HUGHIE McILVANNEY may only have been the second-best scribe in his family, but, he knew his way around this mad world of sports-writing. One of his better observations was his opinion that, both in their nineties and in wheel-chairs, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier would still have produced a battle people would have paid good money to see.
Saturday tea-time's Glasgow Rugby Union Derby, between GHA and Glasgow Hawks was closer to one of the Dear Green Place's legendary 'Stair-heid Rammies' than those unforgettable gladiatorial coming-togethers featuring Ali and “Smokin' Joe” but, I suggest even “The Greatest” would have enjoyed some of the what Young Master Hay described in his Offside Line match report as: “Shithousery” that went on in a typically frenetic battle for local bragging rights.
When the dust had settled, “Gee-Ha” had secured the points and with five wins from their opening five fixtures the Arnold Clark Premiership new boys now find themselves second in the table, tail-gating only the Ayr juggernaut. Next up is a visit to Goldenacre to face a Heriot's squad labouring at the wrong end of the table for them, before they welcome the defending Champions to Braidholm in Match Six. If nothing else, I would caution the Braidholm Bunch to perhaps dial back on the “Shithousery” for those two games.
“Sledging” is an accepted part of the struggle for city superiority between West-End Dilettantes and The Mexicans (from south of the Rio Grande), but it guarantees a painful response from the hard-nosed forwards they will be facing in their next two league games.
But, back to Saturday evening. In truth this was an ugly game, of very few patches of champagne rugby and more sheer effort than elan. Only when Scott Steele came off the Hawks' bench did we see some finesse and control, but, sadly, the former Scotland cap was unable to rescue the game for the visitors.
The defence, from both sides, was superior to the attacking, even if some of it was very-much of the scrambled varfiety, but, the home team just edged it, much to the relief of their vociferous support, who clearly enjoyed the entertainment.
Meanwhile, at Myreside, Ayr did what Ayr do – starting slowly before squeexing the life out of a dogged but short-handed Watsonians to post another bonus point win and remain clear of the field.
Currie Chieftains confirmed they may yet be the greatest threat to back-to-back Ayr titles with a hard-fought win over Melrose at The Greenyards. Kelso came out on top of a typical no-quarter-given Borders Battle over Selkirk, while Hawick and Heriot's shared the spoils at Mansfield Park.
FURTHER DOWN the food chain, Saturday saw the first round of the National Shield. There were supposed to be 17 First Round fixtures played. In the end, only 9 went ahead – in the other 8, one of the teams withdrew before even playing.
This season's early rounds of the Shield were drawn geographically, so the clubs didn't have to trek the length of Scotland for instance, yet, almost half of the clubs who had entered withdrew, for one reason or another. This is unsatisfactory and, it strikes me, if we are seeing clubs pulling out of a national competition in September, the one month of the season when you might expect all clubs to be keen to get out there and play – well, clearly we have serious problems inside Scottish Rugby.
Saturday also saw the Quarter-finals of the East Bowl on the schedule – four games, of which only one was played. In this, Trinity Academicals beat Caledonian Thebans 42-5. Elsewhere, Lismore and Edinburgh University Medics could not raise full teams, allowing Duns and Hawick Linden to advance to the semi-finals, while the final scheduled game, between Edinburgh Northern and Inverleith was postponed, after the visitors could not raise a XV.
The situation was even worse in the Caledonian North Bowl, which was due to get going on Saturday, with seven fixtures on the card. In the end, none were played as seven sides withdrew without playing.
What has happened to Scotland's rugby players, that they do not apparently wish to play the game?
APPARENTLY there was a somewhat important game going on in the Women's World Cup on Saturday. In particular, the English Broadcasting Corporation were wetting themselves in anticipation and going large in the coverage. For my own sanity, I managed to body-swerve the occasion and I feel the better for it.
I think the GHA coach described the game as one for the purists. Still a great result for them and very unusual for the promoted team to do so well in the first stage of the Prem.
ReplyDeleteThe situation in the Shield and North and East Bowls is a disgrace to the game. Interesting that the Shield matches were listed as withdrawn where the East Bowl was listed as teams unable to raise a team.
Not to be outdone Kelso and Gordonians withdrew from the Scottish Cup and Peebles from the National cup. So it’s a bigger issue than just the wee clubs.