No subtle subliminal message in the SRU video

I SENT the link to '2020' – the SRU's video answer to 1917 – to my little group of expat Scottish rugby fans in England, Canada and New Zealand. Initial reaction: they were decidedly unimpressed.

One of my group, the son of a former Scotland cap, emailed me: “Had a quick glance at the first five minutes – these SRU people are simply not up to the job.”

Well, those of us used to watching the 'suits' from up close are well aware of their short comings, so his reaction was hardly surprising. Clearly last Wednesday night did not go well for The Junta and their underlings, because they have changed tack slightly.

Our Glorious Leader and The Underlings have actually come up with a new strategy. Out with the General Melchett Approach:

Instead, they have gone with The Rangers Approach to diverting attention away from a fuck-up – the Board and Council have issued a statement:

Gammell/Murray Review

The Board and Council of Scottish Rugby would like to thank Sir Bill Gammell and Mr Norman Murray for their Independent Review of the Governance and Business Review of Scottish Rugby. They have made a number of recommendations on the way forward.https://www.scottishrugby.org/rules-and-regulations/governance-rules/independent-corporate-governance-and-business-review The Review and Recommendations are as previously noted under Consultation with feedback and questions coming in from member clubs until at least 29 January as the President has stated and noted in ‘Clubs Comms’ previously. The Board and Council acknowledge the commitment and dedication which has supported the Review and the time spent by everyone who has given their input. Board and Council are especially grateful to all Clubs and members who have taken the time to digest this significant Review and provide feedback so far. At this juncture the Board and Council wish to acknowledge that more work and time is needed beyond 29 January to ensure that further consultation is carried out ongoing with Member Clubs. A key component of this work will be a Joint Session of Board and Council in February, following which a further update will be provided to member clubs on next steps. The Board and Council once again pass on their grateful thanks to all those who have, and are supporting this important process.

Or, just maybe, they have adopted the Theresa May Approach – basically: “We don't know what we're doing, so we will kick this can a bit further down the road to give ourselves some thinking time, and in the hope the clubs get bored and forget what we are up to.”

The position as I see it is – many clubs are paddling flat-out, simply to stay afloat in difficult times, and, give this fact, they don't have time to look at the bigger picture.

The club game is in crisis, the professional and performance game is developing into a money pit, and the SRU, by focusing on the second point, have dropped the ball on the first one.

The “glamour” end of the game – the international teams, the two PRO14 sides and yes, even Super6, will not function without the stout foundations of the club game. And, if the SRU does not get a grip on what is happening out there in clubland, I will not be the only blogger or commentator using the Private Fraser picture.

Let's hope – by the time the joint meeting goes ahead next month, a few more of the Council members have grown a pair. I know one or two have suddenly wakened-up to The Junta's highly unsubtle power grab via Gammell/Murray – but we need a few more yet to come round.

Let's hope enough club men put the frighteners on their reps and tell them to kick these proposals in the Water of Leith – or else. The notion of losing all these perks just might bring a few of the ditherers to heel.

THE PRESS BOX at Braidholm, named in fond memory of my old sparring partner Glen Stirling, is a pleasant place from which to watch a game. The bonus is, the working press is surrounded by a coterie of old codg.., sorry erudite and highly-experienced gentlemen, who have forgotten more about refereeing that the entire SRU Match Officials Department has learned.

These guys could do a whole hour-long lecture on “materiality” and not be boring – one or two of them even know what is going on in the front row.

[By the way - “materiality” is the unspoken, but arguably most-important issue in present-day refereeing. It is the ability to decide which of the ten or so infringements being made at any breakdown is the most-important: I.e. the one to penalise. The penalising.]

The referee who can “get” materiality, is going places.

These refereeing experts were decidedly unimpressed by referee Michael Todd's performance in the GHA v Aberdeen Grammar match. I was unimpressed too, but, ok, having an off day is as likely to afflict a referee as a player and I am sure Mr Todd will have better days.

However, he was not helped by an issue which, to my mind, is growing in importance in the game – policing the offside line (no, not your one David Barnes).

“Line speed” is the silver bullet of modern defensive sets; and a few sides do this very well. However, it seems to me, we are breeding a set of defenders who are quicker than Usain Bolt over 10 metres – either than, or, as I suspect – they are cheating and getting away with it.

