come on shire

I thought Broomhill would consider Scotstoun. Either the main pitch or the side pitch where I've seen them training.

We're playing a team who're experienced in winning serious silverware albeit not the side they once were. We're getting taught a serious lesson. It happens. We just need to suck it up and get back to the drawing board. Having said that, we allowed them to start at a fast pace then when you're on the back foot against good teams you struggle to reverse that.

Bonus point win at the end after being under pressure. Italy fronted up and could've won if they didn't have hands like feet in attack. Great effort today but too many errors and poor discipline. The coaching needs changed after the world cup but Kinghorn was outstanding with a hattrick and after he went to full back when Healy came on. Van der Merwe worked hard but Schoeman was my MOTM. The guy pushed Italians out the road all day like a snowplough. As for Ireland, they're managing England and have excellent discipline. It'll be an arm wrestle but Ireland should get over the line. Clear red card for Steward. Idiotic lead of the arm giving the ref no choice.

Our visitors are missing Ange Capuozzo.

I don't wish to disrespect Italy but we're at home to them and we still have a strong enough squad on paper. If we play well we still need to target the winning bonus point. The summer games offer further experiments but Kinghorn at 10 is a realistic option at the world cup in the games against Tonga and Romania.

I'm a neutral but I live in Falkirk so I thought this would be a tasty game to attend. Robert Burns, one of Ayr's famous fans and a guy who enjoyed life, said that Ayr is full of honest men and bonny lasses so why did we go in the home end? Falkirk deserved to win with the effort they put in but if I were an Ayr fan I'd be wondering how they lost that. Falkirk in the SF but Ayr still with a lot to play for in the Championship...

It's a blow to lose Hogg and Russell for the final game. Controversial opinion time but I'm not feeling Hogg's on the pedestal we put him on anymore but Russell's a loss. Having said that we should still have the quality to get 5 points vs Italy at home. I've just jinxed it, haven't I?

En route from the game. We went toe to toe with them in the 1st half and didn't give them a winning bonus point so our defence was fairly solid. The negatives is that our line out especially early in the game sucked. A bit ill disciplined at the breakdown too though the ref seemed to admire Ireland there. As we're not as physical we tried our running game which wasn't accurate enough apart from Huw Jones's try. After the world cup we need to freshen up the coaching as, for all the leaps forward we're taking, there's still no Plan B.

The table looks interesting with a lot at stake. Draw suits Dunfermline, a Falkirk win makes it interesting and a Dunfermline win is curtains. I'm going tonight. On paper it looks tasty so it had better be good. I'm a neutral but I'll be in the Falkirk end with friends/family who're Falkirk fans but the Dunfermline goalie goes to the same barber as me so even picking a side is tough

Coaches into the new season will be interesting. Townsend could stay with Scotland but if he doesn't I think it'll be the Blues head coach Leon McDonald. Ian Foster doesn't want to stay as the All Blacks head coach so I think it'll be Scott Robertson at Crusaders who'll get the NZ job. I wonder who'll then take over from Mike Blair at Edinburgh? Dean Richards was considered for Glasgow before Franco Smith came in so he could be an option?

Well traditionally if Shire and Falkirk are both at home we play on the Friday night. However Falkirk are at home to Kelty on the Friday night then the Challenge Cup final (or whatever it's called now) is on the Sunday also at the Falkirk stadium. I'm guessing that's to do with Scotland v Cyprus on the Saturday at 2pm. I could be wrong but that's my guess. I don't follow international football so I'll be at Shire v Cowdenbeath myself.

Rearranged game...

Rearranged game...

A typical flat atmosphere as is the norm when Zebre visit. However a bonus point win at home to Zebre is standard practice traditionally so Franco did the experiment of Cummings in the back row which gives him more game time along with utilising Bean and du Preez in the 2nd row. Franco wasn't happy with the performance but the players know a home game to Zebre is basically a competitive friendly without sounding disrespectful.

I'm not too familiar with Zebre's team considering they'll contribute Italian internationalists tbh. However I've noticed they've got Matt Kvesic in the back row. Is this a new signing? He's a decent player.

Pleased with the squad for tomorrow night. Lots of international experience. We need to target the bonus point win.

Could this be considered a risk? He's very injury-prone...

With the chances we had and our 2nd half performance we could've won that. However it's the 1st half that's cost us. We've went away to the world No2 side and current 6N champs and froze. That put us under pressure from the start and chasing on the scoreboard. The red card turned out not to be a big deal as they got a red 5 mins later but I've always felt Gilchrist was a penalty machine.

Even with an extra man the decision making and errors are horrendous.

We're starting to work our way back in. Too late? We'll see...

On another note our line out has been awful.

We're playing with a 2nd string squad at altitude in almost 40c heat. I was prepared to write this off. However we've been disjointed and completely all over the shop.

No. He signed from London Irish I think but got a bad muscle injury in pre season. This is from earlier in the season. The original game was postponed due to a stomach bug in the squad. It affected Ulster too. That's why they're at the Sharks tomorrow.

Good team for the Lions away game on Saturday considering it's a 6 Nations weekend. Great to see Rory Darge make his comeback from a lengthy injury. Eli Caven at 11 has made the step up from the Ayrshire Bulls I think. All the best to him.

Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair to step down at the end of the season.