Bleacher Report - Articles by Rory Baldwin

Inverness to host Scotland U20

Rory Baldwin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:55:42 -0500

Inverness Caledonian Stadium will host the opening match of Scotland’s U20s Six Nations campaign against France, and there is even a possibility of a “local” lad being in the frame in the form of a Caithness player:

Scotsman Article

Friday, Feb. 5 at 7:30, free entry. Wrap up warm. Very warm.

Also, the IRB have announced the ticket prices for RWC New Zealand 2011. More on this at a later date, but don’t worry they are not on sale until April.

UPDATE: And one last little snippet: Scotland have lost their opening IRB Sevens pool matches in Dubai against Fiji and Samoa, but did manage to get a draw against Zimbabwe.

Scotland Rugby: Back to Magners Action

Rory Baldwin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:06:40 -0500

Anyone else find the Argentina game a bit dull? Okay, so we were beaten and probably deserved it on the basis of the utterly forgetful second half. But for me, the most exciting things about the match were the following:

Being able to move along three sections, thereby getting a decent West stand seat for a tenner and with no-one behind us, standing up for the whole match to get the flavour of a (deserted) terrace / keep warm.
Al barking in derision as Scotland’s play grew more inept and their loss grew more inevitable, scaring a young girl so that she jumped out of her seat several rows away. Apologies to you and your family, he did look scary with his moustache, though, didn’t he?
Not having to queue for a beer, due to the overall attendance being only slightly more than turn out to watch Edinburgh every week.

Disappointing, but well done to Andy Robinson for restoring a little bit of hope at one point there.

Well done, too, to Ireland who look like just about the finished article scrapping to a win over the Boks, and also to Australia and New Zealand for nicely finishing off the autumn test period with a bit of, well, rugby.

Onwards and upwards to the Six Nations for us, we hope. I reckon we can beat Italy and Wales this year at least, if Gregor can sort our backs out. Robbo seems to know how to get the forwards working, and there’s a solid defence to build around.

D-fence wins Super Bowls, but you get the feeling it won’t win you a Six Nations. Would you want it to?

Congrats are also due to Ayr for getting a 28-13 victory over Rotherham in the British and Irish Cup at the weekend.

Unfortunately, Gael Force and Heriots lost again, but just competing in that level of competition should be good for the players and if the surrounding supporters get behind them, maybe increase some revenue for the clubs as well.

On Friday night, it’s back to the Magners League for Edinburgh and Glasgow, no word yet on whether Sean Lamont (who had a pretty good Autumn) will be appearing for the Scarlets, it being in Wales and on a Friday it is, of course, on BBC Wales.

A few interesting names will be on the bench, including youngster Ross Samson and back-row man Dave Callam (remember him?), who is back from a long term him injury.

Edinburgh Team to face Scarlets : C Paterson (captain), M Robertson, B Cairns, N De Luca, T Visser, D Blair, G Laidlaw, A Jacobsen, A Kelly, G Cross, S Turnbull, S MacLeod, A MacDonald, R Grant, S Newlands.
Replacements : Ross Ford, Kyle Traynor, Craig Hamilton, David Callam, Ross Samson, John Houston, Jim Thompson.

Glasgow team to be announced in due course.

Scotland-Argentina: Scots Announce Lineup for Weekend Clash

Rory Baldwin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:47:04 -0500

I’m very happy with the Scotland team just announced and hot off the virtual press.

I think MacDonald is probably worth a first cap. He gives the back row a bit more of an attacking edge, as Barclay must be shafted after the work he put in last weekend and probably deserves a rest.

I am glad Grove has been kept in, and including Cairns and Evans only adds to the sense that this Scotland team is designed to be very attack-minded against what has so far (with the exception of Fernandez-Lobbe) been an underperforming Argentina team.

Scotland Team To Face Argentina

Rory Lamont, Sean Lamont, Ben Cairns, Alex Grove, Thom Evans, Phil Godman, Chris Cusiter (c), Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Moray Low, Nathan Hines, Alastair Kellock, Alasdair Strokosch, Johnnie Beattie, and Alan MacDonald.

Replacements

Dougie Hall, Kyle Traynor, Jason White, Richie Vernon, Rory Lawson, Chris Paterson, and Nick De Luca.

Also, for those of you worrying that our game on Saturday clashes with the undeniable box office appeal of Ireland vs. South Africa, never fear. It seems that for once BBC Scotland has come to the rescue.

I'm pretty sure it will be on the red button for those of you without access to BBC Scotland. You'll just have to tell me if the commentary is as biased as BBC Wales' efforts.

Your fearless SRBlog correspondents will be at the game, sporting fearful moustaches (sponsorship most welcome) and hoping for enough tries (15-point margin required) to get a good ranking's leap out of the Autumn Internationals.

Australia-Scotland: Here's to You, Scotland

Rory Baldwin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:37:22 -0500

Well, well, well. Hopefully by now the hangovers have worn off, and the “did that really happen?” feeling has not.

And so to a little bit of post-match analysis.

Scotland’s defence was magnificent—on that we can hopefully all agree, but it could quite easily have been different.

Australia have put at least 30 points on us in the last few encounters, and if you think of the tries they butchered, the missed kicks—including that one—it could quite easily have been business as usual, and I would be sitting here writing about moral victories, plucky defence, courageous losers, etc.

Scotland had almost no ball, and a lot of what we did get was kicked away or turned over. Ordinarily, all these factors would have combined into the usual autumn loss.

So what changed?

There are a few things that I noticed from between my fingers as I watched the match:

A Full 80-Minute Performance

Usually a Scottish team hangs in there for 60-odd minutes, then there is one minor lapse in concentration, (quite often somewhere in midfield) a quick turnover, and the (insert Tri-Nations team here) have scored a couple of tries and put the game to bed.

You almost sensed such a thing happening on Saturday, when the Wallabies kept piling attack after attack on to Scotland in the early second half, hoping that our boys would wilt. Only they didn’t.

Right across the 22-man squad they tackled for the full 80 minutes, and it was only in the 81st that the unceasing battering Rocky Elsom’s men had given us, finally found a chink in the armour.

Immense performances from all the forwards without exception. You suspect if someone had told a lot of these players, “This is what it will feel like at the end if you don’t go to sleep in the second half,” this could have happened years ago.

A Coach Unafraid to Make a Hard Call

Morrison had been okay in defence in the first half, but too much of the minuscule amount of ball we had was carried into contact or spilled, rather than finding its way out wide, which was frankly unacceptable.

At halftime Robbo yanked Morrison and stuck De Luca in, who repaid him with his best game in a Scotland shirt.

The three centre berths for next weekend should be De Luca, Grove, and Cairns in whatever order you like.

Morrison was given a vote of confidence well ahead of the first-team announcement and has not exactly lived up to it. Contrast this with the other guys, including Grove, who instantly looked at home at this level.

Let’s get them going forward next weekend and see what these boys can do with some ball.

Luck

Years and years of stupid calls going against us, balls bouncing into the arms of opposing players, and kicks missing by inches were cashed in at the weekend. Everything we needed to go our way did.

Everything we needed to go against Australia did.

They say good teams make their own luck, and I’m sure a lot of the pressure put on the Wallabies with our defence must have rattled them.

