A Win Is A Win - Even An Ugly One

I WAS RIGHT to be worried about Saturday afternoon's visit to Cardiff. I had a clear vision of us struggling against a Welsh side which is a bit better than Fleet Street or even the Welsh media would have us believe they are. But, in Finn we trust; even when things weren't working for us and we were making unforced errors, I expected MacMessi to come up with something special.

Sure enough he did. That move which led to Darcy Graham's converted try, at the end of the day – that made the difference and turned possible defeat into a narrow victory, keeping the Triple Crow dream alive. However, let's be honest, Finn's restart kick should have been recalled, had the TMO been on his game – it wasn't legal, but, we've maybe been overdue a rub of the green in Cardiff. In truth, this wasn't a great Scottish display – we made things hard for ourselves and, once again, some of our experienced players didn't perform as we know they can.

Still, to win in Cardiff, with several players slightly off is not a typical Scottish move, so, let's be grateful for small mercies. Wales produced the sort of defensive effort I expected from them, but, from start to finish, Scotland produced the better attacking Rugby, showed far-more ambition, but, made too-many mistakes.

The UK media, both print and broadcast, is now so slanted towards what they think up in that there Lunnun. Thus, in the round-up of the two games, that moment of inspiration when Finn and Darcy combined was largely over-looked. If two England players had combined for that try, it would be playing on a TV loop.

My take on things is – we won, it was a tad “ugly” but, given how often we have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Cardiff in past years – I'll take this one. We all know, probably nobody better than Gregor Townsend, that we will need to be even better next time out, when we face France, but, with arguably our two hardest games to come, we are in not a bad place.

Regular readers will know, I have an aversion to awarding marks out of ten for player performances in games. But, the reality is, few of our XV in Cardiff would have scored more than 7/10 for their performances – we can get better and we will have to.

BEING SCOTTISH, I support two teams – Scotland and whoever is playing against England that weekend. Therefore, on Saturday afternoon, I settled down in front of the TV to cheer-on Ireland at Twickenham.

This is an Irish team in rebuild; one or two of the bulwarks are on the downward slope, while the jury is still out on the newer boys seeking to establish themselves in the team. Pre-game I thought: “Ireland can win this”, mainly because, this English side is grossly over-hyped and not nearly as competent, far less as good, or as well-coached as their media cheer-leaders would have us believe.

Kicking the ball up in the air and chasing it is not the way to win international matches in the 2020s – the sooner English Rugby realises this and finds a new strategy, the better.

Meanwhile, we Scots can enjoy a quiet chuckle at the travails of The Common Enemy.

One final thought from Twickenham. Not since the young David Beckham was breaking through have I seen Fleet Street as besotted with England's Next Big Thing as they currently are with Henry Pollock.

Yes, the kid has talent and potentially a great career ahead of him. However, his inexperience was woefully exposed at Twickenham where he finished well behind the more-experienced and battle-hardened Irish back row.

I couldn't help thinking, young Henry was a bit lucky. I am sure the now-retired Peter O'Mahony would have enjoyed teaching him a few lessons on Saturday.

But, at the end of the day – England lost again: how sad, never mind.

THIS CURRENT French team is, for my money, that wee bit better than all the other Guinness Men's Six Nations teams. Therefore, I rather fancied them to beat Italy on Sunday, so, I opted instead for Livingston v Rangers and the gold medal ice hockey match from the Winter Olympics.

Just one thought from the game, both Italy and Scotland wear Macron kit; so, how come, while Italy came out in that stunning red warm-up top – I want one, badly – we had to wear that disgusting outfit in Rome, whatever colour it was?

Italian pizzaz and style for themselves, any old rubbish will do for Scotland.

Championes!!!

I AM AT HEART a sports romantic; I get teary easily at the uncertinty and drama of all sports, since, as a sports writer, I get to see the sheer effort which goes into sporting achievement and greatness.

Thus, I got a kick out of seeing, in addition to reclaiming the Calcutta Cup on Saturday, we won the Raeburn Shield and became lineal World Champions.

Scoff if you like, call this a meaningless construct, but, the Raeburn Shield goes right to the heart of sport. To explain, somebody did the research, they went back to the very origins of international Rugby Union and that game, between Scotland and England, at Raeburn Place, back in 1871. Scotland won that one and became the first World Champions – they then took it that, every time the current World Champions played, they put that title on the line and if they lost, their conquerors became the new Champions.

