We Need To Have More Players Playing Rugby If The Game Is To Prosper

I have been meaning to get this off my chest for some time now:

WHEN, aged 15, I made my bow in club rugby, back in September, 1962, it was a whole different ball game. For a start, the 1963 Scotland v Wales game, with its 111 lines-out, the match which forced through the laws change - “the Australian dispensation” (because Australia did it first) - which banned kicking directly into touch from outside a team's own 22, and consequently opened-up attacking rugby, was still more than five months away.

Wingers still threw into the lines-out, real rucking was allowed and the ball had to be put down the middle of the tunnel in a scrum, which allowed hookers such as I was back then to count strikes against the head (13-0 v Whitecraigs the same season was my best result). Today, aged 15, I would not be allowed to play adult rugby, and the whole game has changed.

Some of these changes, such as “the Australian dispensation have been for the better; I still reckon, bringing back real rucking would speed-up the game tremendously, and mourn the mess today's scrums have become.

But, one thing from 1962 I would bring back, in fact, I would encourage the SRU to take positive steps to bring it about, is a return to the strict season dates which existed back then.

In 1962, you could not play a real 80-minute game of rugby before 1 September in any year, and, you needed SRU dispensation to play after 30 April. You might be able to play a Sevens tournament in May, but, you had to have a compelling reason to play a 15-a-side game after 30 April.

Even with such a strict calendar, you have 35 or so Saturdays on which to play rugby, plus the opportunity for clubs who do not have floodlights, to play midweek games in September and October and March and April. I recently came across a record book I kept from season 1972-73 – the final season in which the club championship was unofficial (Boroughmuir won it that season). I was with Ayr that season, and the First XV played 41 fixtures, with tight-head prop John Burston an ever-present.

They played unofficial championship games, Glasgow Knock-Out Cup and Ayrshire Cup fixtures, plus a good few friendlies.

This season, 2016-17, Ayr kicked-off with a pre-season friendly against GHA on 6 August, and have, to date, played 25 games in total, with the two cup finals – Premiership and Scottish Cup against Melrose to come, giving them a total work load for the season of 27 games. Of these 18 were regular season league games, plus the two BT Premiership Play-Off games, four BT Scottish Cup ties, and their three pre-season friendlies.

Cumnock, this season, began their season on 27 August, with their opening league game. That season, 22 games in duration, finished on 4 March. Like Ayr, they only had 12 home games over the season

These fixtures will have been completed inside 38 weeks. Which means, for almost 30% of the weekends available to them this season, Ayr have been idle. The club only had 12 home games over the entire season. Now, Ayr are an amateur club – or perhaps it would be fairer to say a “semi-professional” club. None of the players or coaches makes his living from playing for Ayr or coaching the club, but, they do get paid generous expenses, while Frazier Climo is paid for his coaching and development work around local schools. If Ayr had it hard, Cumnock, a much-smaller club and much-more truly amateur had it even harder.

To run one of Scotland's top clubs on only 12 weeks' gate income over a 52-week year, or even a 38-week playing season, puts huge demands on the volunteers who have to raise the money, arrange the sponsorships and keep the club going. The challenge is no-less-difficult for the smaller Cumnock club - who do not have the luxury of gate money, or generous big company sponsors.

Ayr today runs two and a half adult teams – the First XV, who play in the BT Premiership, the Second XV and the semi-autonomous Millbrae, who play in Division Two of the West District Leagues. Back in 1962, when I started, I was with Cumnock. We were only in our second season and ran two XVs. In 1972-73, when I was with Ayr, that club was running five adult XVs, Firsts, Seconds, A1s, A2s and Third XVs. Cumnock, that same season, was running three XVs, Firsts, Seconds and Thirds.

OK, today, both these clubs are running youth XVs from U-13 up to U-18, but, in some ways, these teams are making-up for the damage done to schools rugby in the 1980s, and from which that genre of rugby has never recovered.

But, Cumnock RFC is today running the same number of adult teams it was running 55-years ago, and one fewer than it was 45-years ago, while Ayr is running two fewer teams than it was 45-years ago. In other words – fewer guys are actually playing, and those who are, are playing fewer games than their fathers or grandfathers were 45-years ago.

Today's Ayr RFC, for all its success, is fielding on a regular basis (given today's 20-man match-day squads), in real terms, fewer players than they were back then. This is not good for rugby, which is supposed to be a player's game.

