2018 NatWest 6 Nations - Round 1 Wales Vs Scotland

[SharksFan86]

Very good start for Wales no doubt but do think Scotland been so poor yesterday made Wales look good, suppose we will find out for sure next week when Wales come to Twickenham.

Scotland will be hoping that will be their bad game out of system and be much improved for rest of six nations as they have improved a lot over past year or 2.

 

[SharksFan86]

Very good start for Wales no doubt but do think Scotland been so poor yesterday made Wales look good, suppose we will find out for sure next week when Wales come to Twickenham.

Scotland will be hoping that will be their bad game out of system and be much improved for rest of six nations as they have improved a lot over past year or 2.

 

[General Melchett]

Congrats to Wales on a well deserved win. Scotland's defence (the Twickenham horror show apart) seems to have dropped since Vern left. Organised chaos is fine but defence need to be much better.
Interesting to hear Gatland say post match 'I thought we'd batter them and we did' and yet pre-match he said any one of five teams could win it. Clearly still has an axe to grind against the Scots. Jones and Schmidt would have shown more respect. That aside Wales deserved to win.

 

[The5thOfficial]

Very good start for Wales no doubt but do think Scotland been so poor yesterday made Wales look good

I'd agree with this if Wales played bad and won. But what they did they did well. But yeah, Twickers is a whole different ball game!

 

[ALJ]

Personally I think this is a bit of a lesson for Townsend on what it's like at the top table.

Nothing wrong in their performances in the AIs but now it's facing up in competition when the opposition has analysed your team and tactics in thorough detail and has a game plan on how to nullify your strengths and expose your weaknesses.

I do think though that the Scots will improve and woe betide any team that underestimates them, particularly at Murrayfield.

 

[TommiG88]

Personally I think this is a bit of a lesson for Townsend on what it's like at the top table.

Nothing wrong in their performances in the AIs but now it's facing up in competition when the opposition has analysed your team and tactics in thorough detail and has a game plan on how to nullify your strengths and expose your weaknesses.

I do think though that the Scots will improve and woe betide any team that underestimates them, particularly at Murrayfield.

I think they'll struggle. Their front row in the open field were there for the taking.

1) their starting front row was decent at scrummaging, but pretty much useless in open play. It meant Scotland were playing with 12/13 men in defence.
2) the changes to the front row in second half decrease the effectiveness in the scrum, but probably just an increase in solidity in defence.

It will be a big test against France. But if they play like this, it will be a close game. France showed some tenacity yesterday.

They will have to improve, which they probably will. But if England find the mismatches like Wales did, it will be a long day.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

A lot of people acting as if Scotland could take those injuries, they're decimated right now in the front row and in the centre. They'll struggle this tournament, they might build some depth though, I said in another thread that injury crises are almost always beneficial long term but it's so bad here that Scotland are down to players who simply don't appear to have the potential to cut it at this level .

 

[TommiG88]

A lot of people acting as if Scotland could take those injuries, they're decimated right now in the front row and in the centre. They'll struggle this tournament, they might build some depth though, I said in another thread that injury crises are almost always beneficial long term but it's so bad here that Scotland are down to players who simply don't appear to have the potential to cut it at this level .

I had Wales to win yesterday, but I didn't expect how badly the injuries would effect Scotland. But from 10mins in, you could see they were badly effected by the injuries.

 

[ALJ]

Fair point I guess but both teams had plenty of players out injured so I don't see that as the key differentiator.

Also thought McInally was excellent.

 

[Which Tyler]

That was a really weird match.
I felt that Scotland were awful, crippled by injuries, have Wales a 14 point head start, and just lost all discipline (match discipline, not violence), trying to force everything, and just... failing; and not really bothering with defence.

I expected Wales to do better, but I didn't expect them to score as many points - which feels odd. 3 of their tries were kinda flukes (an interception that should never have been thrown, a hole on defence big enough for the ***anic to get through, and a forward pass to make a kiwi feel embarrassed); and yet they created a good 4-5 chances, with only converting 1 of them.

Wales played poorly, and won with a TBP. This will do their confidence wonders, and they'll play better next week, although the there wasn't much on display to scare England, a lot can change in a week.
Scotland started badly, and then disintegrated. Looked like they knew what they were doing when everything descended into a broken field farce, but couldn't convert anyway - a poor man's Fiji on that display.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Fair point I guess but both teams had plenty of players out injured so I don't see that as the key differentiator.

Also thought McInally was excellent.

Maybe not the key differentiator insofar as it being the difference between them winning or losing but they wouldn't dish out a 4try hammering by dominating upfront and putting the Scots on the back foot had Scotland had even three of their 6 injured front rows and a centre back I don't think. Even if you were to give Wales back as many players.

 

[WilkosLeftBoot]

Fair point I guess but both teams had plenty of players out injured so I don't see that as the key differentiator.

Also thought McInally was excellent.

Agree about McInally - was one of very few Scots to show anything. Reminded me a bit of some South Africa games last year where, in poor team performances, Marx really shone above the rest.

Well done to Wales, never looked like losing.

 

[g6mcg]

Don't like injuries as an excuse, affects every team and make for tedious arguments! Wales played much better - agree Williams probably went a bit overboard (I'm sure he describes at least one Welsh performance per year as one of the greats!), but they were in complete control and could have scored more. Will be interesting to see this how they fare in London and Dublin, they should expect big scores v France and Italy.