Using this simple formula, they traced it forward and, what do you know, England arrived at Murrayfield on Saturday as Lineal World Champions and holders of the Raeburn Shield, we beat them, now we hold it, but must defend it against Wales, in Cardiff on Saturday.

The current new chapter is our 18^th time as Lineal World Champions; in truth, we have not got a great record in holding onto the Shield, and with Wales having all but forgotten how to win a Rugby Union international, I'm a wee bit worried about our first defence, so, let's enjoy the World Champions feeling while we have it.

There are so many tinpot trophies up for grabs in international rugbyh today, perhaps the Raeburn Shield should be treated with a wee bit more respect, and be better recognised than it currently is.

MAGNANIMITY in defeat is not a subject taught in some nations: England, South Africa, you know who you are. However, it was great to see how well Italian Captain Michele Lamaro coped with the disappointment of losing in Dublin on Saturday.

He oozed class in his post-match comments, never more-so than when he paid tribute to oor ain Hollie Davidson for her performance as Matcfh Referee. The eyes of the Rugby World were on wee Hollie in that game, and I dare say, a lot of people weere maybe hoping she had a 'mare. But, as usual she was a class act, as was Lamaro post game.

BACK IN the 1950s, when I first picked up a Rugby ball, come what was then Five Nations time, there was little talk each year of Grand Slams; from memory a Triple Crown was the gold standard. Maybe this had something to do with the French, back then, being viewed something like Italy is today – a foreign irritant in what was basically a British Isles battle.

I get the feeling, in my dotage, now the FFR has got its act together and the Top 14 is arguably the best-run league in Europe, we could be entering a time when the French are significantly ahead of the British Isles nations, to the extent, Grand Slams by England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales, or for that matter Italy, will become like hen's teeth – and we could see a return to looking on Triple Crowns as a sign of success.

It's been some time since we went to Dublin looking to clinch a Triple Crown, why not this year – unless, of course, we slip on a big banana skin in Cardiff on Saturday.

IN AN INTERVIEW this week, former Ireland and Lions hooker Keith Wood put forward the notion that players are completely worn-out following an Lions Tour. England back Tommy Freeman then admitted to mental fatigue following his endeavours in Australia last summer.

On the field, England and Lions Captain Maro Itoje has looked a shadow of his former self in his first two Six Nations games; Scotland prop Pierre Schoemann was dropped folowing the game against Italy in Rome, while Duhan van der Merwe has also lost his Scotland place.

In the Amateur Era, when Lions' Tours were a lot longer, it was not unusual for returning tourists to not play until November or December, maybe having a couple of club games and maybe an Inter-District run-out, before the National Trials and back into Five Nations action.

Now that players are professionals, they do not have this luxury – their employers want them back playing ASAP, which could see more examples of player burn-out and perhaps shorter careers.

Mind you, we are in Rugby Union, still some way away from the likes of the average NFL career length, of 3.3 years. But, who knows, we could be heading that way.

FINALLY – RUGBY UNION'S version of John Cleese not mentioning the War was surely Robert Kitson's quickly-assembled praise for the French half-back pairing of Jalibert and Dupont, in Tuesday's instalment of their Rugby blog – The Breakdown.

Clearly under orders not to mention The Sweaties or how the wheels came off the chariot at Murrayfield on Saturday, the piece had the air of a hastily-prepared diversion piece, since he couldn't run the planned: This is England's year piece.

In it, Kitson managed to name-check several past half-back pairings of note; significantly, he couldn't find an English pairing to mention while he failed to include in his list of great pairings, the likes of Rutherford and Laidlaw, Hastie and Chisholm and Chalmers and Armstrong. But, as I said above, he was clearly under orders not to mention any of us.

 

Aye - No Bad

FOR THE PAST 45 years – give or take a few months – there has existed a clip of film which ought to be mandatory viewing for every Scottish sportsman or woman who gets to wear the thistle in competition, and every member of every platoon of the Tartan Army which supports them from the cheap seats.