The Glasgow Knock-Out and Ayrshire Cups used to be terrific tournaments, generally played midweek at the end of the season – it gave you a continued interest into the spring evenings. That's my experience here in the West, I seem to recall there were similar competitions elsewhere in Scotland, and, the Border League continues to attract supporters.

We are constantly told: “Rugby is a players' game – meant for all shapes and sizes”. Well, for all shapes and sizes to play – there has to be enough teams, playing at enough levels and there is evidence this is no longer the case.

It's all very well the SRU being pleased with the way Glasgow attendances have grown over the years, and being delighted to announce that Murrayfield has sold-out for internationals, but, the SRU's main reason d'etre is to promote and advance the game of Rugby Union football. Well, if fewer players are playing the game than a generation or two ago – clearly, that aint happening.

The high heid yins at Murrayfield, should be finding ways of providing more club rugby, getting more amateur players playing, and, that way boosting the health of the game. Does the will to make this happen exist inside HQ? I, personally, hae ma doots.

The Big Two Go Head-To-Head For The Big Two Prizes

RIGHT at the start of this season, all the forecasts were that the major club prizes would be fought-over by Ayr and Melrose. And, thus it has come to pass, after Saturday's BT Premiership semi-finals, like the BT Scottish Cup last four games the previous week, finished in home wins for the Big Two.

So, on Saturday, 15 April, they will face-off at the Greenyards, for the Premiership crown, before, seven days later, at BT Murrayfield, their clash will end Cup Finals Day. Melrose, given their home advantage in the Premiership show-down will be favourites to win both games. More-so after the “brain fart” which Ross Curle had on Saturday at Millbrae, in getting himself needlessly red-carded in his side's 38-22 win over Glasgow Hawks.

Curle's experience, both in attack and defence, will be sorely-missed by Ayr. His lack of discipline also means, he has probably denied himself the dream send-off, back-to-back cup finals as his final two games for Ayr – he will not be in pink and black next season.

The big talking point at Millbrae was the make-up of the Hawks' side, which included no less than six full-time rugby players in their starting line-up, with one more, TJ Uanivi on the bench. Ayr, on the other hand, had just one full-timer, Canadian prop D'justice Sears-Duro, on the bench.

Now, to be fair to Hawks – the likes of Paddy Kelly, George Horne, Scott Cummngs, Matt Fagerson and Bruce Flickhart are all genuine Hawks boys, while Hagen Schulte came to Scotland on a “partnership” deal whereby he trains with Warriors but more-normally plays for Hawks. So, this was not a case of one side being “loaded” with professionals.

Still, for all that full-time training and coaching, Hawks still lost by 16-points, being out-scored six-three in the try-scoring stakes. Proof maybe that you win nothing with kids, or maybe that you cannot beat consistency of selection and the confidence in each other which comes from that consistency.

As ever, Ayr's defence was awesome, as time and again waves of Hawks attacks were repulsed. Then, when given front foot ball, Frazier Climo again emphasised what a terrific game manager he is.

He will need to be at his best, however, in the final two games, in which, all but the most myopic Millbrae men will surely concede, Melrose are going into these two matches as favourites.

Still on the subject of the Ayr v Hawks game. What a terrific wee April fool trick the Offsideline's David Barnes and Ayr President Billy McHarg pulled with the announcement of a new sponsorship deal for the club – with the Trump Organisation. Some of the older Ayr members were apoplectic at the thought of Potus 45 being welcomed at Millbrae.

I LISTENED to the Edinburgh v La Rochelle game, on BBC Radio Shortbread on Friday night. I have to say, Bill Johnstone and Peter Wright, not forgetting Colin Gregor, were in good form, which is more than can be said about Edinburgh, who, once again, went from bad to badder to kinda good through the game. A strange outfit in the capital.

I ALSO listened to the Saracens v Glasgow match. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it on Radio Shortbread, and had to take the Radio 5 Live coverage. This, naturally, was rather pro-Sarries, with, I am sorry to say, former Scotland stand off Ian Robertson coming across as a Saracens supporter, with little time for the visiting “Sweaties”.

In fact, Jerry Guscott, the man we Scots have little time for, as he continues to harbour a grudge from 1990, came across as more of a Glasgow fan than the Edinburgh guy next to him. OK, I've had a go at Robertson, however, at half-time, we had some BBC twat, whose name I didn't catch, speaking to a couple of Fleet Street aresholes – the terrible Mike Cleary of the Torygraph and some guy from the Times I have never heard of. Well, to listen to them, there was only one team playing and – apart from Sam Warburton, the Lions squad in New Zealand would be entirely English.

