Scotland v Wales

[TRF_Cymro]

Venue: Murrayfield
Date: Saturday 12th February 2011
Kick Off: 5:00pm GMT​

 

[Seaton]

C'mon Scotland we can win this, just play like you did against France and we could rattle them


Would be interesting to see the odds on this game

Only concerns for me are the fitness of Lawson and the set-piece, the former can be replaced by another quality player
However Blair may impede-Content Warning- our new running game

The latter can be worked on, however the quality of opposition does not get much easier, although the current injuries may save ud another humiliation

 

[seatea15]

Really looking forward to this one. For me Wales v Scotland was the highlight of the tournament last year.

For the first time in god knows how long Scotland will go into this game as favourites, I wonder how that will go down.

I'd make a few changes -

Low in for Murray
Sean Lamont in for De Luca
Beatie in for Hines

Don't think Parks had his best game on Sat... As much as I like Jackson I just think starting with him would be a big risk. I'd stick with Parks.

 

[LittleGuy]

I generally liked what I saw last week from both these teams as they had gutsy performances against superior opponents. I agree with seatea15 keep Parks in there for now, I don't think he made too many errors but he didn't have much of an impact. Murray was brutal and Low should be in there for sure. I can't see the scrum being as bad as it was against Les Blues though.

I wonder whether Scotland will try as hard to score tries as they did against France or whether they will focus on grinding out penalties and drop goals. That was the toughest game on Scotland's itinerary done and now its time to take home field advantage and press an injury depleted Wales.

 

[dullonien]

Must win game for both teams. Should be a good match. Wales are still trying to convert our potential into wins. Were competing well, and making opportunities to win games, but silly errors and , kicking the ball away and silly ill-dicipline are killing us. Were struggling to get our backs into the game at the moment, and it seems as though it's stemming from Phillips to begin with, which Stephen Jones cannot and isn't capable of doing anything with. I'm not sure I agree with Jonathan Davies about starting Priestland, because Stephen Jones deserves to play alongside a scrum half who's getting the ball to him quicker. Steve then gets the time to bring the big centres and the quick wide wen into the game.

Our pack provided a decent amount of quality ball against England. Bradley Davies made yards at will, with Lydiate not far behind, and Warburton did do a decent job of ensuring quick ball. Our scrum was fine after all the build up. Lineout wasn't great, but there were still enough opportunities to beat England.

I'm still confident we can beat Scotland, but it's going to require a step-up from the performance against England, especially in the backs.

Edit: expecting Scottish supporters to be extremely confident of the win. They should be, they played very well against France.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Warren boy, any sense it will be a Peel and Jones half back partnership! Going to be a tough game, depends on the conditions up in Murrayfield will dictate what type of game Wales plays.

 

[cyRil]

15. Lee Byrne
14. Tom James
13. Jon Davies
12. Jamie Roberts
11. Shane Williams
10. James Hook
9. Dwayne Peel

1. Paul James
2. Matthew Rees
3. Craig Mitchell
4. Bradley Davies
5. Alun Wyn Jones
6. Dan Lydiate
7. Sam Warburton
8. Ryan Jones

16. Richard Hibbard
17. John Yapp
18. Jonathan Thomas
19. Josh Turnbull
20. Mike Phillips
21. Stephen Jones
22. Rhys Priestland

 

[TRF_Cymro]

15. Lee Byrne
14. Tom James
13. Jon Davies
12. Jamie Roberts
11. Shane Williams
10. James Hook
9. Dwayne Peel

1. Paul James
2. Matthew Rees
3. Craig Mitchell
4. Bradley Davies
5. Alun Wyn Jones
6. Dan Lydiate
7. Sam Warburton
8. Ryan Jones

16. Richard Hibbard
17. John Yapp
18. Jonathan Thomas
19. Josh Turnbull
20. Mike Phillips
21. Stephen Jones
22. Rhys Priestland

Hook to 12, Jones to 10 and Roberts to take Jones place on the bench and I would not complain!

 

[Seaton]

I'd make a few changes -

Low in for Murray
Sean Lamont in for De Luca
Beatie in for Hines
.

