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´óÏó´«Ã½ BLOGS - John Beattie

Archives for September 2011

Scotland blew World Cup game they had won

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John Beattie | 16:01 UK time, Sunday, 25 September 2011

Scotland can still qualify for the knockout stages in the . Georgia can beat Argentina and Scotland can beat England. It's tough, but it's achievable.

But the Scots should have reached the quarter-finals after . They blew a game they had won.

So the problem with blogs is that you have to say what you think about what you've just seen, so here's my honest opinion. The heart rate is back down again - these games aren't good for my health.

I thought Scotland had the game controlled and I saw three things that were the difference between winning and losing. Just three little things.

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Is Chalmers being overlooked?

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John Beattie | 16:55 UK time, Sunday, 18 September 2011

Who are the Scottish coaches we should be bringing through as the next generation? Is one outstanding former player being denied a professional coaching career because of a perceived 'bad boy' mentality?

It's strange analysing the . Almost every team in the world now plays the same way. A few forward hits to generate some momentum and then release it to the backs. If they keep the ball, bring it back a couple of passes to the forwards who will waste some time hitting up trying to get forward momentum for the backs to attack again.

That's very different to the way the likes of with his three distinct pods of players and shuffling the ball between those three attack points.

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Can the Six Nations change to become a bigger tournament?

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John Beattie | 18:24 UK time, Sunday, 11 September 2011

The World Cup causes us all problems - or at least .

After it I thought to myself: "hang on, if we can bring Italy into the fold and create the Six Nations do we have to stop there?"

What do you think, is there justification for saying that, actually, there should be promotion and relegation into an elite Northern Hemisphere tournament?

Could the Six Nations be expanded?

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The Rugby World Cup needs some upsets

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John Beattie | 20:00 UK time, Sunday, 4 September 2011

I so hope there is an upset in this World Cup. Will the Rugby World Cup ever be won, say, by Russia or the United States?

I know lots of football fans and football journalists and their argument is always that rugby has never really spread beyond six or seven teams who might win a tournament, and, because rugby is the game it is, upsets are rare.

There are only 20 nations heading for New Zealand, and it's pretty much a recognisable list.

Nigeria, Kenya and China, ranked 61st in the world despite its resources, aren't there. The Germans haven't made it, and the Indians are watching it on telly like me. I am glancing down the IRB rankings as I write this.

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