I feel it is time World Rugby issued instructions to touch judges: that they better police the defensive offside line at the breakdown – then, get the flag up (football style) when a defender is too-quickly up on his opposite number.

I don't say they would catch every offside defender, but, I am sure, in time, they would deter a sufficient number to allow for a more-open game.

Mind you, there is a danger of going too far. I hear of a top referee who was marked down in a recent big game, for not noticing a winger in a defensive line was offside at a ruck. He was some 40-metres from the ruck, and the ball was never getting that far anyway, but, some jobsworth in the stand thought it worthy of a black mark.

Aye well, shite happens - as can be seen from the way I have failed to properly set-up the SRU statement within the blog's normal frame, apologies for this.

Straight To Video, But, Still Worth Watching

REGULAR readers of these ramblings and rants will be well aware, I am no fan of the SRU's Media Department. For as long as Chief Elf Buddy is in charge, it can, for me, never be fit for purpose, but, fair's fair, this week they did Scottish Rugby a favour, by posting a full video clip of Wednesday's night's 'Club Information Meeting' at Murrayfield, at which Bill Gammell and Norman Murray explained the thinking behind their controversial governance and business review.

The clip can be viewed on the SRU website, and, I would suggest, it is well worth the 85 minutes of anyone's time to view it. It begins, as I knew it would, by a 'point of order' from the floor, from regular pest to the Murrayfield High Heid Yins, Keith Wallace of Haddington, around the £933,000 salary hike to TCD and The Junta.

This left poor Dee Bradbury momentarily caught like a rabbit in the headlights, before that valiant knight, (or a word which rhymes therewith), Chairman Grassie strode to her rescue, to kick the issue unconvincingly into touch, just outside The Junta's 22.

Since somebody asked - this is SRU Chairman Colin Grassie

By the way – kudos to whichever club representative shouted: “Who are You?” as Grassie strode up tot he mike. It does these HHYs good to know how little respect they carry in the body of the kirk.

So, to business. I have to say, and not simply because he is Scumnockian (Ah kent his faither), Norman Murray was altogether more-convincing when put on the spot than Sir Bill.

Early-on, Murray suggested, how the game was being run was being misunderstood by the members – he suggested: “A silo culture” had emerged- everyone in their own wee bubble with nobody seeing the full picture.

He explained, what they were proposing was a more-streamline structure, which would end the current practice, whereby some Council reps were having to attend up to 50 meetings per year.

“We are looking to put in place, highly-qualified people, with the requisite skill sets to take Scottish Rugby forward,” Murray explained.

“We want more rugby people, with rugby skills on board,” Gammell added.

When the meeting moved to a question and answer session, conducted by Chris Paterson and Al Kellock, and involving the delegates, it quickly emerged that the meeting was unhappy about the proposals, whereby, potential members of the new SRU management structures – The Rugby Development Board and The Performance and Professional Game Board would be nominated, rather than elected.

This looks like being a major bone of contention, and while both Murray and Gammell maintained the SRU would be hiring a top-notch firm of head hunters to oversee the nominations and recruitment process, the lack of member clubs input via elections still seemed a concern to the delegates.

The first questioner from the floor: Hillhead-Jordanhill's Bernie Mitchell raised the thorny question of the “route map” through the transition phase and asked: “How long will the change take?”

Bill Gammell offered: “Within a year.” Norman Murray offered: “As soon as six months, if you take too long, it becomes too complicated.”

The suggestion, there was no clear strategy, brought Chairman Grassie back to his feet, to insist: “There is a strategy, explained in the 2016-17 Annual Report.”

“Oh aye, that's the one which had us winning the 2019 World Cup,” replied an unidentified delegate.

What did, to my mind anyway, emerge during the meeting, was the basic mistrust which currently exists between the clubs, a Council which many see as consisting of nodding dogs who do what The Junta tells them, and The Junta – who seem to take the club game for granted.

Jim O'Neil of Irvine, remarked: “Regional rugby is very different from National league and performance rugby. We elect our representatives, who take their job seriously, and I feel this democratic oversight is being lost by the new proposals. If the clubs no longer elect, it is worrying.”

Haddington's Keith Wallace, then returned to the attack, pinpointing the current mistrust between the clubs and the Board, the lack of transparency and suggesting: “We appear to be losing democracy to people we already mistrust.”

