"The boys have got experience of going down there and getting results, so I think you need to make sure we're not caught off guard by their physicality," Horne said.
"There's been a lot in the press about them imposing their physicality on our weedy forwards. I think we'll need to make sure we're ready to match that. Our guys are certainly up for the physical challenge, especially off the back of a disappointing result.
"Having won the last four, there'll be a little bit of needle to add to what's always a very big game. It's a good challenge for our boys to get back on the horse and stay in the tournament."
Asked if the description of Scotland's forwards as "weedy" had circulated around the camp, Horne said that it hadn't been discussed, but that he saw the comment on an app on his phone and it made him giggle.
"I've been chucking that at the boys a little bit today just to wind them up," Horne added.
"That's the sort of thing, if I was a player, it would annoy me. I'd be looking forward to getting out on the park and proving everyone wrong."
Scotland's lack of physicality against Ireland was "an area that we were a bit disappointed with," he added. "We've done our review. There's been a lot of honest conversations.
"I know our boys are really keen to get out and right some wrongs. It's a great challenge. If we're serious about staying involved in the tournament and in the hunt for the competition, then we've got to go down and do this this weekend.
"We've got to go out there and perform. There'll be that desperation. That's what we want to see. We want to see that desperation to stay in the tournament."
Russell & Graham could feature for Scotland against Englandpublished at 17:14 17 February
17:14 17 February
Tom English BBC Scotland's chief sports writer
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Finn Russell passed an HIA but national team medics were uneasy about him continuing against Ireland
Scotland assistant coach Peter Horne says that Finn Russell and Darcy Graham are "progressing" through their concussion protocols but stresses that it's still too early to make a call on their availability for the Calcutta Cup on Saturday.
Graham clashed heads with Russell during the first half of Scotland's defeat by at Murrayfield earlier this month.
Both players were left prone on the turf and, while Russell walked off for a head injury assessment (HIA), Graham left the field on a stretcher and was taken to hospital before being released.
"They're both getting through their protocols at the moment," Horne said. "There's still a couple of days left until we finalise the team. There's a fair bit of training to do. Depending on how that goes, there's a chance that they can both play."
Russell and Graham did some light skills training in their training camp in Spain on Monday as they step up their return.
"We'll see how they are off the back of that," says Horne. "The view will be that they'll do a bit of training again tomorrow and then see how we go from there. They're both progressing pretty well. They're in good spirits."
Scotland travel to London on Thursday and will announce the team to play England that afternoon. Gregor Townsend has multiple decisions to make. If Russell and Graham are both ruled out then the probability is that Tom Jordan will move to 10 with Stafford McDowall or the fit-again Cam Redpath coming in at 12 with Kyle Rowe replacing Graham on the wing.
Gregor Brown and Jamie Ritchie are both vying for a starting place in the forwards as Townsend seeks to get his Six Nations campaign back on track after the dispiriting loss to Ireland.
Edinburgh 17-22 Zebre: Three things we learnedpublished at 10:46 17 February
10:46 17 February
Andrew Petrie BBC Sport Scotland
Image source, SNS
Edinburgh run out of lives
When Zebre's Guido Volpi was sent off for a dangerous high shot on Luke Crosbie, a cynic would have been forgiven for rolling their eyes.
Edinburgh looked like they were going to get away with it again. With 10 minutes to play, they faced 13 men and their knack of scoring late tries this season suggested they would be able to make their numerical advantage count.
However, they were met with a stern Zebre defence that held them up and then drove them down the pitch into their own territory, where the opposition try-line looked as far away as their play-off chances do now.
The luck ran out. There would be no late heroes. Instead, it will be a long two weeks of bitter reflection.
Where has the attack gone?
It wasn't a huge surprise to see Ross Thompson hop down the M8 to his hometown in the summer, but eyebrows were raised when he replaced Ben Healy as Edinburgh's first-choice fly-half.
Although Healy was the top points scorer in the URC last season, Edinburgh's attack looked blunt at times and Thompson was brought in to be the panacea.
It's not worked out like that. In one first-half passage of play, Thompson stood deep, then came flat, then stood deep. When none of that worked, he tried something off the cuff. That didn't work either.
He's not helped by the men outside him, running the same side-to-side lines with very little meaningful crash ball options.
Mosese Tuipulotu has impressed individually, but he and Thompson seem to be on completely different wavelengths.
Fragile Boffelli breaks down again
One of Edinburgh's biggest names made his first start of the season, but Argentina star Emiliano Boffelli came off with a knock in the 43rd minute.
