks, add Lydiate, attack more expansively keep the same or a bit of both, drop Warburton?

mikey_dragon wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Priestland will be criticised regardless of how well he plays.

He played okay... He isn't a competent international

Forgive me, but if he played okay, doesn't that make him a competent international?

Shifty wrote:Basically if we see Wales getting over the gain line often while attacking Scotland will have a really hard day.

That is really astute.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Priestland will be criticised regardless of how well he plays.

He played okay... He isn't a competent international

Forgive me, but if he played okay, doesn't that make him a competent international?

No, he lacks composure. I say he played okay because it wasn't a disastrous performance.

maestegmafia wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:The problem being that a game in which he has a low error count is considered a good game. That just goes to show what people expect of him, and he never fails to disappoint on that front. He lacks composure, still makes errors, and missed two drop-goals from good field positions - if I was a forward I'd be fuming with that. I don't think he's a competent international and firmly believe that if he starts then Scotland gain an advantage.

Umm, I'm not really sure what major rehsuffles they were? Admittedly the team was rusty but if you're alluding to what I think you are then that's quite the exaggeration. And who wasn't setting the world alight? You couldn't possibly be talking about your favourite open-side now, could you...

RE-SHUFFLES - Anscombe injured and Williams brought in the right before the game. Then, Dan Biggar injured in the first Quarter and a change of Flyhalf...!

Regarding Priestland, actually think he gets the backline moving better than Biggar, he has a better pass. I don't think he let us down. Quiet the opposite, kept us in the game well. One silly kick by a reserve third choice scrum half cost us a win in a nervy tough game against a decent team.

Yeah, exaggerating then. Nothing major about it as the players that started have become regulars, albeit some of them rusty through lack of game time.

He let us down with two missed drop goals. The Scrum V panel couldn't bring themselves to say it was two, which is sad. I don't actually think that was a penalty and was under the impression Garces was playing advantage to us for an Irish knock-on. It's strange that you state Williams cost us the game and think RP didn't with those two missed drop goals.

Scott & Bennett are going to have to take a different approach with regards to JD and JR. The Irish boys were big lumps but Roberts hammered them all match long.

Our boys will need to run round them.

Really not looking forward to this at all.

maestegmafia wrote:

Blueschief wrote:Think we missed Lydiate's tackling yesterday, how much difference that would have made I have no idea. Both teams were defensively resolute.

If Biggar is out who do we play? Priestland was ok, didn't do much wrong, didn't do much good either, we can call that job done from him. Anscombe? Much as I like his passing game I'm on the fence wether he's good enough for an International 10, but then, he can't do any worse than Priest, who was ok.

We could call up Patchell, he's too flaky and Hook-like for me. Sam Davies? Nah he's not ready if he'll ever be.

Bit of a conundrum there.

I don't honk the will look past Anscombe or Priestland for next weekend I would imagine that injury to Anscombe as well makes that decision easy. Though I am guessing that they will add a player to the squad this week that covers and it will be Patchell ahead of Hook or Davies

Next call would be whether we do need to sure up defence around the rucks, add Lydiate, attack more expansively keep the same or a bit of both, drop Warburton?

If you drop Warburton then we start getting less turnovers. I don't recall Tipuric making any turnovers on sunday? It's the most vital job for an open-side.

We definitely need Lyds/Warbs/ Faletau for Scotland, their pack is easily as tough as the Irish.

I get the feeling with Scotland that they only need to click and someone will get a thumping, Cotters doing a good job.

Hope it isn't against us.

Priestland played a lot better than i thought he would. I think he was a bit rusty being second place to Biggar and only getting perhaps 10/15 minutes per game, if Biggar was fully fit probably through him a  bit.

But next week against Scotland, not only Priestland but the whole Wales team will have to improve in my opinion.

Wales did for a good part of the game against Ireland looked dangerous but just could not get the extra push/shove they needed to get the winning points.

Scotland on the other hand all though played well against England will in my opinion have to play a lot better against Wales. Wales will be out for revenge. They will not wan't to lose  against Scotland but neither will they wan to get another draw.

Think it will be a good game but cannot see Wales losing this one at all.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Biggest issue for Wales is Biggar being out.

Priestland is woeful! That one injury makes me think Scotland can win it.

Not wanting to be all Private Fraser, but we could start playing 30 minutes before the Welsh show up and we would still lose. There is no way on earth we are going to win this game Wales by 25

Aye Priestland can do his job, we lack depth there in Wales, though there is some potential in others. Being able to do your job is good enough in a small nation as ours. I don't expect much from him, but have little complaint with him being able to do his job, and fair play to to him. He's become steady Eddie. Besides I rather him than Hook any day.

Well, the intensity levels will need to go up considerably if Scotland are going to have any chance at all. We will need to generate much more momentum and Laidlaw will have to make sure he uses it, otherwise Roberts and Davies are going to have a field day lining up Scott and Bennett.

