ONE of the downsides to professional Rugby Union is the high attrition rate, the number of severe injuries being sustained by the top players. And, with the Six Nations' kick-off just four weeks away, this is starting to affect the thinking of the national coaches.
Right now, Glasgow has Mark Bennett, Alex Dunbar, Peter Horne and Richie Vernon - their first four centres in the pecking order all injured; additionally, these four, plus Edinburgh's Matt Scott would be Vern Cotter's midfield pool for the 6N.
At Edinburgh, Ally Dickinson and Ross Ford, two-thirds of Alan Solomons and Vern Cotter's first-choice front row are hors de combat, while Henry Pyrgos's prolonged absence has, I believe, contributed a large portion towards Glasgow's misfiring performances this season - Pyrgos is another you would expect, if fit, to be in Cottr's 6N squad.
Scotland is woefully-exposed at tight-head prop, where we are maybe one injury away from a crisis, while Josh Strauss's injury is a potential back-row problem.
Not that Cotter is alone in not having his selection problems to seek. Even with the greater playing resources which he has to call on, new England coach Eddie Jones is already looking at having to name his first 6N squad, without a clutch of players he might be expected to pick. A similar scenario is playing out in Cardiff, Belfast and Rome, where guys the national coaches there would want to see running-out for the start of the 6N will, at best, be in a warm TV studio as guest analysts.
Already, the question is being asked: "Are we playing too-much rugby, and should we perhaps be seeking a uniform international season"?
Given the way the BBC is bailing-out of top-class sport, which is very expensive to broadcast - Cricket (gone), Formula One (gone), Open Golf (gone), as they rush to consolidate behind the English Premiership football and the Establishment's favourite, Wimbledon - might this 2016 tournament be the last 6N to be shown free-to-air, or on "coonsil telly"?
I remember, over a decade ago, when Sky first began flexing their financial muscles towards Rugby Union, a commentator, it might even have been John Beattie, suggesting, the day would come when, on TV, there would be one game, a hybrid of Rugby Union and Rugby League, played internationally world-wide over a single unified season.
I would suggest, that day is coming closer. Rugby Union may yet become a game played in better weather, or as much as we can guarantee good weather in these here British Isles.
If/when that day comes, we will still enjoy our trips to Cardiff, Dublin, Paris and Rome - does anyone actually enjoy a trip to London? - but, Jo'burg, Buenos Aires, Sydney and Auckland will only be for the really well-heeled.
AYR'S 78-0 hammering of a very game Selkirk side on Saturday was a timely warning to the SRU - they really have to get a move on in establishing this proposed semi-professional league, or in levelling the playing field in the BT Premiership.
Selkirk, lest we forget, rampaged unbeaten through the National League last season, but have, despite some very good spells of attractive, attacking rugby, failed to make an impact in the top flight. Indeed, both Ayr and Heriot's, the top two teams in the Premiership, have put 70 points on the Souters this season.
It is difficult to see the situation being any different for the team which wins National One this season - at the time of writing, Watsonians being in pole position for this dubious honour.
Right now, Marr, who have done marvellously to climb through the divisions to where they now are, are favourites to contest the promotion play-off against the club which finishes second-bottom of the Premiership; either Stirling County, Boroughmuir or Gala as things currently stand.
Much as I love Marr, I scored my first try there as an 12-year-old school-boy, I fear for them, whichever of that trio they might end-up facing.
I repeat my oft-written warning, unless Murrayfield gets to grips with the shambles that is the amateur (or semi-professional) club game, Scottish Rugby will only go backwards.
FINALLY, it is good to see the Murrayfield Mandarins getting closer to London Scottish, with the news that Sean Lineen and Roddy Grant are being sent to Richmond Athletic Ground for the remainder of the season.
I still maintain - getting the three London-based "Exiles" teams: London Irish, Scottish and Welsh, into the Pro12 would be the biggest boost the Celtic fringes of the game could get.
Guinness, with their corporate headquarters in London, would love to have them in their competition, while those Scottish companies with London bases within the Square Mile would I am certain, be even-more supportive of Scottish if they were in the Pro12 than they are of them in England's second tier. Plus, having a Pro12 presence in the UK capital wouldn't half piss-off the RFU, always a happy bonus.
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