Podcast: Episode 52 – Oh! Canada!

63 Responses

1. Just saw Allan has been banned for 3 weeks, what a joke. very convenient that it covers the European cup ofc.

   1. Made contact with head. It was a sending off which will consequently lead to a ban sadly. It’s the rules, simples!

      1. It’s just a shame that the same standard didn’t apply to the Scarlets player who took out Swinson.

      2. TeamCam, that is the real problem…a red card is pretty much automatic suspension…but very rarely does the citing commissioner or panel downgrade an on field decision…only sometimes do they upgrade from yellow

         So, basically, the ref has the de facto power to suspend folk, or not, for 3 or 4 weeks….its too much responsibility.

2. Allen broke the rules..ban justified

3. My XV of players who have or are likely to get bans or are just likely to tackle high:

   Allan
   Brown
   Berghan
   Swinson
   Harley
   Graham
   Hardie
   Wilson
   Price
   Russell
   Hughes
   Dunbar
   Grigg
   Seymour
   Hogg

   1. This is not me again, i suggest you stop doing it unless you want to see hundreds of lists go up.

      1. Neil, that would be a huge breach of GDPR and leave Rory/SRB potentially liable to some hefty fines.

      2. FFS grow up Neil.

   2. Teamcam i will ruin every comment you make if you keep pretending to be me and postings lists.

      1. Not sure why you think it’s me, but I can ruin my comments just as easily as you can, buddy.

      2. Neil, please stop casting unfounded and inaccurate allegations around about TeamCam. We are working to remove the fake posts.

      3. Thanks for the vindication, Rory, and I (and probably the vast majority of the others) really appreciate the effort you guys put in to provide a great place for Scottish rugby debate.

      4. Rory if you can see the emails of who is doing it/IP perhaps releasing that info would help me target the real people. Apologies TeamCam, i assumed it was you cause you did it once before and admitted you were having a little bit of a joke and your post was next after a fake Neil account, connected the dots (sometimes not always right unfortunately)

         But yeh.. share this info of who is faking accs pls.

      5. I think when I read it back, TeamCam was actually only admitting to adding a spurious team list to the maelstrom of similar ones, not to doing it under your name – but it was certainly open to interpretation that way. In any case, as others have pointed out we are not going to publish any user information as it would be a huge breach of both trust and recent privacy laws, and especially not for you to “target”. Unfortunately, the comment system of our software can be open to misuse – however the only real problems of note in the past have been with Welsh Trolls or users calling themselves Neil!

         We are trying to resolve ways to allow regular posters to “authenticate” in order to avoid such issues in future but we don’t want to close off the ability to post from new readers. The best way to be assured of us coming down on your side is to consistently post using the same email address, as you have done.

4. Newcastle likely to only have 14 players on tonight as all their champions cup registered tighthead props are injured. Will also mean scrums will be uncontested.

5. Teamsheet is out for Glasgow.

   1. Kebble
   2. Brown
   3. Rae
   4. Harley
   5. Gray
   6. Fagerson
   7. Gibbins
   8. Ashe
   9. Horne
   10. Hastings
   11. DTH
   12. Horne
   13. Grigg
   14. Seymour
   15. Hogg

   16. Turner
   17. Bhatti
   18. Halanukonuka
   19. Swinson
   20. Fusaro
   21. Price
   22. H Jones
   23. Matawalu

   Probaly strongest 23 available.

   Would have had Matawalu in for DTH based on his performances, would like to have seen Huw Jones in at 12 or 13 also.

   guess Wilson is injured ?

   Hope Dunbar rediscovers his best form soon.

   1. No Marfo? What’s up?

6. Neil / TeamCam,

   I am Spartacus.

   1. No I am sparticus

      1. Is it too late to join in being Sparticus?

7. Whoever is at it – please just give it a break. The guys who do this website / podcast have put in a real effort to give us great content. This mucking around is totally disrespectful. If you have to do it then do it on a faceless sky sports forum or something but not here. These guys are doing this in their own time. Give them a break.

   1. Well said. All this ‘I am neil’ stuff is tedious. Can we just get back to discussing rugby?

      Interesting that Wilson and Dunbar left out completely and Grigg keeps his place over H Jones.

      Glasgow seem to have gone from having no front row to having two front rows who can compete. Kebble/Bhatti(who I think has found some form); Brown/Turner; Rae/Nuke (or Fagerson when fit)

      Hoping for a win today.

      1. Rewarding form – what a position to be in where Horne, Grigg and Ashe are in such good form they demand to be selected ahead of Dunbar, Jones and Wilson. Let’s kust hope they get the job done. Win this and Glasgow must be likely to progress, lose and it’ll shut the door in them again.

