Scotland 34 – 24 Romania

They’re harsh on their team here in New Zealand.

After the All Blacks humped a stoic Tongan side by 6 tries to 1 with clinical counter attacking rugby but failed to score quite so much in the second half, pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to reckons they were truly, truly awful, or words to that effect. Usually ones rhyming with “hit” or “height”. Graham “Ted” Henry only gave them 5/10. So how then to view Scotland’s decidedly mixed performance on Saturday against a fired-up Romanian team?

RWC Announcement

So the Scotland team are off Down Under and will be 11 hours ahead. You won’t be able to get your Twitter fix from the players and there won’t be press reports every second day.

Don’t worry! We have a way you can keep up with the Scotland squad and have your player fix…

We are pleased to announce that Richard Vernon, Scotland Rugby World Cup 2011 back rower, has joined Scottish Rugby Blog as a tour diarist.

He will be keeping us abrest of all goings on in the camp as well as letting you know about team preperations and group morale leading up to, and following, all the big RWC matches.

Our first post should be up on Thursday and regularly after that.

Keep following the Blog to see what the Scotland boys are up to!

Teasing Out A Career

What does a player need to develop?

For some it is competition, for others it is hard work they are not used to. Freedom comes into it but restriction and focus can be the answer for many more. Success is a something attainable but the recipe is different for every individual and establishment. The legendary Pele once said “Everything is practice”. Many people have said that what made the late Seve Ballesteros so great was his flair and tenacity: personal qualities he had freedom to express.

I’m afraid that neither of these make Graham Lowe’s life any easier.

Powell Signs For Sale

Troubled Wales Number 8 and lover of medieval facial hair Andy Powell was announced as Sale Shark’s new signing, after a raft of players and staff were cut from the club last week. Good move for Sale, assuming Powelly finds somewhere safe in the North to hole up away from football fans and golf courses, and then finds the rampaging form that first brought him to notice.

Scotland Training Squad for Six Nations

Robbo has done what most of us hoped he would and named Rob Harley in his training squad for the Six Nations, at the same time calling up Jack Cuthbert and Jon Welsh from the A squad. So congratulations to them. Details of both squads of players can be found after the jump.

Vernon Versus The All Blacks

The life of a professional rugby player is harder than they would have you believe. Sure, they are doing what they love – and there are hours of Xbox to play – but sometimes it gets a wee bit gritty. At least that’s according to Scotland’s starting number 8, Richie Vernon.

“There’s been a tough build up to Saturday’s game. Andy [Robinson] likes the start of the week to be hard…and the end of the week gets a little bit harder!”

Edinburgh’s Poor Start Continues

Edinburgh continued their poor start to the season with a largely uninspiring home loss to Munster, only narrowly missing out on the victory through the boot of Chris Paterson. Had they claimed such a victory, Munster probably would have been hard done by, having controlled large swathes of territory and most of the possession with one of their standard “efficient but uninspiring” performances.

A Quick Chat With The Future: Part 2- Richie Vernon

On the 21st of November 2009 Scotland recorded a magnificent result. A win against Australia thought to be nigh on impossible in the days leading up to the fixture. It was some day. Yet while this day was special for everyone lucky enough to see such a spectacle it held extra significance for one young man.

Edinburgh Cling On, Glasgow Fall Off

During whiteout conditions at Murrayfield on Saturday where the weather played a larger role than either of the teams for a chunk of the first half, Edinburgh managed to grab a victory against Bath. It was a pity the snow came in when it did, as both teams were showing a willingness to throw the ball about, but when the ball became invisible in a sea of white it became time for a game of Very Cold Hot Potato (mixed in with a little Dead Ants).

Mossy’s boot saved them as it has so often, and while I have often been reluctant to wade in on the whole Mossy at 10 thing, Godman’s form seems to be on the wane while Mossy seems to have gained a yard of pace, gets turned over in the tackle far less and his tactical kicking is miles better than it was and miles ahead of Godman. He’s surely done enough to be the front runner for the Scotland 15 shirt with Hugo a close second (who honestly believed he would be a regular at Stade?), but is he worth a look at 10 for Edinburgh as so many have suggested? (This is assuming Rory Lamont remains in the injury information black-hole he is currently in). While Robbo has been telling anyone who will listen about Scotland’s deficiencies in the 10 position, is Mossy finally worth a shout, having made his tactical game a bit, well, more Dan Parks-esque?

Speaking of Parks, he controlled the game against Gloucester extremely well in the first half while Barclay led the forwards in a masterclass in frustrating the opposition. For a game with so many Scot on Scot match-ups there was plenty of niggle, and no doubt a sign of what is to come next weekend (worryingly for Edinburgh, the Weej seem to excel in this area). Yet in the second half Gloucester came out and pretty much reversed the situation, bullying Glasgow off their 0-6 lead and the ball and sharpening up their attack enough to take the victory. A raft of late-term substitutions probably didn’t help Glasgow – much in the same way as it buggered up Edinburgh last week – with Cusiter going off and replacement McMillan then having to hide at the back with an injury while Gregor filled in at scrum half. This only served to rob Glasgow of Gregor’s running lines and pace from at the back, which they were already short of  with Thom Evans out. The Gloucester Scottish showed up well too with Scott and Rory Lawson and Al Strokosch showing good skills in attack, although Kellock and Gray were all over Lawson (hooker) at the lineout. And one more thing: does Graeme Morrison ever pass? You’d be as well playing Richie Vernon in the centre, who unveiled the pace that has Glasgow abuzz while the rest of us were initially wondering why Beattie was left on the bench in favour of a guy with two first names…

Building a Tank from a Shopping Trolley

Bad A-Team related joke time again. Yesterday the backup team gave the Georgians a doing (under the tutelage of Andy Robinson, Gregor Townsend and Shade Munro) in front of a pretty small crowd at Firhill. The early scheduling of 6ish was apparently at the behest of TV behemoth BBC Alba. Surely an extra hour would have nearly doubled the crowd to the usual solid Friday night support? However it was on the TV so for that we can be thankful. They give with one hand and take with the other. In fact, the viewing experience was similar to watching Welsh counterpart S4C, complete with pitchside interviews conducted in English. I haven’t worked out the Gaelic for Seren Y Gem yet, but I will. Al’s drinking game suggested below could also have been improved with a “James Jones” bonus round in honour of the Welsh referee.

It was a pretty good squad we had, and strong performances from Richie Vernon, Rob Dewey and Mark McMillan saw a comfortable victory against a Georgia team far from their World Cup near-glory. Nikki Walker still turned over a few balls in contact though. Georgia go on to play Edinburgh on Tuesday and may find themselves up against many of the same players and coaches with potentially the same result. There were a couple of darn good tries though (including a great solo effort from Max Evans) and it was very encouraging to see the support lines in full effect with Scotland players (forwards and backs) streaming through gaps in search of tries, and using well timed passes and angles of running. Let’s hope we see the same from the full team this afternoon. Having seemingly revitalised World Class Phil, is Gregor Townsend going to prove – along with Andy Robinson – one of the coaching jewels hidden in Scotland’s tarnished crown?