The two final speakers from the floor, the highly-experienced and well-0respected duo of Phil Thomas of Currie and Gerry Tosh of Dundee High both raised their doubts as to the options being offered, the lack of oversight and scrutiny and accessibility for the clubs.

Clearly, there are a lot of arguments to be worked through – The Junta has a huge task in convincing a less-than-impressed membership that the new proposals are better than what we have.

However, the biggest task lies with the clubs, who MUST present a united front if they are to prevent club apathy and disinterest allowing The Junta a free had to impose their will.

Crucially, The Council, or at least a majority of them, have to grow a pair and stand up for the clubs.

Nominating possible members of the two boards might work well in business and commerce, the case has not been made for nominations working in a national sporting body.

This one will run and run. The case for change has, for me, not yet been convincingly made.

Scotland Squad Named - From A Not Fit For Purpose System

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of Scotland's extended Six Nations training squad is something of a turning point for our international team – with new faces coming into the squad to replace those players who retired from international rugby following the World Cup.

It is a fact of life, particularly at the top end in sport, that personnel changes. This is the start of a new era, leading up to the 2023 World Cup, so there were always going to be new players involved and familiar faces omitted.

Will Toony still be laughing at the end of the Six Nations?

Time will tell if Gregor Townsend has got it right with the squad he has chosen, but, the sad fact is, he doesn't have a large pool of talent from which to choose.

Over Christmas and New Year, The Offside Line ran a series in which various people selected their “Best Uncapped Scotland XV,” that is a team made-up of guys who perhaps should have, but never did get to wear the thistle in a full international. Six different 'selectors' named their squads, with 96 different players named and no single player being named in more than three of the six squads.

Today, it might be argued, if you are a full-time professional with either of the two Scottish clubs, you are highly-likely to get even one cap. The total number of full-time, Scotland-qualified professional rugby players active today is reckoned to be somewhere around the 150-200 players mark. This includes the likes of Tommy Seymour, Greig Laidlaw and John Barclay, all of whom retired from international rugby following the World Cup, plus others, perhaps in their thirties, whose international days are clearly over.

The bulk of our available international squad play for either Edinburgh or Glasgow, and while this is a strength in some ways – the SRU, being the eventual paymasters, has a degree of control over these players which the likes of the RFU and the FFR do not have over their players.

But, it is also a weakness. For instance, the squad which Townsend named yesterday includes loose-head props Jamie Bhatti and Rory Sutherland, who are second and third-choices in that position for their club Edinburgh, where the first-choice loose-head is South African Pierre Schoeman.

A rare sighting, Jamie Bhatti in match action for Edinburgh

Along the M8 at Scotstoun, the first-choice loose-head is another South African, Ollie Kebble, backed-up by Alex Allan, who has seven Scotland caps, but has not made the 6N squad.

British and Irish Lion Allan Dell, who was in the Rugby World Cup squad, is likely to be our starting loose-head, just as he was in Japan, but, since returning from Japan to join London Irish, Dell has started just two games, and been on the bench in six more.

At Edinburgh, this season, Bhatti has started three games, and been on the bench in a further ten, while Sutherland has started two games, and been on the bench in a further three.

Even rarer - Rory Sutherland playing for Edinburgh

Do these statistics place our three Number Ones as 'match-fit,' or 'battle-hardened' enough for the step up from ordinary club play to the international arena?

Of course, the two South African props are “project players,” going through the lengthy process of qualifying to represent Scotland through residency. Fair enough, as such, they have to be played, but, Kebble will not qualify until after the Six Nations, Schoeman is even further away from qualifying, and, in the meantime, potential Scotland caps are, it could be argued, not getting sufficient game time to prepare them for internationals.

Would Gloucester's Alex Craig, one of the uncapped players in the squad have come through so-quickly had he not left his home in Corsock, in Dumfries and Galloway, to play at Hartpury College then get into the Gloucester Academy? He was one of three 'Galloway Irishmen' to play in the same Scotland Under-20 squad, the other two, Stafford McDowall of Glasgow Warriors and Robbie Smith, now with Bedford, went into the domestic Scottish Academy and have not progressed as rapidly as Craig.

Hamilton Burr, the back rower, originally from Hazelhead in Aberdeen, but better-known in Scotland for his time with Stirling County, has just been named in an extended Hurricanes squad, who will face the Crusaders in a pre-season game this week, is another to slip through the Murrayfield net.

