[2017 RBS Six Nations] Round 2: France vs Scotland (12/02/2017)

[die_mole]

Are you saying the win against Racing shouldn't any breed confidence because the opposition will include better individual players who have yet to show a prolonged run of form in terms of results and playing as a cohesive unit for France? Winning breeds confidence even if the next challenge is tougher and the win against Racing will provide a positive reference experience.

i'm saying the glasgow win against racing means as much as any other glasgow win in terms of how much it translates to how this scotland team will perform against this french team

 

[Saint4805]

i'm saying the glasgow win against racing means as much as any other glasgow win in terms of how much it translates to how this scotland team will perform against this french team

From the viewpoint of a neutral stato/analyst I don't dispute what you're saying but my point was from a player's confidence perspective and I never claimed that Glasgow beating Racing translates into Scotland beating France. Returning to the city where they recently secured an unlikely win will help Glasgow players' confidence. Professional athletes will use positive reference experiences to maximise their confidence and self belief.

 

[die_mole]

From the viewpoint of a neutral stato/analyst I don't dispute what you're saying but my point was from a player's confidence perspective and I never claimed that Glasgow beating Racing translates into Scotland beating France. Returning to the city where they recently secured an unlikely win will help Glasgow players' confidence. Professional athletes will use positive reference experiences to maximise their confidence and self belief.

people with self belief and confidence issues usually get sorted out of professional sports pretty quickly

athletes, although everyone likes to believe this, aren't stupid. They know that these two games have very little in common other than location. (not even the same stadium, also wasn't in the city since racing is in suburbs)

Are we going to be saying that Scotland players are going to be nervous hosting Wales since glasgow lost to ospreys at home this year. No, of course we aren't because it would be a lazy and cheap observation. The only difference now is that we like to make cheap observations about france.

 

[Saint4805]

people with self belief and confidence issues usually get sorted out of professional sports pretty quickly

athletes, although everyone likes to believe this, aren't stupid. They know that these two games have very little in common other than location. (not even the same stadium, also wasn't in the city since racing is in suburbs)

Are we going to be saying that Scotland players are going to be nervous hosting Wales since glasgow lost to ospreys at home this year. No, of course we aren't because it would be a lazy and cheap observation. The only difference now is that we like to make cheap observations about france.

Your generalisation that every professional sportsperson doesn't have confidence or self belief issues and is not stupid weakens your argument markedly.

If you were to ask any Glasgow player if the win in Paris against Racing would give them increased confidence going back to Paris to play France I doubt very much whether they'd say 'No it won't make any difference whatsoever'.

Not going to write more on this so fill your boots with another pointless rebuttal.

 

[die_mole]

Your generalisation that every professional sportsperson doesn't have confidence or self belief issues and is not stupid weakens your argument markedly.

If you were to ask any Glasgow player if the win in Paris against Racing would give them increased confidence going back to Paris to play France I doubt very much whether they'd say 'No it won't make any difference whatsoever'.

Not going to write more on this so fill your boots with another pointless rebuttal.

i don't think i ever said every, please learn to read

i actually think they would say it wouldn't make a difference, usually when you ask an athlete about a past performance they will say something along the lines "that was in the past and all we can really do is focus on the game ahead of us"

 

[CaledonCol]

Scotland and Glasgow play a similar game which is obvious bearing in mind the number of Warriors wearing Blue . La Rochelle play Embra in the Challenge Cup a degree below Racing who have been the big spenders and poor performers . Reiterate - Scotland will play an open style game which should make it a good spectacle ! Turning in to a good sSix Nations !

 

[Saint4805]

i actually think they would say it wouldn't make a difference, usually when you ask an athlete about a past performance they will say something along the lines "that was in the past and all we can really do is focus on the game ahead of us"

No - that's the kind of safe response they would give to the media which is often not necessarily what they truly think. Nicely twisted though - hats off.

 

[die_mole]

No - that's the kind of safe response they would give to the media which is often not necessarily what they truly think. Nicely twisted though - hats off.

more realistic than "yeah that game we played two months ago where we beat a team that has one player on the team that we are facing this weekend really gives us a bunch of confidence"

 

[CaledonCol]

