Scotland-Wales: Five Really Stupid Things Scotland Did

For the most part you could argue that for “Scotland,” we mean Frank Hadden...

Only having one lock on the park.

With an already weakened scrum, Jason White played with a bit of heart but wasn’t really the answer in the lineout. Gough and Jones were pretty dominant for Wales in an area we had (before the loss of Hines and rash selections) hoped to target.

If he had to play a back rower in the second, surely it would be Simon Taylor who has been doing it all season?

Ally Kellock has been playing well for Glasgow, with no little amount of fire in his belly. He’s been in the wilderness long enough—surely it is time for him to return and give some grunt alongside big Jim Hamilton?

Early substitutions of Cairns and Barclay.

Peter Wright apparently left the commentary box in disgust when Barclay went off. I’m pretty sure “aperplexed,” is not a word, but as it combines “apoplectic” and “perplexed” quite nicely, it sums up what was, I am sure, the mood of many.

Barclay had been relatively solid to that point, and while his replacement Scott Gray did well, surely one of the cornerstones of our defence and more importantly the one who sets the tone for the forwards (in the absence of Hines and Strokosch) should not come off just when we are getting into the game.

The expression on Barclay's face as he went off summed it up. I believe the expression was "WTF?"

While Max Evans did pretty well when he came on, scoring a great try past both Byrne AND Williams, Cairns wasn’t given a chance. I counted about two passes he received in 50 minutes. Surely if the crash ball through Morrison wasn’t working he could have had a bit of a chance, or failing a chance, a pass?

Now that Max Evans has made his mark, Cairns would under normal circumstances have to fight for his place back from Evans. Having said that I would still stick with Cairns as he has a slight edge defensively but Evans is pushing hard. This being a Frank Hadden team, though, you could see Andrew Henderson in the lineup next week for all we know.

Not picking Strokosch or Thom Evans.

Max’s late try seemed a little like an “I told you so” (though that was not the language I used when I first expressed this thought) from the Evans family to Mr Hadden. His pace and lack of fear set a little spark in the crowd, which in turn spurred on the team.

“Win the crowd. You will win your freedom,” Olly Reed said in Gladiator. Shadows and dust, Max Evans, shadows and dust.

Imagine what we could have done with two Evans boys in that end period. The big Stroker should definitely come in at six, with Barclay preserved at seven. Without Hines, Scotland were a blunt-edged instrument in the forwards. Strokes could be the man to return that edge, given his tendency to use anger as a motivating factor.

Pick who you like at eight, it’s a tough call between Brown Hogg or Taylor, as none of them were outstanding or terrible. I’d probably go with Taylor.

Playing like headless chickens.

So eager to try and fix things after a ropey start, they were knocking balls on, playing Chunk at first receiver (actually not unsuccessful sometimes) or rushing headlong into dangerous tackles.

Dr. Cross, in particular, will have little to remember (if he can) of his debut cap. Two poor tackles and twenty minutes in and the bench was half empty and the set piece in even worse shape.

The Mossy debate was put to bed early as he was forced on to the pitch—where he had a pretty good game and nearly scored two tries. You do wonder though if Evans or Lamont would have had the power to get over for the first of those.

Where was the controlled aggression of the Argentina tests or the autumn internationals? Still in Gloucester? Lamont ha