I've Seen The Future And It Is In Short Form

THIS MIGHT be a difficult one to sell to some of my contemporaries, but, Rugby Union's future growth might well be on the back of Sevens. With the short form of the game now established as a core sport in the Commonwealth Games, and in the Olympics for at least the next games, and, from the success in Rio - surely beyond that, I believe that is where future growth will spring from.

Rugby Union's spread as a world team game has been mainly through the former colonies of the British Empire. Football and Basketball, the other leading world team games have had a broader spread. But, with Rugby Sevens gaining Olympic Games recognition, non-Empire (Commonwealth) nations are starting to become involved. In Rio, Brazil, admittedly as hosts, Spain, Kenya and Colombia – all nations without a recognised Rugby Union history, participated. In the United States, it might be argued that Sevens is bigger than 15-a-side, while, the European Rugby Sevens circuit is spreading the game to new nations.

I recall, on a Scotland tour in 1985, being assured by an American Rugby official – our sport would not take-off in that nation until it was in the Olympics. His forecast has proved to be correct.

So, when, as they did today, the SRU announced their core Sevens squad for this season, well I had to sit-up and pay attention. The full squad is 14-strong, reflecting that, with the Commonwealth Games tournament on the Gold Coast in 2018, this is an even-busier than usual season. The core squad named is:

Hugh Blake (16 previous tournaments), Jack Cuthbert (3), Harvey Elms (0)*, Jamie Farndale (21), Robbie Fergusson (0), Dougie Fife (16), James Fleming (43), Nyle Godsmark (12)*, James Johnstone (40), Gavin Lowe (16), Nick McLennan (12), Jo Nayacavou (27), Sam Pecqueur (0)*, Scott Riddell (57) CAPTAIN. The asterisk after the names of Elms, Godsmark and Pecqueur indicates, they will be part-time squad members, and will continue to mostly play for Currie and Melrose respectively – the other players are full-time with the Sevens squad.

It is an experienced squad, only Elms, former Ayr and London Scottish man Fergusson and Pecqueur do not have previous experience of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Circuit. The Sevens Circuit this season is:

Dubai - 1-2 December 2017; Cape Town - 9-10 December 2017; Sydney - 26-28 January 2018; Hamilton - 3-4 February 2018; Las Vegas - 2-4 March 2018; Vancouver - 10-11 March 2018; Hong Kong - 6-8 April 2018; Singapore - 28-29 April 2018; London - 2-3 June 2018; Paris - 9-10 June 2018.

In addition, Scotland will be competing in the Commonwealth Games, between 10 – 13 April and the Rugby World Cup Sevens, in San Francisco, between 20 and 27 July, so, the core squad, which will surely be augmented at times by the introduction of known 15/7 cross-over men like Lee Jones and a fit-again Mark Bennett, is in for a busy ten months.

 Scotland Sevens coach John Dalziel and Captain Scott Riddell

The retirement of veterans Scott Wight and Mark Robertson has created vacancies, while, John Dalziel, who brings a wealth of Sevens know-how, will be the squad's new coach. They will surely be looking to build on Scotland's successes of the past two years and looking to add to our haul of tournament wins. The Sevens squad is currently ranked seventh in the world, one place below our 15s ranking, and the squad will be hoping to climb the table over the season, which kicks-off in the heat of Dubai in ten weeks' time.

THERE is a lot of full-sized rugby to be played before then, with a particularly big game coming up as soon as tomorrow night, when Glasgow entertain Munster, at Scotstoun, in what will be the fullest test yet of their readiness to compete for the big prizes in the Guinness PRO14. Glasgow v Munster is an easy sell for the Warriors' marketing team, these two teams seldom fail to produce fireworks and a full-house is guaranteed for the match.

Rob Harley - on the bench tomorrow

Dave Rennie has by and large, stuck with the tried and tested for the game. Skipper Ryan Wilson is back, as is Rob Harley, ready to come off the bench, and their well-known abrasiveness at the break-down will be required if Glasgow are to subdue the Munster men. Alex Dunbar is injured, so Peter Horne and Finn Russell will get a chance to show if their first-second five-eights New Zealand-style understanding can get Glasgow through the Munster ranks, while Ali Price comes in at scrum-half for Henry Pyrgos.

The Glasgow squad is: 1. Jamie Bhatti, 2. George Turner, 3. Zander Fagerson; 4. Tim Swinson, 5. Scott Cummings; 6. Ryan Wilson (CAPTAIN), 7. Callum Gibbins, 8. Adam Ashe; 9. Ali Price, 10. Finn Russell; 11. Rory Hughes, 12. Peter Horne, 13. Nick Grigg, 14. Lee Jones; 15. Ruaridh Jackson. Replacements:
16. Pat MacArthur, 17. Alex Allan, 18. D’arcy Rae, 19. Brian Alainu’uese, 20. Rob Harley; 21. Henry Pyrgos, 22. Sam Johnson, 23. Leonardo Sarto.

Hopefully, the weather will relent and Glasgow get conditions in which they can demonstrate their running A game, but, no side is as efficient in preventing the opposition from playing than Munster, so, the Glasgow pack will need to win the arm wrestle to allow their talented backs to thrive.

CREDIT where it is due, to the Glasgow and SRU press and marketing departments, in their efforts to find interesting new angles with which to feed we hungry hacks in the media. They produced a belter this week, with Adam Ashe speaking frankly about the mental side of the game. More than one experienced coach has told me: “The hardest six inches to develop in a player is that distance between their ears”, and Adam spoke well on this when grilled by big Barney – David Barnes of OffsideLine this week. It's a good piece, from the guy who is setting the pace when it comes to rugby news coverage in Scotland this season.

Tommy Spinks - good interview in Offside Line

Barney has also, today, done a very good interview with Ayr's Tommy Spinks. I'm glad I do “colour or opinion pieces” rather than hard news, where, Barney is the boy right now.