Beauty May Be In The Eye Of The Beholder, But, That Was Ugly

I HAVE been hard on the SRU in recent posts – I believe, with justification. Our game is in a bad way, and far from where we would like it to be – the blame for which lies firmly in the camp of the BTM Junta.

However, I refuse to blame the players, who are simply doing their best. The Edinburgh players, for instance, certainly gave us all a boost with their gritty one-point win over Sale Sharks last night.

This was the final, and by a distance the worst, of the games I watched on BT Sport over a marathon session of rugby watching yesterday. To be honest, it was grim viewing, an arm wrestle between two poor teams, officiated over by a poor referee.

However, no Scottish team's win over an English team is ever a bad result – Edinburgh won ugly, but, they won, for which we should all be thankful. They, to my mind, deserved to win too; recovering from a piss-poor first half display, to dominate the second period, stick to their game plan and get their reward.

Having learned the game at Cumnock, I will not hear a word of criticism against Mark Bennett. But, as a Cumnock RFC man, I am entitled to say: “Marko – you were shite, but, you made amends with that try.” When he comes in at that angle, Mark is the best attacking centre in Scotland, he runs lines nobody else does.

Duhan van der Merwe was a disappointment. If he does want to swap Edinburgh for the bigger money in England, then it could be argued, Sale might be his destination of choice, with his brother already among a coterie of fellow Saffers at the club. So, a barn-storming: “Here I am, come and get me,” type performance was surely called for. Instead, he hid on the left wing the whole game.

Edinburgh had a few stand-outs. “Mish” was just Mish. I know the numbers 6 and 7 jerseys wil be the most-competitive to fill in next eyar's Lions Tour, but, when he plays like he did last night, Mish is definitely a contender.

Once again, we had proof, while he may not be a line-shattering ball carrier, Ben Toolis is, for me, by a distance, the best line-out operator in these islands, while as David Flatman – who knows what he is talking about – mentioned in commentary, Rory Sutherland is laying down a marker for the Lions' number 1 shirt. His technique at scrum time is impeccable.

I wonder about Sale, I feel their reliance on South Africans is not doing the club any good. To me, it seems if “Bish, bash, bosh” doesn't work, they don't have a Plan B.

We had another stand-out performance yesterday, from Rory Hutchinson for Northampton Saints against Leinster. He looked ready for a recall to the national side.

But, the match I enjoyed most was Clermont Auvergne v Munster. The hard-nosed approach of the old guard such as CJ Stander and Peter O'Mahoney got Munster over the line in a really-entertaining game.

I felt that match benefitted from a very-good refereeing performance from Matthew Carley. Mr Carley is not a referee I have usually much time for. If he was Scottish rather than English, he would not be getting anywhere close to officiating at this level. That said, I though he was better than I have ever seen him yesterday.

He communicated well with the players, he read the game well and, if he can maintain this standard, I might have to change my opinion of him. On the other hand, Roman Poite had a stinker at Sale – his failure to red card the Sale Saffer for that head shot on Mish being a particular low point. Perhaps a case of a French referee officiating in a game between an English team and a Scottish one, and coming into the game with the presumption – the English team is the better one, so I will reward them.

This afternoon was spent watching Harlequins v Racing 92. Highlight was seeing that obnoxious twat Chris Ashton costing 'Quins a late consolation try, with his petty late “tackle” - when he tried to drag Teddy Thomas back by his collar. The chalking-off of the “try” could perhaps only have been more-enjoyable, had it been Venus de Farrell who had been pinged.

I have previously likened Finn Russell to Jim Baxter, for his gallus swagger in games. I saw another football connection in this one – he's a wee bit like Andrés Iniesta, the “conductor” of the Barcelona golden Team's tiki-taka short passing game – in the way he brings-in team mates with short passes, made at the last possible second. Some of his kick passes at The Stoop – even when they didn't come off – were pure genius.

Mind you, from a Scotland point of view, wasn't it good to see the likes of Glen Young, James Lang and Scott Steele showing up so well in a well-beaten Quins side. They are getting more exposure in South-West London than they could possibly have hoped for inside the Murrayfield bubble.

FINALLY – so Huw Jones is the latest home-based Scot to look for a move to the greener pastures of the Gallagher Premiership. Well, good luck to the lad, but, I fear, once Brexit really starts to bite, cold reality might begin to affect the English club game,

So, I hope Huw's agent can get any deal done quickly. However, Jones going will create a vacancy, let's hope the SRU can encourage a young Scot to step-up and fill the vacancy.

I have said before and definitely believe, the problem with Scottish Rugby is not with talent – that we have. I think it's our coaching and player development systems which need to be overhauled if Scotland is to start moving forward.

Get rid of the “broken arrows” and start employing coaches who can bring our native talent through. It's not rocket science, or a case of throwing money at the problem.