Sadly, he is just not reliable and represents the biggest problem at Edinburgh - the big stars are not proving their weight in gold.
The stagnation and decline of the team since Sean Everitt took over has become alarming. There is little to no obvious progression, with the exception of a few more youngsters getting a shot.
However, the talented trio of Tom Currie, Liam McConnell, and Freddy Douglas need leaders to drag them up to the level required and right now, they have nowhere to turn.
'A new low' for Edinburgh while Smith leaving 'feels more and more inevitable'published at 10:13 17 February
10:13 17 February
It was a dramatic weekend in Scottish rugby as Edinburgh lost to lowly Zebre at home and, while Glasgow beat the Dragons, there was plenty of speculation about Franco Smith and the vacant Wales post, after he said he "would like to coach international rugby again"...
EDINBURGH
Darwin: Surely there can be no more excuses? The coach has to go. Edinburgh are in total free fall. What will it be like when they face a top side in the URC? I dread to think!
OV: An absolute shambles of a performance against a very limited team. We were utterly, utterly rank rotten, and have been pretty much all season. I'll be giving some serious thought to a season ticket at Scotstoun next year. Edinburgh are a painful watch these days.
Alan: The squad is talented but being at Edinburgh seems to bleed them of their abilities. They were bad against Zebre but it's now no surprise. Maybe now they can stop pretending that they're not in a crisis.
Neil: This feels like a new low, even for the most ardent of us season ticket holders. It's so hard to keep the faith and hold out much hope for the future, when week in, week out it's pretty much all the same. No flair. No clear gameplay. Slow and ponderous. There's nothing much to hang our hopes on.
GLASGOW & FRANCO SMITH
George: Franco needs to be given the Scotland job, he's too good a coach to be let go. He's brought through so many players when a year or two ago there were genuine fears no young players were coming. Every player has improved under him and has a mental edge that is sorely lacking in the Scottish team at the moment
Michael: Glasgow's strength-in-depth is beginning to show in these fixtures. the only slight concern is the reliance on old-hand Duncan Weir who, whilst excellent today, will not be with us next season. The opportunity to blood a new fly-half was there and needs to happen sooner, rather than later.
Ben: Despite our injury struggles, we have a relatively straightforward run-in and look in very good place for securing second in the table. It's hard to get too excited though, when Franco leaving is feeling more and more inevitable. Give us one more year Franco!
Monkfish: Smith has been excellent for Glasgow. Not surprised he's looking at another crack at an international job. But while all the attention's on the Wales vacancy, would he be in the running for Australia? Can't see the SRU pulling the plug on Townsend.
Glasgow boss Smith keen on international jobpublished at 19:28 16 February
19:28 16 February
Image source, Getty Images
Glasgow head coach Franco Smith has admitted he "would like to coach international rugby again" amid links with the vacant Wales job.
Former Italy boss Smith, who steered Glasgow to the URC title last season, was asked about his future before his side's 45-20 win at Dragons.
"I would like to coach international rugby again," Smith told Premier Sports.
"Most coaches dream of it. For now, I'm just focused on what's got to be done today. I'm still under contract with the Glasgow Warriors. You never know."
On the win, he said post match: "We were inaccurate. if you don't play week after week, a bit of rust accumulates. We've got boys out for two weeks who didn't play and they were just off it.
"[At half-time] We looked at what we needed to do better and the boys responded fantastically."
On Jack Mann's player-of-the-match performance, he added: "Jack wants to play in the Six Nations now. He's close, he's in the group, he's playing well.
"Everybody in the team had some individual motivation. He stepped up at the right time and proved he can play at the next level."
Glasgow Warriors secured their first ever win in the Celtic Challenge Cup as they defeated rivals Edinburgh 36-17 at Scotstoun.
First-half tries from Gemma Bell, Scotland international Mairi McDonald and Kate Yeomans had the hosts in front at the break, despite efforts from Lucy MacRae and Aila Ronald.
With a 19-12 half-time lead, Glasgow enjoyed the better of the second half too with Abi Evans, debutant Emily Norval, and player of the match Briar McNamara dotting down.
Merryn Gunderson did score late for the visitors, but it was not enough to save them from a fifth defeat in succession.
'Problem child Edinburgh an early test for Nucifora'published at 13:03 15 February
13:03 15 February
Tom English BBC Scotland's chief sports writer
Of all the troubling losses Edinburgh have suffered in the United Rugby Championship in recent seasons, and in a very stiff field, their defeat to Zebre on Friday night was a challenger for the most 'Edinburgh' of the lot.
