Sky feed paints a picture of Youngs having a bit of a  off day?

Youngs must be the poorest scrum half of any top tier nation.

How on earth has he won so many caps?

It beggars belief that Jones has persisted with Youngs/Care to the exclusion of all other SHs for 4 yrs and then, having ditched Care, brought in a new cap (Heinz) to back up a guy who’s consistently gone AWOL in big games, can’t box kick and frequently throws terrible passes.

This is going well 😀

Youngs is utter shite, how he is out number one scrum half is beyond me.

Itoje has been very good today and Manu has been good too. Ford and Farrell have gone ok too.

Biggest winning margin vs Ireland in history.  Nice comeback.

Great performance on the whole. I enjoyed it more once Youngs had been yanked off.

Dunno where this leaves Ireland? That was pretty much their strongest available side and they got minced by the English pack and ripped to shreds out wide. A RWC 1/4 final against either the ABs or the Boks looks a tall order.

A little devastated from the Irish perspective – we looked well beaten and clueless.

It’s hard to know where Ireland are in their WC prep, but they must be getting concerned after a poor 6N by their standards.

Even so, they play good tournament style rugby, so get out of the group and it’s game on.

With France finding their mojo too there really are 6 or 7 teams in the mix.

Scotland -once again the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good: we won – its been a while. We looked like someone actually thought about tactics – with France pressing in the centres with a very fast ( offside 😉 ) blitz we tried to move the ball wide early either thru the hands or with diagonal kicks. Unfortunately P Horne passed the ball straight to a frenchman and gave away an easy try but we made good ground from this quite a few times.

Injuries caused scotland to have to shuffle the pack ending up with a no8 in the second row, no 6 in the second row and a Hooker in the back row but we still held our shape. Defense far better with some dominant tackles and turnovers.
Finn looked rusty early on but much more assured in the second half.
Heads do not go down being 14 3 down – we came back to win FFS! Not something scotland are known for – digging deep n adversity

Scrum held up pretty well even getting a nudge on a couple of times until we had to call on all the replacements

The Bad: too many mistakes that led to the two ties from France and several blown chances. Missed a pen to touch again
Depth – we have a few players who we just cannot replace. If they are injured we are in trouble. Nel, Russell being the key ones
Lineout – rookie hookers had a mare throwing in. We lost far too many lineouts

the ugly – the injuries – I doubt we will see Skinner again and Thompson could be a doubt

And a special mention to Shreck – ( Gordon Reid) is he the ugliest player in world rugby? 😉 Did no bad for a semi pro player and part of the first halfs dominant scrum

Townsend has played the whole squad now bar ickle Jonny ( hamstring strain) and must now know the team he wants to open against ireland. Now for two matches against Georgia to hone them but please do not break Finn or Nel

QFs look about as far as we can go without serious improvement.

With France finding their mojo too there really are 6 or 7 teams in the mix.

Sorry but this fallacy has somehow been perpetuated for the last 6-7 years each time France win the odd game.

It used to be – which French side will turn up? Now it’s more like – how sh*t will France be when they turn up?

France lost their mojo a long time ago and have never even remotely looked like being able to find it again.

I only saw the highlights of the England Ireland game. I thought Ford looked pretty handy! (I’m far from a fan of his normally) Farrell, Tuilagi, and most of the forwards seem to all be in good form. I’m not convinced Curry and Underhill will be the 6 and 7, Scrum half is a worry and I’ll say it again…..Daly is not a 15.

Ireland looked like they were playing touch!

Namste – with the new coaching set up this really does look like a much better french side.

Did we all spot Itoje trying to trip Aki before his try?

Also, Kruis… That was a shocker. Lucky it was only yellow.

England good, Ireland abysmal.

Scotland on World beating form again, I see! 😃

Nope CFH – we are still doomed! Not world beaters yet – just wait for that until we beat Ireland Georgia

As a Tigers supporter even I don’t know why Jones persists with Youngs, he’s not up there with the best in the Prem ATM. Spencer, Care, Robson and even Heinz are better IMO. England will have issues there against the SH sides I reckon. Otherwise great performance, if you gloss over Kruis’s card, looked nasty on the replays with little mitigation according to the new high tackle framework.

with the new coaching set up this really does look like a much better french side

Really?

