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What can Hearts learn from Scottish rugby?


Finlay James

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I watched the Calcutta cup match yesterday, as I do all Scottish rugby matches and it felt incredible.  I was so proud of the passion and the skill by which Scotland used to, in the end, easily defeat a very good England side.  The win was no fluke.  Gregor Townsend has set his stall up that Scotland will play an expansive attacking game based on 'organized mayhem' and ruthlessness in winning the ball back and we did just that.

 

Thats not enough to win consistently though.  Scotland won because they were so accurate and not only made England make mistakes, they ruthlesslessly punished them as well (think our 4-0 win v Celtic and you get the picture).

 

now, I get that these are international players and that the same level is not going to necessarily be found at club or provincial level but it did get me thinking about Hearts.  Pep Guardiola, for example, regularly spends time with rugby coaches, learning the principles of ball retention and turnover and much of his philosophy at Barcelona and now Man City is built upon this.  It's pretty basic stuff.  I get that both Barca and City have some of the worlds best but why not adopt this at Hearts?  Passing accuracy, movement, retaining the ball, winning it back, knowing the rules of the game to the letter and playing on the edge of these should not be traits exclusive to rugby or top footballers.

 

Not just rugby either.  Sven Goran-Ericsson copied the principles and movement used in ice hockey when he had his first managers post in Sweden and it was a huge success.

 

Scotland didn't do anything different to what England tried but they just did it 10-20% better and that is what great teams do.  Id love to see Hearts learn from this, work harder at the basics.  If we did, we'd easily have won yesterday and would see more results like the one against Celtic.

 

discuss

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It was the first win in 10 years... Sounds like a fluke to me!

 

Certainly bizarre to give Scottish Rugby as an example of consistency.

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Football’s a tougher game to master possession.

 

Maybe we’ll see Hearts teams like this in years to come if our youth program bears fruit?

 

But I doubt we could teach old dogs new tricks with the current lot.  A lot of success in football comes down to the players you choose to come to your club.

 

The type and quality.

 

But I do agree there’s no doubt at the moment we could be promoting and working at a more positive system in the first team.

 

Lads like Cochrane who have tremendous potential need a system and style that promotes more expansive football. 

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Ironically, Scottish Rugby's only contribution to yesterday's performance was Euan Henderson who had an absolute  rabbit in the headlights, stinker of a game.

 

One of the main reasons we couldnt maintain possession was that we were effectively playing with 10 men.  It's a worry that he was the same at Easter Road.

 

On a more positive note, Cochrane looks a very special young player indeed.

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15 minutes ago, Finlay James said:

I watched the Calcutta cup match yesterday, as I do all Scottish rugby matches and it felt incredible.  I was so proud of the passion and the skill by which Scotland used to, in the end, easily defeat a very good England side.  The win was no fluke.  Gregor Townsend has set his stall up that Scotland will play an expansive attacking game based on 'organized mayhem' and ruthlessness in winning the ball back and we did just that.

 

Thats not enough to win consistently though.  Scotland won because they were so accurate and not only made England make mistakes, they ruthlesslessly punished them as well (think our 4-0 win v Celtic and you get the picture).

 

now, I get that these are international players and that the same level is not going to necessarily be found at club or provincial level but it did get me thinking about Hearts.  Pep Guardiola, for example, regularly spends time with rugby coaches, learning the principles of ball retention and turnover and much of his philosophy at Barcelona and now Man City is built upon this.  It's pretty basic stuff.  I get that both Barca and City have some of the worlds best but why not adopt this at Hearts?  Passing accuracy, movement, retaining the ball, winning it back, knowing the rules of the game to the letter and playing on the edge of these should not be traits exclusive to rugby or top footballers.

 

Not just rugby either.  Sven Goran-Ericsson copied the principles and movement used in ice hockey when he had his first managers post in Sweden and it was a huge success.

 

Scotland didn't do anything different to what England tried but they just did it 10-20% better and that is what great teams do.  Id love to see Hearts learn from this, work harder at the basics.  If we did, we'd easily have won yesterday and would see more results like the one against Celtic.

