[2013 EOYT] Scotland

[iINDOMINUSxx]

in this years autumn test scotland play

Scotland vs Japan [9/11/13]

Scotland vs South Africa [17/11/13]

Scotland vs Australia [23/11/13]

even though we won our last game to a close match only winning by one point with a last minute conversion but we were missing our best players then due to the british and irish lions tour and injuries. we have only lost once to japan. we have lost in the last two meeting against south africa and we have won our last two meeting against australia

* Japan has already beaten wales in they're last game

* South Africa are in top form just now and are looking to make it 3 in a row

* Australia isn't in good form losing to South africa, almost lost to argentina and got demolished by the british and irish lions and the all blacks so scotland are hoping to make it 3 wins in a row

 

[Big Ewis]

I'm happy to see Scottish posters on here.
We should have Tour threads from each country, I'm glad I'm seeing one for Scotland now, though I can't imagine it'll attract many replies unfortunately knowing the place...

Anyways:
that's right, the Scots have beaten Australia in their last two meetings:
[h=2]Results[/h] [TABLE="class: wikitable"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TH]Date[/TH]
[TH]Venue[/TH]
[TH]Score[/TH]
[TH]Victor[/TH]
[TH]Comments[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]23 November 2013[/TD]
[TD]Murrayfield, Edinburgh[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]–[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]2013 Autumn International[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5 June 2012[/TD]
[TD]Hunter Stadium, Newcastle[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6 – 9[/TD]
[TD]

Scotland[/TD]
[TD]Scottish Tour of Australasia[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]21 November 2009[/TD]
[TD]Murrayfield, Edinburgh[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]9 – 8[/TD]
[TD]

Scotland[/TD]
[TD]2009 Autumn International[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]25 November 2006[/TD]
[TD]Murrayfield, Edinburgh[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]15 – 44[/TD]
[TD]

Australia[/TD]
[TD]2006 Autumn International[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]


Scotland as of late have managed to "sneak in" some wins or close matches; with no offense meant. The scrum will be a problem again against the Boks, and that's not even their biggest worry in that matchup...
but obviously they should beat Japan, and against Australia they should actually have an advantage up front, and if they play the Wallabies tactically they can grind out a win I'll bet.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

I'm happy to see Scottish posters on here.
We should have Tour threads from each country, I'm glad I'm seeing one for Scotland now, though I can't imagine it'll attract many replies unfortunately knowing the place...

Anyways:
that's right, the Scots have beaten Australia in their last two meetings:
Results

[TABLE="class: wikitable"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TH]Date[/TH]
[TH]Venue[/TH]
[TH]Score[/TH]
[TH]Victor[/TH]
[TH]Comments[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]23 November 2013[/TD]
[TD]Murrayfield, Edinburgh[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]–[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]2013 Autumn International[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5 June 2012[/TD]
[TD]Hunter Stadium, Newcastle[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6 – 9[/TD]
[TD]

Scotland[/TD]
[TD]Scottish Tour of Australasia[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]21 November 2009[/TD]
[TD]Murrayfield, Edinburgh[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]9 – 8[/TD]
[TD]

Scotland[/TD]
[TD]2009 Autumn International[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]25 November 2006[/TD]
[TD]Murrayfield, Edinburgh[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]15 – 44[/TD]
[TD]

Australia[/TD]
[TD]2006 Autumn International[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]


Scotland as of late have managed to "sneak in" some wins or close matches; with no offense meant. The scrum will be a problem again against the Boks, and that's not even their biggest worry in that matchup...
but obviously they should beat Japan, and against Australia they should actually have an advantage up front, and if they play the Wallabies tactically they can grind out a win I'll bet.

thanks and yeah i think that if stuart hogg is able to play against australia we will have a chance to beat them a third time yeah japan was an obvious win even though japan did beat wales but all they're quad then was basically away to the lions tour and we scored good tries against south africa in the last game so there might be a chance that they're could be another win for the scots depending on what team that south africa come with. and i do know that scotland have "sneak in" wins in close matches so im not offended by it and i think since we now have the likes of Maitland, Hogg and visser coming along i think scotland will win with one or two tries hopefully against South africa and australia

 

[Big Ewis]

I'm very interested in watching all three of those games, and I honestly hope Scotland can positively surprise us.
It's been rough the past 2-3 years for Scotland, with some 'resistance' wins here and there, but haven't quite put on the big show in a while, and considering their form in their last test match last summer, they've got some real potential for the future.
Like, nobody could say they got lucky getting 3rd in the 6N last year; even though France notably produced a historically bad tournament; but they really haven't shown off everything they've got yet.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

yeah thats true im going to all the three games

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I think the problem with Scotland is that they don't tend to win games, they just let the other side lose them. I think they will beat Japan but lose the other 2 games.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

i think the problem with scotland is that they kick it too much like i remember when we beat ireland but they have alot more possession then scotland did we would had the possession more to our side if we didn't kick it as much. like i say only kick it if we need to now like in our 40 meter line

 

[Big Ewis]

yeah thats true im going to all the three games

lucky you man..

I think the problem with Scotland is that they don't tend to win games, they just let the other side lose them. I think they will beat Japan but lose the other 2 games.

that's correct. At least in some games, that's what they did last time against Ireland, they survived them. Ireland had like 80% possession that match...
but anyways there was a change in attitude and execution against the Boks in the last test match we've seen them in. Maybe they're developing offensively..hopefully they don't turn "passive" again here in these 3 matches.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

that's correct. At least in some games, that's what they did last time against Ireland, they survived them. Ireland had like 80% possession that match...
but anyways there was a change in attitude and execution against the Boks in the last test match we've seen them in. Maybe they're developing offensively..hopefully they don't turn "passive" again here in these 3 matches.

hopefully they dont but we'll see and i cant wait to see if vern cotter will make good changes and see what he can do for scotland

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24495463

 

[Zed]

I don't think they'll beat SA, but Japan, most liley and I would say the way we are playing at the moment, Scotland are probably favourites at home against the Wallabies. We have got some world class players, but we've been under performing for a while now. Hard to my finger on where exactly the problem is, but there are signs now that we are getting better, despite a few floggings in 2013. I fancy our chances against the ABS next week and if we do win, it may be the platform to launch a successful European tour.