Still, that was a good ten-minute recruiting broadcast for the cause of Independence.

Ach! We knew it was going to be hard at Allianz Park. I always felt Sarries would win, and, since my late elder brother played for them, Sarries are my “English” club, so, it wasn't hard to feel happy for them. Mind you, Munster, at the Aviva, in the semi-final, will not be an easy game.

I THEN watched the all-French battle between Clermont Auverge and Toulon. This was brutal in the extreme, very exciting and a fantastic game, played in a stadium that was really rocking. The second semi-final will also be a cracker. Mind you, two Guinness PRO12 clubs, and one each from England and France, who says the PRO12 is the poor relation of professional rugby competitions?

Close But No Cigar

HOW typically Scottish; we have our best Six Nations for years and we finish-up slightly disappointed. Here's tae us – wha's like us right enough.

We finished fourth, on points difference, behind England, Ireland and France. In reality, we were probably third, but, who's complaining. The rain and slippery conditions in Edinburgh yesterday contributed to our failure to put more points on a pretty poor Italian side, but, given the number of players we have been without throughout the Six Nations, this has to be a good result.

The conditions dictated a kicking game, which meant the capacity Murrayfield crowd barely saw Stuart Hogg at his best, with ball in hand. But, there was the usual murmur of anticipation every time Hoggie got the ball.

Our backs were a lot better than they were at Twickenham, let's face it, they could hardly be any worse. Alex Dunbar made amends for his poor show in London, Huw Jones, had he not slipped, might well have had yet another international try, while Matt Scott grabbed his chance to impress when introduced for Jones.

Up front, Gordy Reid had another quietly-competent hour or so, as did Zander Fagerson, while the back row were collectively very good. I feel maybe Hamish Watson has played his way into the Lions squad, maybe not yet the Test team, but, his skills set will be useful in New Zealand.

Aye, Toony has plenty to build on when he succeeds Vern Cotter at the end of the season.

I WOULD certainly have kept BVC on until the 2019 World Cup, but, maybe there was indeed a chance we would lose Tonny if he wasn't promoted. We may well never know the full story. Any way, Cotter, almost the epitome of the quiet, taciturn Kiwi, has been very good for Scotland. We sih him well at Montpellier and we can guarantee, he will always receive a warm welcome in Scotland.

ELSEWHERE on “Super Saturday”, England going to Dublin on St Patrick's weekend were always going to find themselves facing an Irish team up for the challenge and determined not to lose. Yes, the men in white did well to put together that 18-game unbeaten run, but, as they closed-in on the All Blacks' record, aside from giving us a doing, they never really looked convincing.

A good team, yes, but, not yet a great team. A great team would have beaten Ireland and posted that new record.

That France v Wales game was all about the extra time and that 20-minute scrum. Personally, I thought Wonderful Wayne Barnes got his calls wrong on at least the third and fifth re-sets, when he penalised Wales, when it should have been France who sere pinged.

The way France made that change at tight-head stunk to high heaven, but, if Rob Howley was still thinking like a scrum-half, he's have manufactured a Welsh front row injury and got it to unopposed scrums.

By the way – when are John Jeffrey and his laws committee of World Rugby going to do something about the way teams milk penalties at the scrum. Remember, the scrum is supposed to be a means of re-starting play after a minor infringement. It was never meant to be a means of winning penalties.

It would be very easy to take milking penalties out of the game.

1. Only allow the ball to be held in the scrum at five-metre scrums.
2. If there is an offence, no penalty, other than a tap-and-go allowed
3. At the top end of the game, use overhead cameras to spot the borers and cheaters
4. Enforce straight feeds, and bring back hooking.

AND – while I am at it: BRING BACK REAL RUCKING, TO SPEED UP THE GAME.

ANY WAY, we are back to real, amateur, club rugby this weekend, with the BT Scottish Cup semi-finals. Bring it on.

Scunnered!!

WELL, what can we say about yesterday's Twickenham thumping? We were indeed sent homeward to think again, but, it's not as if we are unused to losing in London – the wait to write the boys of '83 out of the record books goes on.

How I rationalise defeats like this is – next year will mark the 60^th anniversary of my live introduction to cross-border sporting action. On 15 March of that year I was at Murrayfield to see Christy Elliot, that great Langholm winger, kick Scotland in front with a second-half penalty, only to see George Hastings, the great Gloucester tight-head prop reply in kind, in a 3-3 draw. Imagine a tight-head prop being allowed to kick an international penalty goal today.

