Sympathy For The Nails - Is Aristotle Feeling OK?

I KNOW, it's 'The Nails' who suffered, so the approved and appropriate response should be: “There, there, hard lines – never mind,” but, Friday night's televised FOSROC Super6 clash between Watsonians and Heriot's showed, if a game has live television – then there ought to be a TMO in situ. Had there been a man in the van at Myreside, then I am sure Heriot's would have had two more first half tries than the one they did get.

I don't blame the officials for getting the first one wrong, but, TV would surely have proved, Jack Blain did score a valid try following the rugby equivalent of a goal line stramash. Then, had a TMO been asked to adjudicate on Callum Guthrie's John Greig-style sliding tackle on Matt Davidson, as the Heriot's centre broke clear – surely a penalty try and at least a yellow card for Guthrie would have followed.

You can only hypothesise and you can certainly never say never, but, if Heriot's had turned round trailing 19-22, rather than 7-22, given they won the second half, well, an awful lot changes.

OK, I will hold my hand up and admit, I've questioned wee Finn Gillies' reading of things, with him still believing his side can go on and win the whole Super6 shebang. Maybe, if they get the breaks next Friday which they didn't get last night – Finn will have the last laugh.

A MIDDLE of the night shift, to watch Australia v Scotland in the Women's World Cup did nothing for my mood. You would think by now, I would know, watching Scotland is an endless story of disappointment and shattered dreams.

Scotland simply did not do as much as they ought to have with the wind, then, in the second half, into the wind and even with a two player advantage in the closing minutes, we never looked like winning. The fact is, for all the effort of the girls, on the world stage, we are simply not good enough.

That said, once again, as against Wales, we were partially undone by a poor referee. Lauren Jenner may (correctly) have issued two red cards, to both Australian hookers, but, she did Scotland no favours, time and again failing to spot Australian offences which, if penalised, would have got us a long way downfield.

She did, at one point, penalise the replacement Australian loose-head at one scrum, but, from the moment the big lassie came on, she was scrumming illegally, and getting away with it. She also repeatedly failed to penalise Australian sealing-off at the breakdown, and running interference. Not good enough at this level.

IT WAS much the same story in the France v England game, where I felt the normally impeccable Joy Neville, let England away with an awful lot of cheap shots off the ball. I would suggest, if a male prop did some of the stuff England's replacement loose-head got away with – there would be a genuine battle on the park.

But, to be fair to the English girls, they did dominate territorially and in possession terms and therefore deserved to win.

However, once again, wearing their red rose-tinted spectacles, the English female pundits proved, when it comes to being biased, they could give John Inverdale, Jerry Guscott and even Jonathan Davies lessons.

HUGH DAN McLellan, midway through the second half of his commentary on the Southern Knights v Stirling Wolves game was heard to wonder what the problem was with
Walter Fifita. I immediately responded: “It's because he's shite, Hugh Dan.”

Sadly, I can come up with no other reasoning. I am sure the big guy is trying the best he can, but, once again, I was left questioning just why Glasgow thought he was a good acquisition, how much he is costing and still believing – Warriors are not getting value for money.

The game itself was literally a game of two halves – the Knights in-charge in the first half, before the Wolves hit back in the second, and, with the benefit of their opponents going down to 13 men, snatching a late win.

So, Ben Cairns signs off at Bridgehaugh with a win, but, this was in truth, a fairly-scrappy match.

I had to laugh when it kicked off with referee Ross Mabon in a shirt which, from the back, resembled the Wolves' kit. However, he did change during the first half. Mind you, like a good Borders Society referee, I am certain I heard him say: “Oor ba',” when giving the Knights a decision!!

Only kidding Ross – I thought you had yet another very-good performance which emphasised how the quality of Scottish referees has risen in recent years.

THAT SAID, I am afraid, Mike Todd, elevated from flag-waving to whistling duties for the Boroughmuir Bears v Ayrshire Bulls game, by Ian Kenny's illness, merely demonstrated – he is not yet ready for S6 officiating duties. He did his best, but, this wasn't enough. Mike, I fear, is a rugby version of Douglas Ross – he will never be good enough to make the big decisions.

Todd's promotion brought another demonstration of a well-known fact in Scottish Rugby – you could have three Changelengs on duty, and you still wouldn't have one half-decent official.

The Bulls were not at their best, one or two things didn't happen for them on the day, but, there was still no way the valiant Bears, who never gave up, were going to get close to them.

BETWEEN the two Saturday S6 games, I watched the Sharks v Warriors BKT URC game from Durban.

The game went more or less as I imagined it would – no way did I see Glasgow winning it. They hung-in well, but, once the Sharks began to introduce their star-studded bench, it was a matter of how many?

That said, Glasgow had their, sadly all too-few, moments. But, sadly, we saw yet another example of an old Scottish problem – the way our sides' lines-out tend to fall apart under pressure in the red zone.

In Durban, this wasn't helped by a display of the sheer will-to-win of one of my favourite players, big Eben Etzebeth . His mere presence at the front of the Sharks' line-out was often enough to unnerve the Glasgow hookers and force either a squint throw-in, or an over-throw.

I more or less passed on the Edinburgh v Benneton game, watching only the final 20 minutes or so, after the S6 game. Still, time enough to see splendid tries from Duhan van der Merwe – after a superb break by hooker Adam McBurney – and a glorious solo effort from Darcy Graham. Some of the lesser Edinburgh lights also showed-up well on the night.

FINALLY, I don't give a toss about players' sexuality, and am aware a number of ladies who you might say: “Come on from the pavilion end,” play in women's rugby. However, I did have a momentary shudder when, during the commentary on the France v England game, it was revealed that France's two scrum-halves are partners.

Can you imagine the fights in that relationship – two scrum-halves sharing a home and a life? It doesn't bear thinking about.