Scotland v Australia

[General Melchett]

Looks like this one has gone under the radar. It's on Amazon prime for anyone who is interested.

Scotland: Ollie Smith, Darcy Graham, Mark Bennett, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Blair Kinghorn, Ali Price; Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, Zander Fagerson, Sam Skinner, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie (capt), Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson.

Replacements: George Turner, Jamie Bhatti, WP Nel, Glen Young, Jack Dempsey, George Horne, Ross Thompson, Damien Hoyland.

 

[General Melchett]

I'm not sold on Kinghorn at 10 at test level against the top sides. He looks good when he has space and can playing a heads up running game against mediocre opposition but he just doesn't have the kicking game and overall game management to get the better of the top tier one sides. His defence is also very suspect and I can imagine top sides will target his channel.

Back row looks good and hopefully Ritchie will relish having the captaincy. All of a sudden we have a bit of depth at 8 with Matt Fagerson and Jack Dempsey competing for the jersey. Prefer Tuipulotu at 13 but guess his versatility allows Bennett to play outside centre. Will be interesting to see how Ollie Smith does at FB. Hogg (and his James Lowe inspired hairstyle - WTF?!) not available this weekend.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Australia (v Scotland at Murrayfield, Saturday @ 5.30pm):
T Banks; A Kellaway, L Ikitau, H Paisami, T Wright; B Foley, T McDermott; J Slipper©, D Porecki, A Alaalatoa, N Frost, C Neville, J Holloway, M Hooper, R Valetini.

Substitutes: F Fainga'a, M Gibbon, T Tupou, N Hanigen, P Samu, N White, N Lolesio, J Campbell.

A bunch of names I'm not familiar with for the Aussies. I don't know if any of these guys featured in their decent recent Japan tour. The Scottish backs are also pretty experimental. Could go either way but I'd just give the edge to Scotland by 4 given how Rennie has disappointed me so much.

 

[AlRums]

Good try by Smith

 

[AlRums]

Interesting jumping decision there

 

[Reiser99]

Scotland might rue those missed opportunities. Still Scotland look more like scoring tries than Australia.

 

[AlRums]

Brilliant by VDM

 

[AngloScotsHybrid]

Have Scotland really improved over the last few years or have Australia deteriorated?

 

[Bada-Bing!]

That's red.

What nonsense. Yellow because he hit him with his bicep and not the shoulder.

 

[JG-21]

I'm sorry I don't see how that's not red

 

[Gavin]

How was that not a red card. Laughable

 

[AlRums]

That should have been a card

 

[AngloScotsHybrid]

That's red.

What nonsense. Yellow because he hit him with his bicep and not the shoulder.

It seemed like he was looking for an excuse not to give a red card.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Just watched the game, nowhere in the laws does it allow differentiation based on which body part hits them. He smacked him full force in the head with his arm, it's worse than a clothesline. Absolute farce and I'd be very surprised if there isn't a citing and Pearce gets a talking to for his ridiculous interpretation.

Also funny hearing the commentators talking about how bad the penalty counts are when that is pretty much the sort of penalty count England have been getting every single game.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

They said at the start of the game that only players playing for Scottish domestic teams qualified for this game. Is it just this game? Because it's outside the international window?

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Retallick definitely a red. But consistency wise, this one looked more dangerous, more reckless, and wasn't a red. He launched himself into it with no control, not attempting to maintain his feet, and made direct contact with the head with force. I agree it would have been slightly more dangerous if it was shoulder, doesn't mean it wasn't dangerous or shouldn't be a red. Shoulder might have made it more likely he wasn't concussed, but not more likely to damage the neck, and it was pure luck that it was bicep anyway.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

They said at the start of the game that only players playing for Scottish domestic teams qualified for this game. Is it just this game? Because it's outside the international window?

Yep
Premiership/Top 14 have games this weekend so players have to be released for those game as the union has no agreement with the leagues for players to be available

 

[die_mole]

are Edinburgh and Glasgow so hopeless that the SRU decided to host tests outside the window?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

A standard template Scotland home loss to the SH. I feel sorry for Kinghorn being made to kick penalties. Apparently George Horne kicks them better for Glasgow?

are Edinburgh and Glasgow so hopeless that the SRU decided to host tests outside the window?

Hopeless in terms of finances or in terms of giving up on the URC this year? It'll be purely financial. I'm surprised Wales didnt tee up a test this weekend for the same reason.

 

[General Melchett]

Really poor from Scotland. Lineout is still a shambles and either the maul has regressed badly or Australia deserve credit for their maul defence. Definitely a red card. Initial contact was with the shoulder before follow through contact with the bicep - ref bottled it TBH. Kinghorn taking that kick at the end was madness when Townsend could have brought on Ross Thomson or let George Horne take it.

I said in the initial post that Kinghorn's kicking (both from hand and at goal) is nowhere near good enough at test level. Whatever beef Townsend has with Russell he needs to sort it out or give Hastings a run. Kinghorn at 10 is destined for failure - he is a decent versatile (covers FB, wing and FH) bench option at best.