Argentina v Scotland ratings (50)
- 8 Oct 07, 03:42 AM
Paris - I was at the Stade de France on Sunday night for the quarter-final between Scotland and Argentina as the Pumas reached the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time.
Here's my player ratings for the game, let me know what you think.
SCOTLAND RATINGS
Rory Lamont 鈥 Not his best night in a Scotland shirt. Made a few errors, like letting a Felipe Contepomi kick slip through his hands into touch and firing an up-and-under straight out. Replaced by Hugo Southwell on 68 minutes. 5
Sean Lamont 鈥 Also struggled to make an impact. Scotland鈥檚 top runner but the Northampton wing never got a good sight of the try-line. 5
Simon Webster 鈥 Knocked on early and never really got into the game. Tried to find a gap when he did get the ball but was well shackled. 5
Rob Dewey 鈥 The Ulster centre will want to forget this match. Made a good tackle on his opposite number in the opening stages but never punched any holes and was replaced at half-time. 4
Chris Paterson 鈥 Very quiet first half but came into the game late on as Scotland threw the kitchen sink at the tiring Argentines. Completed the tournament with a 100% kicking record thanks to a penalty and a conversion but seems wasted out on the wing. 6
Dan Parks 鈥 Monster penalty to put Scotland ahead and two superb penalty touch-finders late on were the main highlights, otherwise it was not great for the fly-half. His dithering clearance was charged down for Argentina鈥檚 try and he took the wrong decision to chip to the corner as Scotland were chasing the game late on. 5
Mike Blair 鈥 Plenty of effort but not much spark from the Edinburgh scrum-half. Showed his bravery with a great take from an early high bomb. Replaced by Chris Cusiter on 57 minutes. 6
Gavin Kerr 鈥 Held his own in the scrum but was rarely seen with the ball in hand. Left the field with 23 minutes left. 6
Ross Ford 鈥 Accurate throwing in at the line out, Scotland only lost one all night, and although he made one carry it was a fine sprint into space with 18 minutes to go. Replaced on 68 minutes. 6
Euan Murray 鈥 Struggled in the opening stages to contain Rodrigo Roncero at scrum time but did eventually gain parity. Did not make an impact in the loose. 5
Nathan Hines 鈥 Solid without being spectacular. Tackled all night and charged down an early Ignacio Corleto clearance but high tackle on Juan Martin Hernandez gave Argentina their first penalty. 6
Jim Hamilton鈥 Was the preferred line-out option but was fairly anonymous elsewhere. Substituted midway through the second half. 5
Jason White 鈥 The skipper did his best to lead from the front but found little joy against a spiky Argentine back row. 6
Allister Hogg 鈥 Plenty of work on the floor and made a cheeky steal from a ruck deep inside his own half. Seen little with ball in hand and left the field on 57 minutes. 6
Simon Taylor 鈥 Scotland鈥檚 top tackler was brave as always and made a late charge over the gain line but all in all was a quiet game for the Stade Francais number eight. 6
Replacements:
Scott Lawson 鈥 Came on for Ford and did not let himself down. 6
Craig Smith 鈥 Replaced Kerr and added real dynamism. Had a fine charge down the line that eventually led to Chris Cusiter鈥檚 well-worked try. 7
Scott MacLeod 鈥 Took to the field for Hamilton and was the go-to second row. Just allowed a slightly long throw to slip through his hands at a crucial late line-out. Willing to go forward with ball in hand. 7
Kelly Brown 鈥 Replaced Hogg and produced the offload for Cusiter鈥檚 try. 7
Chris Cusiter 鈥 A lively replacement for Blair. Added bite to Scotland鈥檚 back play. After passing to Brown and falling to the floor, got himself up again to receive the try-scoring pass. 7
Andrew Henderson 鈥 Impressive outing after coming on for Dewey. Looked a threat and helped win the penalty that Parks missed from a long way out. 7
Hugo Southwell 鈥 Came on for Rory Lamont and gave a nice inside ball to Sean Lamont late on. 6
ARGENTINA RATINGS
Ignacio Corleto 鈥 Not the dynamic performance we have come to expect from the Stade Francais full-back. Took a wonderful diving mark in mid-air during the first half but a poor chip after the break led to Cusiter鈥檚 try. 6
Lucas Borges 鈥 A relatively quiet night for the winger, who had little chance to show his speed. 5