This clip covers the great Allan Wells doing his Lap of Honour, after winning the 100 metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympic Games. That race and victory represented the peak of Wells' career and, as he soaks-up the applause from within the Olympic Stadium, he can clearly be heard talking to himself. He repeatedly says: “Keep the heid, keep the heid”. Wells knew the magnitude of his victory, but, while he was ready to embrace the moment, he was determined to avoid the old Scottish habit of thinking he had made it.

So, Keep the heid is my advice to my fellow Scots, on the back of England being put to the sword at Murrayfield on Saturday, ready to anoint us as Guinness Men's Six Nations Champions 2026. After all, we only beat the English, the Max Boyce Rule came into play on Saturday – in short:

And when that Great Scorer comes – to write against your name

It matters not who won or lost – but – did you beat England?

Well, we sent the Auld Enemy homeward to think again; the breakdown garages of our capital are wondering what to do with all the written-off chariots the acquired on the day, but, in our over the top celebrations, we are overlooking one wee detail – this England team is not nearly as good as their media cheer-leaders have built them up to be, so, we ought to keep the heid until we have beaten a good team or two. - like Ireland or France.

Right now, we seem capable of picking just about any 15 players and going out there to beat England. It's the one game each year I don't worry about. OK, we were probably not as bad in Rome as our media branded us. Similarly, we were perhaps not the world-beaters these same critics are declaring us to be, after Saturday. What I want to see is something we seldom get where reactions to Scotland performances is concerned – a wee bit of consistency.

No nation has greater sporting triumphs, or worse disasters than Scotland. It's been an issue since our sports writers – the legendary: Fans With Lap Tops, were Fans With Typewriters.

We now head for Cardiff, to face Wales. Right now, Wales are being seen as the whipping boys of the Six Nations, expectations are that Scotland will win and win well. The reality is since the end of the Second World War, we have travelled to Cardiff on 48 occcasions, we have won only 17 of these matches – 35%. Scotland winning in Cardiff is far from a given – even allowing for Wales' current travails.

England arrived at Murrayfield on Saturday on the back of a 12-game winning streak; the match proved to be unlucky number 13 for them. Wales await us on Saturday, on the back of a 12-game losing run in the Six Nations, might this game be lucky number 13 for the Welsh?

But, back to Saturday. Scotland's victory, to a degree, turned on its head, one of Rugby Union's eternal truths: Forwards win games, backs decide by how much.

In the scrums, Scotland were a distant second to England; to a degree, this was helped by Referee Nika Amashakeli's interpretation of the rules on scrumming. I admit, Ellis Genge has worked hard to become a better operator, but, he still cheats outrageously at scrums, and Nika let him do this. He was helped by the fact, Zander Fagerson had a bad day at the office. England ought to have made more of their scrum dominance, and I expect Pete de Villiers to work his pack hard in Spain this week.

Scotland's line out worked an awful lot better than in Rome, however; but, over the piece, we never had the forward dominance to run up a big score. This is therefore testimony to how well our backs played.

Long gone are the days when English commentators delighted in running down Finn Russell. His week-in, week-out performances for Bath have made Fleet Street's finest realise, he's a class act. However, they can never admit this in print or on-screen, not even after his master class on Saturday, topped off by that pass to Huw Jones. The last time I saw a threequarter do that, it was the great Mike Gibson, for the 1971 Lions. To equate Finn with the greatest 12 ever, shows how good MacMessi has become.

Another bonus for Scotland was the performances of some of the lesser lights, such as replacement tight-head Elliot Millar-Mills, whose display more than made up for that rare off day by ZF.

Matt Fagerson gave the sort of cameo the coaching staff can usually only hope for from a player who was dropped, while the same can be said for Pierre Schoemann.

I can recall the days when Scotland barely had 15 international-class players, today, we have a squad, with genuine alternatives available. Now, the next challenge, starting on Saturday, is to demonstrate we can beat nations other than England on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, let's just enjoy that winning feeling and use it to build for thee remainder of the Championship.

 

Keep The Heid - It Was Just One Game

I HAVE NEVER read it, but the book: It's The Hope That Kills Us” - an anthology of Scottish football writing does appear to sum up our wee nation's extraordinary relationship with sporting glory. I feel that strange relationship is perhaps even-more evident in Rugby Union than in Football.

