Are We Being Smart Enough For Modern Rugby?

TELEVISION came to Scotland in 1952. I have a vague recollection of the 44-0 drubbing from the Springboks being featured on the box in the corner of the living room. I certainly remember learning, from television, of Bob Scott – the full back who could, bare-footed, kick the ball the length of the park for the All Blacks.

Bare-footed Bob Scott, the first rugby player Aristotle heard of

But, rugby really began to register with me in 1955, and 'Arthur Smith's Match,' the 14-8 win over Wales which ended our dismal run of 17 straight defeats. That was the first international my elder brother attended; my own Murrayfield baptism would come, again against, Wales, in 1958.

So, I am now in my seventh decade as a Tartan Army foot soldier, going to Hampden or Murrayfield, often more in hope than expectation, as I have marched at the regulation two paces forward, one pace back of that particular body.

Not a single member of yesterday's team against Ireland has, as yet, pushed his way into my personal All-Time Scotland XV – although, perhaps one day I will be forced to swither over John Rutherford or Finn Russell at ten. Of course, I am gutted that we lost to Ireland, but, I have seen better Scottish teams lose to worse Irish ones over the years.

Yes, we lost, but when you consider we lost, not because Ireland blew us away, but because we made errors at crucial times and in the 6 Nations, where there is so-little between the teams, it is the side which makes fewer errors which more-often wins.

It didn't help either, that we got nothing at all from the referee. This to me is a crucial point, often over-looked in modern rugby, and that point is:

• When a referee's interpretation of any law can vary from game to game, the fault is not with the official, but, with the laws he is trying to enforce.

Greig Laidlaw said, post-match, he didn't think Romain Poite liked the Scots. Certainly he appeared to allow Ireland certain lee-way which was denied the men in blue. For instance, it was the Irish who invented and refined the tactic of taking an opponent out, beyond the ruck – yet the only penalty awarded for this practise, which was quite wide-spread yesterday, went against Jonny Gray.

Romain Poite - what Auld Alliance?

He didn't have a second look at the no-arms tackle which did for Stuart Hogg. Neither did English TMO Rowan Kitt refer the matter to him – one of several occasions when I thought the referee and the man in the TV truck were on different wavelengths. Even when they did communicate, the language barrier was obvious.

Maybe rugby should follow football's lead and appoint single nation teams to big internationals. OK, with an all-French team, we the fans, would struggle to know what was being checked, but, the officials might be happier speaking in their common language.

I will not criticise individual players, everyone, under pressure, makes mistakes. Shite happens, we simply have to live with this fact and deal with it. But, I have to question the way Scottish Rugby runs the professional game, and how this effects the international team.

SRU Plc runs the professional game. The management plan is: the cash which a successful Scotland team generates funds the game: this under-pins the two loss-making professional sides and the governing body support for grass-roots rugby.

That I get. The men running SRU Plc decided some time ago, they could only afford to operate the two full-time professional sides, and employ a certain number of full-time players.

This means, in certain positions, we are limited in how many players we have to pick from. For instance, look at props, leaving aside the full-time Academy players, who work along side the full-time pros, when it comes to props, Gregor Townsend's choice is from:

• Edinburgh: Pierre Schoeman, Allan Dell, Rory Sutherland and Darryl Marfo on the loose-head side and Wilem Nel, Simon Berghan, Murray McCallum and Pietro Ceccerelli on the tight-head side.
  
  
• Glasgow: Oli Kebble, Alex Allan and Jamie Bhatti on the loose-head side and Zander Fagerson, D'Arcy Rae, Siosiua Halanukonuka, Petrus du Plessis and Adam Nicol on the tight-head side.

Schoeman and Kebble, the “first-picks” at loose-head for the two teams are both “project” players, qualifying for Scotland by residence; while Alex Allan, who is Kebble's most-regular back-up at Scotstoun is injured. So on the loose-head side the choice is between the second, third and fourth-choice players for Edinburgh, and the third-choice for Glasgow.

On the other side of the scrum, the first-choices for the two clubs, Nel at Edinburgh and Fagerson at Glasgow are both injured, while Halanukonuka and du Plessis at Glasgow and Ceccerelli at Edinburgh. So Gregor Townsend is left to choose between the second-choice number threes from the two clubs.

Allan Dell and Simon Berghan started for Scotland yesterday. This season, and we are now 23 weeks in, Dell has played 398 minutes for his club – that's two minutes shy of five full games. He has started a mere five of Edinburgh's 20 games. Berghan has played minutes of rugby, and has started just two of Edinburgh's games.

 Marr President Stephen Allam congratulates D'Arcy Rae on joining th Fullarton Immortals, only the fourth Marr player to be capped, after Peter and Gordon Brown and Bill Cuthbertson - illustrious company indeed for the young prop.

They were replaced by Jamie Bhatti and D'Arcy Rae, who was winning his first cap. Marr College product Rae has played 758 minutes this season, equivalent to nine and a half games, Bhatti has seen 363 minutes of action, or four and a half games. Rae has made nine starts for Glasgow and Bhatti three.

I am not criticising the players, but, I don't think they could have been said to have been truly match-sharp yesterday; I know, in my last blog, I brought-up the subject of player rest. The question now is, is the SRU getting that balance correct, and might it now be time to introduce at least a third full-time professional side, so that our small pool of international players can be kept both match-ready and adequately rested?

Like Avis in its perennial battle with Hertz, we cannot be the biggest, but, we can try to be smarter and try harder.