Then we have Andrew Davidson and Kieran Mcdonald-Seran at Warriors, and Sam Thomson and Murray Douglas – allowed to depart for England and Australia, before being brought home (the latter two to Edinburgh as World Cup cover). Add Calum Hunter-Hill, now playing for Saracens and the list of guys allowed to leave grows.

Now, I am not saying these guys ought to be in the national squad ahead of other players, but, for as long as the SRU's lopsided financial acumen sees desk jockeys picking-up ridiculous bonuses, via a dubious bonus system, while Scottish players are not being looked after properly – we will struggle.

• We have a shortage of top-line players
• Some of these players, with the two SRU-owned clubs are short of game time
• With only two teams, choices as to which players to keep and which to release are being made in haste
• Our top talent will always be vulnerable to leaving for better contracts elsewhere
• We cannot seemingly allow for 'slow burners' or 'late developers' in our squads
• We don't develop players as well as, or in such numbers as the likes of the Irish.

Yet, in spite of this clearly, to use a favourite Murrayfield expression, a player developent system which is: “Not fit for purpose,” our top paid help pick-up ridiculous bonuses.

When are our elected officials going to sort this out?

Don't expect The Junta to sort things out – they are all on nice little earners, picking-=up bonuses for relative failure, they are not going to change, untilt hey are FORCED to change, and the only people who can force change are our seemingly-neutered Council, and the side-lined clubs.

Toony has picked his Six Nations squad, I am right behind them, but, it's like many a recent Scotland football squad – the make-up does not impress me, and I am not confident for the tournament.

If we win the 6N great, but, I don't see this happening. But, I also realise, another “failure” will not hurt the people presiding over that failure – the guys running the “Not fit for purpose” SRU.

We need change, big change, starting with, to give Toony a bigger pool of match-ready players from which to choose his national squad, at least a third, and better-still third and fourth full-time professional clubs, promoting Scottish talent.

You Pay Big Bucks - You Still Occasionally.....

I SOMETIMES FELT, in 2019, I was on occasions simply blogging for the sake of blogging – posting guff because I was expected to post. In 2020, my resolution – and I hope I can stick to it – is to only blog when I have something worthwhile to say; so, I hope today's little effort meets that criteria – Aristotle.

YESTERDAY'S revelation, by the excellent 'The Offside Line' – that our Glorious Leader - That Cunt Dodson, to give him his full title – had pocketed a salary of £933,000 last year, certainly stirred things up in the Scottish Rugby community.

With that salary, I'd be laughing too. He'll now be even

too-expensive to get his dream job at Manchester United

That is an eye-watering figure. It is generally accepted, that the average salary in Scotland is £23,150 per year; this means, TCD is paid 40 times the average Scottish salary.

The median salary in Scotland (that is taking what everyone earns and finding out the middle figure) is £77,904. Now I find that ridiculously high, but, even at that figure, TCD earns 12 times that per year – which is even-more ridiculous.

In the TOL piece, David Barnes lists some near-equivalent salaries, of the CEOs of the SFA, the WRU and the RFU. All of whom are doing arguably bigger jobs, and being paid a damn sight less than TCD.

Given the general state of the SRU, and I accept, some of The Junta – TCD and LL-B - are doing a decent job in difficult times, I don't think you will find too-many people out there in Clubland prepared to believe TCD is giving us value for money.

1. 'Russellgate' and the fall-out from there.
2. 'Typhoongate' and its costly aftermath.
3. The 'stitch-up' of the Lesley Thomson “enquiry” into Russellgate.
4. The fiasco of the 2018 AGM.
5. The balls-up of Super-6 and the shifting goalposts of the bidding process thereof.
6. The Gammell/Murray governance review.

There are half a dozen examples of TCD's sure management touch proving advantageous to Scottish Rugby – not. I am sure there are others which readers could come up with.

We see press releases, assuring us everything is wonderful in the world of Scottish Rugby, including downright lies such as: “The SRU is now debt-free,” provided you don't count the monies owed.

Then, there is the fact that in the last two years, Exeter Chiefs, have been able to out-bid the SRU for the services of two of Scotland's top players: Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray. No doubling of their salary for them, but, there again – they're just two of the guys who put bums on seats at Murrayfield and Scotstoun.