After all, back in the Autumn of the British Empire in Queen Victoria's reign, even though the young game of Association Football was only being played seriously within the British Isles – we, Scotland, were Cocks of the Walk. We were never that dominant at Rugby Union, in which case, where does this presumption of competence come from?

The last time Scotland was good at both codes of football at the same time was perhaps the 1920s – that's 100 years ago now. The way the International Rugby Board, which morphed into World Rugby, has since been organised and run, with a group of “Big Beasts” - who just happened to include Scotland, to a degree pauchling things to ensure they kept a grip on the governance of the game has probably helped give us a guid conceit of ourselves which a strict audit of our results might not confirm.

OK, in Football, the four Home Nations – the English, Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh Football Associations – all hold a place on IFAB – The International Football Board – that game's ultimate panel for, among other things, overseeing the Laws of the Game.

These same four nations have, if anything, even greater power in the upper ranks of Rugby Union governance, all have representatives in the power boards of World Rugby.

Now, I do not feel the rankings are a true expression of power in the game, but, in Football, the rankings, the measure of current on-field performances tell a different story:

• England - 4^th in the world

• Wales - 35^th in the world

• Scotland - 38^th in the world

• Republic of Ireland - 59^th in the world

• Northern Ireland - 69^th in the world

(I included Republic of Ireland because, as we know, in Rugby Union, Ireland competes as a single nation)

The relevant World Rugby Rankings are as follows:

• England - 3^rd in the world

• Ireland - 4^th in the world

• Scotland - 9^th in the world

• Wales - 11^th in the world

Dare I suggest, if Rugby Union, at world level, was run on a slightly more democratic basis, Scotland might not be sitting in such an exalted position.

As we reflect on Saturday's defeat in Rome, I feel too, we have to factor-in the feeling that, perhaps no nation gets so carried-away by individual match results as Scotland: nobody has greater triumphs, or bigger disasters than us. I had to chuckle at one social media article I saw, which suggested the worst part of the Roman (W)reckage was Scotland's change strip.

OK, I am no fan of that strip – I prefered the red strip which the A team wore on Friday night, but, the SRU has been sold a few pups by kit suppliers over the years. That said, the main problem in Rome wasn't the jerseys, it was who was inside them. Too many of our team simply did not turn up.

I appreciate, serious comment on Rugby Union in these islands is a tad compromised at the moment. In the mainstream media, everything comes from London and a coterie of writers who are the English equivalent of the Scottish football writers of yore: the notorious “Fans with typewriters”.

So, we ignore the received wisdom majority view: “England are wonderful and sure to be Champions, with a Grand Slam thrown in.” The more-sensible writers and commentators opt for France, but, going into the tournament, we were generally ranked third or fourth, with Italy ranked fifth.

The World Rugby rankings have Italy in tenth place, against our ninth, with the gap only 1.4 points. I might suggest, given the sides were so-closely ranked and Italy had home advantage, a home win by three points was hardly the disaster it is being made out to be.

Sure, we were poor, but, the position is not beyond recovery and, I am counting on England's Achilles Heel – their media – helping us turn things around this weekend.

I fancy, by the time Fleet Street has finished putting the boot into us this week, some of the less-bright English players: and in my view, they've got one or two in that squad whose IQ comes nowhere close to their jersey numbers: will (hopefully) be under the impression they only have to show up at Murrayfield to win.

That's a pre-game scenario we have seen before and can benefit from.

So, not for the first time, as we await the arrival of the latest version of an invading English force, my advice to my fellow Scots is: “Keep the heid, we're no deid yet.”

 

Disaster For Scotland - Again

I'VE SEEN too many of the sort of Disaster For Scotland we have just endured in Rome today, so I am not going to join in the pile-on being run by the Toony Must Go collective.

We were shite, the better team won and deservedly so. It was a terrible day at the office for Scotland, which proved, yet again, the veracity of that old Rugby Union chestnut: “Forwards win games – backs decide by how much”.

Our pack were basically shite, both in the tight and the loose exchanges; and, when your pack is being as comprehensively bested as ours was in this game, not even a magician like Finn Russell can turn things round. We were repeatedly going backwards in the scrum, our line out was a shambles, we had little or no usable ball to play with.

I am not going to blame the terrible conditions – they were the same for both teams, although, Italy adapted better.