Basically, what we have all been saying for years: If Scotland stayed focused, ditched the under-performers, and got a bit of luck here and there they could compete with the top teams. All we needed was a coach that agreed with us.

If Scotland can stay this passionate and intense, use that as a base for performance level, and somehow hold onto some ball to play with, then we have the makings of a good (and lucky) team.

Oh, and if you fancy a laugh, read this from the Sydney Morning Herald (don’t let your blood boil, it’s not worth it). Also, if you are interested, here are some highlights of the Scotland A game, shot by the folks at Borders Rugby TV .

Hugooooooing Where Now?

Rory Baldwin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:59:21 -0500

Southwell at fly-half? Never saw that one coming, though apparently he has been featuring at first receiver during play for Stade. Decent enough defense, and a solid left boot (some days). Could be very interesting, damn shame its not on the telly. Still if you are in the Borders and have nothing better to do on a Friday night, entry is free and kick-off is at 7:30 p.m., Netherdale. Someone tell us how it goes—with a bunch of full caps this team should really be able to beat the Tongans.

Scotland A Team: Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Thom Evans (Glasgow Warriors), Ben Cairns (Edinburgh), John Houston (Edinburgh), Nikki Walker (Ospreys), Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais), Rory Lawson (captain, Gloucester), Jon Welsh (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Lawson (Gloucester), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh), Scott MacLeod (Edinburgh), Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Kelly Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Alan MacDonald (Edinburgh), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh)

Replacements: Andrew Kelly (Edinburgh), Ed Kalman (Glasgow Warriors), Craig Hamilton (Edinburgh), Roddy Grant (Edinburgh), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Mark Robertson (Edinburgh).

Rugby: Scotland vs. Australia

Rory Baldwin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:56:08 -0500

What, no Evans? Bit risky that one Robbo, but it makes my job easier…isn’t copy and paste wonderful?

Scotland team to play Australia: Rory Lamont, Sean Lamont, Alex Grove, Graeme Morrison, Simon Danielli, Phil Godman, Chris Cusiter (c), Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Moray Low, Nathan Hines, Alastair Kellock, Alasdair Strokosch, Johnnie Beattie, John Barclay.

Replacements: Dougie Hall, Kyle Traynor, Jason White, Richie Vernon, Mike Blair, Chris Paterson, Nick De Luca

UPDATE: Here’s the Australia Team: Adam Ashley-Cooper, Peter Hynes, Digby Ioane, Quade Cooper, Drew Mitchell, Matt Giteau, Will Genia, Benn Robinson, Stephen Moore, Ben Alexander, James Horwill, Mark Chisholm, Rocky Elsom (c), George Smith, Wycliff Palu

Replacements: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Sekope Kepu, Dean Mumm, Richard Brown, Luke Burgess, Ryan Cross, James O’Connor

Ref: Roman Poite (Fra)

Might not be filled with star names but they took out last week’s man of the match David Pocock and brought in George Smith. Doesn’t get any easier.

Scotland Rugby vs. Fiji: Comfortable if Not Clinical

Rory Baldwin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:10:40 -0500

Scotland 23-10 Fiji

But having said that, it was more clinical than we are used to, wasn’t it? How many times have we seen the scrum-half break (usually Mike Blair) with no-one on his shoulder and the move fizzles out?

This time when Cus went through the gap, pack-attack-captain Beattie was on his shoulder and lo-and-behold, try! While on other days a better (Aussie?) defence might have stopped that one, or the pass for Morrison’s try would have been given as forward.

Scotland don’t usually get the breaks in International rugby so we’ll take them against a team that were ranked higher than us. So far, so good—a win’s a win and all that.

The game and the Scotland team went a little to sleep in the second half though, and there were still signs of the odd silly error or turnover of old. The defence was up to the Fijians attempts to counter on the day. The opposition will be much stiffer next week and I think the intensity and concentration levels will need to go up a bit.

Hopefully the crowd levels will go up a bit too—it’s extremely poor not having some sort of ticket buying facility on the day. It’s not rocket science SRU, it means you can make more money!

Even if Andy Robinson is a fan of big wings, there is a pretty good argument for bringing Thom Evans in for Danielli. Given that pace, confidence and ball skills seemed to serve the Irish backs well against Australia yesterday (easily game of the weekend that one) and Evans has these in spades, the move makes sense.

Alex Grove made a solid debut in the 13 shirt, where he tackled well and made very few mistakes that I saw, along with a couple of nice passes that hinted at what he might offer in attack if the ball got to him more.

To replace him or not if Cairns is fit possibly becomes Robinson’s biggest decision this week. On the other side, the Wallabies have ball skills up the yahoo but there is still a fair amount of inexperience in their backline (Matt Giteau aside), so it’s almost an even contest in terms of experience if Scotland can find any sort of platform with which to take them on.

The improved Wallaby front-row could make the scrum an even contest (or worse) but with Moray Low and Kyle Traynor on form and Euan Murray still to come back at least we’re starting to get some depth on both sides of our props department.

The line-out went well despite the second-rows being generally quiet, but as always with Scottish hookers it could be a different story if their throwing-in is challenged by the opposition (or the ref).

Looking at the level of effort Ireland needed just to get a draw against Australia, it looks like quite a hill to climb for Scotland and Robinson. If we can get close enough to be in it with a few minutes left there’s a chance, but where is the Scottish Brian O’Driscoll who can create a bit of last-minute magic just when you need it most?

Oh, the lunchtime news tells me they’re going to fire the Scotland football coach (where of course it counts as news news, not sport news—which will also be all football). Maybe they should hire an Englishman? It’s working for us so far.

Alex Grove and Scotland National Rugby Team To Face Fiji

Rory Baldwin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:04:40 -0500

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 the Scotland national rugby team all of last season. It does put a fair bit of pressure on the back three to try and maintain the scoring form that the Evans boys seemed to help Scotland discover.

Other than that, though, the team looks decent enough, and it's good to see former Highland man Moray Low gets another cap! New co-captain Chris Cusiter gets his shot to start and the Lamont boys make a return to add ballast to the backs. Ross Ford, meanwhile, needs to kick on from the Lions tour, sort out his throwing, and bring the power carrying game (along with Hines) that can make him a real threat.

Let’s not forget Fiji are above us in the IRB rankings, but we should still be looking to beat them and get Robbo’s stint as coach off to a good start. And I didn’t even mention Mossy, but he’s on the bench as 10 cover pretty much as expected.

Scotland team to play Fiji: Rory Lamont, Sean Lamont, Alex Grove, Graeme Morrison, Simon Danielli, Phil Godman, Chris Cusiter, Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Moray Low, Nathan Hines, Alastair Kellock, Alasdair Strokosch, Johnnie Beattie, John Barclay.

Replacements: Dougie Hall, Kyle Traynor, Jason White, Richie Vernon, Mike Blair, Chris Paterson, Nick De Luca

Also, it would be great if any of you could sponsor me in Movember, please! Along with all the Wallaby team at the weekend, I saw a photo that looks like Cus may be sporting some chops too, though it could just be the light.

My facial hair silliness should be in evidence for the Argentina game at the end of the month, ticket availability permitting...and don’t forget to check out Front Up’s offer below!

