[2023 Six Nations] Scotland vs Wales - 11 February 2023

[General Melchett]

I think the new centre combination of Tuipolotu and Jones has transformed the Scottish backline. Harris is excellent at organising the defence but Sione and Jones offer so much in attack and are proving to be solid in defence. Sione is a very clever footballer who loves a grubber and Jones' footwork is superb. France and Ireland will be a step up and it will be interesting to see to what extent Scotland can compete with them.

 

[AngloScotsHybrid]

It's not. He butchered an easy run in before half time because he can't catch a ball (an accurate pass too) and runs into dead ends

Dyer is quick but he looks like he has no rugby intelligence or skills. He is an athlete rather than a rugby player.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Wales clearly in transition, but still put away by a fine Scotland performance. I thought Russell really ran things and deserved his MOM.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Well done Scotland better team won etc etc.

Only positive to take out of that result is that now surely we can just bin off the 6N now and just purely focus on trying things/new players out.

Don’t want to see North, Biggar or Beard play again this tournament. I’d say Owens as well but he’s captain and for some reason Gatland has prompted Baldwin to second choice hooker

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

No Jamie. No!

Scotland can beat any team, says Ritchie

Scotland "can beat any team" if they play to their best, says captain Jamie Ritchie after his side thrash Wales 35-7 at Murrayfield to continue their perfect start to the Six Nations.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[dullonien]

Congrats Scotland, you're playing well. Excellent 9-10-12-13 axis that's offering a lot of variety.

As for Wales, that was a shocking display. Some of the youngsters played well in Daf Jenkins, Tshiunza and Reffell. Thd form of the seniour players such as Ken Owens, Adam Beard, Tomos Williams, Dan Biggar, North and Liam Williams is really poor.

It leaves us in a really difficult position where on form we'd have a very, very inexperienced side, full of under 25y/o's! If we decide to go down that route then we might as well wave goodbye to being competative at this years WC and accept we're building for the 2027 tournament.

I just want to highlight 2 players who's been poor for a long, long time. Adam Beard is a useless rugby player. Biggar offers nothing in attack, his only attacking weapon is a kick. Feel like I've been saying the same things for years, but they keep getting picked! There's other issues, but those two need binning immediately!

 

[HamJan]

Didn't like that from Biggar. No point berating a young player on your team who is clearly nervous, thought it was just as much his fault with his running back.

I remember him bollocking George North in his early days. I don’t think North’s confidence really fully recovered.

 

[Scotty]

Didn't like that from Biggar. No point berating a young player on your team who is clearly nervous, thought it was just as much his fault with his running back.

Are you talking about that pass from Dyer? Can you imagine him trying to to talk like that to AWJ or Ken Owens, he'd get told where to go

 

[Bluemoon]

Are you talking about that pass from Dyer? Can you imagine him trying to to talk like that to AWJ or Ken Owens, he'd get told where to go

Yeah this was about the pass back in the 22. Totally agree - but even more important, if Dyer had thrown that pass to AWJ or Ken, there would have been words of encouragement and to keep focus, not a childish attack. That’s the difference in leadership.

Biggar pressured him to pass then mistimed it himself. Biggar struggles keeping a clear mind on the pitch, even if he’s done some nice things off it. He shot himself in the foot with his comments in the media given his mentality, it massively affected his game yesterday.

 

[General Melchett]

Agree with the comments about Biggar. I think he's an average fly half who works really hard and makes the most of what he's got. He's a tough highly motivated competitor who clearly hates losing but he displayed a real lack of leadership yesterday and in the lead up to the game. I thought Ken Owens spoke really well in the post match presser and was respectful and magnanimous.

If AWJ can recapture his form and fitness then that would help Wales massively as his presence on the pitch just lifts everyone else.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Wales showed some promise in attack against Ireland, but it was a bit risky and didn't always come off. Instead of giving it time, it seem gatland told them to stop it altogether, and so this week they looked rather hopeless. And their defence just isnt up to standard.

It's hard to hold much hope for wales at this point. A conservative game might be ok when you have the best defence In The world, otherwise you have to offer something more on attack.

 

[Reiser99]

If AWJ can recapture his form and fitness then that would help Wales massively as his presence on the pitch just lifts everyone else.

You mean go back in time a hundred years? Asking a bit much there.

 

[Amiga500]

It's largely because of Pivac.

You've a load of **** players in **** regions with **** support and **** participation rates - but you blame the head coach of the national side?

Wales have been running the national side on foundations of quicksand for years - how they've got away with it to this point is a marvel to most. Yet, it has eventually caught up.