I will say this – a lot of our players played nowhere near their normal club or international form. Fortunately, however, it's England up next, and if a Scottish squad cannot get up for England, at home, Private Frazer was right.

Now, of course, with Rob Robertson and Tom English in the van, we will see a lot of calls in the press this week for Toony to go – if not immediately, by the end of the tournament. OK wise guys – who takes over?

Sure, Franco Smith, everyone's favourite as our next coach just might replicate with Scotland the success he has enjoyed with Glasgow, but, there are no guarantees. Who is to say he gets more out of the squad than Toony has? After all, we don't have anything like the depth of playing resources enjoyed by England and France.

Ah'm fair scunnered, Ah've got nothing else to say on this one.

ENGLAND looked ominously good in beating Wales by more than 40 points in their opener at Twickenham. However, we have to remember, they were only playing Wales, a team who have all but forgotten what it takes to win a match.

That said, Wales had their moments, just not enough of them to get close to a far-superior opposition. I fear, we will need to win the mental battle as much as the physical one when a confident, rampant England arrives at Murrayfield next Saturday.

I WAS NOT surprised when France so comprehensively beat Ireland in Thursday night's Guinness Six Nations opener. I felt, back in the summer, the Lions' tour demonstrated that some of Ireland's top performers were on the downward slope of the hill.

The absence of one or two stalwarts from the team which took the field in Paris also helped ensure a French win. Les Bleus were awesome, clearly demonstrating why they are everyone outwith England's favourites for this season's title. They combined forward power with back division flair, it looks as if it's their title to throw away.

OK, THAT'S the first of the five rounds of the 2026 Guinness Six Nations done and dusted – so, what is the pecking order?

For me, top of the heap and already the favourites to take the overall title are France, who looked ominously-efficient in beating Ireland. While we have to allow for the fact they were only playing Wales, the number of tries they scored means I have to reluctantly rank England second, just ahead of Italy.

On performance over the opening games, we are in line to finish fourth, ahead of Ireland and Wales. Let's see how these placings change as the tournament unwinds.

 

Glasgow Empire Friday Nights For The TV Age

FOLLOWERS OF Scotland's “Diddy” football teams – i.e. every team other than Rangers and Celtic – have known for well over a century that not all referees are scruptuously-neutral paragons of fair play. The Beautiful Game in this country has a history full of incidences of “honest mistakes” which have benefitted the Old Firm.

Rugby Union maybe never had quite that degree of corruption, but, in the amateur era, before the various Referees Societies got their act together, ambitious officials knew awarding the odd penalty to the right Establishment club would do them little harm, while, further down the food chain, every club had its own home referee.

Some of these guys were very good, but others lived up to the famous opinion of local boxing referees in Boston: “so biased, an out of town fighter had to kill his Boston opponent to get a draw”.

Things have improved in recent years, indeed, I haven't seen a corrupt Scottish rugby referee since that haddie who saw The Nails over the line against Ayr a few years ago – well, until Friday night, when Signor Daniele Pompa put the cause of Italian refereeing back ten years with a hopelessly-incompetent display in the Italy A v Scotland A game. He may have had the bauld dome, but, Pierluigi Collina, or anything like Collina quality, he wasn't.

Baffling, biased decisions, a pair of ARs who took their cues from the guy with the whistle – Scotland weren't playing 15 men, they were facing 18; and for that reason I am not going to join the chorus of disquiet that we had to settle for a 24-24 draw.

But, the unacceptable officiating wasn't the worst part of attempting to watch the game on television from back in Scotland.

Once again, we have to ask: is the SRU really trying to sell Rugby Union as a major Scottish sport? We have to add, this was yet another example of the fact, their Communications Department is not fit for purpose and is badly letting down the Rugby community up here.

For at least a week before hand, the SRU was assuring us home-based fans: the game would be available to view on their You Tube channel. So, five minutes before the kick-off, I logged into that channel, to find barely a mention of the game. By the time I discovered, it was actually on the Italian Federation's channel, with what was a very volatile Italian commentary, I missed the opening seven minutes.

The feed then froze after about 35 minutes and by the time I got it back, the game was into its second half. There was then a rewind several minutes, before it proceeded to its conclusion.

