EXCLUSIVE - Aristotle Is First Up With This One - Districts Are Back

INTER-DISTRICT rugby returns to Scotland next month, with the semi-final matches in the 2022 Scottish Inter-District Cup set for 30 April.

On that date, Caledonia will take-on Glasgow and The West, while The South will take-on Edinburgh. The two winning teams will then contest the final, and the third v fourth play-off games, on 14 May.

And that is pretty much all the SRU are telling us at the moment. No venues – although I suspect the final and third v fourth games may be back-to-back at the Dam Health Stadium, it's got to pay its way somehow.

Each District will select a wider 32-man squad, from which a 22-strong match-day squad will be selected. The players will come from the Tennent's Premiership and lower leagues and there will be certain eligibility criteria:

• they were born in that district

• they played the majority of their youth rugby fixtures in that district

• they currently play regular rugby in that district

Each District has to confirm it's management team, Head Coach and District Lead by Monday next, 28 March, and the squads are due to be confirmed on Monday, 4 April.

Welcome though this development is – I've been calling for this sort of competition for some time – I cannot help thinking:

• It's all being put together in a bit of a rush

• We don't know who is actually running things

• Are the Academy boys/age group players going to be involved?

Looking at these issues, nothing is, as yet, in the public domain, there hasn't been a press release for instance and 28 March is a mere four days away.

Seven days later, the coaches are due to release their squads. Back in the days of the Inter-District Championship, in Glasgow, the District I know most about, we had inter-county games, leading up to what was in effect a final trial, before the squad was released, then Glasgow played warm-up games, against the likes of Cumberland and Westmorland and Lancashire. This new set-up, is a bit rushed for me. But, maybe this is only because it's the first year.

Back in the day, we had District Committees; who's got the big shout today – the Council members? We have several very-good people in there, but, one or two who I don't think could run a bath, far-less meet the more-onerous Scottish challenge of running a gird.

Surely, given they were drafted into the Premiership at the end of the S6 season, this is a good opportunity to compare the chosen ones with the riff-raff who've had to come through the grind of the club game.

WEE NEIL MEIKLE – Director of Rugby at Heriot's, is a fly wee bugger, (that's a compliment btw Neil); who has the support within Goldenacre of several of the wisest sages in the game in Scotland. So well done to them in recruiting Sean Lineen to their cause. But, Boroughmuir, what were you thinking, allowing one of your own to slip through your net?

I honestly felt The Nails got it wrong with S6 last season, perhaps being too-loyal to some players who should have been sent down to perhaps provide experience to their Blues XV in the Tennent's Premiership.

I expect, with Sean on-board, their recruitment will be good, they certainly, otherwise, have a sound team in-place at Goldenacre.

SOCIAL MEDIA has been awash with opinions, since the news of The Edinburgh Six's version of The Great Escape came out.

From what I can make of things, there are faults on both sides. OK, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that Gregor Townsend is a micro-managing control freak, whose methods are not going down well with some of his squad.

On the other hand, there is again anecdotal evidence, that there is an element within the more-senior Scotland players – The Big Dogs – whose attitude stinks. So faults on both sides – how do we sort it out?

That's above my pay grade, but, I will say this: normally, a bunch of rugby players wanting a wee swally on a Saturday night, particularly after a good win – well, that's hardly “MAN BITES DOG news,” is it.

In normal times, I would have a degree of sympathy with the six players, and would maybe be telling Toony: “You over-reacted there pal.”

BUT, and in this case, the but is important. We are still in the grip of a Covid pandemic. OK, perhaps the illness is not hitting as hard as before, cases may be on the increase, but, they do not seem to be as severe as at this time last year for instance.

However, there are protocols in place with regard to sports team bubbles and so forth. The players should have known, staying within the bubble and not taking chances was paramount. In this case, due to the particular circumstances of Covid, I am on the side of the management.

The six players were totally irresponsible and should pay the price of their stupidity. At the moment, I think they got off too-easily.

FINALLY another average NSQ (Non-Scotland Qualified) player arriving at Scotstoun in the shape of Tongan number eight Sione Vailanu. Good luck to the boy, but, is signing a 27-year-old NSQ the best use of Glasgow Warriors' budget? The purpose of our two full-time professional teams is to prepare players for the greater challenge of international rugby.

I have no objection to Glasgow, or Edinburgh signing X-factor players such as Nakarawa, Matawalu, both van der Merwe's or Vata. I don't have a problem with Scotland-Qualified imports such as Sam Johnson, or Sione Tuipulotu. In times of famine in a particular position, I can stomach recruiting South African props to qualify via residency, but, buying-in an international player who isn't Scottish simply deprives a young Scotland player of a place, and to me, that's a Tim Vine joke – wrong on so many levels.

We don't need non-Scots. There is no relegation in the United Rugby Championship, what we need is a system of player use whereby our top talent only plays in the big games, Europe etc., and we trust our kids to learn and improve in the other games. This system certainly works for the Irish.