Podcast : Episode 235 – The Agenda Bus is Coming

19 responses

1. impressive win for Glasgow, I know Bath aren’t great but they have won 3 of their last 4 in the premiership so have clearly improved since they picked up the cream of Worcesters players. They were almost full strength and Glasgow squad was probably 3rd string team away from home and Glasgow should have won by more butchered several golden chances in the second half.

2. Disappointing outcome to the Edinburgh v Saracens game. Spurned golden chance when Lang held up over the line and really conceded initiative and control of game when line out disintegrated in the second half. McInally played well but seemed to get the yips.

   Thought Crosbie looked very good and Kinghorn and Vellacott very tidy. DVDM a bit out of sorts really.

3. yes typical Scottish performance – couldnt do some of the basics when it mattered. That butchered chance was an example, but disintegration of line-out cost big time too.

   Should/could have won that

   1. Hoyland : Buffoonery. Sheer stupidity.

      1. Isn’t it just not that unfortunately Hoyland simply isn’t good enough/hasn’t got the legs anymore

      2. He had a man with him , perhaps he would have been better to shift it and await a return to score. Bad move.

4. Correct alythman and FF…. the Hoyland / Lang failure to score was the game given we made 10 ish unforced errors a pretty excellent effort to keep it so close. Debruin becoming a liability (3 seems to be Edinburghs biggest issue) Crosbie superb, Ritchie no far behind, shows squad depth not the best. Mcinally excellent apart from his throwing (which is his job). Lovely assist from Kinghorn for Gossens try.
   Saracens top team in England typically scottish to be disappointed

5. Having slept on it…… Edinburgh really need a 1st choice 3, can’t keep relying on the redoubtable Nel.
   VdM had a very poor game but he is a magnificent player so …nothing to see here…
   Hoping Hutchison and Currie can get real game time they are very promising.
   VdW must be scratching his head, he brings a kicking game option that would (on occasion) be very handy. (Savala unused)
   Still no 50-22s.
   What has happened to Scottish hookers?????

6. Jones is back then.

   1. Back to being overlooked by GT most likely or given “things to work on, consistency” etc
      If defence and tackling is all we are looking for from our 13 we’d be better off playing one of our surplus back row options there for all we are getting out of Harris in attack.

      1. The sad thing is the teams we are up against in the World Cup, South Africa and Ireland, have the best defences in World Rugby, and we need players such as Jones and Russell to have a chance of cutting them open.

   2. And at 13 and impossible to stop. Let’s just hope Toony keeps his hands off him.

   3. Interesting to look back at the Jones situation in light of how we have seen GT attempt to squeeze out Russell from the team in favour of a preferred sturdy yet ultimately unsuitable underling. I never bought that Jones had more than one or possibly two iffy patches in games for Scotland (one of those re missed tackle Squidge torpedoed), and was one of the best on the pitch just about every other time he played – alongside the player of the months for Glasgow when fit. Was jettisoned with no real cause, dropped for world cup despite playing himself back into contention and then played out of position endlessly. If he really is fit and firing then his name should jump right up to the top two of the list at 13, alongside the right 12. Not that it will happen.

      1. Agree sir, I reckon this Jones is weak defensively was/is fake news.
         He (and the whole Scotland backline) were 2nd best to Wales and especially to an ATG centre at the peak of his powers (Jon Davies) but Huw Jones has been terribly managed by the SRU, he is an exceptional 13

      2. You are right not to buy it. Jones is the best we have seen in years. Having that much talent injected into the side would not sit well with many. If you know your face doesnt fit, it just becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. The guy was a try scoring machine , dragging them round his neck to get to the line. A currie cup winner, unique, can speak well, articulate, polite, clean cut. As a Scotland regular, he would be set up for life. Oh dear , a new poster boy. As for missing tackles, well, that is part of the game. At least he showed up, you can not be accused of missing them if you are not there. Our full back has been absent without leave or not getting down low enough for years but we adore him, just love him, can do no wrong, but the talented Huw jones misses one and we have Harris in his place the following week. You are right ‘Not Science’ something is clearly wrong. I don’t know the answer , just a guess , an opinion and if I did, I could not write about it. Could I ?

      3. yeah agreed, a lot of this bad defense myth comes from one bad read he once made in a game against Wales which allowed Jonathon Davies (who was the best 13 in the world at the time) to make him look a bit silly but absolutely deserves another chance, and with Russell playing 10.

      4. Will be sad if we never get to see a Hutchinson / Jones pairing together with Russell at 10. Imagine the fun.

         I don’t think Jones is poor defensively either. He’s not a defensive organiser like Harris but he generally makes his tackles.

         The centres for the world cup were a disaster with Taylor unfit, Johnson out of form, Harris unestablished and Pete Horne for idk reasons. I would have taken Jones for his game-breaking ability but we forget he was barely making the bench at Glasgow and hadn’t really played at all that year. Rennie had cast him out in favour of Kyle Steyn and (lol) Nick Grigg.

         When he came back into the Scotland team for the 21 six nations you could see the point of difference he brings. I like Harris and think he’s good at what he does but we’d be mad not to try and get Jones in somehow if he can get a run of games for Glasgow.

7. Very frustrating from Edinburgh.

   Huge bounce back from the sh*tshow vs Munster and some really good performances from Ritchie, Crosbie, Kinghorn and Boffelli (of course). Saracens were quite poor though and there for the taking were it not for the series of mistakes. I know it was freezing and a tough place to go but Mcinally’s squint darts, VDM’s drops and the Hoyland/Lang/Shiel mess-up for the intercept were all pretty inexcusable.
   Still seems there’s a bit of mental fortitude lacking in this team.

   Only saw Glasgow highlights but good to get a win with a very 2nd string team and obviously great to see Huw Jones back and scoring.

8. A depth list because why not, any big names missing? The difference is ridiculously improved compared to 10 years ago

   1st XV
   Stuart Hogg – Darcy Graham – Chris Harris – Sione Tuipolotu – Duhan Van Der Merwe – Finn Russell – Ali Price – Matt Fagerson – Hamish Watson – Jamie Ritchie – Richie Gray – Grant Gilchrist – Zander Fagerson – Fraser Brown – Pierre Schoeman

   2nd XV

   Oli Smith – Kyle Rowe – Huw Jones – Cameron Redpath – Kyle Steyn – Adam Hastings – Ben White – Jack Dempsey – Rory Darge – Luke Crosbie – Sam Skinner – Scott Cummings – Murphy Walker – George Turner – Rory Sutherland

   3rd XV

   Rory Hutchinson – Rufus McLean – Mark Bennett – Sam Johnson – Sean Maitland – Blair Kinghorn – George Horne – Magnus Bradbury – Dylan Richardson – Andy Christie – Jonny Gray – Callum Hunter Hill – Willem Nel – Ewan Ashman – Jamie Bhatti

   4th XV

   Cole Forbes – Byron Mcguigan – Fraser Dingwall – Chris Dean – Damian Hoyland – Jaco Van Der Valt – Ben Vellacott – Ben Muncaster – Thomas Gordon – Nick Haining – Kiran McDonald – Marshall Sykes – Simon Berghan – Stuart McInally – Oli Kebble

   5th XV

   Logan Trotter – Freddie Owlsey – Stafford McDowall – James Lang – Jack Blain – Ross Thompson – Jamie Dobie – Josh Bayliss – Connor Boyle – Gregor Brown – Glen Young – Jamie Hodgson – Javan Sebastian – Dave Cherry – Nathan McBeth