EOYT: Scotland v South Africa, 17/11/2012

[TRF_heineken]

Gurthro! Can we get Plumtree to give him a call?

And ask him not to re-sign with the Bulls??

Draggs, please...

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

And ask him not to re-sign with the Bulls??

Draggs, please...

You guys already have Macgyver. We have Beast, but he is likely to be forced to retire. We can use a proper loose-head prop. You have Greyling, he is pure class!

 

[TRF_heineken]

You guys already have Macgyver. We have Beast, but he is likely to be forced to retire. We can use a proper loose-head prop. You have Greyling, he is pure class!

Haha, so is Keegan Daniels

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Haha, so is Keegan Daniels

:wall:

What about Louis Ludick?

 

[TRF_heineken]

:wall:

What about Louis Ludick?

Doesn't count, Plumz poached him from the Lions...

 

[Seaton]

Scotland team btw...


15 Hogg
14 Lamont
13 De Luca
12 Scott
11 Visser


10 Laidlaw
9 Blair


8 Denton
7 Brown
6 Strokosch
5 Hamilton
4 Gray
3 Murray
2 Ford
1 Grant


16 Hall
17 Traynor
18 Cross
19 Kellock
20 Barclay
21 Pyrgos
22 Jackson
23 Murchie

 

[Draggs]

And ask him not to re-sign with the Bulls??

Draggs, please...

Gurthro, BdP, JdP, that is a handsome front tow.

Beloved Hougaard and Steyn were not hewn in the finest Pretorian rock, so don't try this origin think, Hein

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Gurthro, BdP, JdP, that is a handsome front tow.

Beloved Hougaard and Steyn were not hewn in the finest Pretorian rock, so don't try this origin think, Hein

Neither was Steenkamp...

 

[Draggs]

Neither was Steenkamp...

Please don't let Steenkamp go to WP.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Steenkamp to WP would be a dumb move. There's 2 teams that can do with his abilities.

Sharks:
Mainly because of the uncertainty of Beast's heart condition

Cheetahs:
They only have 1 prop of Super Rugby level in Oosthuizen

 

[psychic duck]

Scotland team btw...
15 Hogg
14 Lamont
13 De Luca
12 Scott
11 Visser

10 Laidlaw
9 Blair

8 Denton
7 Brown
6 Strokosch
5 Hamilton
4 Gray
3 Murray
2 Ford
1 Grant

16 Hall
17 Traynor
18 Cross
19 Kellock
20 Barclay
21 Pyrgos
22 Jackson
23 Murchie

I don't know how de Luca and Ford keep retaining their places despite consistently sub par performances.

Also how has Traynor managed to get a place on the bench ahead of Jacobsen. Jacobsen may not be on the greatest of form, but Traynor was a walking scrum penalty last season with Edinburgh.

Max Evans move to France don't seem to have helped their Scotland careers. Evans has been mainly a reserve with Castres which must be why he isn't in the 23, but in my opinion he is still surely better than de Luca. Nick de Luca has 36 caps now, he may well be one of the worst players ever to reach 50 caps for a Tier 1 nation in the history of professional rugby.

Why has Barclay fallen out of favour so much as well? I would have played him at #7 to keep a genuine openside on the field. Denton as an impact sub from the bench.

 

[jcahill1]

Are Scotland still technically a tier one nation? What qualifies a country as a tier 1 team?

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

I guess it depends on how big the Tier 1 really is. You could suggest a Tier 1 nation should make the knock-out stages at the World Cup at least once in the last 2 tournaments. Scotland missed out in 2011, but made it in 2007. Ireland is the other way round. Wales also missed the knock-out stages in 07.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Are Scotland still technically a tier one nation? What qualifies a country as a tier 1 team?

The fact they've been designated a tier 1 team by the iRB There's not an actual criteria to be met.

 

[William18]

Tier 1 nations are those countries who play in the Six Nations or The Rugby Championship.

 

[BZHopenside]

I think Tier 1 nations have to have a professional set-up. However, not all places with professional leagues are Tier 1, like Japan, which is solidly in Tier 2. Even Germany has a few professional sides, because there are a few rich guys there who really like rugby and fund their own teams.

 

[Seaton]

Also how has Traynor managed to get a place on the bench ahead of Jacobsen. Jacobsen may not be on the greatest of form, but Traynor was a walking scrum penalty last season with Edinburgh.

Jacobsen is unavailable for personal reasons (there is a Sainsburys just outside Edinburgh that will be having a 50% off sale of all goods in the pastry section this Saturday)

Evans move to France don't seem to have helped their Scotland careers. Evans has been mainly a reserve with Castres which must be why he isn't in the 23, but in my opinion he is still surely better than de Luca. Nick de Luca has 36 caps now, he may well be one of the worst players ever to reach 50 caps for a Tier 1 nation in the history of professional rugby.

:unknw:

Mark Bennett will be on loan at Glasgow for the rest of the season. I fully expect him to be first choice 13 come the Six Nations.

Why has Barclay fallen out of favour so much as well? I would have played him at #7 to keep a genuine openside on the field. Denton as an impact sub from the bench.

Personally think Fusaro is better than him anyway nowadays, not the only one as well. Strokosch missed a load of tackles against New Zealand, Denton far fewer if any, never been a fan so would have had Brown, Fusaro, Denton.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Steenkamp, Hougaard and Steyn were all... forged.. underneath Paarl rock. Jeesh, the bulls love signing our Paarl boytjies Handre Pollard being the newest recruit via Paarl!

TBH I'm not too concerned about Scotland assuming the weather holds up and we lift our game just 1 bar higher. I do consider them tier 1 however although I think they and Italy are right on the edge there with Tonga and Samoa hanging onto their heels.

 

[Big Ewis]

Are Scotland still technically a tier one nation? What qualifies a country as a tier 1 team?

EXACTLY.
I was asking myself that same question the other day...
Some ppl say there are no criteria to determine that, but surely there are tiers...

No hard rules, but the reality still is there. Obviously Canada or Georgia are just a different class than Ireland or Wales...

I'd say Tier 1 is NZ, SA, AUS, FRA, ENG, WAL, IRE, ARG atm truly...
Tier 2 would be: Italy, Samoa, Scotland.
Then Tier 3 with TON, FIJ, CAN, GEO etc...

off the top of my head.
No offense to the Scots, I may be wrong but to really look at the big picture (of just 3 tiers, in stead of 5 or 6 which would be more specific and value, say, Scotland more) it seems fair to me.
To me Scotland still is a strong rugby nation. It's just that those other Top 8 have separated themselves as to form and reach a higher tier. But the differences there are really blurry. I don't think it's a big upset if Scotland beats Ireland for e.g., yet Ireland is clearly a Tier 1 team...
and Ireland and NZ are in the same Tier, so that tells you smt about the disparity within a very Tier. It's just the larger picture, but there's common sense behind thinking of the Rugby world in those terms.

And I guess we'll see how wrong I am when Samoa plays Wales in a few days. Perhaps they're even...dare I say it...uhm...Tier 1 right now ?...

 

[TRF_heineken]

So when is this thread going to get a vbookie??