 

discuss

 

Not to sur if your serouis , first Calcutta win in ten years and suddenly we need to learn from the Scottish rugby elite ? What happen a few weeks ago against our leek loving friends 

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18 minutes ago, David McCaig said:

It was the first win in 10 years... Sounds like a fluke to me!

 

Certainly bizarre to give Scottish Rugby as an example of consistency.

 

Yeah

 

Where was all this when Scorland were hammerd by Wales or destroyed and humiliated by England last year

 

But the answer is - RESULTS 

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It’s not so much what Hearts can learn it’s more football in general! no being such a big wus when they get a tap on the shin,respect the referee even if he has got it wrong? Play the game in a fair manner no fecking cheating and try put in some effort no ponce about o pretty and nice just in your quiff gets messed up! 

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Whilst I am obviously pleased when Scotland beat England in any sport, the reaction to yesterday’s game is all very Hibs. 

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Scottish rugby essentially started again a few years back, Glasgow looked to youth coming through and stopped importing talent. The SRU increased the funding and coaching of young Scottish players and now Scotland are bearing the fruits of this. Edinburgh are now doing well too, which means our national team should get stronger.

 

The win wasn't a fluke, we've been slowly improving for 3 years now.

 

The point is: we are doing what Scotland have done. It takes time. Hogg, Russell et all have been on the scene for years now and we've only just picked up a result against England.

 

3 games ago we were utterly humbled by Wales. But then we beat a team sitting well above us. We still have a crap away record. Sound familiar?

 

If you think Scotland rugby happened overnight then you've been asleep since 1999.

 

It's taken patience and heart break many times over and we still aren't there yet. We're still behind both England and Ireland.

 

3 years ago we got the wooden spoon. Now we'll probably finish 3rd, or at a push 2nd.

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Lord Beni of Gorgie

As good a win as it was for the egg chasers. I doubt they will back it up and have been recently smashed by Wales and England. Hearts smashed Celtic. 

 

Understandable euphoric OP but the answer is very little 

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It doesn't matter what the sport is, you need the players good enough to compete. Currently Hearts have too many players just not good enough.And a bit of ambition form the head coach too. 

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44 minutes ago, Padre said:

It’s not so much what Hearts can learn it’s more football in general! no being such a big wus when they get a tap on the shin,respect the referee even if he has got it wrong? Play the game in a fair manner no fecking cheating and try put in some effort no ponce about o pretty and nice just in your quiff gets messed up! 

Problem is, in rugby there is no advantage in feigning injury - in fact, it’s a sign of weakness - but in football you can win the foul and get an opponent carded. 

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Francis Albert

Glad I am not the only one who thought the performance of Scotland yesterday bore some resemblance to our performance against Celtic at Tynecastle in December. Except we didn't let Celtic get on the score sheet and so threaten a come back..

Unfortunately a bit of a one-off for us.

The big test for Scotland Rugby is coming up in a couple of weeks in Dublin. Scotland's away form in the six nations also bears comparison with our away form esp in Glasgow.

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16 minutes ago, E6 Inc said:

Scottish rugby essentially started again a few years back, Glasgow looked to youth coming through and stopped importing talent. The SRU increased the funding and coaching of young Scottish players and now Scotland are bearing the fruits of this. Edinburgh are now doing well too, which means our national team should get stronger.

 

The win wasn't a fluke, we've been slowly improving for 3 years now.

 

The point is: we are doing what Scotland have done. It takes time. Hogg, Russell et all have been on the scene for years now and we've only just picked up a result against England.

 

3 games ago we were utterly humbled by Wales. But then we beat a team sitting well above us. We still have a crap away record. Sound familiar?

 

If you think Scotland rugby happened overnight then you've been asleep since 1999.

 

It's taken patience and heart break many times over and we still aren't there yet. We're still behind both England and Ireland.

 

3 years ago we got the wooden spoon. Now we'll probably finish 3rd, or at a push 2nd.

 

Totally agree and cheers for adding the context as to why yesterday was no fluke.

 

Whilst I agree that the likes of Russell and Hogg have been developing for 4-5 years and we are doing something similar with our young players, guys like John Barclay, Greg Laidlaw, David Denton who have been around the block and suffered in some awful Scotland teams prove that you can teach old dogs new tricks.