I would keep much the same team, but with the inclusion of Strauss, Toolis, Sutherland and Jackson on the bench ahead of Cowan, Swinson, Reid and Weir respectively. If Harley was match fit, I would almost stretch to say that this is a game tailor made for his skill set. Even still, despite a massive improvement I can’t see anything other than a Welsh win, just too direct and powerful for us – things we can’t cope with at international level (see recent performances against Samoa, SA and England).

Blueschief wrote:We definitely need Lyds/Warbs/ Faletau for Scotland, their pack is easily as tough as the Irish.

I get the feeling with Scotland that they only need to click and someone will get a thumping, Cotters doing a good job.

Hope it isn't against us.

Fear not, I cannae see that being this week. I think the psychological damage done in that game against England might have a pretty sever effect on our guys.

Russell really needs to get his head in the game. He might have been laughing and smiling after butchering one of our best chances on Saturday but 68 thousand paying Murrayfield punters had nothing to smile about.

I'll echo what FES said though I'm not 100% sold on this Welsh front row and despite being very physical the Welsh backline still seem like a very blunt instrument. Faletau's try was a beauty at the weekend but that came from an apparently dominant Welsh scrum. The backline did not seem to have much cutting edge however I believe the Irish defence will be stronger than ours.

I can see nothing other than a Welsh win but couldn't hazard a guess at a score. Anywhere between 10 to 30 points I think.

I'd say predicting a win by 20 points is a brave call to welsh fans, nevermind Scots. We need to score more tries and tbh we're still having difficulty doing so. On the other hand I don't see our try line being breached that often by Scotland either.

I also don't get the Priestland bashing. He did very well on Sunday.

Our only consolation is this is a really quick turnaorund for Wales. That match on Sunday looked brutal.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:I also don't get the Priestland bashing. He did very well on Sunday.

Our only consolation is this is a really quick turnaorund for Wales. That match on Sunday looked brutal.

One day difference? Not too bad. We had worse in the world cup when playing Fiji in that midweek game, sandwiched in between England and Australia!

mikey_dragon wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:I also don't get the Priestland bashing. He did very well on Sunday.

Our only consolation is this is a really quick turnaorund for Wales. That match on Sunday looked brutal.

One day difference? Not too bad. We had worse in the world cup when playing Fiji in that midweek game, sandwiched in between England and Australia!

http://www.drinkstuff.com/products/drinking-straws.asp

Ordering these by the barrow full. Needing something to clutch onto for the weekend.

Priestland was caught cold a little I think by how early he came on. Ga Davies was at fault for his knock on with a poor pass, but he clearly panicked with the charge down. That decision cost 7 points. But he grew into the game, looked more confident in a red shirt than he has in a while.

I think he will start with Anscombe on the bench if fit, if not I'd imagine  Morgan would be the bench option.

As for back row, I would start Lydiate, Warbs and Faletau. It provides a good balance, Tipuric is a good player, but I'm not sure he'll ever be a fantastic player at international level at 7.

What do people think about our back 3? Keep James or bring in Amos?

I'm not a fan of Tom James, but he barely saw the ball, so it would be harsh to drop him.

I would keep Tom James in, he did nothing wrong, every player was tackled time and time again. He did make a good try saving tackle and I do wonder if North or Cuthbutt would have made it. If Anscombe and Biggar are out, Priest could start and Amos on bench, plus A.N. Other for fly half on bench.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I'm not a fan of Tom James, but he barely saw the ball, so it would be harsh to drop him.

I agree, wouldn't mind either, but I did like how Amos was popping up all over the place carrying ball on Friday night.

I like Amos, he's got bags of potential and is gaining experience all the time. Seems to be a quick learner too. Would have no problem having him on, he does have plenty of time to grow.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:I also don't get the Priestland bashing. He did very well on Sunday.

Our only consolation is this is a really quick turnaorund for Wales. That match on Sunday looked brutal.

One day difference? Not too bad. We had worse in the world cup when playing Fiji in that midweek game, sandwiched in between England and Australia!

http://www.drinkstuff.com/products/drinking-straws.asp

Ordering these by the barrow full. Needing something to clutch onto for the weekend.

Nice!

We can and we will win it


(there I can be positive)

(Or deluded)

If Scotland's back row manage to pick up their work rate then Wales might be in for a torrid afternoon. I felt Ireland had the upper hand at the breakdown. Though depleted, their possession-recycling in the first quarter was lightning fast and gave Wales all sorts of problems. Tipuric and Warburton were kept quiet for long periods. Wales must be more competitive in that area against Scotland. The likes of Hardie and Barclay could pilfer a lot of ball if Wales maintain the same predictable attacking patterns.

I expect a much sterner test at the scrum from the Scottish. The Welsh front row did well in Dublin but let's face it, they were playing Ireland's reserves.

The Welsh defence has to tighten up. They broke formation too often for comfort yesterday and as a result gave the Irish so much space to counter attack. Those second half line breaks could have cost Wales the game.

