Scotland v Wallabies at Murrayfield 12.40am Mon 25 Nov

[Brumby Runner]

Wright is finally hitting his straps at 15 and I see little point in moving him when we have other good/ok/reasonable options.

And just as thin in the backup No 15 spot as we are in the 12 spot. Surely nobody would now suggest AK (Andrew Kellaway) as a 15 option. And Campbell did little to enhance his reputation for Aus A.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Turns out his kicking's pretty good though

Didn't catch that, but I did see Valetini put in a great kick off the ground late in the game.

 

[LeCheese]

I fully get the point you're making about Noah, but, we should be asking a lot more from or other backs to do this.

The Darkness don't just rely on B Barrett to make clearing kicks, both D-Mac and Jordie step up to do this with success.

Why do we give the rest of the backline a free pass for not having this fundamental skill?

Hell, even Fraser showed in Brisbane his ability to absolutely whack a ball.

Even Wilson off his mark punted it 45m into touch. Completely agree that it isn't solely Noah's responsibility, however having the 10 as the primary kicking option does make sense, hence why it's so common.

 

[LeCheese]

Didn't catch that, but I did see Valetini put in a great kick off the ground late in the game.

Video here for context:

https://www.theroar.com.au/rugby-union/video/watch-wow-harry-wilsons-1000-iq-play-off-scottish-penalty-kick-ricochet-astounds-everyone-1395602/

 

[Derpus]

It isn't solely the 10s responsibility but when the opposing 10 has it on a string it does reflect poorly.

But we've always known our 10 options are extremely limited.

 

[Brumby Runner]

I reckon we'd do a lot better if Tom Wright took the penalty kicks. Might be a few that don't find touch until he gets the hang of it, but he offers substantially more distance than Noah.

 

[Goosestep]

View attachment 20813

Like clockwork

 

[Derpus]

I think Wilson dropped one (admittedly hard) ball in attack but I thought he was otherwise excellent. We just need to accept you can't play all three of Wilson, Valetini and Skelton at the same time - which is fine IMO. Rugby is a squad game now and there is space for all of them.

 

[Goosestep]

Or Potter at 13?

You’re a winger, harry

 

[Dctarget]

So, Skelton is presumably back to La Rochelle now.

I think he's shown easily that he's worth bringing back for the Lions, any nay sayers?

 

[stillmissit]

Didn't catch that, but I did see Valetini put in a great kick off the ground late in the game.

Did notice a huge boot from Wilson to clear it.

 

[Rugby Head]

So, Skelton is presumably back to La Rochelle now.

I think he's shown easily that he's worth bringing back for the Lions, any nay sayers?

Absolutely, looking forward to him/ Tupou packing down in the scrum together.

 

[Rugby Head]

Our bench front row was woeful and got eaten alive at scrum time. There's got to be some better options out there.

 

[Tomthumb]

Our bench front row was woeful and got eaten alive at scrum time. There's got to be some better options out there.

Alex Hodgman needs to be the backup loosehead next year. Experienced, good scrummager, good around the field

 

[todd4]

I wasn't referring to the try, I thought his general play was very good. Interested in his tackle stats.

Potter's stats, Try aside, Potter made nine carries and finished with three tackle busts, three offloads and six tackles - a solid start to his Test career.

Five things we learnt from Wallabies - Scotland

www.rugby.com.au

 

[Steve_Grey]

Any news/intel on JAS wrist?

That he wasn't in a sling after the game gives one hope (which may kill me).

 

[dru]

Our depth has been shown up big time, noting the last minute adaptations in the selections. Our line out just did not perform, scrum almost. I thought though our biggest issue was the exit and kicking play. Not at all simply Lolesio but also Gordon and occasionally from the back. We would gain possession and almost immediately opt to kick, for the opposition to be able to run it back to where we would have been if we had run it. But now they have possession in an attacking position. Our exits just need to be better, along with better timing and communication around chancing the ball with a kick early. Any D is going to tire and get frustrated when that is all that is going on.

The ref seemed to me to be somewhat focussed on reffing the defending team. Rather than picking on the Wallabies, it's just that we did a lot of defending.

We need to park this one, think better about arrangements for training the next time we are in Scotland and move on. Hopefully with a lot more of the starting 15 back on board.

 

[Derpus]

Any news/intel on JAS wrist?

That he wasn't in a sling after the game gives one hope (which may kill me).

Just a stinger is the theory.

 

[TSR]

Ironic that the best two kicks of the game came from our 6 & our 8.

With regards to Skelton, Wilson
& Valetini all being on the field together the big gain I wanted to see was a really strong driving maul and really good defensive maul and we didn’t really see either.

Clearly that was part of the strategy as they ignored options for 3 to keep going to the line. At the end of the day we only lost by two tries and had ample good opportunities to get pay from our driving maul and didn’t. Two of the best chances we had the set up seemed to disintegrate. This is certainly something that extra time during the week would help with, but I feel we still had to be better.

Hats off to the Scots for being very good at disrupting our ball all day - but particularly at maul time. If we score 2 tries from our early field position & possession dominance - and I feel like that is a realistic expectation with that team out there - it is a very different game.

But then there is the whole if my Aunty had balls thing …..

Tuipulotu’s try was a concern given he didn’t appear to even use much footwork. Both Kellaway and Ikitau had relatively good shots at him and missed terribly. I assume Ikitau thought Kellaway would do better, but still. Likewise I think Wilson should have done much better in the lead up to Bayliss’ try.

Love Tate - but that cross field kick was a shocker at a time when we really needed to ice that break.

Edit: his kick for Potters try was on the money though. And great reaction from Potter to be there in support.

 

[TSR]

Just a stinger is the theory.

Let’s hope so. It definitely seemed a problem with his wrist through.