Let's See Our PRO12 Sides Continue In 2017 As They Ended 2016

A GUID NEW YEAR to all readers of this blog. I hope 2017 is good to you, and particularly good to Scottish Rugby.

Our two Guinness PRO12 sides certainly finished 2016 on a high, with their wins in Italy. I was particularly pleased to see Edinburgh beat Zebre, this one was a definite potential banana skin for Duncan Hodge's troops and one can only hope the move to Myreside brings better results for the team.

Glasgow's win at Treviso was not an easy watch for us stay-at-home fans. When Glasgow were good, they were kilometres better than the Italians, but, when they were bad – oh dear. Let's just say, Glasgow won ugly, which is a handy habit to have. They certainly got no favours from the Italian referee, who was, I felt, out of his depth, but, they didn't help themselves with a lot of sloppy handling and poor decision-making. Still, a win is a win.

I am getting a wee bit concerned at the new players. Big Brian Alainu'uese has been cited for a “no arms tackle” in Italy and both he and the other recent recruit, American Langilangi Haupeakui have, in their early weeks at Scotstoun, attracted a lot of unwanted attention from match officials – this needs sorting-out, and quickly.

The experiment of playing Hoggie at ten certainly worked, if not to 100%. I don't for instance, think Finn Russell has the gas to have pulled-off that length of the field intercept try which opened Glasgow#s account.

Speaking of our pro players. I noticed, from the latest set of Opta statistics, kindly distributed by the PRO12 media team, that Edinburgh's Ben Toolis is top of the line-out winning stats. I have long thought, he should be ahead of the quiet Tim Swinson in the Scottish pecking order.

MY OWN rugby travels generally take me round the BT Premiership grounds, and, I really feel, it is time the big clubs were making waves around BT Murrayfield and getting themselves a fairer crack of the whip.

OK, the vast majority of the players in this top club division are amateurs, and they obviously want to enjoy themselves a wee bit at this time of year. However, a 28-day break, including three fallow Saturdays is not good for the club coffers.

Fair enough, if bad weather intervenes, but, with global warming and what not, the days of losing games to bad weather in December are maybe behind us. Yes, the players will have had a chance to rest their tired bodies, but, the BT Premiership is a good league, which deserves better than the stop-start fixture scheduling which has been its lot this season.

And, I am missing my weekly live rugby fix.

LEICESTER'S decision to hand Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill his jotters just might be bad news for Glasgow, who are due at Welford Road on European Cup business on 21 January.

This could turn out to be a “must win” game for Toony's troops, and I have a feeling that, if, as has been widely reported in England, Cockrill had: “lost the dressing room”, then Aaron Mauger just might rediscover it before the Glasgow game, which will make it all the harder for Warriors to win at a ground where the home side does not often lose.