If Carlsberg Did Weekends - That Wouldn't Have Been One

IN REVIEWING the third round of Guinness Six Nations matches, I thought I would start by shovelling the shite into a corner and carting it away. That Under-20s game on Friday night stunk to high heaven. Not that I watched it all, I bailed-out at half-time, I had already realised, even with 14 men, the French were too-good for us and our team already had that well-beaten look about it.

I returned to see the final few minutes, switching over just as the French replacement collected their second red card of the game. I have been impressed by referee Clara Munarini on previous viewings. As we say down here in God's County: she is not a wummin you would want to take home a broken pay poke, but, she knows her job.

I thought she got the first red wrong. It looked to me like the sort of unfortunate accident which happens now and again, two players, going flat-out and running into each other. The clash of ehads happened, but, it wasn't to me, anything other than a “rugby incident.” For me, no penalty, far-less a card; re-start play with a scrum to Scotland.

The long debate and the decision to send off the French player was, I feel, a result of today's “blame culture,” something happened which shouldn't have, so, somebody must be to blame and have to pay the penalty.

Shite happens, live with it.

The second red, however, was a red card every day of the week, and twice on Sunday. That one, Ms Munarini got spot-on.

Can I, in closing the chapter on a bad night in Edinburgh, repeat my plea – can the SRU please hire a good line-out coach to sort out what is a top-to-bottom shambles with our representative teams. They could start by getting Scott MacLeod from Newcastle Falcons.

WHERE TO BEGIN re the big game on Saturday?

Nae disgrace in losing to what might be currently the best team in the world, but two tries to six – that's a bit hard to take. It was another bad day at the office for us. Maybe a six out of ten, which while it might be good enough to see-off England, isn't good enough against a really good team. Some thoughts:

• Hoggy holds that Chris Harris pass just before half-time, then scores – different game. I don't blame Harris for trying it, but, the shorter, and safer pass, to Ali Price, would still, I feel, have seen us score. On such narrow margins do games turn.

• Then, France score two tries, either side of the break and we're chasing the game.

• We do not seem able to off-load, as well or as often as the other sides. This failing means we are not creating opportunities for the sort of broken field running which suits Finn, Hoggy and Duhan VDM.

• Our pack lacks oomph and physicality at this level.

• Blair Kinghorn never has been, is not and never will be an international class ten.

• Karl Dickson never has been, is not and never will be an international-class referee. Some of his decisions defied logic. But, he wasn't a factor in our defeat.

• Did you ever think Finn Russell could be replaced when not injured, and the commentators are not over the decision like a rash?

• OK, the magic wasn't there, but – who else brings as much to the table at ten?

• France do score some sublime tries.

• It was good to see our Olympic medal-winning curlers there as guests of the SRU.

• It was also good to see wee Hollie Davidson on fourth referee duties.

• President Ian Barr is proper hard – no anorak on. Respect.

• I think we might be in bother in Rome.

The Footballing Tartan Army's motto is: “With Scotland, it's the hope that kills.” That is even-more true of the Rugby Tartan Army.

ENGLAND v WALES was pure dead boring; two average teams not even playing average rugby. England didn't win convincingly, so it was all the fault of the Scottish referee. Wales lost – because of the Scottish referee – yawn.

For me, Engalnd v Wales is the game you want both sides to lose. The commentators were, as always, terrible. I really must stop watching this pish, it does my head in.

THE controversial moment, apparently was in the lead-up to the solitary England try, with the Welsh complaining loud and long that Maro Itoje had done a number on Adam Beard, preventing him from jumping. Jeez, one wonders what today's line-out exponents would have made of the guerilla warfare of the lines-out of 50 years ago, when anything went.

I recently spoke with former Scotland number eight Alasdair Boyle, who recalled playing in what is now known as the Colin Meads Game in 1967. Alasdair remembers: “Pringle Fisher won the first three balls thrown long, next line out, two All Blacks punch him.” Or how, after he had ruled the air ways in his first Test for the Lions, the Third Test in 1971, in the Fourth Test, first line-out, Gordon Brown was held down by Alistair Hopkinson, while Peter Whiting punched him. Back then, you policed your own lines-out.

But, to return to England v Wales. How about this for a left-field (no, not you Jim) thought? Might Wayne Pivac be a coaching genius, able to take a bunch of average players and make them bring their opposition down to their average level. While they might win a few, they will also lose a few, but, they will not take rugby forward.

I mean, the London media keeps telling us this England team is special, only, they're not exactly showing this.

IRELAND v ITALY was spoilt as a contest by the red card p which will become a text-book example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. I can understand the reason for the Law stating you have to go down to 13 men when uncontested scrums come into play, but, it didn't help the integrity of the game or the spectacle.