   2. I agree. But I do quite like the idea that both accounts are Neil and he’s gone ‘Fight Club’ on us.

8. The Edinburgh game as a pants spectacle, but a good result. They seemed to make hard work of it, and were reluctant to use the backs a lot of the time, but can’t really complain about a BP win.

   The Glasgow game was better as a spectacle – although probably more so for the neutral – and, again, an away BP isn’t to be sniffed at, but if we give away that many penalties or miss that many tackles against any of the favourites, we’ll get murderised. Wee Horne was glorious, but Jonny Gray missed two tackles. Is that a record?!

   1. Just seemed like it took a while for Edinburgh’s returning internationals to get back up to speed last night. Brave showing from a weakened Newcastle side. Embra need to be up to speed from the off in the return as it will be a tough examination for them.
      Agree Glasgow’s indiscipline marred an excellent away performance today. Losses of concentration at key moments too, though tbf that ridiculous forward pass call against Horne senior in the first half did do Lyonnaise a big momentum favour. Keep discipline and concentration and hopefully Warriors will get out of the group.
      Rennie really has toughened up the Glasgow pack. It’s taken him a while but it’s good to see. Lyon are no mugs up front.

   2. TeamCam – been adjusted down to 1 miss now (which I’m sure he’s still raging about!)

      1. At least he’s got a work on, I guess! His carrying seemed better, too.

9. There is talk of Rennie speaking with Isreal Dagg, keep an eye out for a massive signing in the next week or 2.

   Rennie has said he will be making changes next week to the team but still expects 5 points, im predicting the team will look somewhat like this.

   1. Oli Kebble
   2. George Turner
   3. Darcy Rae
   4. Scott Cummings
   5. Tim Swinson
   6. Ryan Wilson
   7. Callum Gibbins
   8. Adam Ashe
   9. Ali Price
   10. Adam Hastings
   11. Niko Matawalu
   12. Huw Jones
   13. Alex Dunbar
   14. Tommy Seymour
   15. Stuart Hogg

   16. Fraser Brown
   17. Jamie Bhatti
   18. Halanukonuka
   19. Rob Harley
   20. Matt Fagerson
   21. George Horne
   22. Peter Horne
   23. DTH VDM

10. May I just say, the person who is impersonating Neil needs to grow up.

    This blog is for good natured Rugby Chat and there is no need to ruin the experience of other Scottish rugby supporters on this platform by acting in such a childish manner.

11. Since the format changed 4 yrs ago to 5 pools, teams have needed 16-19 pts to progress to the last 8, with an average of 17.5 pts being needed to progress to since that time. Glasgow and Edinburgh, on 10 and 11 pts, with 3 games left, look in great shape to do that. Will probably need 2 wins from 3 to secure progress but both look like they have the ability to do just that

12. Rae and Ashe going really well, I’ll be surprised if both aren’t in the mix for the national side by the 6 Nations.

    With Fagerson out I think Rae will be pushing Nel and Berghan hard though may need an injury to get capped given the pair’s experience.

    Ashe could surely be pushing for a start as well at either 6 or 8 if he stays fit and a bigger if, stays ahead of Wilson in the pecking order.

    1. Pleased to see Ashe going so well. He made a strong impact at an early age then injury and loss of form and, possibly, confidence affected him. Good to see him back in the Glasgow and Scotland mix.

       1. I have always thought Ashe was the answer to our 8 problem – injuries have robbed him of a year or two in the wilderness, but he’s come back all the stronger for it. He’s hard as nails, an enormous aerobic engine, great hands and one of the few Scots forwards to get over the mainline.

          The next month should hopefully see him cement a place in the Scotland squad.

       2. Agreed I think a backrow of:

          Ritchie/Barclay
          Watson
          Ashe

          Would be really well balanced, what you lose in ‘niggle’ with Wilson out you more than gain in go forward from Ashe who like you say is no shrinking violet anyhow. Guys like Wilson or Fagerson are ideal for the bench as they can cover the whole backrow and someone like Bradbury is there if you want to bulk up and start him at 6.

13. Walesonline reporting humphries joining Pivac staff for Wales after RWC.

    Seems a shame as his reputation in Scotland hasn’t been great but Glasgow’s forwards are finally looking menacing. On the other hand maybe Rennie will bring some kiwi talent over to replace him.

    1. Actually with rumours Scott Johnson is on Australia’s longlist to replace Cheika, and that Dodson and Cockerill are being considered for jobs with England as CEO and Head Coach, the stock of Scottish rugby leaders couldn’t be higher. Both Wales and Ireland placed huge emphasis on recruiting exceptional coaching talent throughout their system and it has paid off handsomely. Dodson has achieved something similar and I think we could live to regret our media runnng him out of town, no matter how justified the criticisms of his management style.