 

Barclay, for example, was world class yesterday and looked 100x the player he was 5 years ago.  Therefore, if we apply this to our more established players, there should be no reason that Cowie, Hughes, Smith, Buaben can't get the basics right more consistently, play at a higher level of performance and aid the development of Cochrane, McDonald etc in a more meaningful way.

 

Hearts will get there under Leveins blueprint, we'll be seriously competing for the league domestically and doing better in Europe within the next 8-10 years.  I think though, if our experienced players applied themselves and led by example better, we would get there quicker.

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crichiejambos
21 minutes ago, Nookie Bear said:

Problem is, in rugby there is no advantage in feigning injury - in fact, it’s a sign of weakness - but in football you can win the foul and get an opponent carded. 

Aye cheating! 

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4 minutes ago, crichiejambos said:

Aye cheating! 

:spoton: see this MSM and ex players talking pish like" he was entitled to down" or he was clever. They are part of the problem, especially regarding you know who. Sick of it. A bunch of cheating b@#£%&D's.

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11 minutes ago, crichiejambos said:

Aye cheating! 

 

Well yeah, but I meant there is a clear benefit in going down easily, unlike in rugby. 

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12 hours ago, Finlay James said:

I watched the Calcutta cup match yesterday, as I do all Scottish rugby matches and it felt incredible.  I was so proud of the passion and the skill by which Scotland used to, in the end, easily defeat a very good England side.  The win was no fluke.  Gregor Townsend has set his stall up that Scotland will play an expansive attacking game based on 'organized mayhem' and ruthlessness in winning the ball back and we did just that.

 

Thats not enough to win consistently though.  Scotland won because they were so accurate and not only made England make mistakes, they ruthlesslessly punished them as well (think our 4-0 win v Celtic and you get the picture).

 

now, I get that these are international players and that the same level is not going to necessarily be found at club or provincial level but it did get me thinking about Hearts.  Pep Guardiola, for example, regularly spends time with rugby coaches, learning the principles of ball retention and turnover and much of his philosophy at Barcelona and now Man City is built upon this.  It's pretty basic stuff.  I get that both Barca and City have some of the worlds best but why not adopt this at Hearts?  Passing accuracy, movement, retaining the ball, winning it back, knowing the rules of the game to the letter and playing on the edge of these should not be traits exclusive to rugby or top footballers.

 

Not just rugby either.  Sven Goran-Ericsson copied the principles and movement used in ice hockey when he had his first managers post in Sweden and it was a huge success.

 

Scotland didn't do anything different to what England tried but they just did it 10-20% better and that is what great teams do.  Id love to see Hearts learn from this, work harder at the basics.  If we did, we'd easily have won yesterday and would see more results like the one against Celtic.

 

discuss

Can't possibly make a comparison. Are you suggesting we get a Kiwi coach for a couple of seasons...?

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2 minutes ago, Section Q said:

Can't possibly make a comparison. Are you suggesting we get a Kiwi coach for a couple of seasons...?

 

Yes, that's what I'm saying

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People not getting OPs point. Looking at other sports for adapt facets and methods to suit ourselves. It may even be a one off strategy which translates, it could be a mentality.

 

The thing which i think rugby mentality can lend to football is reaction to turnover and the importance of the loose ball. Its massive in football, passes and dribbles, especially when trying to take risks have low complwtion rates, the reaction to failed attempts can separate teams. I often think our speed to the breaking ball ir 2nd ball is poor, especially in midfield.

 

you know tgat feeling where its like every deflection falls to an oppo player. Its often not coincidence, its anticipation and reaction.

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Frankie boy has called it. Hearts battle at home like Scotland did yesterday and it gets results.

 

Scotland play away like Hearts did yesterday and that also gets results. 

 

Dont get me wrong, I'm absolutely delighted with yesterday's result at Murrayfield but let's revisit this thread after Dublin...

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16 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

People not getting OPs point. Looking at other sports for adapt facets and methods to suit ourselves. It may even be a one off strategy which translates, it could be a mentality.

