Play Up Varsity - Ra Ra Ra!!!

MY EFFORTS to be “different” in my coverage of Scottish Rugby have today taken me into a part of the game which is even more overlooked than normal club rugby by the mainstream media – university and college rugby.

Gone are the days when Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrew's Universities were top-class clubs, who featured in the old unofficial championship. Indeed, university rugby representation within the SRU's official leagues is limited to some “faculty” teams, such as DUMS, the Dundee University Medics, who reached this season's Bowl final, on Silver Saturday – beating GUMS, their Glasgow equivalents along the way.

But university rugby in Scotland is in a remarkably-healthy state, as a look at the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sports) website quickly reveals.

University Rugby in the UK is mainly played on Wednesday afternoons, and I am not the only rugby writer who feels, the top universities, such as Exeter, Hartpury, Bath and Leeds Beckett, all of whom have links to top English club sides, could well seriously embarrass the Oxbridge pair, in a straight encounter.

 Dave Adamson - Head Coach of Edinburgh University

Scotland's leading rugby-playing university

No Scottish University is yet at that level, but, in the next tier down, the North A League, Edinburgh finished fourth, behind Newcastle, Birmingham and Nottingham. On the next rung down the BUCS ladder, the North B league, we find three Scottish seats of learning among the seven involved.

Manchester won this league, from Sheffield, with Glasgow third, Strathclyde fifth and Stirling seventh. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Stirling are the only four universities competing at National level, but, the domestic Scottish field is strong, with five domestic Scottish Leagues operating.

These finished as follows, the tables in descending order:

• Scotland 1A – Aberdeen 1, Heriot-Watt 1, St Andrew's 1, Edinburgh 2, Dundee 1, Aberdeen 2
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• Scotland 2A – Glasgow 2, Abertay 1, Edinburgh Napier 1, Robert Gordon's 1, Strathclyde 2, Stirling 2.
  
  
• Scotland 3A – Glasgow Caledonia 1, Edinburgh 3, Heriot-Watt 2, St Andrew's 2, Aberdeen 3, St Andrew's 3.
  
  
• Scotland 4A – Queen Margaret 1, West of Scotland 1, Glasgow 3, Edinburgh 4, Strathclyde 3, Edinburgh Napier 2, Glasgow Caledonia 2, Edinburgh College 1.
  
  
• Scotland 4B – Dundee 2, Robert Gordon's 2, Dundee 3, Abertay 2, St Andrew's 4.

That adds up to 35 teams, from 15 different universities and colleges playing regular league rugby, some 700 players not counted by the SRU, I think. And kudos to Edinburgh and St Andrew's Universities, for maintaining their support for the game, by each regularly fielding four XVs, while Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Strathclyde are each regularly putting out three XVs.

And, with the Super-6 teams providing tie-ins with various universities - Ayr's association with University of the West of Scotland and Stirling's with University of Stirling have both been announced, while we understand Melrose are about to announce a tie-in with Edinburgh Napier, the future looks bright.

Might we look forward some day soon to a Scottish university breaking into the ranks of the BUCS Super Rugby league?

I failed to find much of a mention of Women's Rugby on the BUCS website, but it did reveal that 12 Scottish Universities offer Women's Rugby: Aberdeen, Abertay, Dundee, Edinburgh (who alone of the Scottish universities regularly field two XVs), Edinburgh Napier, Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonia, Queen Margaret, Robert Gordon's, St Andrew's, Stirling and Strathclyde are the places with Women's teams.

OLD BENJAMIN DISRAELI coined the saying: “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” Actually, that's not quite what he said, but, it has stuck – he actually said: “There are three types of lies – lies, damned lies and statistics,” this site always strives for accuracy.

In reality, Leinster and Glasgow are the leading sides in the Guinness PRO14, but, if you look at the Opta Stats run down, which appears in each week's PRO14 media hand-outs, the two top sides don't appear as much as some.

The Opta Stats measure eight criteria – tackles made, carries, defenders beaten, offloads, clean breaks, metres made, line out steals and turnovers won; listing the top 25 performers in each category each week, plus carrying a season-long running total.

Using these, the leading Scottish players in each category are:

• Tackles made: Rob Harley (Warriors), 13^th with 196: Adam Ashe (GW) 24^th with 171.
  
  
• Carries: Bill Mata (Edinburgh) 1^st with 290: Adam Ashe (GW) 17^th with 164.
  
  
• Defenders beaten: Duhan van der Merwe (Edin) 2^nd with 65: Darcy Graham (Edin) 6^th with 49: Adam Hastings (GW) 9^th with 48: Niko Matawalu (GW) 10^th with 47.
  
  
• Offloads: Ruaridh Jackson (GW) 10^th equal with 17; Hamish Watson (Edin) 20^th equal with 13.
  
  
• Clean Breaks: Duhan van der Merwe (Edin) 3^rd with 28: Niko Matawalu (GW), Darcy Graham (Edin) 13^th equal with 18: George Horne (GW) 20^th equal with 17.
  
  
• Metres made: Duhan van der Merwe (Edin) 6^th with 1049: Niko Matawalu 9^th with 883: Bill Mata (Edin) 15^th with 796: Dougie Fife (Edin) 17^th with 762: Ruaridh Jackson (GW) 22^nd with 707: Darcy Graham (Edin) 24^th with 687.
  
  
• Line-out Steals: Jonny Gray (GW) 8^th equal with 6: Scott Cummings (GW), Ben Toolis (Edin) 15^th equal with 4: Matt Fagerson (GW) 22^nd equal with 3.
  
  
• Turnovers won: Niko Matawalu (GW) 22^nd equal with 10.
  
  
  
  Niko Matawalu - statistically Scotland's top player

Across the eight criteria measured, Leinster only has four players mentioned; Edinburgh has six, and Glasgow Warriors nine. The most-measured Scottish-based player is Niko Matawalu, who features in four of the criteria. Niko is closely followed by Edinburgh's Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham, who both feature in three of the tables, with Glasgow's Adam Ashe and Edinburgh's Bill Mata featuring in two criteria.

The fact that three wingers have done so-well in these statistics perhaps indicates how willing the two Scottish sides' are to play expansive rugby and get the ball out wide to the flanks.

Whatever your views on statistics, I would suggest, it is well-worth having a look at the figures, they are very interesting, and in some instances illuminating.