       1. Give it a rest Johnson appeared on the scene just as Scotland was putting the development framework in place. He’s a dreadful coach, a back stabbing bad mouthing coach with an ego as big as his belly.

          I’ll pay for his ticket out of Scotland.

       2. I’m not making any claims for Johnson except it is notable he has got interest from ARU. He was an appalling head coach when he filled in before Cotter was onboard.

          Nevertheless he was recruited in 2014 to his current role and the Scottish academys were launched in 2016 which he was instrumental in. Our current senior players did not come through this system but it seems to be working well now.

          I find it a bit bizarre that some Scottish fans seem to laud the current status of Scottish rugby whilst in the same breath trash the people who are literally responsible and accountable for it. Dodson might be an utter b****** but his record as CEO is extremely strong and there is no guarantee a successor will continue to deliver the same relative success.

       3. The academies were planned long before Johnson arrived, years of work in place – he’s not the architect of them.

          The ARU might be interested – but thats down to their current hopeless coach.

       4. Was Scott Johnson that bad as a coach ? he did have to take over Andy Robinsons mess and seemed to bring some confidence in attack to our backline. Was entertaining at the very least.

       5. Nothing is forever and no one is irreplacable. You just need to do your part for a period of time and move on. That is the temperament of senior people.

          As for fans, the one thing I have learned is fans react to symptoms. Why not on the face of it , rugby is about 80 minutes and the best team is the one with the highest score. Sadly that is the bredth of our window and the press try and open that window for us, sadly with very few additional facts than our 2 dimensional view of the game.

14. watching saries Cardiff , wondering how far past a ruck the saracens have to go to get pinged , arriving late and going 2 meters past the ball and , nothing

    Oh and the dummy runner going extra 4 metres and taking a man out , but holding his hands up , as somebody runs into the gap – i’m Calling it the early lazy runner syndrome , but it’s working for them

    1. They are an english team at home, got to expect cheating allowed by the refs for the bribes they get given.

       1. Many of the posters here seem that the better teams like Saracens,Racing ,Leinster and Munster
          get an unfair advantage from the referee and other
          officials?

       2. That is correct. i would say it is primarily english teams.

15. Hello, random question for commenters and writers alike.
    Does anyone know any good places to look for reasonably priced Scotland strips? Don’t need to be the latest one. Think Cammy and a few others discussed this on the pod a few months back?

    1. The Burke & Hare is pretty cheap in Edinburgh

       1. hmmmm, not quite the answer that was expected , possibly technicallly correct

    2. I believe First XV still offer our readers a discount but that’ll be off full price. Check out the ads on one of their posts https://www.scottishrugbyblog.co.uk/author/adamrugbystuff-com/

16. To try and steer things away from “Neilgate”….

    Are there going to be any articles going up for the Champions cup games last weekend, or are you all out on your Christmas parties this week?

    It would be nice to get reviews, and also somewhere appropriate for comments on the matches. Maybe even a preview thread for the coming weekend to give us somewhere to put comments post match?

    As another thought, it would be nice to have articles on the 7’s this year – I think I remember you asking if anyone would do them last year, maybe someone could have a go this year? (Note – this is not me volunteering, I would be terrible)

    1. I might write something about the national side’s pack.

    2. Ru might be back with some 7s chat but he’s quite busy refereeing these days! I will see what else is in the pipeline. I was indeed on Christmas party duty and didn’t see any rugby (aside from Finn’s offload for Racing92)…

    3. Fraser

       I have watched most of our efforts in the 7s in the last fortnight. 3 Wins in two tournaments but we snuck into two cup draws.

       The 7s team cant complain about bad luck.

       They are still making far too many mistakes, eg last Sunday they had a kick to touch with 30secs left and 2pts down against SA – they missed touch.

       In the Spain game, the Spanish had been ferocious at the breakdown the who match – Ferguson broke from the scrum, with time up – and got isolated – not just run of the mill isolated, he had not one Scot near him. Utterly brainless.

       They have the players to make an impact this year – but lack real physicality (hopefully Miller will be back in Jan) and make too many brainless decisions.

       It was ever thus.

       1. Yeah, I think the 7s squad tend to run in cycles and this group are still very much at the beginning of their development. It’s good to see that they are starting to get some results though but there do indeed seem to have been some serious brainfarts this year so far…

       2. The thing is Rory is they aren’t really in development – they’ve introduced some new players but the spine of the team have been around for ages.

          I think they are suffering from only having one speedster too – Spain sussed us out on Sunday and knew exactly how to play us.

          All it will take is for us to fail once to get to the cup draw and we’ll be back in a group with two superpowers and then we will struggle.