Scotland team v France just announced :
Scotland team to play France at the Stade de France in the RBS 6 Nations
Sunday 12 February (kick-off 3pm GMT) – live on BBC
15. Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 49 caps; 15 tries, 3 pens, 84 points
14. Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 27 caps; 5 tries, 25 points
13. Huw Jones (Stormers) – 4 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
12. Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) – 20 caps; 6 tries, 30 points
11. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 32 caps, 14 tries, 70 points
10. Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 23 caps; 2 tries, 3 cons, 1 pen, 19 points
9. Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester) CAPTAIN – 57 caps; 4 tries, 77 cons, 136 pens, 582 points
1. Allan Dell (Edinburgh Rugby) – 4 caps
2. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 21 caps
3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps
4. Richie Gray (Toulouse) – 61 caps, 3 tries, 15 points
5. Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 29 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
6. John Barclay (Scarlets) – 56 caps, 4 tries, 20 points
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 6 caps, 1 try, 5 points
8. Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps
Substitutes:
16. Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 103 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
17. Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 20 caps
18. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped
19. Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 26 caps
20. John Hardie (Edinburgh Rugby) – 13 caps, 3 tries, 15 points
21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 1 cap
22. Duncan Weir (Edinburgh Rugby) – 24 caps; 2 tries, 7 cons, 10 pens, 1 drop, 57 points
23. Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors) – 18 caps, 6 tries, 30 points

 

[saucisse]

I apologize in advance for my English
I think it will be very difficult for us, Scotland is very impressive as are their progress over the last three years.
I think the course of Scotland is an example for Guy Noves, and he wants to do the same thing as Vern Cotter : starting from zero and building a team able to compete against any great nation, they prove it by beating Irland. France now looks like Scotland two years ago : we play well but we lost of some points...

I think for this match, Scotland has the advantage of expérience and confidence with many top players like Hogg, Laidlaw or the brothers Gray, but I think we can win, we need results and Noves maybe playing his carreer of coach on this match... No place to lost.
In all case good luck to all and allez les bleus

 

[Will]

Out of sheer interest, what colour jersey are France going to be wearing Sunday? Given that Scotland will be wearing blue, what colour is France's away kit? Are they still wearing that red number from 2015?


Edit - And of that Scotland team, shame for Wilson to miss out (for an elbow infection apparently) though to have him replaced by Barclay and then be able to bring John Hardie on to the subs bench does show the strength in depth Scotland does have in the back row. Personally I think Rob Harley is unlucky to miss out after another strong and solid season for Glasgow but I'm not going to question Cotter on this one.

And I am a little surprised to see Brown start ahead of Ford. I would originally have had Brown starting, though after he went off injured against Ireland and replaced by Ford I then thought Ford went on to have a great game. Given that, and his size and experience, I thought he would have had the nod in facing up against a huge French pack. We'll see how it plays out on Sunday.

 

[Saint4805]

The game is on Sunday Will. Should be an absolute cracker. I think it will be tighter than many think. Glad to see Watson and Barclay starting as both did really well last weekend.

 

[TheSaffycen]

France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Remi Lamerat, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Baptiste Serin; 1 Cyril Baille, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 3 Uini Atonio, 4 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 5 Yoann Maestri, 6 Loann Goujon, 7 Kevin Gourdon, 8-Louis Picamoles

Replacements: 16-Christopher Tolofua, 17-Rabah Slimani, 18-Xavier Chiocci, 19-Julien Le Devedec, 20-Damien Chouly, 21-Maxime Machenaud, 22-Jean-Marc Doussain, 23-Yoann Huget


Only one change as Goujon comes in for Chouly. Noves saying that he wants more power, because they really lacked that last week. France will have a powerful team here but the fitness levels might come in again.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I apologize in advance for my English
I think it will be very difficult for us, Scotland is very impressive as are their progress over the last three years.
I think the course of Scotland is an example for Guy Noves, and he wants to do the same thing as Vern Cotter : starting from zero and building a team able to compete against any great nation, they prove it by beating Irland. France now looks like Scotland two years ago : we play well but we lost of some points...

I think for this match, Scotland has the advantage of expérience and confidence with many top players like Hogg, Laidlaw or the brothers Gray, but I think we can win, we need results and Noves maybe playing his carreer of coach on this match... No place to lost.
In all case good luck to all and allez les bleus

Fair to say that is better than my French! A fair assessment I think but I struggle to understwhile why French supporters here think Noves is under pressure. He is clearly their best coach for over 5 years and probably since Laporte. Is the feeling that Laporte will want to remove Noves and replace him with his own man (a friend)?

Allez les (navy) bleus!

 

[corny]

I apologize in advance for my English
I think it will be very difficult for us, Scotland is very impressive as are their progress over the last three years.
I think the course of Scotland is an example for Guy Noves, and he wants to do the same thing as Vern Cotter : starting from zero and building a team able to compete against any great nation, they prove it by beating Irland. France now looks like Scotland two years ago : we play well but we lost of some points...