Agree mostly with those changes, not Murrays best game in the shirt
Lamont looked hungry when he came on, but might it not be a mistake to start him in a vital defensive and unfamilair position (although the other options are not much better)
Would like Walker out, preferably to Lamont, as the Welsh props (never mind their backs) can run circles around him
Hines was far too slow, and didn't contribute much

Mind Lawson might not be fit for the match, in which case he should only be considered for bench

Nothing else really, however 12 really is a problem- Might he give Jackson a go here? Wasn'y too shabby when he came on, and gives us a second kicking option

 

[Draggs]

Roberts could be on the wing, according to Neilo.
Would Hook play inside or outside centre then?
I would like to avoid Byrne at all costs, but it might be necessary.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Hooks best used at 12 (in the centres, anyhow), imo, but then so is Davies (and Roberts)
It's a pickle, that's for sure

 

[Draggs]

Hooks best used at 12 (in the centres, anyhow), imo, but then so is Davies (and Roberts)
It's a pickle, that's for sure

I suppose they could switch depending on the situation.
Davies does most of his attacking from 13 anyway. Hook's boot is better so playing him inside might be a better choice.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

That's try, and I think that shifting Davies to 13 won't hurt as much as shifting Hook (Hook being more of a playmaker/flyhalf type 12 than Davies)

Could have Priestland at 15 over Byrne? He can't do a worse job, and as long as there's other kickers on the pitch in the form of Jones and/or Hook and/or Halfpenny then he's not really lacking in anything (though his kicking is getting better, I wouldn't trust him on a game winning 2-points-behind-penalty kick in a packed Murrayfield )

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Scotland to win this one they have the best 2nd row in the tournament, Best back row after France. De Luca is a weakness. Wales are equal in front row and Half backs as long Jones plays 80mins Hook was too slow at his time in out half against England. If the Wales outside backs preform should be a tight and good quality match

 

[TrueSlawter]

I'd rather Priestland over Byrne at 15.. lets face it Priestland is playing well for scarlets at both 10 and 15 alot better than byrne was and is now so give him a shot i'd say. Same pack with
9 - Peel
10 - Jones / Hook
11 - Williams
12 - Hook / Roberts
13 - Davies / Roberts
14 - Halfpenny (if fit) / Stoddart (if fit) / Roberts
15 - Priestland

Its a nice attacking backline.. if Jones gets the backs moving with players before the /'s are in the squad it should go well and get some tries. Would like to see Knoyle on the bench too he seems a mix of phillips and peel can do quick ball but also has some runs.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Scotland to win this one they have the best 2nd row in the tournament, Best back row after France. De Luca is a weakness. Wales are equal in front row and Half backs as long Jones plays 80mins Hook was too slow at his time in out half against England. If the Wales outside backs preform should be a tight and good quality match

Think Bradley Davies would have something to say about that!

 

[TRF_RC]

The Hook debate at 10 or 12 is a tough one. I genuinely agree with Scott Gibbs when he said that he was poorly managed at the Ospreys, but you've got to admit, when he did play number 10 he very rarely had any control over the game. He didn't take it by the scruff of the neck. Now, was this all because Justin Marshall was acting the general? I'm not sure, because it was great to have someone like him who was experiened like that, but in my opinion no.10 ALWAYS needs to be the one to take control of the game. It's hard to get a feel of the game, to judge it when (at no.9) you're sticking your head inbetween the forwards legs digging out the ball for half the game. Fly half always has his eyes all over the field. Hook should have stepped up at some point to take charge, but for what ever reason, he never did.

So to start Hook at flyhalf at all this 6N is a bad idea. I mean, i didn't see any positives coming out of his game when he switched to 10 on friday night.
Let him go to France. Hope he gets the number 10 slot. Let him flourish like Stephen Jones did at Clermont. And pray to god he can come back and be our number 10 in the welsh squad coz stephen jones is nearly passed it.
We need our number 10. Biggar doesn't look like he's gonna be good any time this decade and Matthew Morgan is still playing under 20s and not getting enough game time at the ospreys (thanks to the overrated biggar).

Rant over.

Scotland looked really strong against France on saturday.
France didn't look amazing. Yeah, their tries were fancy as ****, but defensively they were questionably.
They scored tries like they were in a 7s match, but Scotland haven't been known as prolific try scorers since...erm...well i honestly don't know, but Scotland made France look average (less than even!) at some points.
The French blinded a lot of people with their dazzling tries on saturday, but the Scottish will know, if they had a tighter game that scoreline would have been much different.
And if Scotland continue to improve on their performance and Wales continue with the same predicatable play ("quick, go wide!") then we'll be in a lot of trouble.

I don't want a wooden spoon this year. I'll take 4th place like last year. I'll happily take 4th place!

 

[TRF_RC]

Scotland to win this one... Wales are equal in front row.

Are we? I thought 2 of the best props in the world were injured for us!
Our front row is above average. No more.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Let's hope Wales can bounce back from the unpleasant loss against the English. I wouldn't take a win against the Scots for granted though. Scotland only scored 7 tries in the last year but added 3 in one match against the French. They performed better than anyone could imagined.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Are we? I thought 2 of the best props in the world were injured for us!
Our front row is above average. No more.

The concern would be at tighthead, were Paul James is better than Gethin is at the scrum where he is a stronger scrummager. Mitchell had a decent game against England but you feel the Scottish lose-head will just be all over Mitchell!

EDIT: Davies escapes citing for trip