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Rory Baldwin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:29:58 -0500

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Double Trouble

Rory Baldwin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:08:45 -0500

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 I’d hope not). This seems like a sensible compromise between picking a captain months ahead of any indication of form (cf Borthwick, Steve) and not picking a captain till the team announcement, which gives us nothing to get excited about in advance.

Based on current form, I reckon that Cusiter will be the starting captain, and think he is probably long overdue for a chance to show what he could bring to Scotland. His break is much improved (especially seeing as Blair seems to have forgotten about his), and his service seems to me a lot crisper. Team announcements for who will join them in the match squad will be next week, I imagine. You can see Robbo’s full announcement here .

It's rest time for most of the Scottish boys this weekend, while England kicks off against Australia, and Wales aims for a first victory against the All Blacks in fifty-something years.

Speaking of the All Blacks, anyone else think the Barbarians team to face them in the usual end of term silliness match should just be the Lions? It would be great to see how they fare on home soil. Even better, if they got another crack at the Boks, but such things dreams are made of…

Glasgow Recover Their Strength, Blair Benched

Rory Baldwin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:03:52 -0400

Despite another virus rifling through the Glasgow team this week, Sean Lineen has named the team close to full strength for Friday in an attempt to pilfer some away points from an Ospreys team that will be shorn of some of its top line Welsh talent.

Richie Gray seemed to impress the radio commentators last week and is back in again. Good to see our youngsters getting blooded, despite what Stephen Jones might think about such things elsewhere.

A good game for Cusiter on Friday could see him claim the Scotland 9 shirt for the first time in years (and perhaps the captaincy, too). Max Evans performing like he did last weekend would make the midfield selection even harder for Andy Robinson.

Given recent troubles in the lineout for both Hall and Ford, leaving Gloucester’s industrious Scott Lawson as a viable candidate at hooker, Fergus Thomson’s return from injury could be timely as well.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh coach Rob Moffatt seems to have played the boot-up-the-arse card for Mike Blair and has dropped him for in form Greg Laidlaw, described as “the preferred choice,” which seems a clear way of saying, “this is not a rotation”.

This is unlike, say, in-form Roddy Grant, who has been shifted to the bench in favour of Scott Newlands, who offered some good go-forward last weekend.

Edinburgh seem to have replaced their unstable flair with dogged resolve and so far it is working results-wise, but how they must be wishing the flair Blair of 18 months ago could be called upon to get things moving when the opportunity arises.

So far, these duties seem to have fallen to Ben Cairns.

Hogg takes the captaincy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a stormer.

If you turn up to Murrayfield in fancy dress you win a pair of tickets to a Scotland international. Anyone going as Matt Williams?

Glasgow

Bernardo Stortoni, Colin Shaw, Max Evans, Graeme Morrison, Thom Evans, Dan Parks, Chris Cusiter, Jon Welsh, Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Richie Gray, Al Kellock (c), Kelly Brown, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie.

Replacements

Fergus Thomson, Kevin Tkachuk, Dan Turner, Richie Vernon, Mark McMillan, Colin Gregor, Hefin O’Hare.

Edinburgh

Chris Paterson, John Houston, Ben Cairns, Nick De Luca, Tim Visser, Phil Godman, Greig Laidlaw, Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Steve Turnbull, Scott MacLeod, Scott Newlands, Alan MacDonald, Allister Hogg (c).

Replacements

Andrew Kelly, Kyle Traynor, Craig Hamilton, Roddy Grant, Mike Blair, Mark Robertson, Steve Jones.

*Bill Clinton wig and a Scotland tracksuit, and maybe some sort of Aussie signifier (inflatable kangaroo?). Cheap and easy (unlike the man himself). Don’t say I never help out.

Edinburgh-Munster: After Well Deserved Win, Edinburgh Third in League Table

Rory Baldwin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:04:07 -0400

Edinburgh got a well deserved, if unspectacular, win at home to Munster on Friday while Glasgow laboured in the second half but eventually secured the expected four-try bonus point against Connacht. This put the Scottish teams at third and fourth in the league table, respectively.

Sean Lineen has been asserting everywhere he can that Thom Evans is “back," and with two tries (including a strong tackle-busting effort off his favourite inside ball move) who can argue?

Next weekend, before a break going into the Autumn Internationals, and Andy Robinson’s all important first match with Fiji, Edinburgh will try to do what Glasgow have so far failed to do: beat the Dragons (Sun., 5:00 pm, S4C).

Glasgow will go to Swansea to face the star-studded Ospreys (Fri., 7:00 pm, BBCw).

I just hope Thom Evans and Nikki Walker don’t knock so many bells out of each other that they can’t play for Scotland. It gives me a week to think of the team I’d pick as well.

I’m still not sure about the back row, though. Having watched “Gloucester Scottish” play pretty much like an actual Scottish team (inept) at the weekend, two of the better players were actually Stroker and Scott Lawson (who can at least throw straight and was industrious about the park).

Lots of good hits and work at the breakdown but Stroker is not really a big ball carrier and neither is Barclay; Big Nathan and the backs can’t do all the go-forward.

On a side note, I fear an anti-Scottish backlash at Kingsholm if Redpath can’t turn the results around soon. Which would be a shame as moves south have been the making of Strokosch and Rory Lawson, and Redpath at least at assistant coaching level.

Next week’s matches could be key, especially if Max Evans continues his rapid return from injury. With Robbo’s assertion that Morrison is inked in at 12, that leaves Cairns, De Luca, and Grove along with Evans if form merits it (looks good so far) competing for the 13 shirt and probably a bench spot.

My current thinking would be Cairns—who stepped the normally rock solid De Villiers on Friday, although I wouldn’t pick him just for that—with Evans or De Luca on the bench, but who knows what next week will show.

New Scotland Squad for Autumn

Rory Baldwin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:36:45 -0400

Scotland squad : John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors), Mike Blair (Edinburgh), Kelly Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Ben Cairns (Edinburgh), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh), Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors), Simon Danielli (Ulster), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh), Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester), Thom Evans (Glasgow Warriors), Ross Ford (Edinburgh), Phil Godman (Edinburgh), Alex Grove (Worcester Warriors), Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Nathan Hines (Leinster), Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Rory Lamont (Toulon), Sean Lamont (Scarlets), Rory Lawson (Gloucester), Scott Lawson (Gloucester), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors), Alan MacDonald (Edinburgh), Scott MacLeod (Edinburgh), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh), Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais), Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester), Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors), Nikki Walker (Ospreys), Jason White (Clermont Auvergne).

Suprise ins: Alex Grove, Richie Vernon, Alan MacDonald

Surprise out: Ally Hogg, Dan Parks

Analysis:

Gotta admire Robbo for sticking to his guns and leaving Parks out despite him being in okay form and a distinct lack of other options given Jackson's absence.

Is he really only having Mossy as a back-up? Is he putting all the weight on the slightly off-the-boil Phil Godman or is he going to throw Mossy in at 10 at last for more than bench cover?

