Rugby Union

Nowhere near good enough all in..

If they had our last 20 minute's. They'd have capitalised with 3 or 4 tries..

Big game player's were especially poor..

Chasing that lead was virtually impossible at half time and the killer try just before it where we threw it away was the defining moment..

 

I’m more happy that Japan got the chance to beat us and prove to everyone they deserve to be there. If the game was cancelled it would have been in forever in question.

 

Townsend can hand in his resignation letter right now as far as I'm concerned.

Japan were fantastic but it's really telling that we only gained a foothold in the game when we used his last resort tactics.

 

Good game , * result , Townsend must go now . The no show against Ireland did the damage .

 

I like Townsend but I was gutted when Vern Cotter left.

I’d stick with Townsend. There’s a good young group of players coming through.

 

In hindsight, no way they were letting themselves lose after what happened this weekend.

 

Oh well , just the dross fitba team to let us down to-day now .

 

Same. If they’d got through by default I’d of wanted them pumped.

 

Ian McGeachan suggesting they get into the 6 Nations or the Tri Nations. Good idea but not the 6 Nations. * that travelling.

 

Japan should go into the championship with NZ, Australia, SA and Argentina. Probably bring Fiji with them.

The 6 nations should have Russia and Georgia.

 

Scotland and the Italy put the brakes on a new Nations league which would see teams be promoted and relegated between two tiers.

 

That's precisely why he needs to get to *.

 

Not sure. Probs cos we’d get relegated.

 

I was excited by the Townsend 'project' and thought it was great fun... but that only lasted until it became abundantly clear that there's no way you can put together a consistent RUN of results playing in the style he demands.

If you want to win rugby tournaments, then you have to have excellent players, be able to get the basics right, have good game management, and defend well.

How many points have we gifted the opposition in recent matches by going for the spectacular, losing possession as a DIRECT consequence, and the other team running in a score? Or simply by not being good enough at defending open play? We have a cracking crop of players right now and I think they would be doing very good things had they continued in the Vern Cotter mould.

High risk rugby will always prove entertaining, but not always for the fans of the team playing it.

I noticed a couple of guys taking exception to me saying that Japan did nothing fancy - I maintain that to be the case. They managed the game superbly, showed incredible passion, and they handled the ball beautifully. Those are the basics! Sure, they had a lovely offload for one of the Trys, but the rest of their scores involved absolutely calamitous decision making by the Scots, or unbelievably sloppy defending. When you allow gaps in defence - as the Scots did - then it becomes much easier for the opposition to ping the pill around like a pinball. And that's not demeaning the Japanese performance - they were truly great at the basics and they thoroughly deserved their victory! They proved that substance often over comes style.

I see the SRU is being investigated for Dodsons comments regarding 'seeking legal advice'. Good! I thought he made an * of himself (and the national team) with his words. That's not to say that I thought he was wrong in calling into question World Rugby's contingency planning - I too thought the 'plans' were shambolic - but you don't shoot your mouth off about 'legal matters' relating to a sporting matter when there's a massive typhoon about to strike the country you're in. Voice your concern, state clearly that you'll play the game anytime and anywhere, but leave the 'legal' nonsense out!

 

They go hand in hand. Japan won against Ireland and Scotland because they got the basics right and they got the basics right playing at a high tempo and rarely took any significant risks.

Scotland turned up to the game too late in Sunday and it cost them a QF place.

 

Looking forward to the 1/4s, some great matchups and clashes of style.

 

Exactly, they have a couple of world class players that allows them to play a brilliant high tempo rugby game while making few mistakes, that makes it very hard to defend against. Not to mention being on home turf and home crowds. You notice in the Ireland and Scotland games how good Japan are at keeping you under pressure and nullifying your kicking game, very hard to do for 80 minutes.