Snipe Watson wrote:
Not that Hook would be my first choice as an expert witness, but on RTE he specifically deflected McGurks finger pointing away from Best saying that Flan was better than Rory at the lineout (which is true), but they were all responsible. His big issue was the non appearance of Cullen. Conor O'Shea, who may just know what he is talking about, said something similar.
Conor O'Shea certainly does know what he's talking about and I agreed with him that Cullen should have been introduced.
Hook, despite spouting a lot of drivel, does occasionally get it right.
McGurk truly is a tosser of the highest order and should not be on national television in my opinion.He will always try and blame Ulster players where he can but not because of provincial bias normal supporters are afflicted with.
Again it is easy to just blame the hooker every time the lineout malfunctions and there are times when it is entirely their fault.However in this case it is obvious there is collective responsibility from both players and management team.The question I'd ask is why our management team have allowed our lineout to become predictable enough for the Scots to tear it apart at will.Not good enough to just say that Scotland have a great lineout.We are supposed to have a great lineout so why could we not baulk at least a majority of their attempts to take our ball and also to compete effectively on their throw.Management team, together with main lineout organisers as well as the rest of the pack, need to go away now and see what can be done to put this right in future and supporters need to stop always looking to blame an individual for an aspect of play that relies on at least three players every lineout and which the entire pack contribute to over the course of the game.
It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.