Gotta feel for Hoggy, who has been playing pretty well until recently and had repaid being given captaincy with some strong performances. Then Blair came back into the armband and strangely Edinburgh went downhill…

Still, it gives some indication of Robinson’s admiration for Beattie that he’s willing to give him a shot back at the "8" shirt. Either that or it’s the gauntlet being thrown down to Hogg to play his way back into the squad…

So now I’ll have to have a think about who would go into the 22/23 based on that. For me the back three is trickiest: Walker is in great form but he’s been there before and not kicked on. A Lamont, possibly? Evans has to be there just for the pace, give him a full Murrayfield and he’d find form I am sure. Mossy— or will he be in at 10? Or comeback king Hugooooo? More thoughts soon.

Win a Trip to the Heineken Cup

Rory Baldwin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:00:03 -0400

I’m away this weekend and so will probably miss the games. Hopefully the boys can get their campaigns back on track after disappointments on their last outings.

Glasgow are still struggling with injuries, but hopefully Chris Cusiter will be back from illness.

New boy Peter Horne may get a start in the centre with Lineen assuring us he has the makings of a decent 12. Is a Jackson-Horne axis the future of the Scottish midfield?

On the East Coast, Ally Hogg wants you all to turn out for the Ulster match and buy Anygame tickets, etc., etc.

Will the promise of a turn in fortunes continue to draw a crowd despite the most recent evidence to the contrary?

In the meantime, why not have a look at this video? There’s a chance to win a VIP trip to the Heineken Cup Final and deliver the trophy pitchside!

Heineken Cup: Quelle Différence?

Rory Baldwin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:09:43 -0400

Stade Francais 31 Edinburgh 7
Glasgow 18 Biarritz 22

Ugh. Edinburgh flatter to deceive (get hammered), and Glasgow come close, but fail to squeeze out the result they definitely deserved. So far, so Scottish teams in the Heineken Cup. I thought there were a few positives to be taken from the weekend's defeats, though.

Johnnie Beattie finally took it to the next level with a great performance level that, if maintained, could and should see him challenge Hoggy and Simon Taylor for the Scotland No. 8 shirt. Won’t matter to Jonathan Davies, who can’t tell the difference.

Thom Evans is rediscovering form with every game, and was a palpable threat whenever he had the ball. He just lacks the opportunities in the right spaces without his brother inside him, but Dave McCall is also getting up to speed with each game and building on his solid defence. In the Glasgow backline, Colin Gregor continues to be a hive of activity, with a wee bit of flair and Rob Dewey looked a little more at home at centre than his recent home on the wing. Still, they weren’t quite able to put it together in the midfield when needed in order to win the game.

Dan Parks is at least doing what he does very well—kicking the ball around Firhill on a bit of invisible string—but he still made two silly choices when the run, and scoring opportunity, was clearly on. With the Glasgow backs’ handling skills and pace, such negligence borders on the criminal.

Parks can run the backline very well, but it seems his instinct is still to kick. What price Ruaridh Jackson or even Colin Gregor marshalling the onslaught on Biarritz’s try line (that often went unrewarded)?

Glasgow’s front row is developing into a powerful scrummaging unit, and the props are both under-24, so well off propping “peak.” Still, as with Edinburgh, the lineout was fairly abysmal and led to the slightly iffy try that in the end decided the match. With Ford and Hall both having dreadful days at the lineout, who does Robbo turn to for the Scotland No. 2 shirt?

(Although some of the “not straight” decisions were a mile straighter than the ones allowed regularly in the scrum. However, the Feeding At The Scrum and Lineout Equality Group (aka FATSLEG) is yet to be convened and start its world-conquering grass-roots petition, so that will have to wait—watch this space!).

Glasgow are definitely gettting there, and so to Edinburgh…

Mossy looks in good form; his work on sprinting has paid off, and he seems to have developed a yard of pace to go with his eye for a wee gap—he should be back at 15 on merit. Cairns looks good, but rarely saw the ball. If Houston is injured, I still reckon Cairns should be playing 12 and De Luca 13. Regardless, there was some slack midfield tackling that gave Stade an unassailable lead far too early on, and Scottish teams always struggle trying to force the game.

Umm, that’s about it for Edinburgh. Okay, so they won the second half, 7-3, with a well-taken try, but by then Stade’s foot was so far off the gas that they resembled someone dropping a bucket of paint over a traffic jam (slowly) rather than the confident riot of colour and pace from the first half.

Roddy Grant looks fully at home in the 15s game, and is it just me, or were Edinburgh much better when Hogg was captain? Perhaps it was just poorer opposition early on in the season. Far too many handling errors, no lineout control, and a lack of quick ball for/from Blair basically put the dampeners on Edinburgh’s match.

At least it is a game out of the way that they would not perhaps realistically have targeted as a “Win” in their battle to escape the pool, but one wonders if it will prove a damaging blow to the confidence of a team that we felt had moved forward so much under Andy Robinson.

Heineken Cup Preview

Rory Baldwin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:25:32 -0400

So Europe’s finest club competition shuffles into view, unloads its wagon, sends the freaks round the back to get the candy floss machine running and erects a big top suitable for showcasing some of the finest club rugby teams known to man, and er, our lot. Here are the games on this weekend, sadly unless you have Sky you are probably screwed for watching them (most are on Sky Sports unless indicated otherwise). Several are mouthwatering:

Castres vs Toulon (Amlin Challenge Cup) Fri 5.30—only one reason this is on the telly, and his name is Jonny. Might get a squizz at Rory Lamont in action though. At least, that’s what you think until you look at the team sheet and find that the only names you recognise are Tom May and Phil Christophers (who has been at Castres since Goggsy was). Unlucky Jonny watchers, there’s little here to get you back from the pub/work early.

Ulster vs Bath Fri 7.30pm—Ulster should be strong enough to win this one but it might help Edinburgh if Bath can nick a result at Fortress Ravenhill. Danielli is on the bench, and it’s not on the telly.

Leinster vs London Irish Fri 8pm—Could be the game of the weekend, which would leave the weekend downhill from here. Leinster’s Lions seem to have found form where their Welsh counterparts have struggled, while the non-Irish Irish are playing sparkling rugby without a host of stars. Blarney begorrah and bejesus will be in full attendance. Big Nathan starts at 5 for Leinster.

Gloucester vs Dragons Fri 8pm—if you have Sky but not Sky Sports you might catch this on S4C, Sky Sports have it on Red Button though so whether there is an English commentary is open to debate. Practically a local derby, it should see Gloucester win but given their form of late who knows? Would a Dragons win help Glasgow in the group? Dicko, the two Lawsons and the big Stroker all start for Redpath’s men.

Cardiff vs Harlequins Sat 1.35pm—Battle of the slow starters, but if they live up to last season’s play it could be so much better. Little Scottish interest but doesn’t mean it won’t be worth a watch. But wouldn’t you rather watch…

Stade Francais vs Edinburgh Sat 1.35pm (2.35pm local) – What to say? Things were looking pretty good up until the Ospreys last week. But Moffat’s put the proper team back together and if they can find some of their early season spark against a Stade side who have been struggling until recently then Edinburgh could sneak a home result. Home field advantage with the accompanying razmatazz could be irresistable though. Several of the guys who have impressed so far—Cairns, Grant, Houston, Robertson have a real opportunity to stake a place for caps here. No sign of a Stade team yet so Hugo may yet make an appearance. Red Button on Sky for this one.