 

The thing which i think rugby mentality can lend to football is reaction to turnover and the importance of the loose ball. Its massive in football, passes and dribbles, especially when trying to take risks have low complwtion rates, the reaction to failed attempts can separate teams. I often think our speed to the breaking ball ir 2nd ball is poor, especially in midfield.

 

you know tgat feeling where its like every deflection falls to an oppo player. Its often not coincidence, its anticipation and reaction.

 

You got it

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Dr Ian Malcolm

First win over England in ten years, in a different sport, and all of a sudden we should be learning from them? Only now and not after any previous games regardless of how Scotland got on? This was just an excuse to post about the rugby, wasn't it?

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All roads lead to Gorgie

Winning again would be a start and not being overawed by the so called bigger teams!

Maybe a bit more pre-match entertainment and a bit more interaction between players and the supporters afterwards. The rugby players look as if it matters more to them to put on a show for the fans at times!

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11 minutes ago, Dr Ian Malcolm said:

First win over England in ten years, in a different sport, and all of a sudden we should be learning from them? Only now and not after any previous games regardless of how Scotland got on? This was just an excuse to post about the rugby, wasn't it?

One has to admit that Scotland at rugby have been steadily improving and yesterday was evidence of that and the team's urge to win the ball back and the pace and skill in the backs (translate to up front at Football) do have some crossover relevance. Anyway it was stirring stuff compared to the gloomy updates from Ibrox.

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scott herbertson

Good op and some pretty narrow- minded responses.

 

Turnover is  certainly a good thing to look at as is risk taking. Russell’s long pass is a case in point . We’ve all seen the dangerous cross field passes which put the team at risk but also create openings as they wrong foot opponents. Hartley used to do this frequently early on, current players who take these kind of risks are souttar and Cochrane.  Do we want to build this into our game ? Can the fans deal with the failures (the Wales match in rugby) if it brings successes like yesterday or the Celtic game?

 

Id like to think that Levein is building the team that can do this more often. The pressing game against Celtic depended on us having the right personnel and getting a bit of luck. Personally I’d be willing to see us take a couple of losses against the likes of Celtic if they are balanced by a game like the 4-0, but we will need to have enough players who can do what the system requires.

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Shanks said no

I understand Jack Ross spent time with Townsend this weel and Stuart Pearce with the English RU, so learning from other sports coaches is nothing new.

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All roads lead to Gorgie
7 minutes ago, Greedy_Jambo said:

Delete thread please mods.

Rugby is guff.

If Rugby is guff football must be really,really bad then :)

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jamboinglasgow
2 hours ago, E6 Inc said:

Scottish rugby essentially started again a few years back, Glasgow looked to youth coming through and stopped importing talent. The SRU increased the funding and coaching of young Scottish players and now Scotland are bearing the fruits of this. Edinburgh are now doing well too, which means our national team should get stronger.

 

The win wasn't a fluke, we've been slowly improving for 3 years now.

 

The point is: we are doing what Scotland have done. It takes time. Hogg, Russell et all have been on the scene for years now and we've only just picked up a result against England.

 

3 games ago we were utterly humbled by Wales. But then we beat a team sitting well above us. We still have a crap away record. Sound familiar?

 

If you think Scotland rugby happened overnight then you've been asleep since 1999.

 

It's taken patience and heart break many times over and we still aren't there yet. We're still behind both England and Ireland.

 

3 years ago we got the wooden spoon. Now we'll probably finish 3rd, or at a push 2nd.

 

I think more than anything, the Scottish national football team could learn a lot from the rugby team.

 

As you say that while it has been 10 years since we beat  England and had a bad game against Wales a few games ago, Scotland has turned itself around in recent years.

 

Scotland has a disadvantage compared to almost all other countries in the six nations. Rugby is engrained in Welsh society, the Irish have a strong culture of rugby among other sports, England has the most people playing rugby in the world, France has a large number of Rugby players as well. In Scotland Rugby is seen as a private school sport and so is often heavily over shadowed by football. So in a way its no surprise we dont do well as other countries. The SRU had to come up with a way to get the most out of what they have. So they have learnt to take every advantage on and off the field. The SFA do not do that.