In April of that year, my Dad took me to Hampden for my first Scotland v England football international, a game embellished by the future Sir Bobby Charlton's stunning volleyed first England goal, as the men in white won 4-0.

Look at some of the names in that first Murrayfield game – Ken Scotland, Geordie Stevenson, Gordon Waddell, Hugh McLeod, Hamish Kemp, Jimmy Greenwood and Adam Robson in the Scottish ranks and Peter Jackson, Jeff Butterfield, Dickie Jeeps, Eric Evans, Marques and Currie in the boilerhouse for England.

At Hampden, I saw Tommy Younger, Tommy Docherty and Bobby Evans in the Scotland team and Billy Wright, Charlton and Tom Finney in the English ranks – legends all.

Over the intervening period I have, I think, rationalised how things work when it comes to the oldest rivalry in international sport. Basically, if the English team is not weakened and they all play at something like their best – regardless of what we do, England will win.

For us to win, we need every single man in our team to be at his best, with several England players off the pace. Yesterday, too-many of our guys were off the pace or otherwise out of sorts, while, after “winning ugly” in their earlier Six Nations games, yesterday England hit something like their best form. They won well and deservedly so.

It is pointless us nit-picking about the one or two wee rubs of the green which went England's way, and against us. We were the architects of our own downfall, the Scotland performance wasn't so-much a bad day at the office, as the worst possible day at the office.

OK, we have been very-badly hit by injuries over the Six Nations – this compounded by the fact, the injuries have tended to come in areas where we lack depth. Vern Cotter faces a selection headache when it comes to picking a side to face the Italians on Saturday, and, dare I say it, our injury list just might give the Italians a chance which they certainly did not appear to have a week ago.

Full credit to England, however, you cannot put together an 18-game unbeaten run, and win back-to-back championships without being a good team. Yesterday they showed us they were just that – a very-good team. We should be magnanimous enough to acknowledge their talent, and congratulate them on their championship win.

However, Friday night's result from Cardiff, and yesterday's from Twickenham have, between them surely served to galvanise the Irish to deny England back-to-back Grand Slams and that new Tier One record of 19 wins in a row. It will be some game.

Elsewhere, our Under-18, Under-20 XV and Women's teams lost to their English opposite numbers, as did our Club XV earlier this month. OK, given the huge disparity in playing numbers, these reverses should not be surprising, but, it is a wee bit depressing.

We cannot hope to match the Saxons in playing numbers, so, we have to be a lot smarter in how we organise and play rugby, so our best talent gets a chance. Sadly, I see no evidence of the blazers at BT Murrayfield being able to turn things around any time soon.

Ach, Ah'm fair scunnered by it all.



CONGRATULATIONS to Melrose, who, on Saturday, got their expected win over Stirling County to clinch top place in the BT Premiership standings at the end of the regular season.

In the Premiership Play-Offs, they will now face Currie, who thrashed Boroughmuir to overhaul Champions Heriot's and clinch fourth place in the League and with it a Play-Off place. Ayr will entertain Glasgow Hawks in the other Play-Off semi-final.

  

We Need Not Fear Twickenham This Year

AN' FORWARD tho' Ah canna see, Ah guess and fear.

That is the traditional Scottish approach to this, Calcutta Cup week; we either await the descendants of proud Edward's Army, with a lot less belief than King Robert and his men had, or, round about Derby, on our trek south, we begin to question if this really is a good idea.

If you were a professional gambler, weighing-up your betting options on England v Scotland at rugby, well, if the game was at Trwickenham, Scotland's course and distance record would not be one of your considerations – with a record which reads: played 47 : won 4 – it is transparently clear, we don't do well on 'Billy Williams' Cabbage Patch'.

We haven't won there since 1983, and have only in fact ever won there four times: in 1926, 1938, 1971 and the aforementioned 1983. So, what makes this year different?

Well, for a start England is defending a 17-game unbeaten run, and, when a team is on that run, the longer it lasts, the greater the pressure – NOT to be in the team which eventually loses. England expects. Well, of course, England, particularly “Middle England”, “The Tory Party At Games”, “The Barbour Brigade”, “The Little Englanders”, “The Hooray Henries”, call the normal Twickenham constituency what you like – they always expect “The Paddies”, “The Taffs”, “The Frogs”, “The Eyeties” and “The Sweaties”, the Celtic Fringes and the barely-tolerated continental members of the Six Nations club to be shown who is top dog, particularly at Twickenham.