Edinburgh: Chris Paterson, Mark Robertson, Ben Cairns, John Houston, Tim Visser, Phil Godman, Mike Blair (capt), Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Craig Hamilton, Scott MacLeod, Alan MacDonald, Roddy Grant, Allister Hogg. Replacements: Andrew Kelly, Kyle Traynor, Ryan Grant, Steven Turnbull, Scott Newlands, Greig Laidlaw, Nick De Luca, Steve Jones.

Scarlets vs Brive Sat 3pm—Chance for Sean Lamont to continue his try scoring form. Not on telly anywhere.

ASM Clermont Auvergne vs Viadana Sat 3pm—Little known Scot Garry Law appears at full back for Viadana while big Jason White could be in the as yet unannounced team. Not on TV.

Glasgow vs Biarritz OPB Sat 3.45pm—having (apart from a blip at the Dragons) mostly maintained the consistency that often eludes them, Glasgow have a real chance to lay down an early marker provided the team have shaken off the big that has dogged Chris Cusiter and Kelly Brown in particular. Jon Welsh continues to impress although Rob Dewey needs to find a bit more spark to convince us he can play at wing. Talk coming out of the camp is good, and as usual it depends if the French come to play or not. Biarritz should be pool favourites, so a win would send a message out to the other teams, both of whom should be beatable. Hard to tell who a kicking fest would favour, Parks or the French who should have siege gun Traille on side, but it could turn out to be another one of those tight games that see Parks turn from liability into lifeline.

Glasgow Warriors: Bernardo Stortoni, Rob Dewey, Dave McCall, Graeme Morrison, Thom Evans, Dan Parks, Chris Cusiter, Jon Welsh, Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Tim Barker, Alastair Kellock (capt), Richie Vernon, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie.
Replacements:Fergus Thomson, Ed Kalman, Kevin Tkachuk, Dan Turner, Kelly Brown, Hefin O’Hare, Colin Gregor, DTH van der Merwe.

Northampton vs Munster Sat 6pm—another of those “could be a classic” matches so often thrown up by this tournament. No Euan Murray yet and no Tom Smith now either, but the ever reliable Scott Gray continues to add to Robbo’s back row riches.

Leicester vs Ospreys Sun 1245pm—And another one. Nikki Walker continues a rich vein of form and the Ospreys are starting to spark in a backline that should be a match for any team, even the Tigers at Welford Road. If they don’t fire though, expect Leicester to win, ugly or otherwise.

Toulose vs Sale Sharks Sun 3pm (4pm local)—Should be a comfortable win for Toulose, but could out of form Sale cap the weekend with an upset?

Phew. I won’t be doing that every Friday. Enjoy the weekend!

Glasgow Warriors Drown Cardiff Blues: Singing in the Rain

Rory Baldwin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:06:57 -0400

Well done to Edinburgh for a good result away from home, facing down an admittedly poor Cardiff team and coping with the usual performance from G. Clancy, Esq.

Did I say Edinburgh? Oh, I meant Glasgow. Telling the difference between the Scottish pro teams must be getting hard for poor old BBC Wales, which made several references to John Beattie, Firhill, and playing Biarritz next week during the coverage of Edinburgh’s piss-poor display against the Ospreys.

Granted, Beattie (junior, I can only imagine) and Ally Hogg may share a hairdresser, and Edinburgh may have “Aberdeen” on their shirts to confuse matters further, but BBC Wales’s commentary "standards" (never mind the bias) gave me something to get excited about and shout at the telly for (not really the TV’s fault, I suppose), given I was long past the point of shouting at Edinburgh’s general ineptitude.

Roddy Grant looked sharper at the breakdown than pretty much the whole team put together, and Ospreys turned Edinburgh over almost at will. A few chances went begging, but the inability to (or lack of desire to) keep the ball proved pretty foolish against an international class (and in many places, Lions equal world class) backline, who promptly cut them to shreds.

Good to see Nikki Walker looking sharp, though. Godman kicked perfectly from tee, so Mossy was not missed in that regard, but as one of the chaps pointed out on the BBC boards, his marshalling of the defensive line was sorely absent. Stand-in fullback and new signing Steve Jones didn’t cover himself in glory, shall we say, but he should not be the scapegoat.

Meanwhile, new Glasgow fullback Peter Horne got one kick of the ball on Saturday and sclaffed it into touch. As it was to end the match, I can’t really complain. Still, it’s a good sign for a youngster that he looked thoroughly disappointed in himself even for something that had no bearing on the game.

The match had long since been won by the combined work of Colin Gregor and Thom Evans behind a sturdy pack effort, and this time, Glasgow did not surrender their halftime lead. Huzzahs all 'round for pseudo-Highlander Moray Low’s boot up field that eventually led to Johnnie Beattie’s try (see Jonathan, he was playing for Glasgow). With Cusiter undoubtedly the best nine Glasgow have, perhaps they should find somewhere else to bring Gregor’s skills into play on a more regular basis—10 or 15, perhaps?

Big Nathan looks like he would have had fun during the Leinster 30-0 demolition of Munster that brought several tries, a bit of controversy, and no doubt plenty of niggle. A much better range of highlights from STV this week too; they are learning a game of rugby is not just the penalty offences that lead to points, and I reckon it’s getting better.

Next weekend—Heineken Cup!

Edinburgh Steel Themselves for Europe

Rory Baldwin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:16:40 -0400

Edinburgh team to face Ospreys: Steve Jones, Mark Robertson, Nick De Luca, John Houston, Tim Visser, Phil Godman, Mike Blair (capt), Allan Jacobsen, Andrew Kelly, Geoff Cross, Craig Hamilton, Scott MacLeod, Scott Newlands, Alan MacDonald, Allister Hogg.

Replacements: Ross Ford, Ryan Grant, Steven Turnbull, Roddy Grant, Greig Laidlaw, David Blair, Ben Cairns.

At first glance at this squad, you think "What the hell is Rob Moffat doing?"

Just when momentum was needed and Edinburgh were looking sharp, he’s taken out most of the players in form like Ben Cairns and Roddy Grant, leaving Edinburgh looking slightly under strength for an encounter against a star-powered Ospreys side who are starting to splutter into life.

But then you look at the fixture list for the next month—Stade at the pink palace followed by Ulster who were only narrowly beaten last time out. After that they’ve got Munster, so it doesn’t really get “easier” until the visit of the Dragons in November, and you write them off at your peril.

Besides, Edinburgh still have Blair and Godman at half-back, and you suspect Blair in particular will be keen to match up against the man who dominated the scrum half berth on the Lions tour, Mike Phillips. Houston, Visser, and Robertson are still there and so is Hoggy, all fit and playing well.

The Ospreys on Sunday is arguably the least important fixture of the coming month, and, based on that...well, it looks to not be a bad team.

Hopefully this team selection is not a reflection that the squad is crocked after four weeks, and instead means Edinburgh aim to make a real stab at the Heineken Cup, the stage on which true rugby respectability is earned in Europe.

Let’s face it, second in the Magners last year or not, in the pre-match punditry you won’t hear many people giving them a chance of progressing out of their pool—if they even show the Scottish matches at all.

The other regions (Munster, Leinster, Cardiff) have stepped up and earned some respect for their clubs and for Celtic rugby. Now it is the turn of the Scots to do their bit.

