Scottish Have Won A Watch With Dalziel

FORGIVE me for asking, but, what was all that on-off nonsense between the SRU and London Scottish about? It is a no-brainer that two professional clubs cannot possibly meet the recruitment needs of Scottish rugby, for a place to put the graduates from the Academy.

Since the SRU is unwilling/unable to fund and run a third professional side, then a closer union with Scottish is the only option that many people can see. I am not fully in agreement with sending only new Academy graduates to Richmond, there are one or two fringe players at Scotstoun and Murrayfield who would, I believe, benefit from a season in the IA Championship, and who would bring more to the Richmond Athletic Ground table than some of the kids – good players though these youngsters threaten to be.

I still feel, Pro12 sponsors Guinness, whose UK headquarters are in London, should maybe leaning on the three Celtic unions, to in their turn, lean on the three London “Exiles” clubs.

All three clubs are currently languishing in the second level of English rugby. If they get promoted, they would have to recruit heavily, and at higher cost – but, once upstairs in the English Premiership, they would need to work to the RFU protocol which demands, 70% of each match-day squad would need to be: “England-qualified”.

They might be able to live with this, however, it would, as happened with London Irish and London Welsh when in the English top-flight, a dilution of the three clubs' Irishness, Scottishness and Welshness. In the Pro12, this would not be a problem, and, I am sure, they would be competitive and thus, be better-able to get into Europe.

That is by the by, the main focus of this post is, to congratulate John Dalziel on his new role as London Scottish forwards' coach, the latest step in the on-off-back on relationship between the SRU and the Exiles.

Scottish have won a watch with the arrival of Dalziel, who will, I am certain, quickly have their pack firing on all eight cylinders.

STILL with one eye on the second tier in England. I notice former Scotland Under-20 back-rower and one-time Glasgow Warrior Tommy Spinks is back with Glasgow Hawks, the team he played for when at Scotstoun.

Tommy was with Jersey last season and he will be a good addition to the Old Anniesland forward ranks. By the way, I am convinced, the gap between the English second tier and the top tier of Scottish club rugby is not that great, and easily bridgeable with a bit of work on the part of the Scottish clubs.

Another guy back from the pro ranks is hooker Fergus Scott, whose Scotstoun career was fatally derailed by injury, even before it had got going. Big brother Matt may have gone south to Gloucester, but Fergus has gone east, back to Currie. I wish him well at Malleny Park.

CHAMPIONS Heriot's have suffered a double blow, with the loss of Jason Hill and skipper Jack Turley, arguably the two most-important players in last season's title-winning squad. Replacing two such-curcial components will be a major headache for head coach Phil Smith.

Jason has secured a professional contract with Bedford Blues, in England's second tier, while Jack will be seen in Fylde's colours this season.

Regular season champions Ayr will have most of their squad back, but, Graham Fisken has followed fellow back rower Andy Dunlop into retirement, while Haddon Macpherson has gone to America and Javan Sebastian has gone home to Wales. They have signed Scotland Under-18 cap Stafford McDowall, who has now left Merchiston Castle School. In joining Ayr, Stafford is following in the footsteps of his father, Fergus, who played for Ayr and Glasgow in the 1980s.

Premiership Player of the Year, Ayr's Peter McCallum, along with a number of other Premiership players, found a good way to put something new into pre-season, with the invitation Waterboys squad, which won a Tens tournament in Stockholm at the weekend. You might say they saw the whole of the moon!!!