I agree that Johnson seems intent on destroying morale before cotter arrives. That said I think the Scots have a decent packand a potentially very good 3/4s lline. Hogg is as good a fullback as is out there. They don't have an international halfback pairing though and their goal kicking is average. A team like Scotland need a 85% goalkicker to stay competitive. I don't know why the SRU don't bring tom heathcote up from bath to Edinburgh. He's a decent 10 who is on bench behind George ford . He's a good goalkicker and he's already capped by Scotland. Neither weir or Jackson are strong enough to lead the team. Laidlaw isn't a good enough scrum half either and only starts IMO because of his goalkicking.

Anyone else starting to feel sorry for the Scottish international team at this stage? Johnson is a lame duck but seems intent on making his mark until the end. Dropping his captain Kelly Browne completely after a fairly competent performance in Dublin. Taking Denton off early against England when he was the only player causing them trouble, and this week drops him to the bench. I thought Rob Harley was great last time he played Ireland and now he's nowhere to be seen, I don't think he's injured? Instead he has Ryan Wilson at 6 when Warriors list him as an 8.

Starting Weir over his more experienced senior team mate Jackson, then seemingly using Weir mainly for defense (joint top tackler against Ireland). I think Weir could be used effectively as a second 5/8th, his is small but not afraid to tackle and could offer more play making opportunities. I didn't rate Peter Horne Glasgow's 12 until I saw him at the sportsground but he has a touch of class and would also be a more than competent option. Johnson tried him at 10 in the summer and now again he's nowhere to be seen.


Hopefully Visser would be back on the wing if he was fit but Fife would be an obvious replacement but instead he insists on picking three centres, which destroyed any counter attacking possibility against Ireland after Maitland was injured. Picking Richie Gray when his brother has been playing better. You could probably go on.

Because Scotland don't have much quality in the front row I don't think they can be properly competitive just yet but a competent coach picking the best in form players in their best positions should be able to cause a bigger headache for opposition. Vern Cotter is due to take over at the end of the season but the SRU are keeping Johnson in a different position. They also decided not to buy Cotter out of his Clermont contract which was a mistake imo.