Pro Rugby Teams On TV This Weekend

Rory Baldwin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:00:51 -0400

In addition to STVs ever improving highlights package on Sunday, this weekend you can also catch the Cardiff vs Glasgow game on S4C at 1820 on Saturday and Ospreys vs Edinburgh on Sunday at 1550, giving you the full selection of Scottish pro rugby excitement to clog up your social schedule.

While to some extent normal service resumed with both teams losing last weekend—you could hear the roars of despair coming out of Murrayfield from down the road at fellow SRBlogger Al’s birthday party—Edinburgh still top the table (what my Australian friends would call the ladder) and will be looking to finish off an Ospreys team that Glasgow should have put away.

Roddy Grant, Phil Godman, and Ben Cairns continue to look sharp as does Mossy’s play with ball in hand, and I think Nick De Luca may struggle to get off the bench when Houston is making powerful breaks at 12.

Much of the Edinburgh back division looks to have kicked on from last year and some of the less well known names may be challenging the overly familiar from recent years (Walker, Webster, Lamont) for Scotland squad places.

Glasgow can put some of their inconsistencies down to a bout of flu running through the squad but still lacked concentration at key moments of the match. Seemingly it was ever thus, so I wonder what more Sean Lineen can do to fix it?

He has tried both giving the team a chance to make amends and droppings en masse (as it were) but neither with much success. Cusiter still looks good when not ill, Rob Dewey looked pretty good with a solid break up the middle, and would perhaps merit a run in the centre until either Peter Murchie or Max Evans is fit (which should be pretty soon).

Especially as he won’t get much ball stuck out on the wing with Parks kicking inside of him.

Is This the New Scotland Home Strip?

Rory Baldwin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:01:27 -0400

No sign of this anywhere else, so it may be something of an exclusive, but blog reader and NYC-based Scotland fan David H wrote in with a discovery he made on a US rugby website selling what appears to be the (as of now unannounced let alone unreleased) new Scotland home strip:

Maybe since it’s a US-based company they didn’t get the memo to not sell it yet:

New Scotland Strip

It looks very much like a blue version of the new away kit, which interestingly the site does not sell.

Thanks for the heads up! I quite like the faded bit under the arms, very web 2.0. I still hope they pair it with white shorts like the good old days, but I doubt it.

Thoughts, anyone?

Edinburgh Still Top

Rory Baldwin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:21:21 -0400

Congrats to Edinburgh who scraped a win at Ulster over the weekend. Things are looking good if they can still nick an away victory even whilst under the kosh and in front of a partisan crowd.

Mossy seems to have kicked well and Mark Robertson continues to look sharp. Also good to see a World Class drop goal from Phil, I hope he’s been practicing as it's one thing (among many) we could use for Scotland. As long as he doesn’t start trying from inside his own half, a la Hernandez or Franc Steyn.

Glasgow were beaten by their bogey team the Dragons, while in other more surprising news perennial underachievers Connacht beat Cardiff who now find themselves draped over the bottom of the league table.

Catch the highlights show here (UK only).

Meanwhile in the absence of someone stepping forward to fill the role of Top 14 correspondent, I did a bit of digging on Eurosport site and managed to find that Rory Lamont played at the weekend (at fullback) for Toulon in their defeat of Toulose.

Jonny is back to his best, according to Al’s nemesis Freddie Michalak. Speaking of Al, happy birthday for tomorrow big man! While digging I couldn’t see any sign of Hugo at Stade but that is less than surprising given the depth of their squad and recent coaching turnaround.

Haskell seems to have been in Stade’s back row while Simon Taylor was MIA (as was Big Jason for Clermont), and Andy Henderson stayed on the bench for Montauban.

I was hoping to catch the Leinster game this week as I will be down in the big smoke and wanted to see if Edinburgh can make it four in a row and stay atop the table, but alas stupid Setanta scheduling has the kickoff at 630 PM which clashes with an important social engagement. Whatever happened to 3 PM on a Saturday?

Team Line-ups for Tonight

Rory Baldwin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:57:25 -0400

Glasgow Warriors (to face Dragons tonight):

Bernardo Stortoni, Rob Dewey, Peter Murchie, Graeme Morrison (capt), Colin Shaw, Dan Parks, Mark McMillan, Justin Va’a, Dougie Hall, Ed Kalman, Tim Barker, Dan Turner, Calum Forrester, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie.

Replacements: Pat MacArthur, Kevin Tkachuk, Alastair Kellock, Kelly Brown, Colin Gregor, Peter Horne, Hefin O’Hare.

Edinburgh (to face Ulster tonight):

Chris Paterson; Mark Robertson, Ben Cairns, John Houston, Tim Visser; Phil Godman, Greig Laidlaw; Kyle Traynor, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Craig Hamilton, Scott MacLeod, Alan MacDonald, Roddy Grant, Allister Hogg (capt).

Replacements: Andrew Kelly, Allan Jacobsen, Steve Turnbull, Scott Newlands, Mike Blair, Steve Jones, Nick De Luca.

Neither of these games are on TV, BBC Wales having opted for the delights of Leinster vs Ospreys. But we still get the highlights show on Sunday, huzzah! Edinburgh’s test looks the sterner of the two with Ulster welcoming back Stephen Ferris into their team and already operating at somewhere near full strength.

The Dragons are a good test for Glasgow though, to see if they can kick on and put last season’s worrying inconsistency behind them.

Oh and here is the squad for the “Gael Force”, the third team that will take part in the new British and Irish Cup that will prove a stern test for this lot, along with existing sides Ayr and Heriots. No word on what will happen to those players like Grant Anderson or young stand-off Rory Hutton who could potentially appear for both.

National Academy players:

Grant Anderson (Ayr), Alex Blair (Edinburgh Accies), Chris Bloomfield (Currie), Fraser Brown (Watsonians), Tom Brown (Edinburgh Accies), Tom Bury (Boroughmuir), Nick Campbell (Glasgow Hawks), David Denton (Edinburgh Accies), Struan Dewar (Heriot’s), Michael Doneghan (Stewarts-Melville), Alex Dunbar (Selkirk), Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s), Grant Gilchrist (Heriot’s), Finlay Gillies (Heriot’s), Robert Harley (West of Scotland), Robin Hislop (Boroughmuir), Stuart Hogg (Heriot’s), Rory Hutton (Heriot’s), Peter Jericevich (Glasgow Hawks), James Johnstone (Currie), Nicky Little (Hawick), Ashleah McCulloch (Watsonians), Stuart McInally (Watsonians), Lewis Niven (Edinburgh Accies), Neale Patrick (Boroughmuir), Neil Rodger (Haddington), Joe Stafford (Glasgow Hawks), Steven Wilson (Edinburgh Accies)

Scottish Teams Top Table

Rory Baldwin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:42:55 -0400

http://www.magnersleague.com/matchcentre/table.php

You might not see the likes again! It was also good to see Sean Lamont having a decent game against Glasgow; no doubt Andy Robinson would have been watching. Worrying to see Moray Low and Thom Evans leave injured but hopefully neither is too serious.