But, the day-to-day operations within Murrayfield continue behind a wall of smoke and mirrors where employees leave having signed NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) and coaches and officials come and go without scrutiny – while the 'Broken Arrows,' (“They're useless – but, we cannot fire them”) carry-on regardless.

The professional and performance side of Scottish rugby is growing like Topsy, while the 'amateur' club game is slowly dying on its knees. But, that doesn't seem to matter, provided TCD & Co get an ever-deeper trough to eat from.

I don't actually blame TCD for taking his huge salary hike, but, Willie Gardner, Adam Gray (the clubs' representatives) and the rest of the Salary and Remunerations Sub-Committee have serious questions to ask.

One of the things I was asked yesterday was: “Why now?” The timing of the release of this information seemed to strike some people, even other rugby journalists, as odd.

That's an easy one. There is a big meeting at Murrayfield tonight, at which Gammell/Murray will be discussed. To my mind, releasing TCD's “obscene” pay rise (that's how one weel-kent club official described it to me) the day before. To me, that's a classic “squirrel” diversion.

The Junta knows fine well, a lot of the club guys are not happy with the proposals in Gammell/Murray. These are a blatant power grab, with people appointed, rather than elected to decision-making positions – a move which cuts right across the basic ethos of the Scottish Rugby Union and the way that Union has always been managed.

Who will be doing the appointing? Probably the guys who are there all the time – the paid officials. And, you can guarantee, if they are doing the appointing, they will want mere cyphers, guys happy to take the benefits – nice SRU suit and tie, comfy seat at Murrayfield, the chance to have your good self and your wife introduced to and photographed with HRH The Princess Royal, travel to away internationals and on the odd tour, generous expenses – and all without having to justify or explain yourself to your local clubs.

Haud me back – how do I get onto this gravy train?

I can just see someone raising TCD's salary at tonight's meeting, and the top table not trying too-hard to rule it out of order, as they allow a lengthy discussion, which means less time spent on the various iniquities of Gammell/Murray.

Then, as one of the other “Silverbacks” of the Scottish Rugby Union Writers said to me – they will declare the meeting closed, without a vote on Gammell/Murray, and, by the time it re-surfaces again at the AGM, the clubs will be presented with a fait accompli and discover they have been neutered.

It may not be the SRU way, but, it sure as Hell is The Junta's way.

If you are going to tonight's meeting – don't say I didn't warn you.

The Junta are embarked on a naked and obvious power grab, which will hand them control of the game up here, and, if that happens – well, this guy will be correct. They have to be stopped – or:

How Best Can We Plug The Talent Drain?

THE ONLY regular opinion piece on Scottish Rugby to appear in the mainstream media is Allan Massie's weekly Saturday essay on the game, in The Scotsman.

Allan Massie

Mr Massie, wonderful writer though he is, and confirmed Selkirk supporter is not, however, a day-to-day rugby journalist, immersed in the minutiae of the game. This is both a strength and a weakness. A strength inasmuch as he can take a somewhat detached look at events, a weakness, because he is perhaps not au fait with what is actually happening on the ground.

So, as he wrote on Saturday: it is worrying that Glasgow seems incapable of holding on to its best players, but, he does not go into why this is happening.

I know I touched on Jonny Gray's departure at the end of this season, in my last blog – but, for me, the more-important question is: “How can we mitigate against further departures?”

We should remember, even in the old amateur days, it was not unknown for top Scottish talent to decamp to England in search of a better job. At one time, back int he 1950s, the SRU was sufficiently troubled by this that they, apparently at the behest of the great JM Bannerman, who was the big cheese around Murrayfield at the time, a rule that, provided you played for London Scottish, Scottish Exiles could be selected for hte national side - otherwise,t hey were ignored.

And, of course, as I mentioned in my last post, Scottish footballers have been going south for nigh-on 150 years.

Top-flight rugby is a hard game, but, for the gifted, it can provide a lucrative, if short-lived career. Any match might be the good player's last, such are the force of the collisions, so, obviously, the wise player does his best to ensure – if the worst happens, he will be cushioned from its effects.

This means, there is a constant battle between those Unions – the Irish, Scottish and Welsh – who have management control over their top players, and the voracious English and French clubs, who can offer greater financial incentives to recruit these same players.

