Good to know there's a trophy up for grabs in Rome on Saturday, with the first contest for the new Cuttitta Cup, instituted in memory of the late Massimo Cuttitta, a man who has left a considerable legacy in both Italian and Scottish rugby,between his 70 caps and 22 games as captain of the Italian side and his sterling work as a coach at Murrayfield.
My big worry is that this is the game when Italy finally gets it right, and we pay the price. The Azzurri have, I think, been better than their results this season have made them appear and if we play as we did against Wales and France, we could be embarrassed.
Generally speaking, when it comes to rugby journalism, there is shite, pure shite, then Rugby Onslaught. That particular site claims to be Irish, but spends a lot of its time chasing clickbait with overtly pro-English pish.
Just occasionally, however, as if to prove the old stopped clock similie, they come up with a belter. Tuesday was such a day, with a piece on Jordan X Davis, a 22-year-old, defensive tackle with the National Championship-winning Georgia Bulldogs American Football team.
He's a big boy, standing six foot six inches tall and weighing an impressive 24 stones 5 pounds in old money, 156 kilograms for you metric chaps.
RO cottoned onto Mr Davis thanks to some mind-blowing statistics from the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, where he produced a record time of 4.78 seconds for the 40 yard dash, the fastest time ver by a man of his size, and backed that up with a 32 inch vertical leap and a 10 foot 3 inch standing broad jump.
On the back of these returns, Davis is now being touted as a potential first round draft pick for the new NFL season, with the Los Angeles Chargers apparently favourites to sign him.
After this, our least-favourite rugby website wondered how a rugby player of similar size might compare. Well, most of our six foot six guys are to be found in the back five of the scrum, so are unlikely to weigh as much ads young Jordan. While our front rowers who weigh that much, well it's impossible to say if they could match that pace over 40 yards, since they so seldom get the chance to run like that. Mind you, I have seen some fairly rapid sprints in open play from props, so I would hesitate to say no rugby player of similar size could match his time.
But, it is one thing to be a defensive tackle in American Football, who has to wait his chance to get on the park, and being a prop, who, if he starts, knows he's going to be involved for 50 minutes to an hour or so. Comparing apples and pears RO, apples and pears.
Then, yesterday, RO went from the ridiculous to the I do not believe it fucking ridiculous, with a piece claiming Ellis Genge is the Usain Bolt of propping. Still, if it keeps the Sassenachs happy, let it go.
I HAVE mixed emotions when it comes to this new Under-18 Women's Six Nations tournament. On the one hand, it will force the SRU and the other Unions to be a bit more professional when it comes to young female player development; while on the other hand, the financial resources which making this work properly will probably be diverted from the areas in Scotland where, for the game's long-term good health, it could be better spent.
With the boost qualification for the World Cup has given women's rugby in Scotland, I would rather, in the short to medium term, see us concentrating in getting even-greater number of girls just playing, before we start picking-out the more-promising young players.
I went into the fixtures and results section of the SRU website; in the Youth and Schools section, which covers Under-18 rugby, they list 60 National or regional competitions – only two of these are for girls, the Under-18 and Under-16 National Girls Cups.
Only seven teams are listed as playing in the Under-18 competition:
Biggar, Caithness, Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee, East Kilbride, Edinburgh Harlequins and Stirling County.
At Under-16 level, 12 clubs are participating:
Biggar, Caithness, Cartha-Queen's Park, Dumfries Saints, East Lothian, Fife, Garioch, Kelpies, Stirling County, Tayside, Whitecraigs, West of Scotland.
Well done to these clubs, some of which are composite outfits, but, gey few “Establishment” clubs are to be seen on the list – only Stirling County of the franchise-holding clubs for instance, and a distinct lack of presence around Edinburgh and the Borders, the support base of Rugby Union in Scotland.
On the other hand, if girls rugby was to more-accurately mirror the Under-18 boys game, we might expect to see the likes of Mary Erskine, St Leonard's, Westbourne, and Park School featuring alongside the likes of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Academies, Fettes, Dollar Academy, George Watson's and Strathallan – all co-educational but not offering girls' rugby as yet.
For me, broadening the pyramid base is, at this stage, far-more important than diverting funds into an elitist Under-18 Six Nations programme, for which we appear ill-prepared. Still if it keeps the Performance Department happy, who are we plebs to complain.
MAGNUS BRADBURY I see is off to join Bristol Bears next season. Good for him, I gather they pay well at Ashton Gate. With Bradbury off the books, hopefully Edinburgh will giva a chance to a young Scottish back rower – more game time for Ben Muncaster and Connor Boyle perhaps. Or might it be a case of – a home-grown Scot out, let's bring in a cheap Pacific Islander or Argentinian? No wonder we question the thought processes of The Junta.
But, for as long as the Gallagher Premiership clubs are allowed to run their unsustainable notion of how professional rugby should look, we have to accept, we will lose Scottish talent to the higher wages down there, then, when the bubble bursts, as burst it will, they can maybe come back home.
Just to remind you, AA ,there are already around 40 Scotland Qualified Players plying their trade in the Gallagher Premiership so if it folds this could be the basis of a 3rd Pro side which we need already to give the likes of Muncaster and Boyle more game time
ReplyDelete