Manuel Contepomi 鈥 Tackled well but had little chance to break through the Scotland midfield. 6
Felipe Contepomi 鈥 Still suffering with flu, it is incredible the Leinster centre took to the field 鈥 let alone being allowed to play for 80 minutes. Not his most influential game but was still reliable with the boot, kicking three penalties and a conversion. 7
Horacio Agulla 鈥 Always looked lively and tried to make things happen. Showed his strength by ripping the ball out of a Scotland maul. 7
Juan Martin Hernandez 鈥 By the high standards he has set himself, this was not a virtuoso performance by any means. But his kicking to touch was at times sublime and his boot was a vital weapon to peg Scotland back. Got on the scoresheet with a left-footed drop goal. 7
Agustin Pichot 鈥 Always gave 100% but was not as sniping and annoying as he can be on the field. Looked a tad jaded and conceded a late scrum by knocking on. Thankfully for the Pumas it did not affect the scoreline. 6
Rodrigo Roncero 鈥 A lively presence around the park and managed six carries of his own. Plenty of aggressive work clearing out rucks. 7
Mario Ledesma 鈥 Accurate line-out throwing for the most part as Argentina only lost two of their 13 throws. He made two handling errors but at least he got himself in a position to take the ball on. 7
Martin Scelzo 鈥 Placed a lot of pressure on Kerr at the scrum but did not really get the ball in hand. 7
Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe 鈥 Quiet game in the loose for the man from Sale but he offered his brute force in the tight. Replaced by Rimas Alvarez just 11 minutes into the second half. 6
Patricio Albacete 鈥 Did some of the nasty unseen stuff on the floor and burst through a ruck to steal possession but gave away three penalties. 5
Lucas Ostiglia 鈥 Put himself around the park but did not stand out. Replaced by Juan Manuel Leguizamon on 55 minutes. 6
Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe 鈥 Always looked to take the ball on and although he did concede a couple of penalties, worked tirelessly at the breakdown. 7
Gonzalo Longo 鈥 The best player on the field and deserved his man-of-the-match award. He charged down Parks鈥 clearance and then won the race to try it down for a try. Was Argentina鈥檚 top ball carrier with 13 and was an ubiquitous presence for his side. 8
Replacements:
Omar Hasan 鈥 Took to the field for Scelzo. 6
Rimas Alvarez 鈥 Came on for Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe but had little time to make an impact. 6
Juan Manuel Leguizamon 鈥 Replaced Ostiglia and split the ball from a line-out. 5
Hernan Senillosa 鈥 Looked a lively customer after replacing Manuel Contepomi with 13 minutes to go. Made a run across the Scottish line in a bid to get his side going. 7
Mark Orlovac is a 主播大秀 Sport journalist based in London. He will be based in Paris for the knockout stages of the Rugby World Cup.
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Scores spot on. Good game, happy for the Argies. They are a corageous team. Concetrated and tough to roll over. Plus the refs are not being biased against them in this tournament. Pity we (the Wallabies) played so bad on Saturday. Enough of Gregan and Mortlock, bring the young guns like the Argies. Go Pumas!
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three great matches and then.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
perfect for a sunday evening. the sporting equivalent of last of the summer wine
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Think overall that is a pretty fair assessment; certainly of the Scotland players. Absence of a "7" reflects the fact that Scotland frankly underperformed and could have won this game, even if it would have been a bit of a steal. Probably should have reverted to a running game earlier. The soft penalties (e.g. Ross Ford offside at not 1 but 2 garryowens or in at the side of a maul) makes me want to tear my hair out.
I have to say though that the lineout was excellent; something that will be overlooked in the final analysis. If we can keep that up in the 6 Nations, we'll get a lot of good quality ball.
Still a frustrating result though.
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I wouldn't necessarily argue your marks - mainly because I feel as Scotland are out that it is a moot point.