Brunel is an outdated coach who’s only there coz he’s mates with the FFR President. Galthie is just a nasty, nasty piece of work generally loathed by the players whom he coaches.

How do they look better? Since 2017: 7 wins in their last 15 6N games inc a 44-8 trouncing by England this year, a series hammering by NZ, another whitewash loss in SA, losses at home to SA (twice), NZ (twice) and Fiji. (That’s FIJI!) not to mention a home draw with Japan.

OK they’ve beaten Wales and England, once apiece, in the 6N and scored a home win over Argentina in that period but those highlights are pretty thin.

A 30-3 win over a half-baked Scotland didn’t make them world beaters. Especially when you consider the reverse rubber.

It’s not just the results though. It’s the way they play and their lack of consistent selection policies. They really don’t have a clue.

Namaste – I saw a real change to France in the first game. Sensible selection, offloading, playing really well.

Lets see but I think France will be a real power at the WC

Yeah they looked good in that game, granted.

Hey, I love French rugby. I really do. I’d love to see them recapture the glories of yesteryear. I used to turn up at Murrayfield, as a schoolboy, in the 70s and 80s and marvel at their exotic brilliance – unless Andy Irvine beat them on his own, of course.

It’s just I’ve seen little to enthuse me about French rugby of late.

Can I ask the other nations, do your press write shite like this?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/aug/25/england-rugby-world-cup-eddie-jones-owen-farrell-ireland
I mean Kitson just makes us look arrogant. I think most englanders watch good English rugby through their fingers or behind the sofa as we expect them to eff it up any minute. And yet here is Kitson passing us off as NZ.
We have had two decent games at home and a mediocre away game, it has gone south from here many times.
I can only apologise as a proud Englishman for our newspapers behaviour.

The Guardian does not even mention scots rugby usually. I occasionally read the herald or scotsman for the rugby – usually not bad coverage. Kitson is a first rate plonker – and hates Scotland.

Herald match report
https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/17859009.scotland-17-france-14-gregor-townsend-39-s-men-savour-badly-needed-revenge-world-cup-warm-up-match/

Looking forward to seeing how Lane and Carre go at this level. Good to see Rob Evans and Tomos Williams make the bench. Hope Scott Willuams has been working on his sprinting or it could get messy.

Wales
Hallam Amos (Cardiff Blues); Owen Lane (Cardiff Blues), Scott Williams (Ospreys), Owen Watkin (Ospreys), Steff Evans (Scarlets); Jarrod Evans (Cardiff Blues), Aled Davies (Ospreys); Rhys Carre (Saracens), Ryan Elias (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Bradley Davies (Ospreys), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), James Davies (Scarlets), Josh Navidi (capt, Cardiff Blues).

Replacements: Elliot Dee (Dragons), Rob Evans (Scarlets), Leon Brown (Dragons), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Ross Moriarty (Dragons), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues), Rhys Patchell (Scarlets), Jonah Holmes (Leicester Tigers)

I’ll readily admit that despite enjoying watching the rugby I don’t really understand the technicalities. But, that Wales team looks exciting to me. Wales first team are scoffed at, despite being ranked #1 in the World, so I presume their 2nd string team won’t be given much hope against Ireland. But, as it’s only a friendly I shall relax and enjoy.

When a second choice team struggles, is it more down to the difference in their ability compared to the first team, or having had far less time together to gel?

Bit of both, really.

The 1st XV will have had more time training together as a unit, and, obviously, will usually be the better players. However…Navidi is no 2nd XV player, for example.

So, in essence, this is just about trying different things, to give variety of options for a long tournament.

Can I ask the other nations, do your press write shite like this?

Mostly not. The Welsh are traditionally pretty maudlin, so even if we do well we think it’s a short term think and we pinch ourselves. This might be one reason why it usually is…! Doesn’t give us the confidence to beat top sides very often.

