morrie21 Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 I could understand this feeling if we got humped in every game, but today aside if we had have won the other 4 games, the opposition couldn't have complained. We were so close against France, Wales and England. And even playing terribly against Italy we were finding touch away from winning that game. I know if my Auntie had balls she'd be my uncle, but some perspective chaps. We have a decent World Cup group where I will be looking for us to kill games off and progress from the groups. England and Wales on the other hand are in a group with Australia. One of them will be going home early. J yeah Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellyman Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Aye, me too. If I had been in Stuart Hoggs position I would have dropped the ball deliberately as well. Good man. Those 5 points made all the difference. Well done Ireland. I am still looking forward to the World Cup. Although we have been total pish in the 6 nations, I think we might do OK at the World Cup. England going out at the first round would be a nice bonus. To hope another country [England] gets knocked out or that Hogg dropping the ball made it more difficult for England to win the 6 nations is covering over our problems and our obsession with England to not do well. I personally do not give a flying feck what England do apart from when we play them, to look at the final day of games England had the most difficult game and put in the best performance, unfortunately for us Ireland had the easiest, If we had faced Wales or England on the last day [due to the way they play] we would have been looking at a scoreboard with 60 + points against us. Lets get our house in order . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagtag Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 I could understand this feeling if we got humped in every game, but today aside if we had have won the other 4 games, the opposition couldn't have complained. We were so close against France, Wales and England. And even playing terribly against Italy we were finding touch away from winning that game. I know if my Auntie had balls she'd be my uncle, but some perspective chaps. We have a decent World Cup group where I will be looking for us to kill games off and progress from the groups. England and Wales on the other hand are in a group with Australia. One of them will be going home early. J Absolutely spot on. Let's just say the poor decisions that went against us and we hadn't made simple errors and somehow won the first 4 games. Does anyone think yesterday would have been the same? Same players and same teams but I think the fact that Ireland knew the target they had to reach just like Wales and England it made for some freakish unusual games that are probably never going to be repeated. We have some great players and most are a good age, unfortunately we also have some positions that are a problem and players who are past their sell by date at international level. Cotter has a lot of work to do but I think he just needs a little bit of luck and we could see a big change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geebsie Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 (edited) An observation. An interview included in Rugby World magazine last autumn with Scotland and Edinburgh fly half Tom Heathcote contained the following text: “Heathcote’s dream of emulating his boyhood hero Jonny Wilkinson came a step closer when he played for England U20 at the Junior World Championship in 2012, but the then Scotland coach Andy Robinson was already courting him. ‘He phoned me around Christmas in the 2011-12 season and asked if I’d be interested in playing for Scotland’, says Heathcote. ‘I said I would be, but I wanted to play the rest of the year with the U20s, having come through the age groups with that group. I also didn’t necessarily think it would be the right time to go into the international set-up, having only made my debut for Bath a few months before. I wanted a lot more club game time under my belt. ‘After the JWC, Robbo approached me again and said the option was still there. It was a tough decision. It was in the back of my mind because I was born in Scotland, but I never really expected the offer to come about at all, let alone so soon. ‘You can’t think what you’re going to do in that situation until someone presents you with the opportunity – it’s very difficult to say no. I knew it was the right thing to do. I have been capped. Some people thought I should have held out and played for England one day, but I have no regrets.’ Now Heathcote wasn't involved yesterday, and no blame can be laid at his door for the result. I'm not having a go at him personally either - he's likely to be far from the only Scotland player who has had the same thought process in coming to a decision on whether to play for us, and it's something that will only continue if the SRU pursues its strategy of "project signings". But if the talent pool is so shallow in Scotland that we're left having to pick players who consider whether to pull on a blue jersey as "a tough decision", we're always going to struggle. Personally I'd rather see 15 players lose and who would answer the call without hesitation than having folk dilly-dallying about if and when they want to play for Scotland. Edited March 22, 2015 by Geebsie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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