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<blockquote data-quote="Goodey" data-source="post: 849394" data-attributes="member: 69270">It feels like the Scots are needed to be comfortably better to be picked though. Clearly they are roughly on Wales&#039; level from their results, but the players don&#039;t seem to get the same recognition. Why? Ultimately because of incumbency and the fact that the Scottish players who have performed compared to their Welsh counterparts weren&#039;t doing so 3-4 years ago. That grates because back then Gatland said he picked entirely on the Six Nations. Now that policy has changed.Owens v Brown? FormJones v Gray? Past performanceMoriarty v Watson? FormBiggar v Russell? Solidity/consistencyDavies v Jones? Past performance/fitnessWhen EVERY time a Scottish player loses out you feel like there must be some sort of status quo bias that they have to try extra hard to get over.Think about the respective backlines. Scotland were said by many to have a better back line than Wales going into the tournament, and by all accounts pretty much played better. But the entire Welsh backline, save Scott Williams, got in while only 2 players from Scotland did. Can the only time Scottish players perform is when they&#039;re with other Scottish players? It seems hard to believe that hey are just inherently not as good.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Goodey, post: 849394, member: 69270"] It feels like the Scots are needed to be comfortably better to be picked though. Clearly they are roughly on Wales' level from their results, but the players don't seem to get the same recognition. Why? Ultimately because of incumbency and the fact that the Scottish players who have performed compared to their Welsh counterparts weren't doing so 3-4 years ago. That grates because back then Gatland said he picked entirely on the Six Nations. Now that policy has changed. Owens v Brown? Form Jones v Gray? Past performance Moriarty v Watson? Form Biggar v Russell? Solidity/consistency Davies v Jones? Past performance/fitness When EVERY time a Scottish player loses out you feel like there must be some sort of status quo bias that they have to try extra hard to get over. Think about the respective backlines. Scotland were said by many to have a better back line than Wales going into the tournament, and by all accounts pretty much played better. But the entire Welsh backline, save Scott Williams, got in while only 2 players from Scotland did. Can the only time Scottish players perform is when they're with other Scottish players? It seems hard to believe that hey are just inherently not as good. [/QUOTE]

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