 

[Peat]

Scotland - South Africa will be interesting, will be the best test of where their pack is ahead of the Six Nations.

 

[Big Ewis]

Scotland - South Africa will be interesting, will be the best test of where their pack is ahead of the Six Nations.

yeh well hopefully they don't concede a penalty try this time. It's been their weakness for some time now...the only scrum I saw them resist against in the 6N was Ireland last year, and in fact they even pushed Ireland back with 7 men at one point, it was a little unreal to watch...

I don't think they'll beat SA, but Japan, most liley and I would say the way we are playing at the moment, Scotland are probably favourites at home against the Wallabies. We have got some world class players, but we've been under performing for a while now. Hard to my finger on where exactly the problem is, but there are signs now that we are getting better, despite a few floggings in 2013. I fancy our chances against the ABS next week and if we do win, it may be the platform to launch a successful European tour.

errr, I'm a Wallaby fan man, but Aus beating NZ in Dunedin ?...well certainly nobody's counting on that, but I'm still hopeful.
And I don't know if we can actually say Scotland are favorites going into this against the Wallabies, Australia still has much better class at a bunch of positions.
I'm curious to see the Scottish scrum VS. the Aussie scrum.

Scotland will need to contain the Wallabies defensively, and then get some good work from their forwards at the breakdown to collect some 3pointers. And they've also shown some try-scoring ability in that last quadrangular tournament...
I like Scotland's chances for the Aussie match, but favorites ? I don't know.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

yeah the scrum have been a major problem for scotland for many years and most the penalties that scotland concede is either from the scrum or from the ruck if we dont conceded alot of penalties from those area's then i think they might have a chance to beat all three south africa will be a tough one the last time we've beaten south africa was in 2010, japan will be a definite win as for the aussies well we beat them in our last two meeting and australia are in bad form just now so i wouldn't be surprised if scotland makes it three in a row but im sure it will be a good match to watch

 

[ratsapprentice]

Edinburgh's scrum looked good against Munster from what I remember.
Actually that was one of the best matches, scrum-wise, under the new laws.
...Very high completion ratio - with a lot of play off the back of it.

The form of Scott and De Luca must be reassuring.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

My prediction for Scotland is 1 win and 2 losses. They could very easily beat one or both of us or Aussie but I still see them as underdogs for both those matches even at home if I'm honest. Against us HM is the type of coach that'll never underestimate Scotland especially with the type of close results and wins they've had over us in recent years and against Aus I just think Aus should have recovered by then as they've struggled in the scrum whereas I don't think Scotland will dominate here as much as the other teams have this year and they have had a lot of critical injuries in the forward pack where I expect some of those players (Horwill, Palu, Pocock, Higginbotham, TPN, Timani) will have rejoined the squad to make a positive impact for them. They've also played under a new coach and should be more settled by then... I assume. That said the matches are still there fro Scotland to win.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

So what's your predicted Scotland 23?

There's loads of great younger Scottish players coming through but i think they need to settle their 23 a bit still keeping in some of the old guard but not too many. I'm not too up on some of the players form but i'd go for:

1 Grant
2 MacArthur
3 Murray
4 Gilchrist
5 Gray
6 Strokosch
7 Brown
8 Beattie
9 Laidlaw
10 Jackson
11 Visser
12 Matt Scott
13 Alex Dunbar
14 Maintland
15 Hogg

16 Ford
17 Dickinson
18 Cross
19 Hamilton
20 Harley
21 Pygros
22 Weir
23 Lamont

I'm not sure about the centres or the backrow, there are so many players to get in it's hard to know which ones you'd want in their with

Strokosch
Brown
Beattie
Ryan Wilson
Barcley
Rennue
Harley
Denton

Too many good players to choose from.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

Is there? I doubt many of other top 10 sides would be that desperate for many Scotland players. And they themselves clearly don't rate them all that highly as they are heavily investing in "Project Poach".

I just meant in the back row, i see what you mean though with their poaching at the moment. I rate Barcley, Beattie, Brown, Rennie, Denton and Strocsoch very highly. Maybe not the best in the world but then i can't offer any English back rows that are best in the world either.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

here is my scotland 23 for the autumn tests (note* i haven't put hogg in because he might not be able to play due to surgery so here is my starting XV including subs)

1. Ryan Grant
2. Ross Ford
3. Euan Murray
4. Richie Gray
5. Jim Hamiltion
6. Rob Harley
7. Kelly Brown (c)
8. Johnie Beattie
9. Greig Laidlaw
10. Duncan Weir
11. Tim Visser
12. Matt Scott
13. Alex Dunbar
14. Sean Lamont
15. Sean Maitland

16. Scott Lawson
17. Al Dickinson
18. Moray Low
19. Al Kellock
20. David Denton
21. Henry Pyrgos
22. Rory Jackson or Tom Heathcote
23. Tommy Seymour or Duncan Taylor

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Edinburgh's scrum looked good against Munster from what I remember.
Actually that was one of the best matches, scrum-wise, under the new laws.
...Very high completion ratio - with a lot of play off the back of it.

The form of Scott and De Luca must be reassuring.

thats right the scrum in that game was very good for edinburgh which i think will look promising to the autumn tests.