Today's Interesting Times Could Be Getting More-Interesting

I HAVE a question for any of my Welsh friends, who might be reading this: Do you want to be Celts, or would you rather be faux English?

In asking this, I appreciate, I might be treading on certain sensibilities. However, I feel it has to be asked, because today's Welsh edition of the Rugby Paper has a front page “splash” written by veteran rugby writer Peter Jackson, which suggests a full-scale British League may be a mere two years away.

Peter Jackson

Now, this story is only given big licks in the Welsh edition, rather than the English one, and in writing it, Jackson trolls the great foreplay issue for Welsh rugby – the notion of a return to regular cross-border play between the big English and Welsh clubs – a return to Cardiff Blues facing Gloucester, Scarlets going head-to-head with Bath and so on.

Jackson's rationale is: well CVC Capital Partners appear to be buying rugby; they have already done a deal with the English Premiership, they are on the verge of completing one with the Six Nations, and are in serious talks with the PRO14. So, as sure as two plus two makes five, a joint league, featuring the Premiership and the PRO14 is coming.

I certainly have not yet been able to read the full front-page piece, but, right up until the bit which says: “continued on page three,” two words conspicuous by their absence are Ireland and Scotland.

I could be wrong, but, any amalgamation between the English Premiership and the PRO14 will be English-driven, and it will be viewed from the aspect of what's best for England. Twenty six teams might work; but, there are 13 teams in membership of Premier Rugby in England. Twenty seven does not really work, 28 be a bit many, so some may need to be lost. You can bet, no English teams will be sacrificed, so, look out Benetton, Zebre, Southern Kings and Cheetahs is my advice.

It could work, and, if the money talks loudly enough, it will happen. It will, however, be interesting to see how it is organised – two, three or four conferences, geographic splits? What happens with European games?

Aye, as I have frequently said, we live in interesting times. Murrayfield insiders are hinting that huge changes are coming down the road – quickly. I am sure, my old mate TCD will defend the SRU's commercial position stoutly and ensure we get our cut of all this lovely new money.

I just wish I was as confident in our actual rugby department's readiness to ensure the two Scottish teams will have the back-up to make an impact, if and when this proposed great new dawn appears.

We weren't ready in 1995 and are still playing catch-up. Let's be ready for 2021.

I AM indebted to that fine Teri and all-round good guy John “Pundy” Thorburn for drawing my attention to an item in the New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz.

The item in question is a plea from the great World Cup-winning coach Sir Graham Henry, for more resources to be diverted to weight-restricted rugby, a form of the game which, while once fairly wide-spread in the Land of the Long White Cloud, is now facing something of a crisis, with numbers playing dropping.

Sir Graham Henry

I first heard of the New Zealand concept of weight-restricted rugby back in the 1970s or 1980s. There was a very good young scrum-half, whose family had been re-located from Auckland to Edinburgh by his father's employers. This kid had turned up at George Heriot's School and immediately made waves. The Scotsman interviewed him, and he mentioned how, in NZ, schools rugby was bound by weight bandings, to stop the bigger kids simply running over the smaller ones.

I thought then it was a good idea, and still do. Apparently this concept carries on into the adult club game, with the Auckland Under-85 kg. Club competition a particularly strong bulwark of this.

As its name suggests, the prime rule of Under-85 kg rugby is, no player may exceed that weight (13 stones 5lbs 6 and a bit ounces in old money). Players are weighed pre-match, so, at this level, weight-watching and staying fit is crucial.

Henry admits, this grade has declined somewhat from his playing days, when Auckland University alone had six teams, but, it enables players cast aside as: “too-small” for modern-day rugby can continue to play. He goes on to suggest, by getting smaller players, some with considerable skill-sets, to remain involved in the game, a number of future referees and administrators will be unearthed.

There are suggestions, and I can well understand how this has happened, that rugby risks becoming like American Football. Talent will be enough up to the age of 18 or 19, perhaps up to 22 or 23, but, above that, increasingly, if a player has not earned a professional contract, he will simply stop playing and become, at best, a spectator.

Certainly, we do things a wee bit differently in Scotland. Over here, Rugby is not the main sport, as it still is in New Zealand. But, it cannot be denied, in recent times, the SRU's main focus has been on the professional and performance side of the game: the national squads, the two full-time professional sides, the Academy and now the Super-6.

Certainly, compared to some other national governing bodies, the SRU looks after their grass roots clubs reasonably well, but, for all the efforts of Sheila Begbie and her Rugby Development Team, there is a feeling out there in clubland – we could get a bit more help and support from Murrayfield than we currently receive.

This blog is all in favour of supporting fun rugby, touch rugby, development games, ten-a-side rugby, seven-a-side rugby, any form of the game which keeps the keen but less-talented players involved. Might weight-restricted rugby be another tool in this armoury? It is worth considering.