Why is it, for instance, that there have been far fewer instances of top Irish players crossing to England, or departing to France? Might it just be that the fabled income tax deferment scheme, supposedly worked-out by the IRFU and the Irish Government, actually works? However, since the Ulster players are subject to the supposedly stricter UK tax regime, but, we don't see many of them moving, might that supposition not be the whole story.

Then we have the Welsh rule whereby, if a player departing for England or France has fewer than 60 Welsh caps, he isn't going to be picked. The Welsh and the Irish also have 'central contracts,' so of course do we in Scotland, inasmuch as the two professional sides are wholly-owned by the SRU.

Might it, somehow, be possible for the SRU and the Scottish tax authorities – given control of tax rates in Scotland is set by Holyrood - to be able to concoct a scheme, something like the Irish one, which would mean our top domestic players had better long-term financial security by staying put. Throw in the Welsh 60 caps rule, and there would be less incentive for our top guys to quit playing in Scotland.

Some, I dare say, would still go, but, we might be better able to plug the drain. The 60 cap rule would also allow players getting towards the end of their careers and perhaps looking for a big pay day, to top-up their pension pot, to cash-in, with minimum damage to the national side.

Even playing for The Jersey Has Its Problems

NUMBER ONE Grandson got me a very good book for Christmas, one I have no hesitation in commending to the House. It is: ‘The Jersey’, written by Peter Bills.

It doesn’t quite do what it says on the dust jacket, and reveal: “The secrets behind the world’s most successful team,” but, if it wasn’t on Gregor Townsend’s present list, then our National Coach is not nearly as sharp as we think he is. No secrets revealed, but plenty of useful insights and stuff to think about.

Bills wrote the book prior to the recent Rugby World Cup, so, there is at least one; “Oh fuck! I wish I hadn’t written that” passage, on page 259, where he all but writes-off South Africa as a major force in world rugby.

I was particularly struck by Chapter 13, which deals with the crisis in club rugby in New Zealand; where they are running out of volunteers, and where, while the the best of the youngsters coming out of the immensely-strong New Zealand schools system will keep playing – lured by the Holy Grail of possibly being good enough to some day wear The Jersey – increasingly, the average young player simply stops playing when he leaves school. And we thought it was only us that had that problem.

New Zealand too, apparently, has a problem whereby it isn’t always possible for school players to also turn out for their clubs. It’s not the same as our 48-hour rule, but, the feeling is that the New Zealand rule whereby youngsters CANNOT play for clubs.

So, the elite players still get game time with their schools, but, the keen but not-as-gifted tend to be lost to the game at just the age when they should be being captured.

In New Zealand, as in Scotland, “Club Culture” is being eroded, it is becoming harder to hang onto the average club player, who will, when he hangs-up his boots, become the club volunteer, who does so much of the back stage unglamorous work which keeps a club going. If New Zealand, with its long-established rugby heritage has this problem, we ought to be even-more worried here in Scotland.

As former All Black, Frank Bunce is quoted in ‘The Jersey’: “The only emphasis is on elite-level rugby now, so the small clubs suffer;” that’s a claim we here in Scotland can all agree with.

As I say, Peter Bills has written a fascinating book, one which has lessons for rugby nations other than New Zealand.

SO, Leone Nakarawa is back. However, we don’t know for how long; will this be a short cameo stay, or might he be prepared to make his second stint in Glasgow his final job in professional rugby? Time will tell.

But, as the Big Man returns, Jonny Gray prepares to depart. I used to have fun chiding my Celtic-supporting pals, who, as they boasted of how they followed: “One of the giant clubs of European football,” the reality was, Celtic merely prepared players for a transfer to mid-table English sides.

Exeter Chiefs are certainly not a mid-table English side, but it is ironic that Gray has now followed Stuart Hogg in deciding he has a better future living and playing in a small, provincial English city than in “the Second City of the Empire.” But, in professional sport – money talks.

In truth, I am not that bothered about domestic Scottish teams losing their top talent to England – it’s been a fact of life in football since even before that game went professional in 1890.

The High Road to England has drawn Scotland’s best footballing talent down it for nigh on 150 years, why should it not be as beguiling a prospect for our top rugby talent?

Some might suggest, the SRU should maybe pay our internationalists better, I am not so sure about that. Can they maybe look after them better, make the extra games they will be expected to play, should they leave Scotland appear to be too-much? Or might they be better using some of their cash to fund a third professional team, so we can get more players through, and give more game time to those pros we already have?

