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What needs to change for Scotland - Beyond 80's full Six Nations analysis
By Grant Constable
Bernard Jackman and Sam Larner have taken a deep dive into what actually went wrong for Scotland in this past weekend's controversial Six Nations clash at Murrayfield.
Using data, they've delivered their verdict in the latest episode of Beyond80, which is now available on RugbyPass TV and RugbyPass's Youtube channel.
The pair look at how Scotland lost the game defensively and how they could have avoided young French winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey's try.
Scotland also proved their own worst enemy at times.
"This is two games in a row where Scotland have really tried as hard as they can to cough up a lead," says Larner.
"So in this game we're going to talk about Scotland really parking the bus. It's a term we hear a lot of in football and Scotland have brought that into rugby.
"When Scotland were either losing or fewer than four points in the lead, they carried 4.7 times per every kick. However, when they went more than four points in the lead, they actually kicked more than they carried. They essentially stopped playing."
For Wales, they felt that exits were a big problem, and provided the data to back that up.
"They had 13 exits in the game, and they gave the ball back to the English just 43 meters from the Welsh line, on average.
"In actual fact, five of those 13 they gave the ball back 30 meters from the Welsh line. And on two of those, they gave it back in the 22, one of those led to the Ben Earl try."
They also discuss England reverting to kicking tactics, and being successful with it.
"One of the things we saw in the World Cup, and one of the things that we see in the Six Nations - even though England have got more exciting - is that they want to play in the right areas.
"We look at the possession in the different halves, so Wales played 37% of possession in their own half, and for England it was just 31%. So England weren't interested in playing the ball if it was in their own half, they wanted to put it into the Welsh half and as we know, Wales struggled to exit, so England just piled that pressure on."
Another interesting discussion topic was how Ireland's passing game differs and what makes them such an attacking threat.
Watch the latest episode of Beyond80 exclusively now on RugbyPass TV or RugbyPass's Youtube channel.
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Latest Comments
i think Argentina v France could be a good game too, depending on which Argentina turns up. The most difficult to call is Scotland Australia.
Go to commentsSmith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
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