Zebre were reduced to 14 men after 67 minutes and then got a red card in the 71st minute. So, against 14 players for seven minutes and against 13 for six minutes, Edinburgh still couldn't get the try that would have levelled the contest.
Their efforts - slow and plodding and utterly without conviction or invention - might have made their supporters cringe. Zebre had little bother repelling an attack so one-dimensional it made you wonder what on earth they do all week in training.
True, Edinburgh were missing important international players, but this kind of mishap hardly dropped out of the sky. This has been the way of it at Edinburgh for way too long.
Tenth last season and 12th the season before puts paid to the missing Test players argument. Even when they've had them they haven't been good enough to achieve the bare minimum of top eight in the league, a modest target for a squad funded to the tune of about £6m a season.
Zebre are improving. They've now won back-to-back away games which brings their total wins in this season's URC to four - double the number they managed in the three seasons before.
Edinburgh were, of course, kindly hosts. They didn't have some frontliners, but they had six of Gregor Townsend's current Six Nations squad plus Hamish Watson, Ali Price, and their player of the year last season, Wes Goosen. The 50-cap Puma Emiliano Boffelli was also back from injury, 15 of their 23 have played Test rugby.
The defeat will see Edinburgh drop out of the play-off spots by the end of the weekend. The black sheep of the SRU family, they've been nothing but trouble. No coach can seem to fire them up. Sean Everitt is toiling horribly, just as others toiled before him.
Douglas Struth is managing director of Edinburgh, but the power lies above him. This is an early test for new SRU chief executive Alex Williamson and new performance director David Nucifora.
They're not long in the building but five minutes observing the scene will have told them change is needed at Edinburgh. When you've only got two teams in the URC, Scottish Rugby cannot afford one of them to be a serial, and expensive, failure.
This falls into Nucifora's remit. When he first arrived in Scotland he gave a press conference outlining, in vague terms, what he hoped to achieve in the role. Since then, he's been announced on the Lions management ticket. He'll be gone for the summer. It's hardly a statement of intent in his new position.
If he's the SRU's performance director then you might have expected him to be with Scotland on their summer tour, but no.
Everything seems to be on the drift at Murrayfield right now. Scotland are facing a game to save their season at Twickenham next Saturday, the Under-20s are zero from two, Edinburgh have relapsed into dreary mediocrity under Everitt and even the one shining light, Glasgow, have some alarm bells ringing.
Franco Smith, the stellar coach who led them to URC glory last season, is high in the betting to succeed Warren Gatland at Wales. He's also been heavily linked with Leicester.
Glasgow and SRU sources become coy when asked about the Leicester connection. Smith, they say, has another year left on his contract and they will fight hard to keep him.
No doubt they will, but the Leicester chat is not going away. Wales? It's hard to see Smith going back to international coaching given the day-to-day stuff is what floats his boat the most. But every Warrior should be worried until the Leicester thing is put to bed.
Smith cannot be impressed with the Warriors allowing Tom Jordan and Jack Mann to leave and it would be a surprise if there weren't approaches for some of the other fine young players Smith has cultivated.
Edinburgh is the big issue, though. They're going nowhere, only up and down, bobbing along without direction. Everitt is a good man, but it's not happening for him. This goes deeper than a coach, but the rebuild has to start somewhere.
The new leadership at Murrayfield - Nucifora, primarily - had better start coming up with ways of helping the problem child, presuming there's time amid all that Lions planning that needs to be done.
Image source, SNS
Image caption,
Edinburgh have lost seven of their 11 URC outings this season
Edinburgh 17-22 Zebre: Have your saypublished at 21:54 14 February
21:54 14 February
Edinburgh's loss to Zebre was another low in a disappointing season for Sean Everitt's side, as the capital club were outclassed by their visitors at the Hive.
What did you make of the game? Where did it go wrong for Edinburgh?
Were there any positives to take? What must Everitt do now?
Edinburgh 17-22 Zebre: What Everitt saidpublished at 21:51 14 February
21:51 14 February
Image source, SNS
Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt told Premier Sports: "They put us under pressure, it's not something that we didn't prepare for. We lost the physicality battle, especially at the breakdown.
"If you look at the stats, we had 150 rucks to their 60-odd. They managed to put us under pressure there. We couldn't play, so credit to them - the passion they showed and the physicality they showed. They scored a good maul try against us and we take pride in our maul.