The Italian commentator was clearly enjoying himself, but he barely recognised, or mentioned, a Scottish player. The coverage was a joke.

The SRU spent a lot of time assuring us, the fans, the game would be shown on their You Tube channel – this was false advertising. They couldn't even organise a Scottish commentary – ok the technical issues were outwith their control. But, yet again, they let Scottish Rugby down.

When are the numpties going to be dismissed and a half-decent Comms Deptartment, able to sell Rugby properly, established? It's like Dan Archer's legendary opinion on Rangers – the Comms Department are a constant embarrassment and (more than) occasional disgrace.

Now, at last, to the match. From the first scrum I saw, I felt for Rory Sutherland and D'Arcy Rae. Sutherland had the Italian tight-head going across the front row – the referee awarded a penalty to Italy. Next scrum, the Italians hinged and were going backwards faster than yon mythical Ferrari-engined Italian tank with the ten reverse gears – again, Penalty to Italy.

Italian line out feeds, clearly squint, went unpunished, even when Scotland competed, while the Italian defensive line was so far offside they had to turn to attempt to tackle Scottish ball carriers. Still, the referee went on his merry biased way.

Anyone who has suffered at the hands of a blatantly-biased match official will tell you, it saps your ambition, so, for that reason, I am willing to give the Scottish team a lot of leeway.

They played the better Rugby, the backs were always willing to give it a lash and the centres in particular: Cam Redpath and Ollie Smith, made a lot of good ground. Harry Paterson was perhaps guilty of dying with the ball when an off-load was on, while the wingers ran well.

Fergus Burke and Gus Warr did little wrong, but I felt the Scots backline looked more-threatening once Dan Lancaster (now tied to Scotland) and Ben Afshar came on.

Up front, Graham Hiddleston's rise continued, Alex Craig had another impressive shift and the back row all played well. But, for me, Josh Bayliss came on as a one-man Bomb Squad to carry with fire and fury.

Scotland was, for me, the better team, but, this game proved, you cannot beat 18 men away from home, so I am not going to be over-critical of the performance – other than to refer to the broadcasting arrangements and say again: when will we be rid of the numpties who are not fit for purpose?

 

Selection Perplexion

TEAM SELECTION in sport is often seen as more art than science; it is viewed as the hardest part of a National or indeed a High Performance Coach's portfolio to get right. To give you an example from Football; in the 1950s, Real Madrid signed two of the biggest names from the 1958 World Cup Finals: France's Raymond Kopa and Brazil's Didi, to play alongside their talisman Alfredo de Stafano.

Didi never got on the same wavelength as the Argentinian and was quickly on his way, whereas Kopa slotted-in to good effect, then, when he returned to France, Ferenc Puskas, another player used to being “The Main Man” in any team he played for came in to form, with de Stefano, one of the greatest partnerships in the game.

You see it too in Rugby Union, when there are occasional debates about half-back and midfield pairings – where two supposed “Superstars” act as if they had never even been introduced, while elsewhere you get – such as in the case of Barry John and Gareth Edwards – instant chemistry. “You throw it, I'll catch it”, is supposedly how “The King” replied to The G.O.A.T.'S question: “How do you want the ball delivered”? That simple plan delivered magic.

But, away from such stellar levels, for me the interesting selection this week will be the Scotland A XV to face an Italian XV on Friday night, in the build-up to the Guinness Six Nations opener at the weekend. When the game was announced a short provisional squad was named; this squad was expanded somewhat on Monday, with fringe players from the main Six Nations squad drafted-in, along with one or two players who had missed out on selection.

As things stand, at Noon on Tuesday: we know 16 members of the 23-man match-day squad, with further names to come when the official team announcement is made on Wednesday.

I actually feel we ought to be putting greater emphasis on the A team. Our “Big” team currently includes some class acts – we had eight players in Lions' colours over the summer and, with everyone fit and available, there are only a very-few positions where Gregor Townsend has to think long and hard about who gets what jersey.

That is healthy position to be in at the start of a tournament: when you have 10-12 near certainties in your starting XV and it's a case of deciding who best to complete the team. You then have to fill-up the bench and hope for the best.

The problems start if the chosen team has a bad day at the office, or you suffer a few injuries – then selection becomes harder, in which case games such as the A Team's Italian job can be helpful in deciding who is the next cab off the rank.

