Scotland How do we turn this around ?

[iINDOMINUSxx]

after todays match which i really dont want to talk about but it was just awful and i want to start a discussion on how we can improve for the next six nations. i know we were missing good players like Sean Maitland, Tim Visser and others but there is no reason to play poorly.

It also annoy's me that people think that scotland should be dropped from the six nations that to me is a definitely no. we had a hard fixture coming into this years six nations and we were on off the four team in the first ever championship and we do have no attacking ability either i know that but we have players who can be a danger for opponents stuart hogg as we know only 21 and have alot of talent within him, with everyone fit we do have a dangerous back 3 off hogg, visser and maitland and even fife when he's at his best. we need another 10 thats a definite.

about our 10 situations i do have a list off players who can replace weir:
Tom Heathcote - only 22 and a former england under -20 player and i haven't heard much off him but from what i've heard he is doing alright at bath and i think should play ahead off duncan weir
Harry Leonard - only 21 he was late called into the scotland team before the france match but he is playing well for edinburgh despite being born in Brighton he played most his rugby up in scotland and im sure he had scottish parent
or we can let hogg have a game at 10 due to his performance at 10 for the lions tour. or we can play laidlaw at 10 which he played 10 for the six nations 2 years ago were we won the wooden spoon and then the november teams and played well at 10

another factor which we need to improve on is our scrum-half i dont hate laidlaw at 9 but he is slow on getting the ball out off the ruck. chris cusiter is clearly the better 9 but he is 32 and about to retire soon i imagine but we do have replacements who can replace him:
Henry Pyrgos - played in last year's six nations but didn't get called up due to injury and scored on his second ever game for scotland against south africa and he is 24 so he has a while off rugby left in his career
Grayson Hart - a replacement edinburgh scrum-half who started in the edinburgh v ospreys team not so long ago and scored 2 class tries and can be a quality scrum-half for scotland and he qualifies though scottish grandparents
Sean Kennedy - a scrum-half doesn't play regularly for edinburgh but he too can be a quality scrum half and he was picked for the scotland training squad in last years six nation and is actually born and lived in scotland unlike the other players i mention which i'll talk about later and he is signing to London Irish after this season.

as i said having too many foreign players playing for scotland is also a huge-problem if they had scottish parents then i'd say its fair enough but what i feel is that since they aren't scottish it makes me feel that they think its not as important playing for scotland instead off playing for they're own nation.

in the last match our defence wasn't good but in other game our defence has been better than it ever been. yep lack off tries and line-out our awful this season i hope scotland improve for next year as our fixtures should be a little bit easier than this year. but dont think bad about scotland as i said we have the potential but just now were not using it. so believe me scotland will improve but it doesn't show but it will.

 

[Tony Manx]

Me.....I would hire Vern Cotter and pray!!

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Not meaning this to be a barb or anything but as far as I can see, you don't. Your current squad is unimaginative, your home pitch is a discrace, your domestic league is far too small and your U20's are a joke. There is quite simply no simple fix to this. Scotland need to overhaul the entire system if they want to get anywhere because currently they are only going to fall further and further behind.

You need to look at what sides like Wales do to compete with small competitions and domestic leagues. Ultimately though if rugby simply isn't popular in Scotland, it's always going to suffer.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Not meaning this to be a barb or anything but as far as I can see, you don't. Your current squad is unimaginative, your home pitch is a discrace, your domestic league is far too small and your U20's are a joke. There is quite simply no simple fix to this. Scotland need to overhaul the entire system if they want to get anywhere because currently they are only going to fall further and further behind.

You need to look at what sides like Wales do to compete with small competitions and domestic leagues. Ultimately though if rugby simply isn't popular in Scotland, it's always going to suffer.

im afraid to say this but yeah your right but the thing is that the same with italy but i dont hear people talk about them as much as scotland. but yes it isn't popular it shows on this site it isn't im like the only regular poster on this forum there are a few but dont post like everyday. but there is the potential there im sure you'll see it eventually but in this six nations there wasn't anything to see and i know that.

 

[Canadian_Rugger]

as i said having too many foreign players playing for scotland is also a huge-problem if they had scottish parents then i'd say its fair enough but what i feel is that since they aren't scottish it makes me feel that they think its not as important playing for scotland instead off playing for they're own nation.

