A Guid Nicht Fur Robbie - Perhaps

FOR US, here in God's County, tonight's the night, as we tuck into our haggis, neeps and tatties, then say Holy Wullie's Prayer, before retiring to bed, having preserved the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns.

And tonight, at Scotstoun, the Stars o' Rabbie Burns are well-represented,with Ayrshire and South-West connections all over the place in the Glasgow Warriors' squad to face Ospreys in the Guinness PRO14.

Kenny Murray - in-charge while Dave Rennie is in New Zealand

With Dave Rennie back in the Land of the Long White Cloud for his son's wedding – reminding me again of the great Wullie Shankly's put-down: “What kind of idiot gets married during the season?” (although, to be fair, it is the close season down there); oor ain Kenny Murray is in-charge, and he has named the following squad (as usual in 1-23 order) for the game, which kicks off at 7.35pm and will be live on Premier Sports TV:

Alex Allan, Kevin Bryce, Siua Halanukonuka, Tim Swinson, Scott Cummings, Rob Harley (Captain), Matt Smith, Adam Ashe; Nick Frisby, Brandon Thomson; Niko Matawalu, Stafford McDowall, Nick Grigg, Lee Jones, Ruaridh Jackson.
Replacements: Robbie Smith, Jamie Bhatti, D’Arcy Rae, Tevita Tameilau, Thomas Gordon, Robbie Nairn, Alex Dunbar, Rory Hughes.

Unavailable players: Fraser Brown (knee), Matt Fagerson (shoulder), Zander Fagerson (ankle), Bruce Flockhart (ankle), Chris Fusaro (neck), Callum Gibbins (ankle/knee), Oli Kebble (illness), DTH van der Merwe (hip) and George Turner (ankle).

Jonny Gray, Grant Stewart, Ryan Wilson, Sam Johnson, Adam Hastings, Stuart Hogg, George Horne, Pete Horne, Huw Jones, Ali Price, Tommy Seymour (All Scotland).

I am particularly looking forward to seeing how wee Robbie Smith goes, should, as I expect he will, he gets on the park. Pat McArthur and Ayr stalwart Stewart Fenwick, both of whom have PhDs in the dark arts of hooking, reckon young Robbie could, in spite of his small stature, go all the way.

 Robbie Smith - could make his Warriors' debut tonight

Like seemingly every Scottish hooker – even the blessed “Rambo”, have his wee stutters at the touchlines, but, he's a promising young player for all that.

SRU board member Adam Gray will hopefully be in the posh seats, rightly puffed-up with pride in seeing TWO of his Galloway kids – the Little and Large double act of Robbie, who came through the Newton Stewart system and Stafford McDowall – on the park for Warriors. This is a terrific tribute to the grass-roots development work being done in that oft-by-passed corner of the land.

SPEAKING of player development, Carl Hogg yesterday announced his Under-20 6Nations squad. Looking forward many of the 32 players named will be among the first tranche of young players likely to be involved in Super-6, when it fires up next season, so, this group matters. The squad named is:

 Scotland Under-20 coach Carl Hogg

Forwards:

Andrew Nimmo (Glasgow Hawks)*, Murphy Walker (Stirling County)*, Sam Grahamslaw (Leicester Tigers), Will Hurd (Cardiff Metropolitan University), Euan McLaren (Ayr)*, Angus Fraser (Glasgow Hawks)*, Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks), Finlay Scott (Jed-Forest)*, Cameron Henderson (Stirling County)*, Charlie Jupp (Heriot’s)*, Ewan Johnson (Racing 92), Teddy Leatherbarrow (Sale Sharks), Connor Boyle (Watsonians)*, Jack Hill (Durham University), Jack Mann (Edinburgh Accies)*, Cristen van Niekerk (Lions), Ross Bundy (Stirling County).

Backs:

Kyle McGhie (Musselburgh), Roan Frostwick (Currie Chieftains)*, Murray Scott (Watsonians), Ross Thompson (Glasgow Hawks)*, Nathan Chamberlain (Bristol Bears), Andrew Jardine (Melrose)*, Cameron Anderson (Wasps), Grant Hughes (Stirling County)*, Robbie McCallum (Complutense Cisneros), Ollie Smith (Ayr)*, Jacob Lineen (Durham University), Matt Davidson (London Scottish), Jack Blain (Heriot’s)*, Rory McMichael (Heriot’s)*, Rufus McLean (Watsonians)*

*Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy Supported Player.

Seventeen of the players are already in the SRU system, as Academy Supported Players, and of these, 13, including the dual-registered Fin Scott of Jed-forest, who has also played for Melrose this season, are already assigned to Super-6 clubs.

A further five players are already in the Academies of English Gallacher Premiership clubs, while three, including Jacob Lineen, son of Sean, are at university in England and playing in the elite Super Rugby division of the BUCS Championship. There are three overseas-based players, like the English-based ones largely drawn from the Scottish Qualified programme, with the rest playing somewhere in the upper reaches of the Scottish club game.

Indeed, 20 of the squad, including London Scottish's Matt Davidson, who was with Ayr last season, have already gained experience in that proving ground which we are encouraged not to mention – the Tennent's Premiership.

Of course, with age group teams, you never know what you've got until they get into match action, but, with Carl Hogg and his coaching team of Nikki Walker and Scott Lawson in charge, they will be well prepared.

The squad includes seven veterans from last season: Murphy Walker (Stirling County) and Euan McLaren (Ayr), hooker Finlay Scott (Jed-Forest), lock Charlie Jupp (Heriot’s), back-row Connor Boyle (Watsonians), stand-off Ross Thompson (Glasgow Hawks) and wing Rory McMichael (Heriot’s).

Their Under-20 6Nations fixture list reads:

Friday 1 February: Scotland U20 v Italy U20; Netherdale, Galashiels (kick-off 7.30pm); Friday 8 February: Scotland U20 v Ireland U20; Netherdale, Galashiels (kick-off 7.30pm); Friday 22 February: France U20 v Scotland U20; Stade du Hameau, Pau (kick-off 8pm); Friday 8 March: Scotland U20 v Wales U20; Meggetland, Edinburgh (kick-off 7.30pm); Friday 15 March: England U20 v Scotland U20; Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton (kick-off 7.45pm).

TOMORROW sees one of the good guys pass a significant milestone, when Marr winger Scott Bickerstaff leads-out the Troon side, at their own Fullarton ground, against Selkirk, on the occasion of his 200^th first-team appearance.

A Marr milestone being suitably marked

That's a great achievement for any player, when you consider he has, in those 199 games weighed-in with 172 tries. That equates to 0.86 tries per game. Now, in football, the benchmark for a top striker is having a goals to games ration above 0.5. I would suggest, for a wing-threequarter in rugby to have Scott's tpg (tries per game) ratio is the sign of one top-flight finisher.

I would suggest, having risen as far as the Scotland Sevens training squad – when Marr were a National League 1 side - Scott, with a bit of luck, might well have, like Peter and Gordon Brown, or Bill Cuthbertson, those Marr icons of old; or today's Marr Main Man – D'Arcy Rae, strutted his stuff at a far-higher level

Scott, and brother Conor have been right at the heart of Marr's rise through the leagues, a rise which will, next season, see them back in the top-flight of club rugby – the Tennent's Championship. They have been excellent examples of great club-men.

I hope the day goes well for Scott, tomorrow. There are some great guys at Marr – plus one or two scoundrels, and you know who you are Tony and Glenn – so, without wishing harm on John Rutherford and the Soutars, I hope Scott can mark his big day with at the very least, try 173.