"It didn't happen this evening so back to the drawing board for Edinburgh.
"Something you can't measure is passion. There were a lot of guys who tried hard out there. Luke Crosbie was outstanding tonight. We'll have to go back and have a look at it.
"It's a contact sport and if you don't win the contact, you're always going to be on the back-foot and we lost momentum there.
"The Munster game becomes important. We're not dead in this competition, everyone is alive, but we need to pick ourselves up on Monday, work harder and start winning away from home.
"We had enough time to prepare. Everyone is in the same position. The Italians also play in the Six Nations. We have to look at ourselves."
Bhatti & Horne among five returning Scotland players for Warriorspublished at 14:50 14 February
14:50 14 February
Image source, SNS
Image caption,
Jamie Bhatti and George Horne will be part of the Glasgow XV on Sunday
Glasgow welcome back five players from Scotland's Six Nations camp for the URC game with Dragons at Rodney Parade on Sunday.
George Horne, Jamie Bhatti, Euan Ferrie, Jack Mann and Ollie Smith all start, while there is a return from injury for second-row Jare Oguntibeju, who has caught the eye in his three appearances so far.
Youngsters Duncan Munn, Fin Richardson and Alex Samuel keep their places from the side that beat Connacht three weeks ago.
Grant Stewart makes a first start of the season at hooker, with Johnny Matthews only taking a spot on the bench, and Smith continues at outside centre.
Duncan Weir captains for the second consecutive game from fly-half, while Argentine winger Sebastian Cancelliere makes his 50th Warriors appearance.
On the bench, there are potential debutants for back-row Maccenzie Duncan and winger Kerr Johnston.
Glasgow are second in the table while Dragons lie eight points adrift at the bottom.
Warriors head coach Franco Smith said: "We know the Dragons have talented players throughout their squad, and will be playing for a passionate home support.
"We're also pleased to include Macenzzie and Kerr in our matchday 23 once more, and to see Sebastian reach 50 appearances - he is someone who knows what it means to be a Warrior and always gives 100%."
Edinburgh given Boffelli boost for Zebrepublished at 12:54 13 February
12:54 13 February
Image source, SNS
Winger Emiliano Boffelli is set to make his long-awaited comeback from injury when Edinburgh host Zebre in the URC on Friday.
The Argentina international, who will make his first appearance of the season since recovering from back surgery, is one of eight changes for Sean Everitt's side from the defeat to Scarlets last month, and the head coach is delighted to call on the 30-year-old again.
"We're delighted to welcome Emiliano back to the team," Everitt said. "He has worked incredibly hard to return to full fitness and I know how proud he is to be pulling on the Edinburgh jersey once again."
Boffellli's fellow winger Ross McCann returns from a calf injury to start at Hive Stadium too, while Mosese Tuipulotu, at inside centre, and Ross Thompson, at stand-off, also join the backline.
Scotland squad players D'Arcy Rae, Marshall Sykes, Luke Crosbie, Paddy Harrison and Matt Currie are all available and will start against Zebre, with Crosbie captaining the team.
Tom Currie, the younger brother of Matt, who made his debut at Parc y Scarlets last month, makes his first professional start at number eight, but Ben Muncaster and Harry Paterson both miss out due to concussion.
The Edinburgh players will wear the socks of their boyhood teams against Zebre as part of the URC's 'Origin Round', where the league encourages teams, players and fans to celebrate the communities and people who helped launch the careers of hundreds of rugby players and coaches.
Edinburgh: Goosen, Boffelli, M. Currie, Tuipulotu, McCann; Thompson, Price; Venter, Harrison, Rae, Sykes, Young, Crosbie, Watson, T. Currie.
Replacements: Morris, Hislop, Hill, Skinner, McConnell, Vellacott, Healy, Lang.
Why do some Scotland fans want rid of Townsend?published at 16:11 12 February
16:11 12 February
BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Scottish rugby questions.
James asked: Do you think the Scotland team has an attitude problem? I watch Glasgow week in and week out and there always seems to be some tenacity to them but at international level, the same players seem to lose it.
Tom answered: No, I think it's more complicated than that. There was nothing wrong with their attitude in Dublin 12 months ago, or against France in Edinburgh, or against South Africa in Murrayfield in the autumn. These are honest players who are giving everything.
I don't want to come over all Sigmund Freud here, but I wonder about their absolute desperation to beat Ireland and whether they out-psyched themselves beforehand.