But I have to say that I became really frustrated watching the game, especially after the silly mistakes that the unfortunate Lamont brothers perpetrated. The way we played in the last 20 minutes left me feeling that, as a team, we should have showed more belief in our abilities.
Argentina were decent, but not brilliant - and we could have taken them.
Good luck to the semi-finalists, c'est la vie.
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Think overall that is a pretty fair assessment; certainly of the Scotland players. Absence of a "7" reflects the fact that Scotland frankly underperformed and could have won this game, even if it would have been a bit of a steal. Probably should have reverted to a running game earlier. The soft penalties (e.g. Ross Ford offside at not 1 but 2 garryowens or in at the side of a maul) makes me want to tear my hair out.
I have to say though that the lineout was excellent; something that will be overlooked in the final analysis. If we can keep that up in the 6 Nations, we'll get a lot of good quality ball.
Still a frustrating result though.
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Absolutely gutted! typical, they bottled it with clumsy play. That was our chance of world cup glory. The South African's look beatable and it could've been an auld enemy final which would've been amazing.
You can feel sorry for our boys as they played good in defecnce, however, they lacked leadership in the team to say play play play.
Too many mistakes and not enough creativity. Blair was like a mouse last night and kept giving it to the forwards.
allez les bleus...
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Scotlands handling, skills and general play was absolutely horrific. They couldn鈥檛 catch, main offenders: -Jim Hamilton, Nathan Hines, Rory Lamont, Sean Lamont. They had no attack to pose any threats, main offenders: - Sean Lamont, Rob Dewey, Simon Webster. They couldn't hold on to the ball: - Craig Smith, Jason White. They couldn't kick the ball: -Sean Lamont, Rory Lamont, Mike Blair.
Far to many handling errors which are completely below par for International levels. As a Scotsman I was quite embarrassed at the way we played.
Our Defence and Lineouts were second to none- but you cannot win games on that basis.
That was the best chance we will ever have at reaching the semi's and we completely blew it.
Lets get behind the Pumas to win!!!!
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Reasonable scoring of Scotland. My only gripe would be the Lamont sisters both getting 5. They were as bad as Dewey. I'm sure they will be receiving a lifetime supply of corned beef for their contribution to Argentina's achievement! Parks charged down kick was due to the stupidity of SL (I think FH called it naivety), when he ran out his 22 and kicked the ball straight out.DOH! And then he didn't attempt to secure the loose ball, instead tried to hold back the Argentinian scorer.Double DOH!
RL dithering on the try line instead of clearing - for naivety sustitute schoolboy!
Ach well that's the end of another rollercaster. Another QF and back into the world's top 8. Lets hope for a good 6N.
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Slightly harsh on Hines - he and Hogg did some excellent ball stealing at the breakdown.
But overall, just feel frustrated that the game was there to be won...
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The Pumas were nearly undone by a team that play even less rugby than themselves. That second semi-final promises to be another punt-fest, can鈥檛 wait for that
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Scottish scores are generally spot on but the Lamonts should really have been given 3 or possibly 4. Dewey didn't do much, he never had the opportunity, but at least didn't repeatedly make stupid mistakes, can't see why he scored less than those two.
Knocking the ball into touch and conceding lineouts which would otherwise have gone to Scotland in their own half is a crime and ROry and Sean Lamont each did this more than once
Last 20 minutes was decent but stupidity lost us the game
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Over coached from way too early an age, rugbys equivilent of painting by numbers can't win games at this level especially when so many mistakes spill on to the canvass.
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Very generous marks for the Lamonts on what was a hugely frustrating night.
Argentina did not have to work hard for the win at all.
Hadden's approach was far too cautious and too many players let themselves down with basic errors...
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From a Scottish perspective, that was incredibly disappointing.
The most frustrating aspect of it was that we should have won. The tactics of, seemingly, aimless kicking away any ball we did have was, quite simply, terrible. Why did we not play for the Pumas' weaknesses which is clearly the channel outside 13 as was exposed by the Irish and re-emphasized in the final quarter? Our strike runners and major strength ( White, Taylor, Hogg, Henderson, Webster and the Lamonts) were basically useless because of the terrible gameplan!