As for Edinburgh annihiliating Connacht, that was brilliant and glad to be able to watch some highlights on the telly too! Sorry for the brevity but I had a busy weekend of partying with Aussies who have taken steps to explain AFL to me. Without much success.

Also if you are interested in some rugby in Edinburgh check out the comments in the previous post, Queensferry RFC are looking for players…

Oh and I just noticed the Argies are being let into the Tri Nations which was in danger of becoming overblown—hopefully this will turn it into a more rounded competition though it may be hard with the timezones...

Weekend Rugby Round Up

Rory Baldwin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:31:18 -0400

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 Alan MacDonald in a bizarro South African style double open-side back row that seemed to go nicely.

Edinburgh had fairly comprehensive control of the match save for a ridiculous non-try that put Cardiff back in the match. Turns out the touch judge may have been Welsh (hence why he was looking at the ball grounding, not Czekaj’s foot in touch) so a diatribe against Irish referees may have to wait till Al manages to climb the steps at SRBlog Towers once again.

Cardiff came fairly storming back in the second half, a couple of duff Mossy kicks kept them in a game. They barely should have got a bonus point save for an excellent Alfie try (highlights here on the BBC).

The offloading ALL the time may have to be curbed a bit though…it looks nice but Cardiff soon worked out where to stand to intercept them!

Next up for Edinburgh, they face Connaught, and if they can control the pace of the game again they should be looking for five points.

High points:

Mossy try from a cross field kick, Roddy Grant, Mark Robertson, Greg Laidlaw’s impressive diving/sliding catch, hanging on for the victory.

Low points:

Fitzgibbon not going upstairs for a “try” that even Jonathan Davies said wasn’t legit.

Glasgow of course won also, but that one wasn’t on the telly so we had to wait till STV’s new Sunday night highlight’s show arrived to catch some of the action.

Fronted by Andy Nicol and Scott Hastings, the show gave us a decent amount of action and possibly a bit too much chat. Nice to have a round-up of the weekend club results too. Some of the editing of the footage was a bit wonky – penalty offences don’t necessarily count as “highlights,” but it was good to see something on our TVs at last!

Ditch the chat about the wider game – we can get that on the Rugby Club and let’s keep the focus Scottish and have a few minutes more action, though the Lions chat was interesting. Maybe switch Scott and Andy round, Hastings is a better presenter and Nicol pundit. Much improved on STV’s last effort though.

Up at Firhill, Glasgow were putting Munster into tricky situations thanks it seems to their youthful front row and some placekicking from Parks.

Reports were of Graeme Morrison’s barnstorming runs, but on the TV highlights I only saw one of these that led to Jackson’s try and sadly his injury also. Damn shame that, I think we were all looking forward to seeing what Jackson could do this season so here’s to a speedy recovery.

I had never heard of Jon Welsh before last week but I suspect we will hear a lot of him this season, Parks apparently said it was the best scrum platform he had ever played behind. Cusiter seemed to show up everywhere too so he’s looking like the excellent signing we all thought he’d be. Anyone actually at the game see how Peter Murchie went in the centre? Glasgow host Sean Lamont’s Scarlets next weekend which I think is on S4C.

Speaking of which, Lamont scored the opening try and looked strong in defence in the Scarlets’ victory over Leinster.

Northampton Saints had only Scott Gray on the bench – with (unbanned and uninjured) Best, Wilson and Dowson in the back row I think he might not have quite as many chances to catch Andy Robinson’s eye as he did Hadden’s last season.

On the losing end of that game, Worcester’s Alex Grove had few chances to shine but did not badly.

Gloucester’s new Scottish coach Bryan Redpath got off to a good start as well, fielding last season’s fringe man Scott Lawson as his starting hooker who repayed him with a solid performance.

Rory Lawson and the big Stroker were reliable as usual. No word on the French contingent – anyone with ESPN want to join in?

Onwards and upwards, Scottish Rugby folk!

New Scotland Rugby Away Strip

Rory Baldwin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:00:48 -0400

It seems a new Scotland away kit has quietly sneaked out

New Scotland Alternative Strip

It’s pretty similar to the old one apart from a) they got rid of the stupid patchy bits that made it look grey and b) they took the Murray logo off that horrible roundel. Although the Murray logo is still pretty rubbish (and too big, does their designer not know about whitespace?) it is much better than it was.

A new home kit is due to be announced in time for the autumn. Could it be back to basics all round—if so can we have white shorts back too please?

Don’t forget to watch the new highlights show tonight at 5.30pm on STV!

STV Will Indeed Show Magners League

Rory Baldwin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:55:39 -0400

Yes indeed the news you have all been waiting for has arrived. Everyone can watch the 1872 cup games live on terrestrial TV, plus highlights from Edinburgh and Glasgow’s Magners games this season.

Huzzah, perhaps STV has pulled out of all the national ITV dramas to bankroll this. Whatever, as I never watch anything on STV anyway now that Ultimate Force is no longer, suits me fine!

Enough from me, here’s the press release—it seems they may have poached Andy Nicol from BBC and Scott Hastings from Sky but I reckon they will more than likely pop up in their old stomping grounds as usual, there are only so many Scottish pundits to go round…

SRU Release

Sundays, 5:30 p.m. Starts on the 6th. Better get writing those witty links now, Andy.

EDIT: I wanted to see what was jerked from the schedules, but the Radio Times already has it listed! I have updated the TV page now too. Also anyone out there got ESPN keeping an eye on the Top 14? Get in touch we’d love an update…

Glasgow-Munster: Warriors To Face Champs

Rory Baldwin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:25:00 -0400

Sean Lineen announced his first Glasgow Warriors squad of the season, fresh from a narrow preseason 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 four place is all that is required. Pity we won’t get to see Max Evans match up against De Villiers till later in the season, though.

No, I’ve never heard of young prop Jon Welsh either, but I think Scottish rugby may have finally woken up to the reality that young talent needs to be brought “on stream” earlier than was previously thought to keep the level of depth and competition for places strong.

Chuck ‘em in at the deep end—it seems to have worked for Ruaridh Jackson last season.

I’m particularly excited to see what impact Chris Cusiter can bring to a Glasgow backline with a fair amount of potential with newcomer Peter Murchie, Rob Dewey, and Thom Evans (especially with the likes of Jackson, Colin Shaw, Peter Horne, Max Evans, and Colin Gregor challenging, too).

After many of us thought he had disappeared without contract, Dan Parks continues his career resurrection, holding off Jackson’s challenge at 10 for now. Consistency is the watchword for this season—if they can find that, Glasgow can do better than many expect.

Glasgow Team To Face Munster

Bernardo Stortoni, Rob Dewey, Peter Murchie, Graeme Morrison, Thom Evans, Dan Parks, Chris Cusiter, Jon Welsh, Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Tim Barker, Alastair Kellock (captain), Kelly Brown, John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie

Substitutes: Pat MacArthur, Kevin Tkachuk, Dan Turner, Richie Vernon, Mark McMillan, Ruaridh Jackson, Colin Shaw

It’s not on TV, this one, but you can catch Nathan Hines’ new team, Leinster, in action against Sean Lamont’s new team, the Scarlets, on Saturday evening on S4C (Lamont starts, Hines is rested).