I firmly believe our two PRO14 sides are carrying too-many players, some of whom are being well paid for doing very little. I accept the argument that, in a full-on, almost gladiatorial contact sport like Rugby Union, rest and recovery time is as important as training and playing time; but, if 35-man squads are good enough for Super6, why do we need 50-man squads for PRO14?

Have three 35-man squads of full-timer teams, under-pinned by the six Super6 clubs, two to each of the three pro sides, with the best S6 players able to be utilised as bench cover when fit player numbers become tight. For instance, nothing against Petrus du Plessis bench-warming in Treviso today, but, might not the likes of Murphy Walker or Dan Gamble have benefited from the experience?

And honestly, I know Darryl Marfo has now departed, but, does Edinburgh really need five Scottish Internationalist props – plus a South African “project” player?

A Guid New Year - Let's Hope So, But, Ah Hae Ma Doots

AN' FURRIT, tho Ah canna see, Ah guess and fear. Yon ploughman from Alloway kent his stuff when he penned that one, and, I feel, as we stand in the front porch of 2020, the quote fits.

However, before I get onto what might happen in 2020, I though I'd have a quick recap on 2019, a year which, for this blog, was dominated by two subjects – Super6 and the excesses of The Junta.

S6 is here, and will stay for at least the next five years – although, I forecast, by the end of that period, it will probably be S8, or maybe even S10. Its birth was difficult, the early stages have been wobbly, but, I still have high hopes for the new competition.

AS for The Junta – I feel they are the biggest potential handicap to the good health and future of the game in Scotland.

I am certain: IF THE POWER OF THE JUNTA IS NOT CURTAILED – THEN PRIVATE FRASER WILL BE CORRECT.

We look to The SRU Council to control The Junta, something, sadly, they have failed to do for at least the last couple of years. I have to say, if we had had a Council with balls and a grip on things, TCD and J Cheever Loophole would have been out the door in the wake of the release of the Industrial Tribunal's ruling on Russellgate.

The failure to get shot of that pair in the wake of that judgement will forever be a blot on Scottish Rugby.

Emboldened by the fact they got away with that one, The Junta has simply taken the inch they were given and turned it into five miles – the last couple of which were taken-up by the charade of the Gammell/Murray Review.

Poor Bill Gammell, billionaire entrepreneur and a super success, but, to many in Scottish Rugby, an Establishment lackey who came up with a document which appeared to be dictated to him by TCD.

No wonder The Junta is in such a hurry to get the Review read and approved by the clubs – they need to get it done and dusted before the clubs have wakened-up to some of the suggestions buried down the pages.

If they get this one through, the clubs will lose what little control they have of THEIR Union – this cannot be allowed to happen. The Council, AND THE CLUBS need to get together and at least oppose the haste with which Murrayfield is trying to railroad through the proposed changes. These proposals are seeing oversight and control given away.

In the whole document, there is only one mention of Election. The President – who is scheduled to become a purely ceremonial figurehead – is to be elected; everyone else will be appointed – BY WHOM?

Letting this happen will be an invitation to dictatorship.

I AM not exactly looking forward to January, when it comes to our two PRO14 sides. I fear Glasgow Warriors might lose both of their Heineken Cup matches this month.

Exeter Chiefs are more than capable of coming north and winning at Scotstoun, while the trip to the AJ Bell Stadium to face Sale was never going to be easy. Add the fact, their warm-up – a visit to Benetton is not the easy away trip it once was, and 2020 is already looking like a very-difficult year for the club.

IF they can kick-on from their dominant display in the second leg of the 1872 Cup, then Edinburgh should be ok. Their top of the pool clash at Bordeaux Begles on 11 January is certainly a big game, but, they still have the home game against Agen, whence a win will surely be enough to get them through to the knock-out stages.

We may well see, when the Six Nations squad is released, a definite swing of the pendulum so that Edinburgh is the dominant side.

Those same Six Nations will, I fear, be a difficult tournament for us. There is simply too-much going on to be confident:

• A new coaching team to bed-in
• Perhaps more international retirements
• Continuing uncertainty about the quality of our tight five
• Just who gets picked in the midfield
• Has Toony really “lost the dressing room?”

Aye, we really are living in interesting times.

One thing is certain, 2020 will be a very busy and interesting year – and you don't need 2020 vision to realise that. Let's strap ourselves in and enjoy the ride.