Ancient Chinese Gentleman Speak With A Lot Of Sense

Regular readers of the shite which appears in this blog will be well aware of my liking for that old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times,” since, in the context of Scottish Rugby, these are indeed interesting times.

For nine players, today will be a low one, when they will be told by Toony: “Sorry Son, but, you're not going to Japan.” The rest of us will have to wait until tomorrow for the final 31-man squad to be made public. Then, the players, back-room staff, the “Hingers Oan” within The Junta, and the travelling Tartan Army can begin to finalise their preparations, while the rest of us – once we have sorted out the TV schedules – can concentrate on what rugby is going-on back here.

And that is where things are getting truly interesting. OK, domestic rugby, that bit which comes under Sheila Begbie and the SRU Rugby Development Department has already kicked-off. Edinburgh have started their pre-season games by despatching London Scottish, while Glasgow Warriors get their season underway against Ulster this weekend.

However, Super-6, if not the elephant in the room, perhaps “the Ethiopean in the fuel supply,” does not click into gear until 9 November. That is a mere nine and a bit weeks away; already the bulk of the six squads are well into their pre-season training, with the final squads due to be revealed and registered in exactly four weeks' time, on 30 September.

The six franchises are drip-feeding the names of their squads into the public domain. Stirling County and Ayr have perhaps been the most-open thus far, without giving too much away, but, a look through the match-day squads which those Club XVs of the Super-6 franchise-holders put out on Saturday gives a clue as to which of last season's squads have moved-up to S6.

The word on the streets is that around 190 of the 210 players who can be registered for S6 are already known and in-place. The concern for the rest of Scottish Rugby is this – what if there is a football-style late flurry of transfer activity between now and the signing deadline?

Might we see some previously-overlooked players, either in the S6 “Club XVs” or, more-worryingly for the clubs concerned, playing with another clubs, plays out of their skins in September, causing the local S6 franchise team's coach to make them an offer?

This could happen, and, going forward, we may well have to have rigid signing deadlines imposed. This is a scenario which is concerning club coaches, and who can blame them. Players will always move, they always have, it is a fact of life.

For example, my all-time Ayrshire XV reads: Ian McLauchlan (Ayr Academy), Pat McArthur, Jock McClure (Ayr), Bill Cuthbertson, Gordon Brown (Marr), Alistair McHarg (Irvine), Gordon Strachan (Ayr), Peter Brown (Marr); Bryan Gossman (Ardrossan), Derrick Lee (Ayr), Derek Stark (Kilmarnock), Mark Bennett (Cumnock), Ian Murchie (Ardrossan), Steve Munro (Ayr), Niven Rose (Dalry HSFP). Replacements: Quinton Dunlop, Gordon Reid, Jock Craig(Ayr), David Gray, Ian Blake (Kilmarnock), Sandy Service, John Brown (Ayr), David Shedden (Old Spierians).

[No correspondence will be entered into as regards the make-up of the above squad; it's my blog, my selection, if you don't like my squad - tough]

Nearly every one of those 23 players had to move away from their original club to be recognised and capped. Were they playing today, they would all have to move as rugby splits ever more-certainly into “performance” and “community” branches of the game.

What we must hope for is that, moving forward, those clubs, be they Super-6 or in the upper strata of the National Leagues, don't simply “poach” players, but ensure there is a two-way street, which allows ambitious players to have a go at the big time, but, if it doesn't work out, go back without too-much hassle.

What we don't want to see, and this is a huge fear of the smaller clubs, is the bigger clubs hoovering-up talent, which they then “warehouse” in case they need them.

As one Head Coach of a lower National league side said to me last week: “We want to see guys playing – not standing watching; if the higher-ranked club doesn't need them for their match-day squad, they would be better-off playing for their original club than standing around.”

I don't see how anyone can argue with that. There has been a lot of talk since S6 became a reality, of the perils of players “playing-up” a level. It ought not to be a one-way street, rather playing up or down ought to be simpler.

For the moment, the SRU is putting a lot of stock by S6, which looks likely to be with us for at least the next five seasons. But, here's a thought: suppose Ben Ryan has already told the SRU: “Super-6 is shite, it will never work.”

Suppose Jim Mallinder comes in to his new role as Director of Performance Rugby, and, unlike his predecessor, is actually seen getting around games, involving the S6 clubs, and, by the end of this season, he goes into TCD's office and tells him straight: “Mark, Super-6 isn't working and it's a waste of money.”

What Happens Then?

Super-6 has been flawed from the start. For me, it was always at best a third-choice solution, dreamt-up because the SRU has been unable to attract the commercial partners it needs to successfully run the correct level of full-time professional rugby, and it is attempting to lessen its own liabilities in this area.

They could well have come up with some sort of regional development plan, but, the control freaks within BT Murrayfield will not cede control, either to commercial concerns, or to a devolved District or Regional set-up.

Super-6 Can work, for the likes of Ayrshire Bulls, Southern Knights and Stirling County. I believe Boroughmuir Bears can make it work, but, I simply do not believe three franchises inside Edinburgh can ever work. It will all end in tears in the capital.

What Happens Then?

There simply are not the players withn the Edinburgh catchment area to feed three clubs, something will have to give.

Interesting Times Right Enough