Italy came out of the game with all the credit and I have got a bad feeling about our trip to Rome in two weeks' time.

FINALLY – courtesy of my old sparring partner: Stephen Jones of the Sunday Times, or – Jones the Englishman as I prefer to call him, who wrote: “England were reasonable. They have negotiated rather shakily the second division of this Six Nations but as we had seen during the France-Scotland game, division one is a completely different proposition.”

Your memory is clearly going Jonesie old boy – who won the Calcutta Cup?

Time To End The Schools v Club Argument - Or Is It?

A LONG LONG TIME AGO I can still remember how: a high heid yin with the Scottish Schools Football Association, after the best of our Under-15 boys had been well and truly gubbed by their English contemporaries, pointed out: “We in the SSFA are here to provide football for boys, not boys for football.”

That pedagogue was pontificating half a century or more ago, back at a time when our Under-15 team, the team which begat the likes of Jack Harkness, George Young and Billy Steel (albeit at Under-14 level then), Dave Mackay, Billy Bremner, Billy McNeill, Craig Brown, Jim McCalliog, Kenny Dalglish, George Burley and several hundred more was still under the control of the teachers.

Another teaching friend of mine, a gentleman who would achieve high office in the Schools equivalent of UEFA, always insisted: “Scotland always has and always will produce kids as-talented as kids from any other country. Up until Under-14, we can hold our own with the best. Our Under-16s even beat Brazil. But, at about Under-14, many of our best boys are taken into club academies and ruined.”

Sadly, his warning went unheeded, control of our elite kids was handed over to our clubs and – well, Darren Fletcher apart, we have been experiencing crop failure for the last 25-years.

That's Scottish Football, what about Scottish Rugby?

I sense in our game, there remains an element of “Providing boys for rugby,” when you look at the make-up of the four squads in the recent FOSROC Inter-Regional Under-17 and Under-18 Tournament.

At Under-18 level the squads lined-up thus:

• Edinburgh – 8 schools and 2 clubs provided the squad

• Glasgow – 4 schools and 9 clubs

• Borders & East Lothian – 3 schools and 9 clubs

• Caledonia – 7 schools and 1 club

At Under-17 level the splits were:

• Edinburgh – 6 schools and 2 clubs

• Glasgow – 5 schools and 7 clubs

• Borders & East Lothian – 1 school and 9 clubs

• Caledonia – 7 schools and 8 clubs

It could be said, in Caledonia Region, and in the Capital, you've got more chance of having your talent noticed if you go to the right school, while the clubs appear to have a bit more influence on young player development in the Borders and Glasgow.

Indeed, some of the Edinburgh schools have, with a degree of certainty about it, been accused of agressively using rugby as a marketing tool, to the extent of offering scholarships to talented young players from state schools. The Edinburgh schools are also in the vanguard of “persuading” the SRU to bring in rules which prevent boys from playing for their swchool and their club over the same weekend.

I recently did an interview, for the excellent Ayr RFC newsletter, Pink and Black with Ayrshire Bulls' Coach Pete Horne, in which he admitted, he feels being able to play for both Bell Baxter High School and Howe of Fife, helped his early career development. That cannot happen today.

Which brings me back to that old footballing teacher and:

• Football for boys v Boys for football

The way I see it, football (and Rugby Union is a form of football) for boys trumps boys for football. Use the schools to introduce boys (and girls) to the game, but, have closer ties between the schools and the clubs to enable the really-keen conscripts via the schools to get into the club scene, with the clubs handling game education.

The oft-punted notion of bringing the school and club games together at youth level really needs to be addressed. I suspect, given the current weighting, initially the Establishment schools would be on top, but, I am certain, if they got their act together, the bigger – and some smaller – clubs, could soon be competitive and winning regularly.

We would also have a more-level playing field.

WE ARE no closer to finding-out, if, far-less when, London Scottish will perhaps depart the RFU Championship for an expanded Super6.

The RFU Council announced on Friday afternoon they were embarking on further consultation as to the future format of England's second tier. This is expected to take a few months to work through.

The latest suggestion is for a 12-club league competition, augmented by a Cup competition, which would pit the Championship teams against the A teams of the 12 Premiership clubs.

This format is at odds with one leaked to The Daily Telegraph, which proposed a hybrid league of independent clubs and Premiership reserve sides.

With funding to the Championship clubs being halved from the 2020 levels, although the decrease is being phased in, Scottish is one of the clubs to have opted for semi-professional, rather than full-time professional status.

A decision was due by December, 2021, but was then delayed, and today's announcement sees the issue being kicked even further down the road.

This does not make life easy for the decision-makers at Richmond Athletic Ground, but, it does look as if Super8 has been pushed back – unless, of course, the SRU decides to follow the RFU and put Edinburgh and Glasgow squads of young players into S8.