They bellow out God Save The Queen with strength and conviction; they are the Master Race, who have won first prize in the lottery of life – by being born English. They demand that the stout yeomen of England, clad in their pristine all-white, put these lesser beings in their place.

There is an arrogance built into the English psyche, more-so the public-school-educated English who are the backbone of the Twickenham crowd. And that is another weakness. If Scotland can get in about the English, knock them off their stride, cast doubts, the shock to the fans is such, they can get onto the backs of the players, spread even more doubts and, we can win.

I seem to recall, when we last won, in 1983, there was a typically sour taste to how the English took their loss. “Scavengers” we were derided, with John Jeffrey pointing-out – scavengers thrive on rubbish and England played rubbish.

This is a good, but not yet great Scottish team. We are well-coached, there is a togetherness about the squad, which extends beyond the match-day 23 to the rest of the extended training group. Yes, we have a clear weakness at prop, BUT, at scrum time England has perhaps the weakest front five in the Six Nations – Marler, Hartley and Cole will not subject our front row to the same pressures as Ireland and particularly France did.

I reckon we will enjoy if not merely parity, superiority up front, and, if Finn Russell is on-song, our backs will flourish. We can win this one, but, poor teams do not put together a 17-game unbeaten run, and it will be very hard indeed for us to triumph at Twickenham, regardless of how poor our record is there.

However, for once, I am not in: “We're awe doomed” mode as our caravan prepares to head south.

THE VAGARIES of the draw saved us from the predicted Top Four line-up in the semi-finals of the BT Scottish Cup, following Saturday's quarter-finals. With Melrose and Heriot's clashing, the expected top four in the BT Premiership were never going to all get through to the last four of the Cup.

But, as expected, Melrose, Ayr and Glasgow Hawks all got there, to be joined by Stirling County, who won what was always going to be the most-difficult quarter-final to call, against Boroughmuir. This one hinged on yet another controversial call by Graeme Wells, who is rapidly becoming the Willie Collum of Scottish rugby referees – although, I have even heard 'Muir fans admit, his decision to award County that match-winning Penalty Try was probably correct.

I was at Ayr v Jed-Forest. This one, went as expected, Ayr winning by six tries to one, even if the Jed touchdown was the pick of the bunch. The Millbrae Men always had too-much power and nous for a very brave Jed outfit, who did their wee toon proud.

What struck me was the difference in the physiques of the two teams. The Ayr XV, well, 14 of them, were toned, buff, clearly on a weight-training programme, some of the Jed pack were the fat boys of rugby folklore. I have noticed the same when viewing the National League 1 games on SRU TV.

To flourish in the BT Premiership, your players have to be semi-professional at the very least, fitting near professional levels of preparation into what is still a part-time, supposedly fun exercise. The quicker we gt the long proposed semi-professional league up and running, the better for the game here.

GOOD to see Glasgow get back to something like their best in beating the Dragons on Saturday, but, yet another disappointing display from Edinburgh against Ospreys. I do hope Richard Cockerill's hard-nosed approach works when he steps into the Edinburgh hot seat, but, I reckon his first appointment should be a sports psychologist, to get inside his players' heads and sort-out their ability to lose from winning positions.

Speaking of Ospreys – I would love to see Sam Davies, their brilliant young stand-off going on the Lions Tour as Number Two to Finn Rusell. These two might be prone to occasional bouts of madness, but, they have an inventiveness about their game, a determination to do the totally-unexpected, which, with great players around them, just might do for the All Blacks in the summer.

FINALLY, yet another layer has been added to the legend of Nigel Owens, with the great Welsh whistler “yellow-carding” the ball boy who hit him on the back of the head, when returning a ball to the action in the Leinster v Scarlets game at the weekend. Typically Nigel, the referee is making sure the ball boy gets his match jersey as a memento – how different from the attitude of fitba referee Dougie Smith, who actually did yellow-card Paul Gascoigne after the England star picked up Smith's dropped cards and flashed them at him during a Rangers game, all those years ago.

The difference in attitude – well, you could put it down to the difference between football and rugby, or, as I prefer to point-out, Owens was not traumatised, as Smith was, by having to take charge of umpteen Auchinleck Talbot v Cumnock games while on his way up.