When Saracens can spend more on a single stand, than the SRU will commit to a whole new ground, you have to ask - what's going on?

MY SAINTED Mother, and if she isn't sainted after putting-up my my Dad, elder brother and me for all these years – I will be raising Hell in the hereafter – was the repository of Scottish maternal wisdom. There wasn't a sage saying or old wives' tale she did not know.

One of her favourites was: “Aye Son, it's an ill-divided world.” This came home to me this morning, courtesy of a link I was sent by a Facebook friend. Apparently, Saracens are about to spend £23 million on developing the West Stand at their ground, Allianz Park in North London.

 Nigel Wray of Saracens, spending another £23 million on Alianz Park

I recommend you Google Allianz Park and take a look. What you read there puts the SRU's “Legoland” development into context. That Saracens can, even with a billionaire Chairman like Nigel Wray, put in place, in alliance with the local council, such an ambitious development plan confirms what my Mother always insisted: it is indeed an ill-divided world.

The SRU will never admit it, and none of the “churnalists and stenographers” in the mainstream media will ask them about it, but, their plans for the building of the new home for Edinburgh within the wider Murrayfield sports campus (I think that is the modern buzz word for the grounds) are a case of small-minded, unambitious thinking.

We rugby men whose first loyalty is to our club might not like it – indeed, why should we, but, within BT Murrayfield, the only part of Scottish Rugby that matters to TCD, Dirty Dom, the Consigliore and the minor minions is the professional game.

They do not want us to know how much this money pit takes out of the game, but, it is now clear, it is a lot; to the extent, they don't have the funding necessary to do a proper job on building the long-awaited home for Edinburgh Rugby.

They have also found difficulties in their various efforts to find a home other than the national stadium for the Edinburgh team, so, eventually, and perhaps too-late, they have bitten the bullet and gone ahead with “Mini-Murrayfield.”

However, I still feel, and will continue to argue – this is a welcome decision, but, like so-many made by BT Murrayfield of late – the Stupid-6 fuck-up, the on-going moger about where the S6 clubs' host-club teams will play, to name but two, it just isn't right.

Temporary stands; hospitality areas in converted shipping containers, to me these show a lack of ambition and a failure to plan for the long-term, sustainability of Edinburgh Rugby. But, as we have seen with the stitch-up of the S6 franchises – al clubs are equal, but, some are more-equal than others, and it doesn't do to upset The Establishment.

WILL TCD's Personal Assistant please ensure the great man has a very-large measure of Eden Mill, the Union's official partner gin, to hand before she allows him to read the following paragraph.

I welcome the appointment of Carl Hogg, Scott Lawson and Nikki Walker as the new Under-20 coaching team, and I wish them well.

Carl Hogg - will lead the Under-20coaching team

The trio concerned will bring a great deal of experience and expertise to the table and hopefully under them we can hope to see the improvement in fortunes of the Under-20 team continue.

Age group squads are, by their nature, cyclical. There is no guarantee the same level of ability comes through every year, but, under the new coaching trio, I am sure the boys will do well. Of course, with S6, there is perhaps a greater pressure on the coaching team, and the players themselves, to be better, since these Under-20 guys will, as the initial franchise term moves on, become the backbone of the S6 squads, as they are prepared for eventual elevation to the two professional sides.

I CAN safely mix-up my movies and movie lines as I sit down to watch tomorrow night's Free Sports (Channel 95 on Freeview) broadcast of the Zebre v Edinburgh match.

Because this “Italian Job” is a clear case of 'On Days Like These'm the “Self-preservation Society' could end as a case of Richard Cockerill telling more than one of his squad: “You go out there a nobody, come back a star.”

Opportunity definitely knocks (and I mean that most sincerely friends) for not a few of the 23-man squad which Cockerill has selected. This is, as-ever in 1-23 order:

Pierre Schoeman, Ross Ford, Simon Berghan, Jamie Hodgson, Callum Hunter-Hill, Luke Hamilton, Luke Crosbie, Bill Mata; Henry Pyrgos (CAPTAIN), Simon Hickey; Duhan van der Merwe, Chris Dean, James Johnstone, Darcy Graham; Dougie Fife.

Replacements: David Cherry, Rory Sutherland, Pietro Ceccarelli, Callum Atkinson, Mungo Mason; Sean Kennedy, Jason Baggott, Juan Pablo Socino.

That quote about coming back a star might apply in particular to Jamie Hodgson, the former Stewart's-Melville school captain, currently a Forsoc Scottish Rugby Academy “student” and making a good impression in the Watsonians boiler-roomm in that "not fit for purpose" league, the Tennent's Premiership. Because of Edinburgh's current second row “famine”, Jamie goes straight into the side, forming a callow boiler-room pairing with Callum Hunter-Hill, the veteran by dint of his two previous appearances for the team.

Jamie Hodgson - in one bound, from the "not fit for purpose" Premiership to the PRO 14

Callum-Hill too has a chance to show Cockers what he can do, while, on the bench, Italian prop Pietro Ceccarelli, who has been adjusting to Scottish rugby with Hawick in the Premiership, Boroughmuir and former Stellenbosch lock Callum Atkinson and “Kilted Kiwi” Mungo Mason, who made his way to the Scotland Sevens squad via Australia and the USA, and Jason Baggott – better-known for his exploits with Melrose, are the guys hoping to make their debut off the bench.

There are ten changes from the squad which beat Toulon at the weekend, and, there will certainly be a lot of interest in how the new boys in particular perform. I had thought perhaps Cockerill might give Darcy Graham a run at full back, but, he remains on the right wing, with Dougie Fife taking the number 15 shirt.

Once the Glasgow squad to face Munster is released, at noon tomorrow, we will have a good idea of the side Toony is thinking of fielding against Wales in this disgraceful WRU rip-off international on 3 November.