That’s a horrible position for Ireland after the previous display.  If they win, it’s “only” a second team – no disrespect to the Welsh but that’s how it’ll be reported. If they lose, well, it’s a second team…

That Wales side will be an interesting watch. Some really good players in that bunch that have been floating around the fringes for a while. A bit like the squad that went to Argentina and had a great tour.

Navidi hasn’t put a foot wrong since forever, a bit like Tipuric. Wales have such an abundance of good players in the back row it’s a case of which good player is going to get dropped rather than wondering why the same old shithouse is picked yet again.

Navidi is no 2nd XV player, for example.

He is. Faletau, Tipuric, Moriarty is first choice I’d say

Navidi is no 2nd XV player, for example.

He is. Faletau, Tipuric, Moriarty is first choice I’d say

I couldn’t rank them, but as bigblackshed has suggested, Navidi has not had one bad game for Wales that I can remember. He is guaranteed to go to Japan [and likely play in the final ; ) ] so not really a 2nd XV player imho.

Ps does him being captain for this game, suggest he’ll be captain in the ‘easier’ group games? ie go easy on how many games AWJ will play – what’s the strategy there?

That’s a horrible position for Ireland after the previous display. If they win, it’s “only” a second team – no disrespect to the Welsh but that’s how it’ll be reported. If they lose, well, it’s a second team…

The real shame is that the press can’t seem to take the pressure off to let coaches and teams experiment. In a way I admire Jones for facing them down when he loses as he passed it off as experimental and told them to get stuffed. (even though it may have been something else, like desperation)

Ps does him being captain for this game, suggest he’ll be captain in the ‘easier’ group games? ie go easy on how many games AWJ will play – what’s the strategy there?

I expect a much weakened team will play v Uraguay in last hame and give wales option to rest a number of players from 9th before England who have France on October 12th that QF is 19th

Ha you assume England will be winner of pool C. I bet we have at least one absent game where we get beaten by US or Tonga and then it will be down to the last minute to see if we get enough points to squeeze 2nd place.

Ireland team to play wales.

Ireland Team

Addison; Conway, Farrell, Aki, Stockdale; Carty, Marmion; Kilcoyne, Scannell, Ryan; Henderson, Ryan; Beirne, POM (c), Conan

Best, Porter, Furlong, Toner, Murphy, McGrath, Ringrose, Kearney D

Looks stronger than the Welsh team and much bigger in the backrow. Ireland going full England with a lock at 6.

Rhys Carre has been on a diet!!!@

“I have lost a bit of weight in these eight to 10 weeks. I came in at about 137kg, so I’m around 128kg now.

Scotland team to face georgia
Pretty much the test side. No putting Russell in cotton wool. Graham gets a start on the wing

1 – Dell
2 – McInally (C)
3 – Nel
4 – Toolis
5 – Gilchrist
6 – Barclay
7 – Watson
8 – Fagerson

9 – Laidlaw
10 – Russell
11 – Maitland
12 – Johnson
13 – Hutchinson
14 – Graham
15 – Kinghorn

Subs – Bhattie, Stewart, Fagerson, Cummings, Strauss, Price, Hastings, Jones

Another interesting weekend of rugby awaits.

Scotland team to face georgia
Pretty much the test side.

This should be good for Scotland. It’s a cliche but undoubtedly true that Scotland are far more successful at home than away. A win in Tbilisi should do wonders for their confidence, followed surely by a comfortable win in their last game before the World Cup. Were they to lose though.

Tj- what score will you be happy with?

Cant see us winning this but it could be fun. Hope all the players get through ok.

it could be fun

Or it could be shit, both teams looking like punch drunk strangers!!!

It’s been scrappy hasn’t it! That Ireland loose head is having a good game. Will Addison going well too (former Sale favourite) Wales look pretty naff, especially in midfield. Realistically only a handful of the starting Welsh XV will be named tomorrow though to go to Japan wont they?

Realistically only a handful of the starting Welsh XV will be named tomorrow though to go to Japan wont they?

Navidi
Beard
Scot Williams
Amos maybe

Patchel and Tomos Williams from bench