Scotland Team to face Fiji
Well done to Alex Grove on his debut cap, I reckon it’s a good idea to give him a shot against Fiji. More interesting even than that is the suprise absence of Thom Evans from the 22, given that he had been pretty much the creative spark for Scotland all of last season. It does […]
Double Trouble
Andy Robinson has announced Scotland is to have two captains for the autumn internationals – incumbent Mike Blair and widely touted replacement Chris Cusiter who led the A team to victory in the IRB Nations Cup. Whoever is on the pitch leads the team, presumably with the usual switch around the 60 minute mark (though […]
Glasgow Recover Their Strength, Blair Benched
Despite another virus rifling through the Glasgow team this week, Sean Lineen has named a team close to full strength for Friday.
Weekend Round Up
So this weekend we had both Edinburgh and Glasgow beating top clubs (if not their top teams) and the arrival of a new TV programme. Marvellous! First up were Edinburgh who took Cardiff to the cleaners in the first half through some solid forward play from the relatively under-rated talents of Hoggy, Roddy Grant and […]
Glasgow team to face Champs
Sean Lineen announced his first Glasgow Warriors squad of the season, fresh from a narrow pre-season victory over Kelly Brook’s boyfriend and the rest of the Wasps. They take on champs Munster who may play more of their big guns early on in the season (rather than save them for Europe) now that a top […]
Broussow Gets Second Crack At Lions
The Cheetahs flanker Heinrich Broussow, who almost single handedly buggered up the Lions perfect tour record, has been given a late call up to the Springbok squad as cover for possibly injured Schalk Burger. He may yet have to fight for a place behind utility forward Danie Roussow but hopefully the extra B in his […]
Ansbro Gets Starting Slot for A-Team
Looks like Captain Chris Cusiter is being saved for the possibly decisive France A match later in the week. Alongside promising Saints centre Joe Ansbro, John Houston and Calum Forrester will get their first A grade international caps. Ansbro forms an exciting centre partnership with Nick De Luca, and they will be looking to improve […]
A Game Of Two (Scrum) Halves
With a wee ankle strain keeping him out of Saturday’s game, it looks like Tuesday may be Mike’s last chance to try and sneak on to the bench for the test. With Mike Phillips now a certainty for the 9 shirt and Harry Ellis playing solidly if unspectacularly, Mike has been short of opportunities to […]
Robinson Snaps Up Ansbro for A Team
In form Northampton Saints centre Joe Ansbro has been called up to the Scotland A Team squad to play in the IRB Nations Cup. Ansbro, born in Glasgow, but eligible to play for England too, will be representing the fair nation of Scotland for the first time. And you never know, with Max Evans out […]
Edinburgh Back In Fourth As Glasgow Fail to Ignite
Edinburgh blasted the Dragons with a bonus-point victory at Murrayfield this weekend but Glasgow failed to do them a favour by beating an out-of-sorts Ospreys team. They did deny them a bonus point but the game was marred by Max Evans going off on a stretcher with what looked like a nasty knee injury and […]
Geech To Take His Time
While it won’t surprise you to learn that Scottish Rugby Blog’s preferred choices to fill Tomas O’ Leary’s vacant Lions shirt both hail from these shores, Ian Macgeechan has opted to wait for a week or two before naming a replacement. How will the remaining weeks of the season allow the main candidates to showcase […]
British and Irish Lions Squad 2009 – Fewest Scots Ever*
I’ve been kind of excited all morning, so I shudder to think the pain the players have been going through waiting for this announcement. Backs Lee Byrne, Rob Kearney, Shane Williams, Leigh Halfpenny, Ugo Monye, Luke Fitzgerald, Tommy Bowe, Tom Shanklin, Jamie Roberts, Brian O’ Driscoll, Keith Earls, Rikki Flutey, Ronan O’ Gara, Stephen Jones, […]
Is there hope for Chris Cusiter?
After the autumn internationals, there were two real front runners for the Lions 9 shirt, Mike Blair number one on form with Mike Philips of Wales offering a different option in terms of physicality which some preferred. Fast forward to the Six Nations, and the half back choices are in disarray. Blair went backwards form-wise […]
So That’s The End of That, Then
Another year, another pretty miserable Six Nations for Scotland. Our celtic cousins over the sea celebrate their shiny new Grand Slam – created out of gritty Munster-like determination (and a missed penalty) rather than any sort of fantastic rugby – and those in Wales cry into their Brains after slumping to fourth in the table […]
England Team Unchanged, but did Frank just roll a 2 anyway?
Thom’s ok, big Stroker’s ok. So that’s that out of the way. Scott Gray in? Okay, he’s looked sharp off the bench and played well season-long against these guys in the GP, so that’s justified on form. On the other hand, also sharp Chris Cusiter not in to replace out of form and probably injured […]