I SUPPOSE, if you choose to, or are forced to, live in early 21^st century Scotland, your quality of life blighted by a global pandemic, governed by an uncaring government in London, led by a fool, and government in Edinburgh, led by a wee Nippy Sweetie, whose feet of clay are crumbling before your eyes – you search for succour wherever it can be found.

Of course, being Scottish, there is the added drawback of a hurricane being permanently in your face. So, every wee silver lining has to be grasped and clung onto – or, again, being Scottish, telt tae fuck off, since it's clearly not for us.

This was the position on Sunday night. OK, maybe Glasgow Warriors didn't open the Prosecco, far less the Champagne, in beating 14-man Scarlets. But, a win is a win, is a win let's not forget. With no crowd inside Scotstoun, they were under no pressure to entertain – just see-off the Welshmen and get their Guinness PRO14 campaign up and running, so, job done.

I dare say, Danny Wilson, Kenny Murray & Co will conduct a full post-mortem this week, and be looking for the team to kick-on from this first victory of the new season. That's all we shut-out fans can hope for.

Mind you, I dare say the Glasgow Warriors XVIth Man – the Scotstoun Faithful, were happier with the outcome than some platoons of fitba's Tartan Army, who were moaning loudly because Stevie Clarke's troops ONLY beat Slovakia 1-0. This was the seventh game in an unbeaten run, and some of the troops were unhappy.

Further proof, this man nailed it.

 

 

Gregor Townsend this lunch-time named his 40-man strong squad for the Autumn Internationals. The squad comprises 23 forwards and 17 backs and the guys named are:

FORWARDS: Simon Berghan, Jamie Bhatti, Fraser Brown, Blair Cowan, Scott Cummings, Cornell Du Preez, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Richie Gray, Nick Haining, Rob Harley, Oli Kebble, Stuart McInally, WP Nel, Jamie Ritchie, Sam Skinner, Rory Sutherland, Blade Thomson, Ben Toolis, George Turner, Hamish Watson.

BACKS: Darcy Graham, Nick Grigg, Chris Harris, Adam Hastings, Stuart Hogg (Captain), George Horne, Damien Hoyland, Sam Johnson, Huw Jones, Blair Kinghorn, James Lang, Sean Maitland, Ali Price, Finn Russell, Scott Steele, Duhan Van Der Merwe, Duncan Weir.

Pretty-much as expected. No place for Magnus Bradbury, but Blair Cowan is back. As expected, Oli Kebble and Duhan Van Der Merwe, having qualified through residency are in, while it is good to see Scott Steele's good form for London Irish rewarded.

A wee bit surprised to see James Lang recalled, and Ruaridh Hutchison left out, as I am to see Jamie Bhatti, who is third-choice loose-head for Edinburgh gets in while British Lion Allan Dell who is featuring every week for Irish is omitted.

THE following is a mildly-edited cut and paste from the excellent Rugby Referee.net website, which I thought was worth sharing.

Is it not typical, the woman have put a wee bit more thought into getting back into action than the men – read on:

The Allianz Premier 15s – England’s top level women’s rugby competition – season kicks off at the weekend, with a a series of Covid-related law variations.

Under World Rugby guidance, individual unions have been able to use a selection of law measures to enable to the game to restart safely. The variations all reduce in-game face-to-face contact along with a range of medical and monitoring requirements to mitigate potential transmission risks. This also allows the competition to start without weekly testing regime other competitions have had to implement. Given the mix of professional and semi-professional teams in the league, this would have been both a logistical and economic burden everyone.

All players and support staff are receiving thorough training modules and the choice to opt in to return to competition.

The RFU undertook a detailed risk analysis which demonstrated that compared to the Men’s Elite Game there was a higher frequency of scrums, but a lower frequency of high or smother tackles in the Women’s Elite Game (i.e. those with greater face-to-face contact).

It’s expected that there will be an 80% reduction in face-to-face contact as a result of the following law variations:

• Free kicks awarded to the opposition for a forward pass or a knock on – with maximum advantage on offer by the referees - reducing scrums by over 75% & reducing face-to-face contact by 6%

• Removal of the option for a scrum at a free kick or penalty - reducing face-to-face contact by 7%

• A maul may only have one stop then the ball must be used - reducing the length of the maul

• No players who are not in the start of a lineout can join a maul - reduce the number of players in the maul

• It will only be possible to drive a line out in 22m - reduce the number of mauls

• Strict social distancing while ball is out of play including set water breaks, named bottles, limited face-to-face warm up

• Game time reduced to 35 minutes each way - to mitigate risk while also recognising the game will be faster with fewer stoppages and thereby supporting player welfare

The opening nine rounds of the season will be played using the adapted law variations for the elite women’s game before being reviewed ahead of the second half of the campaign.

BEFORE we go, I noticed a truly-optimistic piece in this morning's Guardian. apparently, Stuart Hogg has been giving his Exeter Chiefs team mates the inside track on what Finn Russell might do against them in the upcoming Heineken Cup Final.

Knowing what the Finnster might do is one thing, but, as we all know, Finn generally doesn't know what he is going to do, until a split-second before he does it – that's the trouble in marking him.

AND FINALLY – just a thought, but, do you think if Eddie Jones was placed under house arrest, the spread of Covid-19 in England might be halted. He seems to be everywhere.