Were they too emotional? To me, they lacked aggression in the first 30 minutes on Sunday and I've watched those minutes over and over in an attempt to find out why.
Ireland are very, very good, obviously, but the way they dominated physically (at Murrayfield!) was odd.
Whatever the rights and wrongs about Gregor Townsend's gameplan, it didn't stand a chance if it wasn't accompanied by a manic aggression. That's what I was expecting, but it was 17-0 before Scotland roused themselves. Too late.
Did they want it too much and exhaust themselves as a result? I don't know. It's a theory.
Stair asked: Why do so many so-called fans want rid of Gregor Townsend? Do they not remember the 20 years of chaos before he was appointed? Is there another top-class coach prepared to take on the poison chalice of Scotland? Be very careful what you wish for.
Tom answered: That's exactly the point Johnnie Beattie made on the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast. Anybody who doesn't acknowledge how far Townsend has taken this team isn't worth listening to.
He's done really, really well to get Scotland to the point whereby they have dominated England for much of his reign. They're now well over the Wales hoodoo, they've been very competitive against France, they've beaten Australia four times out of five, they've played well in defeat in both games against New Zealand on Townsend's watch.
This has to be a balanced debate or else what's the point? The flip side to the positive argument is there's been two dismal World Cup campaigns, there's this on-going horror show against Ireland and a legitimate sense of 'has he taken this team as far as he can?'
It's too early to say that, but the next three games are very, very important. Even there, there are nuances.
Scotland are stymied by injuries right now. Sione Tuipulotu would be in the midfield, Dylan Richardson would be very much in the frame as back-up hooker, Scott Cummings would be in the second-row, Max Williamson would probably be in the 23 as would Andy Onyeama-Christie and possibly Josh Bayliss.
That's a lot of guys missing, which just makes the Townsend debate all the more complex.
Malcolm asked: Scotland show they can 'out rugby' most teams but get bullied by Ireland and South Africa. We match their skills and speed but do not have the power players they do. How do we address this?
Tom answered: On occasion, they do have the power, that's the frustrating thing. If they didn't have a lot of power they wouldn't have beaten England four times in a row.
For large chunks of the game against the Boks, they were very attritional. None of that was visible against Ireland on Sunday and that was part of why it was so disappointing.
I'd argue that if you could get Tuipulotu and Cummings into this team then your power factor increases substantially. If you then add Williamson, Onyeama-Christie and/or Bayliss to the squad then you're really getting there.
Jonny Gray and Grant Gilchrist have been unbelievable players for Scotland for many years but they're not offering nearly enough with ball in hand. Scotland needs to move on and bring in the carriers. Cummings has been a huge loss.
Listen to BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast as Beattie defends Townsend recordpublished at 12:45 12 February
12:45 12 February
Media caption,
'My Scotland generation were utterly rubbish'
Former Scotland number eight Johnnie Beattie joins Andy Burke and Tom English to rake over the Six Nations defeat by Ireland, Gregor Townsend's future and the upcoming trip to Twickenham.
How Glasgow have got 'creative' in URC build-uppublished at 21:21 11 February
21:21 11 February
Daldeep Kaur BBC Sport Scotland
Image source, SNS
Pete Murchie revealed Glasgow Warriors have got "creative" to prepare for their return to URC action by facing Edinburgh and Scotland Under-20s in training.
Warriors, with a squad depleted by Scotland players competing in the Six Nations, play their first game in three weeks when they visit bottom club Dragons on Sunday.
"We were off after the Connacht game, so that looked after itself, and then we had a training session against Edinburgh last week which was really good," assistant coach Murchie told BBC Scotland.
"Obviously we're low on numbers, so to be able to go 15 on 15 and perhaps against people who don't know what you're doing, was important. And then we've got the Under-20s here today, so you have to be a little bit more creative.
"Maybe you haven't got the numbers you normally would, but there's ways and it's good that we're aligned in the country.
"We're a small enough country that we should be able to get together and help each other out, so it's good that we're doing that.
"We're seeing the Six Nations off this weekend - all eyes are going to be on URC."
Jordan excited for 'hostile' Twickenham atmospherepublished at 17:43 11 February
17:43 11 February
Image source, SNS
Tom Jordan is relishing the prospect of a "hostile" atmosphere and "very physical" Calcutta Cup showdown with England in his first away game for Scotland.
All six of the Glasgow back's caps have come at Murrayfield so far, with the trip to Twickenham on 22 February set to be his first start away from Edinburgh in dark blue.
