The official On Top Of The Moon ‘Junior Jock of the Match’ goes to…Andrew Davidson. His work at the breakdown in particular was top notch, getting to ruck situations rapidly and then using his size and power to jackal the ball. He was unlucky to concede a couple of late penalties for offences that happen at pretty much every lineout but generally he trod the fine line required of a flanker perfectly.
BACKS
Ruari Howarth – 6
A mixed bag but his positive intent outweighed his shaky moments, so still in credit after taking on the difficult task of replacing Blair Kinghorn.
Robbie Nairn – 5
It seems like his teammates don’t really know how to best make use of his size and speed – but to be fair to some extent neither does he yet. A work in progress.
George Taylor – 6
With the game largely dominated by the forwards and the mobile stramash that is the maul, attacking opportunities were limited but he helped contain the Welsh backline effectively.
Tom Galbraith – 7
Another sterling defensive effort but he might have appreciated a bit more front foot ball being released by the forwards.
Darcy Graham – 6
Consistently misidentified as Robbie Nairn by Welsh TV (clue for S4C – he’s about 4 stone lighter) he actually showed up a bit better going forward than the big man on the other wing.
Rory Hutchinson – 7
In a backline with less penetration than a single man’s Valentine’s night he still managed to show some nice touches and swept up effectively in defence.
Hugh Fraser – 8
He really looks the part. With neither of SHC’s backups at Edinburgh putting their mark on the number 21 jersey he could be in line for his pro debut sooner rather than later.
FORWARDS
Murray McCallum – 6
Provided a good carrying option (although a bit of a bugbear here at OTOTM – late on he was largely taking the ball on from a standing start). Scrum still struggling.
Jake Kerr – 7
Didn’t give too much away with his throwing in and was like an auxiliary flanker with his work rate making tackles and competing at the breakdown.
Callum Sheldon – 6
Another tough shift at scrum time. There must be a technical issue as the pack are well capable of imposing themselves physically everywhere else around the pitch.
Callum Hunter-Hill – 7
He looks more like a skillful ball-handling lock (and he certainly has those talents) but he also demonstrated he can mix it up and be abrasive as well.
Scott Cummings – 7
He’ll be disappointed with the side’s loss of discipline at the death (6 penalties in the last 10 minutes) but he had lead from the front to that point and generally made good decisions.
Andrew Davidson – 8
There’s more than a bit of the Bob Harley’s about him. With a lot of young talent at lock could his future lie in challenging for the number 6 jersey?
Matt Smith – 8
Try-machine Matt Smith certainly pilots a maul well. More importantly for an openside his tackling and breakdown work are first class. There are a lot of 7s at Glasgow but he has all the tools to make a breakthrough.
Ally Miller – 7
Excellent workrate and all round skills meant he could complement the work done by his back row colleagues.
SUBSTITUTES
Most of the substitutes arrived at a challenging time with the game in the balance. With so much of the play disfigured by penalty after penalty and both sides focused on setting up mauls there weren’t too many chances for anyone to stand out. Ben Robbins was again the pick of the bench and will surely be pushing for a starting slot against Italy.
On Top Of The Moon 