I really doubt that with the way rugby in Scotland is going--we now have two very average and poorly supported professional teams-- we will ever have a better chance of getting to a semi final.
I don't think Hadden is a good coach but we really don't have any alternative than to stick with him. If we got rid of him we would undoutedly get another average coach to replace him! Having said that, yesterday's performance did show that he as a coach is totally out of his depth at a world level and would probably be more useful in returning to coaching school rugby.
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Great guts and deternmination however this doesn't win rugby matches. Once again our basic skills let Scotland down.If we can't catch,pass and tackle then we will never win a major tournament. Granted we did defend well but you don't score tries that way. Overall we didn't play bad however we must clear our lines and not leave things to chance, that's the 2nd time that I remember that Lamont has committed the same mistake! At this level when you make a mark you don't wait on the ref, just boot it and then get the free kick! Anyway enough of the rant,let's look forward to a good 6 nations campaign and hope that France can win the World Cup or it will be worse than last time from the English!!Oh and get rid of Murray Mexted, he is a total slaver!!!
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Agreed with Jocky McSporran!
I thought Hines was Scotland's best forward, especially with the two lovely steals.
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Well done Mark, all those you have rated made it onto the pitch this time...
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LAMONTABLE
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Well, It was a dissapointing night from a fairly average world cup, however like Hadden says we do have a young squad and at least it was better than the shambles of 4 years ago. Maybe we should take up the Argentinian reccomendation of ditching full time rugby altogether and returning to the games traditional ameture roots. It would be a shame for Scotland to have to farm out our best players to other leagues but it looks the best option as Edinburgh are a spent force and Glasgow cannot be Scotlands only serious force. So well done to Hadden on a job well done but lets see a bit more positivity over the next 4 years to try and move on to the next level.
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Chaps, isn't it time we all stopped this anyone but the English thing and just say "let's hope a home team goes all the way"?
'Allez les Bleus', mai porquoi?
We all know at least one decent English person, surely we can be self-confident and generous enough to support them in the World Cup now that we are out?
After all, we run the country, how much more proof of our skills and abilities do we need?
(OK, I'm a Glaswegian married to an Englishman, I admit it.)
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Well, It was a dissapointing night from a fairly average world cup, however like Hadden says we do have a young squad and at least it was better than the shambles of 4 years ago. Maybe we should take up the Argentinian reccomendation of ditching full time rugby altogether and returning to the games traditional ameture roots. It would be a shame for Scotland to have to farm out our best players to other leagues but it looks the best option as Edinburgh are a spent force and Glasgow cannot be Scotlands only serious force. So well done to Hadden on a job well done but lets see a bit more positivity over the next 4 years to try and move on to the next level.
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Congrats to the Scottish, they improved their game since the begining and the played a great match yesterday. The team was great in defense and very well organized, I think they took a few wrong decissions trying to get to our ingoal, handling erros. But is always good to see my team play Scotland, as we are in similar levels and it is always a tough match.
Argentina was not so great yesterday, but just enough to win the match. ALtouhg yesterday anyone could win the game.
For us is, this will be an unforgetable game, first time we pass to semis on a world cup.
Lets see what happens next sunday with S.A.
Thks for your respect, friendship and dicipline, the most important rules of the game I love.
Martin
Pd. appologies in advance for my poor english !
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I can't believe you've been so generous to the Lamont boys. If I were a journalist I'd be writing headlines about "Lamontable errors that cost Scotland the game". Defensively they were a massive liability and one that Argentina exploited again and again. The biggest question for me about this game was where was Jason White?
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Was a very frustrating performance in the first half. Far too many errors. In the last 20 mins we played as we should have. In general, haddens tactics were correct, but the switch to expansive came should have been start of second half. 20 mins not time enough...
Dan Parks is an average-good No. 10, likes time for his kicks...
Lamont brothers had poor games, but everyone seems to forget the amount of work Sean does as an extra forward when called upon. We simply have no-one to replace him! Nicky Walker, I don't think so! Knoking the ball out on the full and tipping it into touch, poor mistakes!