Maybe, except those foreign players are all better then your present domestic crop so I don't see how this plays into it at all. In fact I would say this is classic British Isles nationalist BS... You should be happy that players like Tim Visser even want to play for you.... Maybe you should ban all imports from playing in your Pro12 teams because that would make them so much more competitive

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Maybe, except those foreign players are all better then your present domestic crop so I don't see how this plays into it at all. In fact I would say this is classic British Isles nationalist BS... You should be happy that players like Tim Visser even want to play for you.... Maybe you should ban all imports from playing in your Pro12 teams because that would make them so much more competitive

im going to admit that we need foreign players in the state that we are in atm since scotland isn't that popular with rugby

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Getting shot of Scott Johnson for Vern Cotter is a huge step in the right direction. After that, who knows? I suspect once Josh Strauss and WP Nel are Scotland eligible in 2015, they'll be fast tracked into the setup which will help a lot.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Getting shot of Scott Johnson for Vern Cotter is a huge step in the right direction. After that, who knows? I suspect once Josh Strauss and WP Nel are Scotland eligible in 2015, they'll be fast tracked into the setup which will help a lot.

yeah wp nel will be very effective in the scrums and i also heard that Cornell Du Preez wants to play for scotland and that will hugely be effective but too many foreign players isn't good but scott johnston is going to to be scotlands first Director of Rugby which is also a step but for someone who didn't win alot off games for scotland isn't but johnston did have good records for the ospreys, usa and wales he also was apparently the australia's under -20 coach for a while

 

[jrZielinski]

i would have to say that vern is a step but i have a feeling he wouldn't be that effective at the start but i know that you cant a huge impact on the first day luckily for the summer tests we have USA and Canada which we should win but then we play south africa which will be vern's first lost in charge no doubt off that.

 

[gaston le gaff]

Having Vern is already a move in the right direction, he does not entertain failure, if fact does not know the word.

 

[Thingimubob]

Could the SRU's policy of targeting "project players" and Scottish eligible players from foreign unions (namely the big 3) be a factor in the deteriorating quality of the u20s? Are funds being diverted to entice the imports along with the promise of international rugby? Or is it just a case of the SRU losing faith in it's age grade set up?

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

i think the youth system should change, in my old primary school i dont know if its the same for england or new zealand or wherever but rugby was banned in our school because apparently its to dangerous for children to play when actually its only dangerous if people mess around because if its played correctly its not dangerous i'd say we should let youngsters try rugby at school for one day and promote them to play for they're local club and it will make youngsters more interested in rugby and help our youth system by quite a bit i think

 

[Thingimubob]

i think the youth system should change, in my old primary school i dont know if its the same for england or new zealand or wherever but rugby was banned in our school because apparently its to dangerous for children to play when actually its only dangerous if people mess around because if its played correctly its not dangerous i'd say we should let youngsters try rugby at school for one day and promote them to play for they're local club and it will make youngsters more interested in rugby and help our youth system by quite a bit i think

You're joking?! Never heard of it being banned before. We pretty much used to play it every day at lunchtime and break...

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

The only rugby we had at our primary school was tag rugby, and even then very few of us even played - it really was mostly dominated by football at that age.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

You're joking?! Never heard of it being banned before. We pretty much used to play it every day at lunchtime and break...

full contact or tag

 

[Amiga500]

Getting shot of Scott Johnson for Vern Cotter is a huge step in the right direction.

That is tantamount to re-arranging the deckchairs on the ***anic.


If you've built a house on ***** foundations, you fix the foundations, not the roof. Scottish rugby has a number of large problems:
- poor support base
- limited player base
- poor mindshare in the public eye
- limited capital
- limited professional teams
- acceptance of failure


Changing the coach may only fix the latter.

 

[jrZielinski]

That is tantamount to re-arranging the deckchairs on the ***anic.


If you've built a house on ***** foundations, you fix the foundations, not the roof. Scottish rugby has a number of large problems:
- poor support base
- limited player base
- poor mindshare in the public eye
- limited capital
- limited professional teams
- acceptance of failure


Changing the coach may only fix the latter.

yeah we know that but were only saying it is a step forward

 

[Amiga500]

yeah we know that but were only saying it is a step forward

It depends.

If the head coach is on a massive salary, that salary may be better spent on 10 professional coaches to go around the schools and ensure a high standard of coaching and games within the school structure.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

It depends.

If the head coach is on a massive salary, that salary may be better spent on 10 professional coaches to go around the schools and ensure a high standard of coaching and games within the school structure.

think scotland needs something like that or try to get the scotland rugby team to visit more schools maybe and try to inspire people

 

[Thingimubob]

full contact or tag

Both. Although we weren't taught to hit a player hard, was all about wrapping your arms around them to tackle them