Rugby Union

[jaggyness]

“Owen Farrell will undergo surgery today on an ankle injury sustained in training last week.     ggrugby.com/eddie-jones-about-owen-farrell-injury-update/

Now confirmed he will miss the entire 6 nations. In other news Johnny May will miss the opening two rounds with injury as well.

[come on shire]

Sean Maitland called up to the 6N squad. However he's approaching mid 30s so he'll need to have the training of his life to shift Duhan, Kyle and Hoggy surely. 

An acceptable 6N needs to surely be beating England and France at home and winning in Rome. This isn't the Andy Robinson days where we spoke a big game but delivered nothing. 

In the Challenge Cup last 16 Glasgow are away to Newcastle or Sarries. For Newcastle to play us they need to equal or better Sarries result. So assuming Sarries go to Brive and beat them with a winning BP, Newcastle will need to do the same at home to Zebre. 

[honestly united]

I would assume Maitland will be the sub winger/full back as cant see him starting and gives a bit more flexiblity than McLean

[Mark Connolly]

2 hours ago, jaggyness said:

2 hours ago, ggrugby said:

“Owen Farrell will undergo surgery today on an ankle injury sustained in training last week.     ggrugby.com/eddie-jones-about-owen-farrell-injury-update/

Now confirmed he will miss the entire 6 nations. In other news Johnny May will miss the opening two rounds with injury as well.

Two huge blows to everyone else 

[Detournement]

10 French players leave the squad due to Covid including Dupont and Ntamack. 

If they are guaranteed not to test positive again during the tournament that's probably a good thing for their campaign. The French 2nd XV should have enough to beat Italy first up if need be. 

[John Lambies Doos]

Sean Maitland called up to the 6N squad. However he's approaching mid 30s so he'll need to have the training of his life to shift Duhan, Kyle and Hoggy surely. 
An acceptable 6N needs to surely be beating England and France at home and winning in Rome. This isn't the Andy Robinson days where we spoke a big game but delivered nothing. 
In the Challenge Cup last 16 Glasgow are away to Newcastle or Sarries. For Newcastle to play us they need to equal or better Sarries result. So assuming Sarries go to Brive and beat them with a winning BP, Newcastle will need to do the same at home to Zebre. 

Disagree, thats not a successful six nations, we need to be aiming higher than that. A win in Cardiff or Dublin coupled with above will give us a good chance, which we can deem successful. I wouldn't imagine any other team, bar Italy, would see that scenario you outlined as successful?

[honestly united]

11 minutes ago, John Lambies Doos said:

On 26/01/2022 at 12:40, come on shire said:

Sean Maitland called up to the 6N squad. However he's approaching mid 30s so he'll need to have the training of his life to shift Duhan, Kyle and Hoggy surely. 
An acceptable 6N needs to surely be beating England and France at home and winning in Rome. This isn't the Andy Robinson days where we spoke a big game but delivered nothing. 
In the Challenge Cup last 16 Glasgow are away to Newcastle or Sarries. For Newcastle to play us they need to equal or better Sarries result. So assuming Sarries go to Brive and beat them with a winning BP, Newcastle will need to do the same at home to Zebre. 

Disagree, thats not a successful six nations, we need to be aiming higher than that. A win in Cardiff or Dublin coupled with above will give us a good chance, which we can deem successful. I wouldn't imagine any other team, bar Italy, would see that scenario you outlined as successful?

Winning 3 out of 5 should be seen as an average season, winning 4 or 5 a successful season, 2 or less a poor season

[jaggyness]

Winning 3 out of 5 should be seen as an average season, winning 4 or 5 a successful season, 2 or less a poor season

Largely I agree. But we won three last year, including at Twickenham and the stade and still finished fourth. What we need to be better at is securing bonus points when we win. That'll make a real difference to our finishing position. We only took bonus points for scoring 4 tries against Italy. Wales managed it 3 times. We did pick up a losing bonus point in both matches we lost however.

[honestly united]

43 minutes ago, jaggyness said:

4 hours ago, honestly united said:

Winning 3 out of 5 should be seen as an average season, winning 4 or 5 a successful season, 2 or less a poor season

Largely I agree. But we won three last year, including at Twickenham and the stade and still finished fourth. What we need to be better at is securing bonus points when we win. That'll make a real difference to our finishing position. We only took bonus points for scoring 4 tries against Italy. Wales managed it 3 times. We did pick up a losing bonus point in both matches we lost however.

The bonus points make it dificult, for example a team could lose all their games but pick up 10 bp's and finish theoritcially above teams winning 2 games but not getting any bp's - granted they are higher in the table, but would you say they are more successful?

Not that I dont agree, just as you say its never easy to gauge based on the final table

[come on shire]

20 hours ago, John Lambies Doos said:

On 26/01/2022 at 12:40, come on shire said:

Sean Maitland called up to the 6N squad. However he's approaching mid 30s so he'll need to have the training of his life to shift Duhan, Kyle and Hoggy surely. 
An acceptable 6N needs to surely be beating England and France at home and winning in Rome. This isn't the Andy Robinson days where we spoke a big game but delivered nothing. 
In the Challenge Cup last 16 Glasgow are away to Newcastle or Sarries. For Newcastle to play us they need to equal or better Sarries result. So assuming Sarries go to Brive and beat them with a winning BP, Newcastle will need to do the same at home to Zebre. 

Disagree, thats not a successful six nations, we need to be aiming higher than that. A win in Cardiff or Dublin coupled with above will give us a good chance, which we can deem successful. I wouldn't imagine any other team, bar Italy, would see that scenario you outlined as successful?

With respcect, I said winning both our home games and in Rome would be acceptable, not a success.

However, we have a squad that really should be aiming to win the 6N this season but it's typical Scotland that we still can't seem to deliver the tiny margins that can win tight games vs the serous teams.

England at home is a massive game.  However we'll be up against it potentially as since Farrell's injured, Eddie Jones will just start Marcus Smith who could easily run the show.  He's arguably one of the best 10's in the world already.

[Detournement]

It's good to see Smith getting a chance at fullback. It's the usual Glasgow team this season, the pack looks good but it might not matter with those backs. 

As for the 6 Nations away wins are extremely rare these days other than Rome. We should be focusing on less daft penalties and no red cards *Zander* and keeping the line out functioning. Do that and we are in every game then it comes down to Russell, Hogg and Duhan to get the scoreboard going.

[John Lambies Doos]

Scotland qualify for QF in Spain sevens with 14 10 win over kenya

[Mark Connolly]

Good start from Glasgow, Rufus McLean scores after 3 minutes

[Mark Connolly]

Daft from Richie Gray

[GAD]

Glasgow's play is so brainless sometimes. They are their own worst enemy.

[Mark Connolly]

Ollie Smith looks like he's put on about 4 stone of pure muscle since last season

[GAD]

I probably just don't notice it with other teams, but the amount of penalties Glasgow concede on their own ball seems massive. At least 5 and a yellow card already today, when we had ball in hand.

[GAD]

2 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

Ollie Smith looks like he's put on about 4 stone of pure muscle since last season

He looks a completely different player. He's playing ok.

[Mark Connolly]

1 minute ago, GAD said:

He looks a completely different player. He's playing ok.

To be fair to him, last season most of us would have said there was a player there, just a bit small. That is certainly no longer an issue!

[GAD]

It's that kind of decision making that has stopped Horne from progressing. Utterly brainless.