Oh and can anyone tell me why a scrum was awarded at the end of the match when the Argentine was clearly pulled into touch before realesing the ball which was knocked on? From the lineout Scotland would have been much better place!!
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Ordinary, pedestrian... and some passing that would have embaressed a school side... let alone the catching which was at best poor.
so I guess the scoring was appropriate possibly even generous - particularly of the back three. Will someone get chris patterson working on his tackling and put him in at inside centre
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Lamontable!!!! i think that sums up a pretty dismal evening for the scots. The warning signs were there when we saw how much respect the team gave the italians in the last group match, argentina did the little more that ground out the victory.A real shame.People should not be angry at hadden, given the job he walked into, we should be proud of his effort and hope that he is right in his assesment that in a few years, scotland will be a real threat to the 6n. We just need more experience for our players. As for the world cup now, who cares?? one semi final will be so boring it will probably not merit watching, and the other we should have been in.... Still credit to argentina, they were the best team, lets hope they take the trophy home.
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If you read the scotish media today you would think we had won,terms like brave and passionate are in abundance,typical scot cliches,the truth we were flat,why are we in such denial,we paid for our negativety,hard to admit but england showed pride and passion that we lack,all the best to them;time we woke up as a nation and chance our luck,sad.
p.s.the lamonts,concentrate on rugby not your highlights.
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That is the first time I have seen completely accurate scoring on the 主播大秀 website: well done! That Bryn Palmer has done my nut!
Argies looked very tired last night and the Scots must be kicking themselves that they couldn't take advantage of the fact. This is an exceptionally talented XV but the truth is that they have do not have the quality replacements at 9, 10, 12 and 15. After 5 games, it will be a miracle if they can put up a fight next week but I hope they do because it would be great to them in the final. Go on Pumas - big cats eat little antelopes.
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It is a pity that Pumas fired Scotland out RWC, last night I was in a pub in Barcelona, watching the match, and there were a couple of Scottish also watching the match, when the match finished, one them came to me, shook my hand and said congratulations, what an attitude!! Dear people from Scotland you have to be proud of your team because both teams could win yesterday, but Argentina was the lucky one.
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Probably like many Scots, I thought that Scotland would struggle to cope with Argentina after their previous performances. However, what disappointed me most was the way that we were defeated, not by an overwhelming Argentinian onslaught, but by what can only be described as basic schoolboy errors. Not only that, but when a match is essentially your 'cup final' you expect to see your team put themselves on the line to try and win. Unfortunately the Scotland team lacked the passion, the drive and the self-belief to beat Argentina, who it has to be said, did not have to play very well at all to win.
If Scotland want to do well in the six nations they will have to get the basics of catching and passing right, as well as somehow restoring their ability to play with passion and belief.....not panic!
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I am gutted that we have thrown away a game that we could have won. Minor lack of skill? Yes, but Major lack of self belief has been our undoing yet again! Scotland must play to their strengths and have confidence in a team that on paper looks as good as we have had for a long time. Oh and yes I'm sure we do all know at least one decent English person, however, they are unlikely to be part of the commentary team who seem to be wearing English Rose tinted glasses. The final straw for me was when, 15 minutes from the start of the Scotland -v- Romania they were previewing England鈥檚 next game! AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
And you wonder why I will be cheering on France?
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A lot of unrealistic nonsense is being spouted here: This was not an encouraging world cup for Scotland. They have been awful. They got to the quarter finals because of a terribly unconvincing (and lucky?) performance against Italy. Thay were certainly no better than either Wales or Ireland and while both those countries are up in arms and demanding wholesale changes to their whole rugby setups the scots are congratulating themselves on reaching a QF! In the cold light of day it is begining to feel that it would have been better for scottish rugby in the long term if Italy had won that group match.
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As an irishman I watched this game with mixed emotions...although I have to concede that had Ireland played Scotland they would probably have lost.
On reviewing the numerous blogs about the irish performance I kept seeing that there is no depth in the Irish squad (at least from those few wanting to defend EOS)..yet as I watched these two teams make changes in the last 30 minutes I was left wondering why Scotland and Argentina had players to come off the bench and we didn't.
