The comments about Hartley were tied to the Cardiff Blues game where he got right under the skin of some of the Blues players, including Tito, and lead to the Blues scrum half getting a 12 week ban for hands to the face.

Because he’s a cock, that’s why. Seeing him eat humble pie is one of the best parts of the 6N. “Of all the teams in the six nations, I’d say our lads dislike the Irish the most”…anyone remember this pile of shite before they were beaten yet again.

Knob.

Actually there was a Cipriani who played back row for either Watsons or Heriots a few years back,impossibly handsome and talented at rugby,I hated him,and couldn’t get near enough to him to do anything about his good looks 😀

AA – not if they can move the ball around at speed and swarm the breakdown..

Serious lack of pace in the backrow and centres from England – I see a lot of recycles with no go forward and a lot of slow ball for England.

Harry them at the breakdown and get penalties and turnovers. Force them to give away penalties at teh breakdown on your ball by good rucking.

I foresee a dull game mind you.

So – how you rating Scotlands chances chaps?

Hugo Southwell
Nikki Walker
Joe Ansbro
Nick De Luca
Max Evans
Dan Parks
Rory Lawson
Allan Jacobsen
Ross Ford
Euan Murray
Richie Gray
Alastair Kellock capt),
Nathan Hines
John Barclay
Kelly Brown

Substitutes: Dougie Hall Moray Low , Richie Vernon , Ross Rennie (Edinburgh), Mike Blair , Ruaridh Jackson , Sean Lamont .

I am happy with ther selection. Pace and power in the forwards – a match for anyone in the world. Pace to come off the bench as well
For the first time ecer since I started supporting Scotland back in the 70s Scotland have a pack that is as big and strong as anyones – and often bigger.

Special mentions to Gray – showed how good he was by playing Shaw off the park in a recent game – only 21. 6’10”, 20 stone of athlete. Seriously quick for a big guy and with great ball skills, Scored a try this season with a dummy and a run to the line outpacing a back. I think he will be a great for years to come.

Kellock – no surrender! A giant of a man in all ways

Ford – an extra flanker in the loses. Playing really well this year.

But the backs – well its as good as we have got. Nick De Luca is a limited player but on the top of his game and will help protect Parks, I like max on the wing – give a free roles to Scotlands only dangerous strike runner. Ansbro has a bit of pace to him and he knows this is his opportunity, southwell and walker for solidity in Defense.

Scotland should get plenty of good ball – but can they use it? Its the opposite issue to England really – they have some great backs but getting decent ball to them will be hard.

Is kelly Brown the ugliest man in the 6n?

I think France or Ireland will be fighting it out. Would like Wales to be up there but not sure after recent performances. Can’t wait until Friday morning trainride to the ‘diff for the opening match with a load of mates who I’ve not seen in ages – awesome!!

A-A guess you’ve seen news re Henson bolting to Toulon to join Wilko et al?

Back up at 10 whilst everyone else is playing in 6 nations?

Hope Scotland can have some consistency and win at least 2 games. Otherwise think the French will have a hard time with away games and the English may do well.

Irish are getting too old, Italians may suprise us all but Welsh will all depend on what they do in 1st game against England, win and it could be good, lose and it may all go belly up.

Yeah and failing in the final of the open wont have helped 😀

ah dear Ill get my coat..

Bring on Friday.. going to hand Wales their a$$ on a plate 😀

Shane v Cueto. As good as Cueto is, Shane is much better.]

He is perhaps the only world class player that Wales have at the moment. He’d be close to getting into most world teams surely. Toulon looked terrified every time he got the ball a few weeks ago, and he must be the only chance Wales have of winning this game because they have no creativity anywhere else.

Without him, the Welsh backs just pass laterally until they lose the ball. I can’t see that the introduction of Jon Davies will change that.

Based on the last few games, the Welsh forwards could have 90% of the ball and they’ll still lose the game because they seem to have forgotten how to score.

Maybe since the autumn, Gatland may have shown the team where the tryline is.

I rate Cueto just about the only saes back that shows a bit of flair. I wouldnt say Shane wont tackle he is just so small that he rearely does anygood when he tries.

Scots pack look good but will any ball get past Parks before being hoofed away.

Have a really bad feeling about tomorrow night 😯

Intertesting one to call this year. In truth 5 of the teams are pretty well matched and those games could go either way.

If Wales lose to England (and I think they will) it could be a awful year for them. If they win then I can see momentum building. Ireland are on the slide but are perfectly capable of beating anyone on the day.

Scotland are learning how to win and close out games. Defensively they are hard to break down, the pack is an excellent unit, but boy is the backline impotent.

England have some good players (Youngs in particular) but will win or lose most games by only a few points so difficult to call.

France – well as always could be anywhere from awesome to awful

Italy – whitewash I think

Cannot wait 🙂

Foden and Ashton are miles better that Cueto – he is useless. Nearly as useless as Monye

I think we may see some unusual tactics (in the modern game) from Scotland – lots of kicking to touch and then attacking the French lineout even on attacking ball – we have 3 excellent lineout forwards to try to steal the ball and loads of power to neutralise it if the French try to drive the lineout.

The idea will be to take the ball off the French and to pin them down at their end of the park.

Going for the counter ruck as well – The Scots forwards should be there at the breakdown in numbers due to the pace. If we can get the turnovers or force them into giving away penalties……….?

The other thing I think you will see is trying to put a lot of pressure on the stand-off. expect to see him with some ugly begger of a forward in his face all day.

Could come unstuck if the kicking is not good and we give the French counter ball. Southwell has a huge boot on him as well.

It so nice not to have the smallest pack for once 🙂

I really can’t agree with that. He isn’t as good or exciting as Foden and Ashton but he does do a job. He is solid in defence and rarely makes mistakes. His attacking play has gone off the boil in recent seasons but he did seem to wake up a bit in that regard in the AI’s.

Overall, I’m happy enough with him in the team.

I like Flood, Youngs, the back 3. I’m concerned about the centres.
In the pack we would undoubtably be better with Croft and Lawes available, but they aren’t so we have to make do. Wood is an excellent player at Saints, and Haskell on his day is can be very good.

The thing about Tindall is he offers very little chance of a line break any more, he doesn’t have the gas. He can break then gain line or draw defenders on the crash but Hape is a strong offloading player and he could put a quicker 13 through more gaps.

Cueto has lost a bit of pace but he makes very few mistakes and is still a pretty effective carrier.

Foden and Ashton are miles better that Cueto – he is useless. Nearly as useless as Monye

That used to be accurate, I always thought Cueto a bit of a donkey too but in the Autumn he was absolutely outstanding so he’s worth his place, for now.

Monye’s one of those exasperating players with all the physical attributes but none of the mental ones – like Andy Powell.

Actually I’m now a big fan of Andy Powell since his escapades on the M4 in a golf buggy – that’s how proper rugby players used to behave.

Here’s Andy Powell’s gameplan courtesy of Blood & Mud