If you want someone to blame, look toward both the WRU for their decades long ongoing shambles and the Welsh public for their apathy to the professional sides.

 

[retired9]

You've a load of **** players in **** regions with **** support and **** participation rates - but you blame the head coach of the national side?

Wales have been running the national side on foundations of quicksand for years - how they've got away with it to this point is a marvel to most. Yet, it has eventually caught up.

If you want someone to blame, look toward both the WRU for their decades long ongoing shambles and the Welsh public for their apathy to the professional sides.

For some reason they manged to get themselves up to really play for Gatland, Howley and Edwards.

 

[Amiga500]

For some reason they manged to get themselves up to really play for Gatland, Howley and Edwards.

Like I said, how they did that was a marvel to most.

But funnily enough, if you continually rely on pulling rabbits out of hats, eventually you'll run out of rabbits.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

You've a load of **** players in **** regions with **** support and **** participation rates - but you blame the head coach of the national side?

Wales have been running the national side on foundations of quicksand for years - how they've got away with it to this point is a marvel to most. Yet, it has eventually caught up.

If you want someone to blame, look toward both the WRU for their decades long ongoing shambles and the Welsh public for their apathy to the professional sides.

I think they were lucky to have a golden generation of talent in the early 2010's that offset a lot of the structural weaknesses. Now that generation is getting old and a new golden generation has not come through. Gatland has shown himself to be a pretty inept coach so I think it was a combination of natural talent, grit and Edwards that got them their success.

 

[Amiga500]

I think it was a combination of natural talent, grit and Edwards that got them their success.

Agreed.

That talent would have been largely developed in the 2000-2010 era - the birth of professionalism across the sport. So when everyone was kinda groping around finding the right approach Wales got lucky (in terms of natural talent finding a way to develop to near its potential).

Now, everywhere else has moved on. That's not to say Wales' problems are unique. Dublin is now a conveyor belt of talent generation of a scale that that all the other provinces on Ireland are struggling with.

Scotland seem to have sorted their sh_t out, and managed to find a way to develop players outside of the traditional border heartlands.

England are still infighting away of course and the RFU as useless as ever - see Wasps and Woscester - but they have the raw numbers coming through each year for it to be impossible not to have a few gems.

France are probably gonna win the world cup later this year.

Italy are making headway in the URC. Expect the national side to uptick as a result.

Wales? What's changed? WRU fighting with the regions again in 2023... or was that 2018? Oh, no, it was actually 2013.

 

[Derpus]

Agreed.

That talent would have been largely developed in the 2000-2010 era - the birth of professionalism across the sport. So when everyone was kinda groping around finding the right approach Wales got lucky (in terms of natural talent finding a way to develop to near its potential).

Now, everywhere else has moved on. That's not to say Wales' problems are unique. Dublin is now a conveyor belt of talent generation of a scale that that all the other provinces on Ireland are struggling with.

Scotland seem to have sorted their sh_t out, and managed to find a way to develop players outside of the traditional border heartlands.

England are still infighting away of course and the RFU as useless as ever - see Wasps and Woscester - but they have the raw numbers coming through each year for it to be impossible not to have a few gems.

France are probably gonna win the world cup later this year.

Italy are making headway in the URC. Expect the national side to uptick as a result.

Wales? What's changed? WRU fighting with the regions again in 2023... or was that 2018? Oh, no, it was actually 2013.

Poaching. It's called poaching. They have a 15 cap Wallaby in their side lmao. Fkn need to change their name to the British Invitational 15.

France aren't going to win the World Cup for **** either. Calling it now.

 

[taighsolais]

Poaching. It's called poaching. They have a 15 cap Wallaby in their side lmao. Fkn need to change their name to the British Invitational 15.

France aren't going to win the World Cup for **** either. Calling it now.

Ah now, its a wee bit of revenge for your mates in the roundball game poaching the mercurial talent (& former Scottish internationalist) Jason 'cumdog' Cummings. Socceroos mo thon! Swings & roundabouts mate🤣

 

[BenniMarco]

You've a load of **** players in **** regions with **** support and **** participation rates - but you blame the head coach of the national side?

Wales have been running the national side on foundations of quicksand for years - how they've got away with it to this point is a marvel to most. Yet, it has eventually caught up.

If you want someone to blame, look toward both the WRU for their decades long ongoing shambles and the Welsh public for their apathy to the professional sides.

I understand the players were largely against Pivac and his coaching team continuing so that says enough for me.

Obviously the WRU problem is larger, but undeniably for me is that there are clear problems of different scale. The Pivac problem is resolved at least.