And then I relaised...their coaches had confidence and guts to make changes and EOS didn't have a clue.
Hopefully Ireland will learn something from both these teams.
Congratulations to both Scotland and Argentina.
Fuerza los Pumas.
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Great win for Argentina! Not their best game, couldn't carry the load of being the favourites and having the chance of a historic victory very well (they haven't lost to Scotland since 1990 and they have never been to a semifinal before). Scotland helped a bit with many unforced errors. I think the referee did not have a great night: many wrong side entrances from scottish into mauls and rucks and a couple of unpunished high tackles, as well as R. Lamont unheard mark.
Pumas have matured in the last few years thanks to their professional playing. I'm thrilled to watch them play with so much passion, even if they shine more defensively!!
From now on, everything they do will be a great gift to Argentina's rugby!!! Keep the dream alive!!
Go Pumas!! Springboks are beatable, Fiji showed the cracks!!!
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One last comment;i dont wish to overstay my welcome.The problem with our rugby team and culture in general is one of mentality,prior to the tournament scotland stated a desire to reach the quarter finals,can you imagine the french or english making such a statement;of course not they go to win it,lack of ambition filters through the team and effects confidence,sometimes saying nothing rather than setting unambitious targets is required in the arena of competitive sport the alternative is an edge in psychology for your opponents.
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John Barret, a bit harsh on the Lamont brothers. They are the only real attacking threats that Scotland have, especially from broken play. One bad game from Rory and all of a sudden the world and it's mother are on his case!!
While i have a lot of respect for the way Argentina have performed in terms of results i hope to god that they do not make it to the final. They have played some of the most negative Rugby in the cup thus far. Fernandez according to one commentator last night kicked the ball 58 times against Ireland. 58 TIMES. Add to that at least the same number against France and then last night as well.
I am sick of watching them stick the ball in the air and chase it down. How much skill does this require. Yes it's effective but surely a world cup semi-finalist should be able to bring more to the table! I think that they have not shown what they are capable of as they have some wonderful footballers who are being worngly reduced to catch and chase merchants. Add to that the crap that they are getting away with at the breakdown. It's unbelievable. A strong referee will have a few argies in the bin one of these days for slowly strangly the life out of the game on the ground...
Well done to France who when these tactics did not work went back to what they know best and look where it got them. I hope that the team who displays the best overall capability wins and if that is Argentina well and good.
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can we play in the 3 nations? is the pumas a second line team? what do you think? please, give your opinions
sorry for my english
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Sean Lamont 5?
You must be joking - 0.5 would be generous. A dismal performance to round off a dismal world cup for him. Time he took a break from the squad. He can't/won't pass. Can barely catch. Woeful kicker. Terrible in defence. Selfish. Unintelligent. But can make a couple of yards, sometimes, by running straight into people 鈥 occasionally managing to retain the ball. It's hardly a surprise that opposition teams have figured out how to neutralise him.
Dear Old Uncle Frank has let him trade for too long off his reputation won a few years ago. He is not, for Scotland at least, the potent attacking threat he is supposed to be. None of our backs are particularly frequent scorers but his stats set him behind most of his back 3/back 5 colleagues. And it鈥檚 not like he鈥檚 a good support player either! In fact, he offers very little on the pitch 鈥 so let鈥檚 keep him off it.
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I have taken the time to calm down from my initial reaction of "we were rubbish" and gather my thoughts in the cold light of the day after. The Scots did not play as well as they can but I do not think we were as bad as some of the comments make out. The difference between a "wonderful kick" and a "schoolboy error" is marginal. Some of the kicks by Hernandez were magical but a bounce the other way or 6 inches to the right and they would have been "schoolboy etc". Let us not be too harsh on the Lamont boys. They have brought back a flair and excitement lomg missing from the Scotland setup. Remember games under previous coach! Frank Hadden has not been in charge for long and yet we were almost in a World Cup semi-final! Biggest mistake was perhaps not changing our game plane early enough. And maybe our wonderful skipper is not quite back to the exceptionally high performance levels he attained before his bad injury. To conclude - yes we could have played better, we could even have won. We did slip up - but we are so so much better now than 2 yaers ago and our team is young.
