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'They sound likes the Krankies' - Murrayfield PA in firing line over empty stadium cacophony
By Ian Cameron
Stadium public announcement (PA) systems are a bugbear for many fans, but Murrayfield took the biscuit in the lead up to Scotland's Guinness Six Nations match with Ireland, blasting music and announcements out to an empty stadium.
The BBC punditry team of Gabby Logan, John Barclay, Martin Johnston were drowned out in the lead-up to the game drawing fire from angry fans online. At times Logan and co were forced to shout across to each other, such was the din reverberating around the empty stadium.
Uninhabited stadiums are the norm during the pandemic of course, but many unions have insisted on running their PA systems regardless, perplexing fans sitting at home.
"What is it with the PA controller at Murrayfield? Even with a virtually empty stadium they seem determined to deafen," wrote Brian Moore.
They need to drown out the constant howling gales that blow across Murrayfield from January to , er, December.
— Peter Morris (@petermorris1878) March 14, 2021
Cynics might claim it was a bid to distract away teams running their pre-match drills, but that would have an equally detrimental effect on the home side.
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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