Now, that might be interesting.

FINALLY, I have never been an UGO MOYNE fan. As both a player and a pundit, he has left me cold – I have never thought he had a selling point, far less a Unique one, as in USP.

But, fair play to the big chap, in his Friday Guardian column, he came up with a cracker, describing Manu Tuilagi as “Manu-Dona” in an homage to the wee fat Argentinian genius.

Aye Right! Diego could win a game off his own back, Manu?? They did have one thing in common, both looked brilliant facing English defenders.

As I have been saying for years: If Manu Tuilagi is the answer for England, Eddie Jones is asking the wrong question.

A Good Squad, But, You Still Have To Favour France

 

SPEAKING as a long-term Cumnock RFC supporter, the massive news for me in Gregor Townsend's match-day squad to face France on Saturday is the return to the ranks, albeit only on the bench, of oor-ain Mark Bennett.

It's been a long and convoluted road back for Marko, but, he's put-in the work and, on his form for Edinburgh this season, he deserves the recall.

The starting team, shown at the head of this blog, is pretty-much as-expected. Many of us might have started Wilem Nel, to counteract French scrum power, but, otherwise, putting Sam Skinner into the boiler-house, and giving Rory Darge a first start, and playing with two sevens in the back-row, well, these are hardly surprises.

Regardless of which team we went with, we are, even with home advantage, going to start as second-favourites in a two-horse race. But, if we can run that massive French pack around the pitch, playing with tempo, who knows what might happen.

I AM INDEBTED to friend of this blog, Clubfan, for directing me towards the latest SRU Clubs & Schools Communication – dated 22 February. Luckily, he sent me a copy, you will not find this posted on the SRU website, where the latest such missive is dated 6 October, 2021. That's quite up-to-date for the quarter-wit who runs the SRU's Media Department, I must say.

The grist to this particular mill is regarding the season structure review, with the Union, led by Director of Rugby Development Gav Scott and President Ian Barr, releasing an information pack and a webnar which they hope will assist the clubs in this review.

There will be four workshops, held via the Zoom platform, as follows:

• Premiership, National 1, 2 and 3 teams – 2 March, at 7pm

• Caledonia Regional teams – 7 March, at 7pm

• East Regional teams – 8 March, at 7pm

• West Regional teams – 14 March, at 7pm

Members of the Rugby Development Department staff will deliver the workshops. The SRU has also sent out an information pack regarding what will be discussed:

• The current status of the adult male game in Scotland

• The aims of the review

• A review of the 2019/20 consultation process

• Recommendations from that review

• The 2022 consultation process and timeline – with the intention of having the matter agreed at the AGM in August

• Key questions

The information pack is certainly a comprehensive piece of work, outlining various alternatives as regards the playing calendar; looking at different scenarios around playing blocks and timing, promotion and relegation and how many National leagues we have, and how many clubs will be in each division. Certainly plenty of scope for debate.

I am personally delighted to see Game On up for discussion, and also a possible return to representative rugby at Regional level. I am sure the debate will be spirited.

I deliberately chose to merely highlight pointers from the document, I suggest it is worth seeking-out and reading.

IT'S MAKE YOUR MIND UP TIME:

The SRU Competitions Team wants to hear from you, about what happens in the club game, between now and the official end of the season on 22 May. And, they have come up with three options:

1. A Premiership Cup competition

2. An Inter-District competition

3. No cup competition

BUT – Clubs have to respond by Sunday, 27 February. (that's this coming Sunday).

The suggested format for the Premiership Cup will see the top four clubs: Currie Chieftains, Edinburgh Academical, Marr and Hawick seeded, two in Group 1, the other two in Group 2, with the other six Premiership clubs drawn randomly into the two groups. The teams would then play each other home or away basis, with the two group winners meeting in the final, at Murrayfield, on 14 May.

Option Two – an Inter-District Competition (who mentioned the banned D word?) would see players selected to play for their “Region of Origin,” as happens in Australia's Rugby League State of Origin series.

The suggestion is that each region selects A and B representative teams, for an A and a B competition, with the two finalists in each competition meeting in the final on 14 May.

The third suggestion is that there be no post league season cup competition.

Very interesting, let's see what the clubs say.

Another One Takes The High Road

SINCE 1603 the High Road to England has been an enticing draw to ambitious Scots. Even if we had an SNP government in Edinburgh committed to us re-gaining our Independence, that situation isn't going to change any time soon. I suspect, even after Independence – which, increasingly I fear I will never see – it will take a year or two for our brightest and best to realise: North – South, Hame's best. We've been a net exporter of talent for 409 years, so we should be used to it.