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cianmaho,i was just being lighthearted regarding lamonts hair,he is a decent player who had an off day,he certainly didnt cost scotland the win,a conservative game plan for 62 minutes did that.My wish for the future is that hadden will discard conservatism for which he is famous for and adopt more flair to the play ,last night people who get paid to do a job should be able to realise they had nothing to lose,those final twenty minutes proved scotland had it all along.
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glad to finally see both teams getting marked rather than just the home nations teams!
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32 "And you wonder why I will be cheering on France?"
No, not really, a thread about Scotland's performance and you resort to the same old hackneyed crap!
Didn't see your game, wanted to but my wife, selfishly, had a birthday on the same day.
It appears that the Lamont boys are getting a lot of stick.
Shame that, they may be loose cannons but excellent for rugby as a whole.
Grow up.
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48;the criticism of the lamonts is justified they were awful ,im sure they can take it on the chin there big enough ,in any case you admit to not seeing the game so why tell people to grow up,everybody is entitled to there opinion,as for the anti english stuff rise above it,,its nonsense,we dont all share such small minded views.peace.and good luck to the english in the semi.
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Last Sunday during the Rugby World Cup, watching the game between Scotland & Argentina, my heart was divided, because since I am an Ewan鈥檚 (McGregor) fan ( to me he is a versatile and great actor and also has an 鈥渋nusual鈥 original personality), Scotland have become a country to learn about at Internet.
So I was particularly interested in that game.
I don麓t agree with what Gordon said in his comment because during the game I realised that the Scottish team was a very good one to deal with (Chris Paterson one of the best), so I was very pleased to see such a good game!!! The Scots have nothing to be ashamed of.
But as an Argentinian, I became very proud for the success of our excellent team, the Pumas, of course!!!
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Interesting collection of tabloid adjectives being used "Lamontable" I agree that both Lamont's were not at their best and when they did catch it and have the ball in hand they ran straight at the opposition, isn't the idea to get past them? We all saw from previous games, and it has been observed by others in this posting, that Argentina are strong around the base and out to 10 but beyong that holes do appear as they did in the last 10 mins or so. No clear idea what the game plan was but if it was to tie Argentina up in ruck and maul and then put it wide to the 3/4s it did not happen. If that was not the plan then what was?
Our handling error count was huge, our penalty give away count was too high and did anyone see Jason White actually get the team together and give them a roasting and tell them to tighten things up? Is that not the Captain's role on the field and the coach's role off it?
At no time did Argentina look like they were doing enough to try and score, it looked to me like they were playing the penalty game as they can kick from halfway and beyond and we let them! We gave away 3 points thanks to Lamont's schoolboy error on calling the mark and not hoofing it off the park, we gave away 7 points with the charge down of Dan Parks low level clearance (memories of Italy anyone?) so a clear 10 points, or was it 13 that we gave away. The game was not won by Argentina it was lost by Scotland, we are better than this and we can do better, look at the lovely shortside try by Cusitter for example.
Getting back to the point of this which is the ratings, I agree with your scores except for the Lamonts who on this performance would have merited at least 1 point less and I think you are over generous to Argentina who, on the whole, played a grinding match with little or no inspiration hoping for the penalties. South Africa should destroy Argentina in the Semi and show that they are not that great a rugby playing team and more a defensive squad with a good kicker. What will be their squad in 4 years time when most of the pack are too old?
Scotland do have a youngish squad and they can improve, let's go for the grand slam in the 6 nations and treat this as a learning process.
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Re: comments from Cian Maho about Argentina's "negative" style of play. Ever heard of playing to your strengths? Is it about how you play or the results? Hadden's done a great job so far, but tactics on Sunday were wrong, compounded by some very poor performances on the night. Nerves?
Dewey bashing above is unjust. Tackles hard, runs hard when given the ball (which on Sunday was NEVER) and keeps forward momentum going for back line to run on to. This is Scotlands game; pacey, loose, almost "freestyle" Rugby. Forwards retention of the ball in ruck/maul was woeful to say the least. We only looked promising when we threw the ball around, and by that time it was too late. Pumas were hanging on, but we were the masters of our own downfall.