Dutch Rugby's Finest to Start for Edinburgh

Rory Baldwin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:32:59 -0400

A new look Edinburgh team under new coach Rob Moffat will seek a return to winning ways in Cardiff on Friday.

Some of the changes are enforced by injury—Edinburgh still have a long list of injured including Jim Hamilton, Dave Callam, and Ross Rennie—while others like Lions Ross Ford and Mike Blair are rested.

While the bench looks a little youthful/undercooked, look for sevens man Roddy Grant to lay down a marker while Scott Macleod will look to continue his road to redemption in the second row.

We also have Holland’s sole pro rugby player and a new signing from the Newcastle Falcons, Tim Visser, hoping to pin down a wing spot. And let’s not forget the return of Chunk!

Given performances in the preseason it’s difficult to tell if the players will be able to live up to last season's results, but I reckon Cardiff may be too strong for them, especially as they will be smarting after their home defeat to Edinburgh at the end of last season. I hope Moffat’s boys can prove me wrong, though.

Here's the Edinburgh roster set to face the Cardiff Blues: Chris Paterson, Mark Robertson, Ben Cairns, John Houston, Tim Visser, Phil Godman, Greig Laidlaw, Allan Jacobsen, Andrew Kelly, Geoff Cross, Craig Hamilton, Scott MacLeod, Alan MacDonald, Roddy Grant, and Allister Hogg (captain).

Substitutes: Sean Crombie, Kyle Traynor, Steve Turnbull, Fraser McKenzie, Ross Samson, David Blair, and Nick De Luca.

The game will be shown live on BBC2 Wales—see our Scottish Rugby on TV page for details of how to view this (basically have Sky or live in Wales).

STV to Screen Scottish Magners Games?

Rory Baldwin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:33:11 -0400

As usual, I trot back on to the pitch with a whimper rather than a bang.

I had planned a grandiose piece to open the new season about how this was the summer that rugby found its soul (on the marvellous but ultimately non-victorious Lions tour) then lost it again (gouging) and again (armbands) and again (fake blood), and how this was to be an important season for us all where rugby should step up to the plate and try and reclaim some of its honour. About the new hopes we have for Scotland under Andy Robinson, about whether Edinburgh and Glasgow can continue to/compete and how the Magners League will fare with playoffs at the sharp end of the season. I was going to call it "What I Learnt on My Summer Holidays" and everything—all without using anything "-gate." But as usual, time is my enemy and some news more worthy of your attention has appeared. Like some sort of tubby West Ham fan taking off his pie-stained t-shirt and jumping a barricade in order to do a one-man conga round a pitch similarly crowded with idiots, it has hurdled into the lead position for "first new post in ages." Such tidbits will keep appearing in the press and online, demanding an airing on this platform, until the polemic once so clear in my mind to kick off the season has faded to nought but a distant memory, beaten into submission by harrowing viewings of Scotland’s rugby finest trying to cross a line less than four inches wide.

So I guess: we are back. Welcome to the new rugby season.

Lewis Stuart in The Times is reporting that there may be an announcement this week that STV will show some form of footage of the missing gaps in the Magners League schedule available to view on TV, namely the Edinburgh and Glasgow matches not BBC Wales/S4C. The report reckons it could be limited to just a highlights package, however that is better than nothing. Look for updates to our Scottish Rugby on TV page as soon as I hear. Hopefully this will be well supported enough that they may be encouraged to show the odd live game—for example the 1872 cup matches. but look what happened with STV’s last foray into rugby. Now that STV have opted out of airing almost all of ITV’s dramas there should be plenty of room in the schedule. What else have they got to show?

The Times also reports that Max Evans and Mike Blair are rushing back to fitness. The article is not online yet so you’ll just have to trust me or rush out and buy a copy.

Edinburgh utility back Calum Macrae has signed with Mike Ruddock’s Worcester Warriors. I would have thought he might have stuck around to try and fight incomer Steven Jones for Mossy’s 15 shirt but perhaps he felt it time for pastures new.

And the SRU have introduced a new "Any Game" voucher which can be bought in advance at £5 off full ticket price—putting the price back to an almost reasonable £15—that allow you access to (almost) any of your chosen pro-team’s Magners and Heineken Cup matches. Buy them in bulk in advance and turn up to whichever game you want. It sounds like a good plan especially if the weather suddenly turns nasty at 5pm on a Friday, you can save your ticket for the next game rather than going and getting wet sitting by yourself in the West Stand. Details on the SRU website.

Also, I know I said we should never play New Zealand again, ever. Except in the RWC final in 2011. But they have looked pretty inept of late, with their back line firing as well as, well, ours. Tri Nations: pretty dull so far.

Scottish Rugby News Round Up

Rory Baldwin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:12:39 -0400

Bit of a news digest this week, hope you are enjoying the off season!

Andy Robinson has announced his 44 man Scotland training squad for later in the month including all four Lions, several fresh faced youngsters like Ruaridh Jackson, Alex Grove and Richie Gray, and a missing Simon Taylor who has requested not to be involved at this stage. All very mysterious. Nick De Luca has been named, but I think he is carrying an injury so presumably won’t be doing any physical training. Good to see the Rory Lamont helicopter back into challenging for the full back shirt…

Scotland squad for three day training camp at St Andrews, Monday 17th-Wednesday 19th, August:

Backs: Mike Blair, Ben Cairns (both Edinburgh), Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors), Simon Danielli (Ulster), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh), Thom Evans, Max Evans (both Glasgow Warriors), Phil Godman (Edinburgh), Alex Grove (Worcester Warriors), John Houston (Edinburgh), Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), Rory Lamont (Toulon), Sean Lamont (Scarlets), Rory Lawson (Gloucester), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh), Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh), Nikki Walker (Ospreys), Simon Webster (Edinburgh)

Forwards: John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie, Kelly Brown (all Glasgow Warriors), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh), Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester), Ross Ford (Edinburgh), Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Gray (Northampton Saints), Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Craig Hamilton, Jim Hamilton (both Edinburgh), Nathan Hines (Leinster), Allister Hogg, Allan Jacobsen (both Edinburgh), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Lawson (Gloucester), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors), Alan MacDonald, Scott MacLeod (both Edinburgh), Euan Murray (Northampton Saints), Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester), Kyle Traynor (Edinburgh), Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors), Jason White (Clermont Auvergne).

Speaking of Clermont, Glasgow take them on in the Challenge Auvergne mini-tournament tomorrow night, having won their previous game 20-11. Lineen seems to be rotating the squad and blooding plenty of the new signings, but Rob Dewey seems to be in the thick of the action whether at wing or centre.

Glasgow Warriors team to play Clermont Auvergne at the Challenge Auvergne in Issoire, France, on Friday 7th August (kick-off 8pm local time):

Bernardo Stortoni, Rob Dewey, Peter Murchie, Peter Horne, Colin Shaw, Ruaridh Jackson, Mark McMillan, Justin Va’a, Dougie Hall, Hamish Mitchell, Richie Gray, Dan Turner, Calum Forrester, Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s)*, Johnnie Beattie

Not present will be scrum half Sam Pinder, who has announced he is leaving Glasgow for a coaching position in Hong Kong. With Cusiter coming in as clear number one scrum half it was always going to be tricky given McMillan and Gregor are probably ahead of Pinder in the pecking order too…