New Zealand-born Jordan, who can operate at stand-off, full-back and centre, said: "From all the (Calcutta Cup) games I've watched and even the last few years when a lot of my mates have played for Scotland down there and done really well there, you can tell how the English think of the Scottish.
"I'm sure the atmosphere will be amazing there and obviously they're coming off a big win (over France). It'll be exciting to get down there. I'm sure all the boys will be looking forward to it."
Jordan believes having a free weekend to stew over their 32-18 defeat by Ireland can benefit the squad and he hopes they can go "flying into the game next week".
"I think it's good we've got the weekend off to sort of refresh and get the bodies right, so we should be flying into the game next week," said the 26-year-old.
"I think it's just about getting back on the horse, fixing up what we need to and we go again.
"Speaking probably as a fan at this moment, because I haven't experienced it myself, it's probably going to be pretty hostile.
"I'm sure England will be pretty keen to get one on us, so you could imagine how they'll prepare for that game. I'm sure they'll have a bit more sting in their tackles, for sure. It'll be very physical as there's obviously a lot to play for, for both teams."
Both sides go into the game with a record of one win and one defeat and hooker Ewan Ashman admits Scotland have to bounce back after their defeat to Ireland.
"There's no dancing around it, it's a huge game," said the 24-year-old Edinburgh forward.
"We have to bounce back from Sunday. It will test the resilience of the team. They'll be absolutely flying after their last result so it'll be a real test for the boys."
'Boffelli return a real fillip as URC resumes'published at 15:08 11 February
15:08 11 February
Sandy Smith Fan writer
This is an Edinburgh column but it's been written in the wake of Sunday's Scotland game, so you'll understand my frustration if I mention that Ireland are an excellent team and would still be even if they played within the rules occasionally.
As well as being a good team they somehow manage to get inside the Scottish psyche before a man in a green shirt is offside or a deliberate knock-on actually happens.
There is rugby this weekend as the United Rugby Championship resumes and Edinburgh take on Zebre Parma on Friday night. It's a pretty big game for the capital side. Only five points separate sixth from 12th and Edinburgh are currently sitting in eighth at the heart of that maelstrom.
It's a game Edinburgh should win as our record against Zebre is very good. We have played them 19 times and only lost four. But, and it's the usual but, when it comes to Edinburgh, we can confound even the smartest betting algorithm.
To add to the jeopardy it's hard to see what team we will be able to put out.
As far as Scotland releases go, none of the following have played any part in the opening two games of the Six Nations and could be made available - Luke Crosbie, Matt Currie, Patrick Harrison, D'Arcy Rae, and Marshall Sykes.
Ben Muncaster is good to go and there is exciting news that Emiliano Boffelli is fit, which is a real fillip.
Edinburgh should be good enough to continue a winning streak against Zebre that goes back to 2018, just so long as we approach it on the basis that they have only won one less game in their campaign than we have and react accordingly.
'Scotland have sadly reached a ceiling'published at 16:36 10 February
16:36 10 February
We asked for your views after Scotland's humbling 18-32 loss to Ireland in the Six Nations. Here's a taste of what you had to say...
Hugh: Since Gregor Townsend took over, we have achieved nothing. Middle of the road every time in championships like the World Cup and Six Nations. With our talent, there should be more power. His team selections have not been good. It's time at the end of this Six Nations to boot him into touch and get someone better.
Ian: Second-best in every facet of the game today. Played more in the two minutes either side of half-time than we did in the first 38 minutes. We need to find a way to take control of games when the tide is going against us.
Andy: How much longer do we have to put up with a sub-standard coach in Gregor Townsend? He's failed to qualify from groups in the last two World Cups and is unable to get the best out of a talented group of players. Against Ireland, he didn't have the players ready to cope with pressure and while unlucky with injuries, he's simply not good enough.
Craig: This isn't an anti-Townsend post, as I think he has done a reasonable job with this side over the years, but it feels like we need someone else now. Some fresh ideas, a new voice, particularly against the top teams in the world as we never lay a glove on them. It's another Six Nations where we are going to be also-rans.
Stu: Not a great performance. Ireland have our number and losing two of our key players at the outset didn't set us up well. The challenge is coming back from this. Scotland have sadly reached a ceiling.
Dave: Ireland capitalised on the Scottish mistakes, the same mistakes they showed against Italy. The game plan went out of the window and then chaos ensued. This game was talked up as being a close one, and even maybe a banana skin for Ireland. The Irish blew us away and I'm dreading the Calcutta Cup.
Image source, SNS