For Scotland I think most of the problems came from the pack not fronting up. Not entirely clear if there's anyone we could bring in who would make a huge difference. I think ultimately we don't have the same calibre of player and when we're not gelling as a team we're always liable to these kind of hidings.

Hope Price learns from the experience, but disagree with those who say we'd have won with Laidlaw. We all know Russell can flake - he's still clearly our best 10 but it would be handy to have someone to step in when he's in brain fart mode. More support from 9 and 12 would help but in the past even Dunbar, who I rate highly, hasn't been able to.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

They should expect a big score vs France?
Did you watch France play yesterday? Their defence was superb

I'm not sure France will win many games but I think the opposition will be winning in multiples of 3, cause their discipline is pretty poor

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I'm not entirely sure injuries can be the cause. Scotland's defence has always been poor and it was only slightly worse vs Wales. What I thought was much worse was their attacking play and for me it was the 9 and 10 who were largely responsible for that failing, both touted as Scotland starters. It's like when England played Scotland and injuries were used as the reason yet most of the English tries were from running at the Scottish midfield, who were both 1st team starters.

I won't deny Scotland have injury problems that are hampering the team but it seems Scotland are using it as an excuse to avoid addressing actual weaknesses in the team.

 

[g6mcg]

They should expect a big score vs France?
Did you watch France play yesterday? Their defence was superb

I'm not sure France will win many games but I think the opposition will be winning in multiples of 3, cause their discipline is pretty poor

I don't think Ireland stumbling past them means much. France are still a very poor team and a semi decent attack should be able to run riot. Plus I think France often fall away when they go behind in Wales, but have no stats to hand to prove it!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I'm not entirely sure injuries can be the cause. Scotland's defence has always been poor and it was only slightly worse vs Wales. What I thought was much worse was their attacking play and for me it was the 9 and 10 who were largely responsible for that failing, both touted as Scotland starters. It's like when England played Scotland and injuries were used as the reason yet most of the English tries were from running at the Scottish midfield, who were both 1st team starters.

I won't deny Scotland have injury problems that are hampering the team but it seems Scotland are using it as an excuse to avoid addressing actual weaknesses in the team.

I don't see where Scotland are making excuses about injuries. Townsend describe the performance as "unacceptable".

In my opinion the injuries and yellow card against England in the Twickenham capitulation were a legit excuse because they happened in game and they had players playing wing and fullback who never played there. Here they are less of an excuse because Scotland could at least gameplan to mitigate it as best they could (and Wales aren't reknowned for having a dominant pack). Plus McInally and Reid are semi decent club players at least.

I'd give Townsend more of a hard time for this performance than I would give Cotter for the Twickenham debacle.

I'd also criticise Gatland a little as in one 80 minute game we got a glimpse of how Wales could have been more competitive in recent years. As mentioned by someone above their forwards were excellent with ball in hand too when given the freedom to play more. Possibly the best pack with ball in hand in the competition to me, which could be a big asset if they are to pull off another result against a higher ranked side.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I don't see where Scotland are making excuses about injuries. Townsend describe the performance as "unacceptable".

In my opinion the injuries and yellow card against England in the Twickenham capitulation were a legit excuse because they happened in game and they had players playing wing and fullback who never played there. Here they are less of an excuse because Scotland could at least gameplan to mitigate it as best they could (and Wales aren't reknowned for having a dominant pack). Plus McInally and Reid are semi decent club players at least.

I'd give Townsend more of a hard time for this performance than I would give Cotter for the Twickenham debacle.

I'd also criticise Gatland a little as in one 80 minute game we got a glimpse of how Wales could have been more competitive in recent years. As mentioned by someone above their forwards were excellent with ball in hand too when given the freedom to play more. Possibly the best pack with ball in hand in the competition to me, which could be a big asset if they are to pull off another result against a higher ranked side.

More the fans but if the players who are making the most serious errors are your 1st team players then how can you blame injuries? As I said the serious blunders in this game were by Price and Russell, both Scotland starters. Last year the gap in the defence that England repeatedly attacked was between Jones and Dunbar, both 1st team starters. It was unacceptable not because injuries were hampering the team but because their 1st choice players were the ones making the mistakes, not the injury replacements. Both years who was the biggest infringer? Barclay a first team starter.

 

[Hound]

I don't think Scotland has made any excuses publically about injuries... yes, injuries affect all sides, but you're fooling yourself if you think a random 6 injuries to a Welsh side are the same thing as a random 6 injuries to a Scottish side.

The depth isn't going to be there to take the hit.

 

[ThebigARena]

Very happy with that performance yesterday and I don't buy the Scottish-injuries when we had 4 of our most potent threats injured JD2, L.williams , Webb , g. North . Along with biggar, faletau and warbs ! If I had to be critical I felt we invited a bit too much pressure from Scotland even though that was the game plan I would of liked a bit more initiative , In saying that I was a pretty dominant perferormance and we left 2 tries out there, steff Evans fumbling at the try line and anscombe fumbling with an easy run in but apart from that we were clinical . Just watched the England game , we won't drop off fitness like Italians did after 60 also our defenders is far superior to the Italians , also looking at what Italy did I feel we can exploit out wide especially with patchells vision we can threaten that English line so going into next weekend in twickers with good optimism , it's not going to be easy but it never is , roll on Saturday