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Forget baby oil - Scotland opt for an altogether cleaner lubricant

The incident happened in the French town of Nevers.

Scotland have brushed up their act ahead of Sunday’s wet and wild World Cup opener with Ireland – by practising with balls soaked in shampoo.

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Gregor Townsend’s team are forecast to kick-off their campaign in Yokohama amid a torrential thunderstorm this weekend.

But the Dark Blues coach has been expecting things to get slippery regardless while his team are sweating it out in Japan.

The Scots have been based in Nagasaki as they complete their final preparations for the tournament, where temperatures of up to 33 degrees and humidity levels of almost 75 per cent have been recorded.

Now assistant coach Mike Blair has revealed the lengths they have gone to ensure there are no spills when they square off against Joe Schmidt’s number one ranked side in the world.

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He said: “We had the shampoo and conditioner out over the ball when we were back in Edinburgh. Since coming here to Nagasaki it’s mainly just been water because the sweat is more of an issue.

“The wet is obviously not ideal, but the sweat is difficult to deal with.

“The conditions here in Nagasaki have been tough with the heat. It is likely to be wet and a bit cooler in Tokyo, but I never trust the weather forecast.

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“Yesterday it said there was a 100 per cent chance of rain (on Sunday) and today it says a 50 to 60 per cent chance, which means it wasn’t a 100 per cent chance the day before!

“So there will be a drop in temperature but difficult conditions to play in. It is good they have been training in the heat here, so they will be able to adapt to that as well.”

A downpour will favour Ireland with their structured approach certainly more than Townsend’s free-flowing Scots.

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But Blair insists the Dark Blues have a gameplan that will allow them to make a splash of their own.

“In every game we go in with different strategies depending on who we are playing and what the conditions are.” he explained. “We have got a lot of personnel in our team who are very good in (wet) conditions like that as well.

“We are known as a team who want to play a lot of rugby and move the ball around quickly, and we feel very comfortable doing that. But we also feel we have got guys in the squad who are capable of playing in different conditions as required.”

Ireland have had the recent bragging rights over Scotland, winning six out of the last seven contests between the teams.

But with both squads familiar with each other due to their frequent clashes on club and Test duty, Scotland stand-off Adam Hastings is predicting a feisty affair.

“They are a really well-drilled team and they have got a really good set-piece, and some good half-backs who try to control the game very well,” he said.

“They are a big side as well so we have just to be really brutal around the contact area and try to rumble up their set-piece a bit. If we can slow down their ball and make life hard for their half-backs, that will bode well for us.

“In any international it is going to be feisty, but there are obviously rivalries there in these games. It will be an intense game and there will be a lot of big shots going in, which is what people want to see and it is what you want as a player as well, so I am looking forward to it.”

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J
JWH 39 minutes ago
Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

Interesting take, crazy to see the amount of delulu NZ fans here. I am an NZ fan, but this is atrocious.


I am fine with 75%+, in fact I think that is excellent, but the main point of anguish is not IF we win or lose, it is how. I think that Razor has finally got us playing to our identity again; flowing, simple, and brutally decisive & efficient.


There are certainly some issues that the stats reflect, like the scrum and lineout. However, at scrum time, there isn't really much variation, in terms of attack, you can put on that. So at the end of the day, not much to do differently apart from 'scrum better'.


However, the lineout is quite interesting. As Ryan said earlier this week, the ABs have added a lot of depth and combinations to their lineout, with FOUR lineout options (Barrett, Vaai, Savea, Sititi). While they did only retain 80% possession from lineouts (not great), the stat line is actually 12/15, which is pretty good, considering Aumua did all those lineout with limited experience and tiredness after playing 75 minutes at Twickenham.


There are also some really good stats to back up the ABs. They managed to stay out of their own 22 for a lot of the game, however they also didn't set up camp in the opp 22 often either. They are also passing the ball a lot, clocking in at 211 passes, double that of England. These stats show a return to attacking, flowing rugby, and not playing your own 22, which is the ABs style.


What I think Razor wants to do is make effective use of draw and pass, simple rugby. This can be pre or post contact, but you have to draw more than 1 player. For example, that Sititi offload to Telea, or BB to Jordan. Those were excellent, yet overall simple passages of rugby This can be risky at times (just watch DMac play), but it is a medium risk high reward gameplan.


What we Kiwis want is exciting rugby. We want hard defense, big hits, cool plays, and quick linebreaks. I cannot imagine being an SA fan between 2018-2021, which was one of the most boring rugby teams of all time (respectfully). I also cannot imagine being an England fan right now, so dull. But the ABs are making rugby exciting again, playing like Scotland and Fiji, but better.

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