I feel it’s a hangover from the decade and a half we were utterly shite, people still can’t imagine we are allowed to have genuinely good players and seek to find a way to tear them down
This isn’t a dig so please don’t take it as such…. But I also think it’s a little bit due to the fact they are in their “golden generation” but haven’t accomplished much other than a few Calcutta cup wins. They’ve had the talent to be pushing for a 6 nations win but have never got above 3rd
The issue is that we don’t have a full XV of phenomenal players, but for some reason that’s taken as a reason to detract from the genuinely world-class players. When Wales are shite, everyone rightfully gives Jac Morgan the plaudits he deserves, the same for Michael Hooper and Sergio Parisse, but for some reason Scotland doesn’t get given the same treatment.
I’ll admit I’m a bit bitter at the overwhelmingly nice reaction towards Wales becoming shite, everyone saying that they hope they come back into form soon and that world rugby isn’t the same without a strong Wales. I grew up with fans from other countries mocking Scotland during our shite period, and I have no memories of being told by anyone that they hope Scotland becomes competitive again - contrarily, it seems whenever Scotland or a Scotland player does well, there’s a search to find a reason why that’s not actually thanks to Scotland/the player, rather the other team did something wrong. This is turning into a big rant, but I also feel Scottish fans need to do a better job at standing up for our players and advocating for them, myself included
I'm sorry but this is quite biased. What you're saying is true, but it forgets one thing. Neutrals generally *love* seeing Scotland win, way more than they like seeing Wales win. Everyone adores seeing Scotland's sexy attack, loads hated seeing Wales be good. Also the "overwhelmingly nice reaction" is very new, for most of the decline I say Wales were quite mocked. And if Scotland got as bad as Wales are now I think you'd find most would be quite sad.
It’s definitely biased, I said I was a few times, but Scotland were much worse than Wales are now for over a decade. Neutrals enjoy watching Scotlands attack when it goes well, but the first hiccup and the players often get slated like they’ve never done anything right - the most obvious example is Finn Russel, he’s developed as a player to an incredible degree, yet when he makes mistakes nowadays the criticisms of him being an unreliable maverick from 2015 immediately rear their heads. I do get what you’re saying, and it’s nice to see the positive reaction here when we do play well, but I feel the criticisms of individual players when we play poorly far exceed a reasonable criticism of the players’ actual abilities
It’s definitely my bias coming through, but it’s pretty exhausting to try and defend our few exceptional players constantly from the same arguments that haven’t been true for half a decade
I'm English and I've barely been supporting England recently because they've been so turgid. Glad it seems to be turnings corner.
But in their absence I've been supporting Scotland and France because they play fabulous rugger.
The slating is just the internet. Its hard to ignore but you gotta. There were so many positive vibes yesterday and then there were trolls and dickheads moaning that the lions lost. We got to see an epic game from a scratch side. We got to see a side that wanted to entertain and not just truck it up.
Rugby is the ultimate team sport. Of course it takes time to gel.
Yet people love to moan or bitch or say NH rugby is not as good as in new Zealand. Whatever. Fuck em. Enjoy what you know is great.
I cannot wait to see Russell tear it up for the lions and give his cheeky smile.
Arrogant NZ fans have been declining for years. It's been years since NZ was totally dominant. I don't think they have even held the number 1 rank since 2021.
Savea is still one of the best players on Earth though.
Russell is still getting it in the neck for the intercepted pass he threw five years ago in the Covid European Cup game versus Exeter.
Even though Russell was a very large part of the reason why Racing got to that Final, and Racing scored a try within ten minutes of that interception. Yet Russell still gets blamed for 'costing Racing the trophy'.
Compare that with the many interceptions thrown by other Tens, including in Finals. The backlash is nowhere near as severe or critical - and it most certainly doesn't last half a decade!
You'll be hard pressed to find many true neutrals on a rugby subreddit - or indeed across the wider rugby diaspora, press included.
Frankly, you only need read comments in the Lions match threads to see how far from neutral many supporters are even when the team is supposed to be unified!
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u/taliskergunn Scotland Jun 21 '25
I feel it’s a hangover from the decade and a half we were utterly shite, people still can’t imagine we are allowed to have genuinely good players and seek to find a way to tear them down