What about the Yves Donguy fellow I've been hearing about? Is he fit? In the training squad even? Man, I'm so behind since we lost Sky, but yeah, surely he should make an appearance for France soon.
Anyway, my XV;
1. Alan Jacobsen (*facepalm*, shortage of props)
2. Ross Ford - Good strong mobile hooker, does a similar job to Szwarzetski so I guess it would be a good counterbalance
3. Allastair Dickinson - (*facepalm*) we need a good scrum, he can't offer that, but he's agile...but with Jacobsen on the field we'll have a lot of scrums to deal with.
4. Simon Taylor - Another back row on the field, we'll have our hands full, good lineout man also.
5. Nathan Hines (if fit)/Ally Kellock - Both solid, Hines has experience with French players, Kellock is a good man to go to if he's not fit.
6. Allastair Strock...(I'm not going to try) - I hope he was too busy fighting bears to play rugby last week, that's the only reasonable excuse.
7. John Barclay - Not the kind of player we need at 7, we need Ross Rennie at 7.
8. Ally Hogg - Swapping around in the scrum with 6 depending where we are on the field.
9. Chris Cusiter - To keep Mike Blair on his toes.
10. Phil Godman - If he gets better ball this week, we'll see what he can do
11. Thom Evans - He should have been banging some supermodel or helping Strock with aforementioned bear slaughter.
12. Graham Morrison - Better ball for 10 is better ball for 12. Also play a left and right game so we're not smashing up the same channel.
13. Max Evans - Can break the line, score tries. He won't be as useful in the same position, he'll catch the 10/12 channel like BOD did last week but could take wingers on the outside too if pushed.
14. Sean Lamont - Websters dead, Dannielli is accident prone and Paterson would be more useful as a replacement 10 or 15.
15. Hugo Southwell - Good game with the boot, bad day with ball in hand, less kicking, more running. He's shown himself to be a dangerous fullback, on par with Lee Byrne at times, he could do with every week with the right support and coaching.
16. Dougie Hall - No other option
17. Moray Low - Decent player, would get good education from the French pack. Jacobsen will be out of puff by 50 minutes.
18. Ally Kellock/Jim Hamilton - see above for both
19. Scott Gray - Exciting prospect at 7, probably learned a lot from last week, he'll come in with gusto and maybe not give away penalties.
20. Mike Blair - He'll come on at 60 minutes and we'll do something special...I know it.
21. Chris Paterson - Replacement 10 and 15 only, if Hugo is playing like he was last week, shift him in at 15 and give the French something to worry about, maybe try a drop goal...it's a more exciting way of reminding us of our 3 times table. In at 10 at aforementioned halfback change. It's a good idea to have 2 halfback teams, as it were.
22. Ben Cairns/Rob Dewey - Max Evans can play wing or it could be a straight swap. Dewey for Morrison at some point, Rob Dewey is a good player, I know from first hand experience, he destroyed me a few years ago when he played against me. He was playing for some Fife team, can't remember what one, but yeah, if Morrison isn't cutting it in midfield he'd be a good guy to bring in. Fast, strong, plays 12 and 13 so fits into the gameplan above perfectly.
Sorry I'm ranting, I'm procrastinating.
22.[/b]