 

An example of this is the National Performance center. This was created not just for Football but also Rugby (and some other sports.) The rugby national team has taken full advantage of the high quality facilities to get the best perpetration out of their players. Meaning that it is a highly run professional set up. They have even credited it with their up turn in form. With the national football team however under Strachan, he didn't use it, preferring to go to a hotel out by the Erskine bridge. Where they would train on a grass pitch outside. So rather then being based at a place which can get the most out of the players and give them the best preparation which could even give an extra few percent better performance which could make a difference, they chose to be based at a luxury hotel which was probably more for the benefit of Strachan and his coaching pals than for the outcome of the games. 

 

I think as someone else said, the national football team should be learning lessons from any sport if it means they can get better.

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The SFA compete in a world in which football is the global sport.

 

Rugby Union consists of the British Isles, France, NZ, white SA and Australia (where RU is dying on its arse)!!

 

Within this narrow sphere Scotland are regularly the worst team in the world... Beating Italy doesn't really count!!

 

 

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4 hours ago, Finlay James said:

I watched the Calcutta cup match yesterday, as I do all Scottish rugby matches and it felt incredible.  I was so proud of the passion and the skill by which Scotland used to, in the end, easily defeat a very good England side.  The win was no fluke.  Gregor Townsend has set his stall up that Scotland will play an expansive attacking game based on 'organized mayhem' and ruthlessness in winning the ball back and we did just that.

 

Thats not enough to win consistently though.  Scotland won because they were so accurate and not only made England make mistakes, they ruthlesslessly punished them as well (think our 4-0 win v Celtic and you get the picture).

 

now, I get that these are international players and that the same level is not going to necessarily be found at club or provincial level but it did get me thinking about Hearts.  Pep Guardiola, for example, regularly spends time with rugby coaches, learning the principles of ball retention and turnover and much of his philosophy at Barcelona and now Man City is built upon this.  It's pretty basic stuff.  I get that both Barca and City have some of the worlds best but why not adopt this at Hearts?  Passing accuracy, movement, retaining the ball, winning it back, knowing the rules of the game to the letter and playing on the edge of these should not be traits exclusive to rugby or top footballers.

 

Not just rugby either.  Sven Goran-Ericsson copied the principles and movement used in ice hockey when he had his first managers post in Sweden and it was a huge success.

 

Scotland didn't do anything different to what England tried but they just did it 10-20% better and that is what great teams do.  Id love to see Hearts learn from this, work harder at the basics.  If we did, we'd easily have won yesterday and would see more results like the one against Celtic.

 

discuss

I humbly suggest Scottish Rugby learnt from Hearts against Celtic from December at Tynecastle.

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Lord Beni of Gorgie

It's not a good OP until Scottish rugby proves itself to be consistent. 

 

Patently it is not. 

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20 minutes ago, David McCaig said:

The SFA compete in a world in which football is the global sport.

 

Rugby Union consists of the British Isles, France, NZ, white SA and Australia (where RU is dying on its arse)!!

 

Within this narrow sphere Scotland are regularly the worst team in the world... Beating Italy doesn't really count!!

 

 

 

Regularly the worst team in the world?! You really don't have the first clue about rugby do you ?

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20 minutes ago, David McCaig said:

The SFA compete in a world in which football is the global sport.

 

Rugby Union consists of the British Isles, France, NZ, white SA and Australia (where RU is dying on its arse)!!

 

Within this narrow sphere Scotland are regularly the worst team in the world... Beating Italy doesn't really count!!

 

 

 

I know it's an open forum and this means varied opinions but you really have no clue what you are talking about.  Therefore, why post on this thread in the first place?

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1 minute ago, Finlay James said:

 

I know it's an open forum and this means varied opinions but you really have no clue what you are talking about.  Therefore, why post on this thread in the first place?

So football isn't a global sport and RU isn't a very small sport in a world sense... In which Scotland are often the worst of the countries that do play.

 

Beating Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, is the equivalent of beating the Faroe Islands or Luxembourg in football.

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crichiejambos
52 minutes ago, Greedy_Jambo said:

Delete thread please mods.

Rugby is guff.

Well if it is that load o codswallop that's being played out in South Korea must be double guff! Sliding down a big hill on a bit o fibre glass is really fecking exciting :pleased:

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