I really hope Gareth Davies has remembered how to perform a box kick.

If the Welsh lose this one they will drop out of the world rankings top ten ,proof they are a over hyped bunch.
http://www.worldrugby.org/rankings

The usual game will no doubt happen....

Scotland the underdogs will come out and surprise Wales by taking the game to them. They will eek out a lead, 6 points, but squander some try scoring opportunities. The 5 minutes before half time will see Scotland batter the Welsh line to no avail. 2nd half Wales will come out firing and comfortably win the match by 15-20 points.

mikey_dragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

Blueschief wrote:Think we missed Lydiate's tackling yesterday, how much difference that would have made I have no idea. Both teams were defensively resolute.

If Biggar is out who do we play? Priestland was ok, didn't do much wrong, didn't do much good either, we can call that job done from him. Anscombe? Much as I like his passing game I'm on the fence wether he's good enough for an International 10, but then, he can't do any worse than Priest, who was ok.

We could call up Patchell, he's too flaky and Hook-like for me. Sam Davies? Nah he's not ready if he'll ever be.

Bit of a conundrum there.

I don't honk the will look past Anscombe or Priestland for next weekend I would imagine that injury to Anscombe as well makes that decision easy. Though I am guessing that they will add a player to the squad this week that covers and it will be Patchell ahead of Hook or Davies

Next call would be whether we do need to sure up defence around the rucks, add Lydiate, attack more expansively keep the same or a bit of both, drop Warburton?

If you drop Warburton then we start getting less turnovers. I don't recall Tipuric making any turnovers on sunday? It's the most vital job for an open-side.

Tipuric made three turnovers

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I'm not a fan of Tom James, but he barely saw the ball, so it would be harsh to drop him.

Great tackle on Trimble after Sexton went through the gap in midfield

mikey_dragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:The problem being that a game in which he has a low error count is considered a good game. That just goes to show what people expect of him, and he never fails to disappoint on that front. He lacks composure, still makes errors, and missed two drop-goals from good field positions - if I was a forward I'd be fuming with that. I don't think he's a competent international and firmly believe that if he starts then Scotland gain an advantage.

Umm, I'm not really sure what major rehsuffles they were? Admittedly the team was rusty but if you're alluding to what I think you are then that's quite the exaggeration. And who wasn't setting the world alight? You couldn't possibly be talking about your favourite open-side now, could you...

RE-SHUFFLES - Anscombe injured and Williams brought in the right before the game. Then, Dan Biggar injured in the first Quarter and a change of Flyhalf...!

Regarding Priestland, actually think he gets the backline moving better than Biggar, he has a better pass. I don't think he let us down. Quiet the opposite, kept us in the game well. One silly kick by a reserve third choice scrum half cost us a win in a nervy tough game against a decent team.

Yeah, exaggerating then. Nothing major about it as the players that started have become regulars, albeit some of them rusty through lack of game time.

He let us down with two missed drop goals. The Scrum V panel couldn't bring themselves to say it was two, which is sad. I don't actually think that was a penalty and was under the impression Garces was playing advantage to us for an Irish knock-on. It's strange that you state Williams cost us the game and think RP didn't with those two missed drop goals.

It was very windy. You are less likely to get a drop goal than a place kick in a gusty breeze.

maestegmafia wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:The problem being that a game in which he has a low error count is considered a good game. That just goes to show what people expect of him, and he never fails to disappoint on that front. He lacks composure, still makes errors, and missed two drop-goals from good field positions - if I was a forward I'd be fuming with that. I don't think he's a competent international and firmly believe that if he starts then Scotland gain an advantage.

Umm, I'm not really sure what major rehsuffles they were? Admittedly the team was rusty but if you're alluding to what I think you are then that's quite the exaggeration. And who wasn't setting the world alight? You couldn't possibly be talking about your favourite open-side now, could you...

RE-SHUFFLES - Anscombe injured and Williams brought in the right before the game. Then, Dan Biggar injured in the first Quarter and a change of Flyhalf...!

Regarding Priestland, actually think he gets the backline moving better than Biggar, he has a better pass. I don't think he let us down. Quiet the opposite, kept us in the game well. One silly kick by a reserve third choice scrum half cost us a win in a nervy tough game against a decent team.

Yeah, exaggerating then. Nothing major about it as the players that started have become regulars, albeit some of them rusty through lack of game time.

He let us down with two missed drop goals. The Scrum V panel couldn't bring themselves to say it was two, which is sad. I don't actually think that was a penalty and was under the impression Garces was playing advantage to us for an Irish knock-on. It's strange that you state Williams cost us the game and think RP didn't with those two missed drop goals.

It was very windy. You are less likely to get a drop goal than a place kick in a gusty breeze.

It's just excuses, the technique on both drop goal attempts were extremely poor, he snatched at both. And if it was too blustery as you suggested then why didn't he demand his pack keep the ball in hand