I think for this match, Scotland has the advantage of expérience and confidence with many top players like Hogg, Laidlaw or the brothers Gray, but I think we can win, we need results and Noves maybe playing his carreer of coach on this match... No place to lost.
In all case good luck to all and allez les bleus

Agreed. France have been rudderless since Laporte stepped aside in 2007. Saint Andre and Lievremont were unable to create a clear vision for the team and tactically they were shambles in most games. Noves is different. You can see the players respect him and you can see good patterns of play emerging. Only a matter of time before the results come imo.

This game? I'm going against the majority here in that i think France will win comfortably. Scotland were brilliantly clinical against Ireland but they lost collisions and leaked a lot of line breaks when the intensity went up. I expect France (with their sheer size) will be even harder to contain. That, with better defence and home advantage should see them win.

 

[saucisse]

Is the feeling that Laporte will want to remove Noves and replace him with his own man (a friend)?

Allez les (navy) bleus!

It is exactly what I'm affraid of ! This is not a secret that Laporte does'nt like Noves (and reciprocally) and I'm affraid that he just waits for a reason to remove Noves. He says that he will not, but he is the kind of men who wants to control everything, and he is an expert of "langue de bois" (I don't know how to say that in english) : he says something and does an other... After all he is a polical men, and he proved with the female team that he don't care of results of french team and that he just care for himself... Indeed he dismissed the coachs of female team though they won the Tournament in 2016, and put in their place a friend of him : Annick Haymeraud, who was the french Coach from 2009 to 2014 and had not brilliants results, and who is last of french championship with her club, the all at 6 months of World Cup, and two months of Tournament... What kind of men can did this? We saw the result in England last week...
It's one of the reasons for why I have any confidence in their words and why I hope that Noves will close Laporte mouth and doing a beautiful Tournament... It pass by a victory at home Sunday !

 

[Peat]

And here's hoping that doesn't change anytime over the next few days at least.




Fair enough. I'd be interested to read your thoughts on this one however.

Those were about the sum of them I'm afraid :lol: I find both teams pretty hard to read these days as there's a lot of quality and a lot of inconsistency. Neither are teams who I trust to hold onto a lead. I'd bet on the French because all that power could be pretty decisive and because home advantage matters but it wouldn't surprise me if they had most of the match but Scotland took more chances. I guess it would surprise me if Scotland had more of the match, but as long as it stays out of the scrum and Barclay has a big day at the breakdown, why not?

Imagine the Scottish team will look to either play it very quick or kick into space/for chasers. French will want to slow the ball down and get a power game happening. France really want to disrupt the line out and the breakdown as much as possible to stop that.

But yeah, I'm betting on the home side.

 

[TheSaffycen]

Scotland were incredibly clinical, Ireland are also a much better defensive unit than France. Is Russell a good enough kicker to put Vakatawa under pressure? Seymour and Maitland are great in the air, I see them making lots of ground in this area. Personally I would've played Huget for this game, great in the air.
Will Scotland be able to keep up the defensive ferocity they had last week? Last week they only had SOB, Henderson, Furlong and Henshaw to try and contain. This week, Antonio, Vahaaminha, Maestri, PICAMOLES, Goujon, Gourdon, Vakatawa, Lamerat, Spedding, Tolofua and Slimani. In other words the whole French team....I cant see them being able to just tackle for a 60 minutes again with the monsters they're up against.


Anyone who watches top 14 nowadays, what happened to France's magic footed backs? Guitone, Dulin, Bonneval? I used to love watching them guys.

 

[FrenchFan]

Noves has done his best to keep a settled side since November and he's clearly moved away from the musical chair selection of his predecessors. But there's a lot of injuries to first starters Ben Arous Poirot Fofana Ollivon Trinh Duc + David, Chavancy, Lakafia, Chat so he's lost some of the balance he had. The issues are still lack of leaders and lack of balance in squad due to injuries.

If we lose on Sunday. Laporte will start turning the screws on Noves. And if we don't finish in the top half the knives will be out.

The politics is never far away. I don't believe Noves will stay if the union put him under pressure due to a lack of results. The press doesn't see the political issues at stake. Remember Laporte didn't chose Noves. And unless Laporte stays at his place until Japan I can see clashes ahead. Laporte can be overbearing.

Another defeat will not bring these 2 closer...

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Finn Russell reminds me of Ronan O'Gara, when he plays well he plays like the best 10 in the world, when he plays poorly he is really really s**t. Russell will really look to kick as will Laidlaw, Hogg and Dunbar.

As shown from the last game, Scotland defense i would say is at the best its ever been. I think Scotland will have no trouble in defense against France. Yes they may have very strong ball carriers but we have very good tacklers like Brown, The gray brothers, the backrow, and Dunbar with saying that we've good Ford, Swinson, Hardie and Bennett on the bench who are very good tacklers. So personally i don't see Scotland having too much trouble in defense but it will definitely be tested.