Coming up to my favourite time of year, given that the football governing bodies have fucked up the big tournaments. 6 nations is the best hands down.

 

I'd say given the English have to be favourites for this with the Irish a very close second. We've got a very good chance of winning 3/5 games and quietly fancy us against the Irish tomorrow. Nel aside, we've got a strong line up and a lot of guys on very good form at the moment. Our form against them is horrific but I think it'll a close call.

 

Anyone else keen?

Well, there's the grandparents rule which has existed for years in both football and rugby. But now there is a choice in rugby, dictated by playing in the nation of your choosing for (i think) 5 years. I like this rule as it means the players can put thr yards in and choose to play for the nation that their heart lies with, rather than where they were born which they have no control over.

Scotland are getting a bit of a pasting just now over this, particularly from Irish fans more than any ... mainly cos of how destructive Van Der Merwe is. But Jona Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park both born and bred in NZ and both have international caps for the NZ Maoris. But I fully respect this is both Lowe and JGP's decision and they've both gone through the residency process to qualify for Ireland, which is perfectly within the rules 

The All Blacks owe massively to the Pacific Isles for their successes over the years too. Huge names such as Joe Rokocoko (Fiji) and even the great Andrew Mehrtens (South Africa) made their mark as All Blacks. Finlay Christie is now an established AB and he was born in Peebles!

The new rules are a by-product of a new ruling that allowed players to play for their home country even after they'd been capped by another team. The ABs are masters at "doing an Old Firm" where they grab a player from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and give them a couple of caps thus preventing them from playing for their home nation. The rules changed a few years ago to allow those players to play for their home nation against after a standdown period. So the reverse of this is allowing people born in another nation to play for the country of their choosing. I'm all for it 

3 minutes ago, Reekie_Red said:

I'm all for it

Aye, as long as it doesn't go beyond rugby into yer proper sports.

I used to pay attention to rugby growing up, played a bit, plus 4 years of college in Edinburgh certainly created interest with the rugby weekends, but haven’t paid too much attention since. I will say, after watching the highlights of the last two matches, I googled a few players and was certainly disappointed some of the players weren’t Scottish. Much like when the footie team is stacked with English players, it’s not quite an authentic national team to me.
Saying that, I can accept a Scottish granny or parents much more than someone who has simply lived and played in Scotland for 3 years. I’d be gutted if Chris woods was Scotland’s keeper and a national side with Roberts, butcher, Trevor and Gary Stevens, even Ray Wilkins and Hateley. I’d still be a little disappointed if theo snelders was Scotland’s keeper. Niall mcginn, Jonny hayes, Shay Logan, Joe Lewis, maybe Adam Rooney, it just wouldn’t be right. I’m ok with Aussie Lyndon dykes playing for us as he’s at least got Scottish blood in him and can claim to be Scottish.

Yep i can see your reservations with this. I've seen a lot of arguments that the likes of Steyn, Schoeman, van der Merwe and Dempsey are keeping Scottish born / developed players out of the national setup. But Scotland has struggled since the dawn of professionalism in the mid-90s. Its been between us and Italy for the wooden spoon, with Italy getting closer and closer to us.

 

The rules have changed, and Scotland has taken full advantage of this and recruited smartly from around the world thru parentage, grand-parentage, and the new residency rule (only 3 players have joined thru the residency rule ... just so happens vdM and Steyn have scored recently, and are now in the spotlight)

2 hours ago, Reekie_Red said:

Yep i can see your reservations with this. I've seen a lot of arguments that the likes of Steyn, Schoeman, van der Merwe and Dempsey are keeping Scottish born / developed players out of the national setup. But Scotland has struggled since the dawn of professionalism in the mid-90s. Its been between us and Italy for the wooden spoon, with Italy getting closer and closer to us.

 

The rules have changed, and Scotland has taken full advantage of this and recruited smartly from around the world thru parentage, grand-parentage, and the new residency rule (only 3 players have joined thru the residency rule ... just so happens vdM and Steyn have scored recently, and are now in the spotlight)

I mean, everyone is at it. Just took us ages to find someone better than Dan fucking parks. Thank fuck those dark days are gone. 
 

don’t think it’s ever really bothered me in football either. Probably because I’ve got multi national blood myself. Certainly prefer the football rule of the grandparent link, but I guess as long as someone wants to play and meets the rules 🤷‍♂️

cannot wait for the France game, no wonder princess Ann is over here 😂

It'd never work in football. Rugby is a lot more sporting in nature. They can probably set their own limits to avoid a team of foreigners. International fitba would turn into a mercenary activity (like club) overnight, with players becoming citizens for the highest fee.

Fair play to the England rugby team. 

Downing tools in support of Lineker 👏👏👏👏👏

22 hours ago, Kowalski said:

Fair play to the England rugby team. 

Downing tools in support of Lineker 👏👏👏👏👏

Scotland lulling Ireland into a false sense of security ahead of the WC match in October by letting Ireland dominate us for 80 minutes.

On 13/03/2023 at 06:21, dons8321 said:

Scotland lulling Ireland into a false sense of security ahead of the WC match in October by letting Ireland dominate us for 80 minutes.

That's the hope eh. I can't see past anyone but the Irish or the French winning the next WC. We'll see though. As someone else has said elsewhere, this would be the biggest waste of talent we've had in many a year if they weren't able to achieve something. The 6 nations this year was that chance, given we finally beat the leeky bastards, along with continuing our ownership of England. Providing we beat Italy, finishing 3rd is very underwhelming. 

If anyone offered Scotland a "comfortable third" before this season began, we would bite their arm off. But after commanding performances against Wales and England, indeed the season has evaporated. A shame, because ultimately we lost by 1 try against the world #2 side, and by two tries to the world #1 side.