So, this week's news that big Kiran McDonald-Seran (why is it Shug Barrow and I are the only two writers to use his full name?) is leaving Glasgow Warriors for Wasps at the end of the season is hardly at the 'Man bites dog” end of the news spectrum. When it comes to Scottish sportsmen moving South, he's following in the footsteps of Fergus Suter, whose move from Partick to Darwen in 1878 was the first known case of sporting exports.

It's not entirely new ground for the big fella, he had a brief spell with Hull and East Riding between two stints with Glasgow Hawks. I would expect, working every day with the great Joe Launchbury, Kiran will make even-more progress than he has in his time at Warriors. I wish him well in Coventry.

I would like to think the management at Scotstoun would forego their go-to strategy when a player leaves: pick-up the telephone to their agent in Johannesburg and ask who's available, and start working seriously on their youthful twin towers, Max Williamson and Alex Samuel. Give them game time and more experience and let them develop.

But, developing young Scots talent has never seemed a huge priority at elite-level Scottish rugby.

AS I too-frequently have to point out, I am not against the SRU recruiting players from overseas – provided they are Scottish-Qualified. We really should make use of that massive Caledonian Diaspora in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to offswet our comparitvely shallow gene pool back home.

So I welcome this week's news of the new Edinburgh contracts for Harrison Courtney and Angus Williams. They have impressed in the FOSROC SUPER6 and it is good to see them hanging around a wee bit longer. I wish them well.

I hear whispers too of a big meeting coming up at London Scottish in the next week or so. This may have repercussions when it comes to Super8, or even the longed-for third pro team.

FURTHER UP this post I referred to Fergus Suter – the first of the legendary Scotch Professors to be enticed south to educate England on the future of Association Football – the Scottish pass and run game.

Well, he may never achieve the fame/notoriety of Mr Suter, but, in a way young Aiden Barry could be as big a trailblazer as old Fergus. Aiden played at number eight for the Edinburgh Select in the FOSROC Scottish Rugby Under-127 Regional Championships at The Greenyards at the weekend. Wedd done to him, more-so when you realise, Aiden is listed as playing for Edinburgh Harlequins.

Who they? Well I now know, courtesy of dear old Google: “Edinburgh Harlequins is a new youth programme, based at Lismore Rugby Club to provide a rugby hub for young people from five high schools – Castlebrae, Gracemount, Holyrood, Liberton and Portobello - to take part in regular training activity and games led by qualified coaches, teachers and volunteers.”

Harlequins has the backing of those quietly-under-stated chaps The Friends of Scottish Rugby and they have also acquired some big name sponsors for the programme. There is also a very-professional promotional video, with a voice-over from weel-known Scottish commentator Paul Mitchell.

As we all know, rugby in Edinbnurgh is largely based on what I call “The Establishment Schools”: Edinburgh Academy, Fettes College, George Heriot's, George Watson's, Merchiston Castle, Stewart's-Melville College. These six private schools provide 33, or 72% of the Edinburgh Under-17 and Under-18 squads.

Boroughmuir and Royal High School, although state schools, have earned “Establishment” status over the years. They provide ten of the 46 boys selected, leaving young Aiden as just one of three “outsiders” in the combined squads. The other two are Livingston loose-head Aaron Steel and BATS lock Euan McVie in the Under-18 squad.

Progress is often slow in Scottish Rugby, so it will be interesting to see how initiatives such as Edinburgh Harlequins can perhaps alter the landscape in the capital.

THE TENNENT'S PREMIERSHIP is all but done and dusted. Nobody can catch Currie Chieftains, and can I repeat my plea – surely the side which finishes top of the table over the 18-match regular season schedule deserves some token of this.

Marr have finished second, to clinch the other home game in the play-off semi-finals, all that has to be settled at the top end is – can Edinburgh Academical beat Currie in the sides' final game, and thus leap-frog Hawick into third place, which will settle which of these clubs goes where for the play-off semi-finals.

Aberdeen Grammar School will be relegated, which turns our focus onto Natioonal League 1, and who comes up?

We could be well into April before we find out the answer to this question. As things stand, Heriot's Blues, who have five games still to play, lead the table by five points from Gala, who have seven fixtures remaining. The pair are due to clash, at Netherdale, in the penultimate fixture, on 16 April. Could be an interesting day.

Third-placed Biggar, still smarting from decisions taken at Murrayfield last season, are a point behind Gala, with six games left. Their meeting, uner the Netherdale lights on Friday night, will be a hugely-important match in the final reckoning.

I find it interesting that three of the bottom four places are filled by the Club XVs of Super6 franchises – those of Stirling County, Watsonians and Boroughmuir. Relegation for two of them would not be a good look.

Aye, once we get this Six Naitons nonsense out of the way, we have an interesting few weeks to come in the club game.