As things stand, the Italian game is down as a one-of, I would like to see more A games during the Six Nations, so we keep as many potential Scotland players as possible in the best fettle, ready for the call-up, should it come.

MY LOW OPINION of the members of the SRU's Club Rugby Board is well known. A team picture of that Board is nothing other than an opportunity to play a game inspired by one of the more-memorable Chewin' The Fact staples: one or two Good Guys, but a few more Wanks to be seen.

However, fair's fair, they have managed to bring back the Scotland Club XV and I wish them well in their upcoming meeting with Ireland. But, why stop there? Each of the Home Nations has an amateur club league running, why shouldn't there at least be a Club Five Nations running alongside the professional Six Nations? Or, allowing my left-brain free rein here, why not play some of the lesser lights in Europe.

A Scotland Club XV might well get blown away by some of the Tier Two European nations – Spain, Portugal, Netherlands etc, but, below that, Scotland could win friends and influence people by playing more internationals at amateur club level. In politics, it's called “Soft Diplomacy” so, why not give it a go?

 

The Generation Game

FRIDAY NIGHT'S Warriors v Munster match was hugely-entertaining, but for me, it will be known as “The Generation Game” courtesy of the performances of several sons – and in one case also a grandson – of former players with both clubs.

Man of the Match Stafford McDowall, is the son of a former Glasgow player from the amateur era, I am sure big Fergus was chuffed to bits with his son's leadership on Friday.

On the Munster side, young Tom Woods had an impressive cameo on his debut, off the bench. I sense the kid takes a lot of flak from the family, seeing as he is a back, while dad Keith – Lion #671 was on the 1997 and 2001 tours and grandfather Gordon – Lion #396 was on the 1959 tour. Both were front rowers, Keith a hooker, Gordon a prop. No pressure on young Tom to do well then.

Jack Oliver, son of Hawick great Greig, had a short cameo off the bench, before speaking well post-match, with his wonderful accent, a combination of Hawick and Munster, where he grew up.

Dan Lancaster, son of prominent coach Stuart, was a contender for the MOM call, running the Warriors' back line really well and making a couple of outstanding individual breaks.

I was a wee bit concerned for Warriors when I saw the team. With the Scotland squad in camp, Franco Smith had to go deep into his squad for this game, but, it says a lot about the coach's ability and the resilience of his squad that they still achieved a bonus point win against opponents who always raise their game against Glasgow.

Other points to arise from the game: Murphy Walker – if it wasn't for his bad luck, he'd have nae luck. He had performed well before failing a HIA and giving way to Sam Talaki – who really is developing – in the autumn of his career – into one of the best NSQ players we have seen at Scotstoun.

The Warriors' locks were impressive: big Jare Oguntibeju again looked the part, with a try thrown in for good measure, while Alex Craig again showed, he may be a second-row “Donkey” - but, he's our donkey and he fills the role very well. Gordon Fraser was quietly impressive in his hybrid back row position, while that was some finish from Ollie Smith for Warriors' opening try.

All told, a most-satisfying evening for Warriors, now, let's hope they can carry this form into Scotland duty in the weeks to come.

I DIDN'T expect Edinburgh to win in Dublin, but it was only in the final 12 minutes that Leinster did what good teams do and upped the ante to overtake Edinburgh and pull clear.

It was a case of the same old same old from Edinburgh. They did some very good stuff and scored a couple of very good tries, but shot themselves in the foot by taking the wrong options and making silly errors.

Some of the Edinburgh youngsters impressed, while Duhan van der Merwe gave Gregor Townsend some food for thought with some good carries and a typical try.

In the end, failures of the tee cost Edinburgh what would have been a crucial losing bonus point. Finally, the one-eyed Irish commentary, hard though Mossy tried to inject a bit of even-handedness, once again grated.

I SPENT SATURDAY afternoon in all our yesterdays mode, listening to the Borders Rugby Radio coverage of Kelso v Ayr. As ever they did an excellent and professional job, while also keeping tabs on the other Premiership and National One games.

If any one inside Murrayfield had an active brain cell, they would be doing a deal with the BRR team to give the game in Scotland the broadcasting coverage it needs and deserves. However, I fear the active brain cell was posted missing lang syne.