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Great win for Argentina! Not their best game, couldn't carry the load of being the favourites and having the chance of a historic victory very well (they haven't lost to Scotland since 1990 and they have never been to a semifinal before). Scotland helped a bit with many unforced errors. I think the referee did not have a great night: many wrong side entrances from scottish into mauls and rucks and a couple of unpunished high tackles, as well as R. Lamont unheard mark.
Pumas have matured in the last few years thanks to their professional playing. I'm thrilled to watch them play with so much passion, even if they shine more defensively!!
From now on, everything they do will be a great gift to Argentina's rugby!!! Keep the dream alive!!
Go Pumas!! Springboks are beatable, Fiji showed the cracks!!!
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deja vu? Well at least it seems Scotland have managed to stop throwing intercepted passes! The reason for that is the back line now lies deep (DEEEEEP!), which is from one extreme to the other when in the 6N this year they were just too flat, running flat is fine if you can hit the intended team mate (e.g O'Gara -> O'Driscoll, give Scotland those 2 and all our probs would be sorted overnight!) So now they lie so deep because they're scared and all the oppositions need to do is line them up for the tackle. I agree with most of the comments about S Lamont, I've never particularly rated him, apart from being a strong runner he has no other skill (hands like feet), If Simon Danielli hadn't injured his groin, S Lamont would never have been in the starting 15, but watch out, big Si's back and playing for Ulster this year (scoring in his first match) so keep an eye on the Magners League! Someone made the suggestion of Thom Evans of Glasgow for the wing as well, I've never seem him play but he's meant to be like S*it off a stick! Still young too so lets hope he gets his chance. He's also small, unlike the big clumsy wings we pick now, who says you have to be big to play rugby? Shane Williams, Christophe Dominici, need I say more?
Since the Borders split and it looked like for a moment Edinburgh were going the same way, a few of Scotlands players have gone down south or to France and Ireland. This could be very positive for the team. Frank Hadden will no longer be able to just pick players who play in Scotland, when some of his stars are elsewhere, and they can only improve with their new teams, how could Chris Cusiter or Kelly Brown ever be expected to mature in a team that finishes bottom of the league every year? (esp when demotion isn't a prob) With Cusiter going to Perpignan, R lamont and S Lawson (both Sale), S Taylor (Stade Francais), Chris Paterson (Gloucester),Rob Dewey and S Danielli (Ulster) hopefully these guys will all benefit from playing for good quality teams. There are still a lot of players at Edinburgh and Glasgow but I think those two teams are going to be much better this year with former England coach Andy Robinson at Edinburgh (ok we know England didn't do to well under him but he's surely an improvement) and Glasgow finishing very strongly last season. So maybe the future is bright, lets set our sights higher now Mr Hadden, we want to win the next 6N, not just our home games!
One wee gripe- I know its ITV and not 主播大秀 but when can we get a scottish commentator, and one whos actually watching the match, instead of Stuart Bloody Barnes!! (maybe the 主播大秀 will show the next RWC, some hope!)
Can't wait for the next two weekends, France to beat S Africa in the final, would you have believed it?!
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After years of abuse and Scottish fans continually stating they will be wearing the shirt/colours of any opposing team that England is playing whatever the sport how nice it was on Sunday to relax in my Argentinian shirt and cheer and cheer when they won.
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Can't disagree with the overall ratings, but the subs could have been marked higher.
Cusiter, Smith and Brown in particular brought a dynamism to the Scottish game which, if it had been there from the start, may well have seen a different result.
Maybe if the Lamonts had been let loose to run at the Argies from the start instead of playing 'boot tennis' they wouldn't have sunk into the pit of despair they both seemed to be in.
Frank coached his side to give nothing away, but with a bit more adventure from the start we could have gained something, rather than giving nothing away.
Still, where would we be without Frank. A laughing stock like we were when we had that Aussie, who's name I have managed to block from my memory banks!
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