New Season, But, Murrayfield Is Slow To Get Its Act Together

SLOWLY, like an old, rotund prop getting up from the foot of a ruck, rugby is readying itself for the new season. Of course, the professionals seldom get off the year-round treadmill. I accept, the Scotland squad players who were in Japan are coming to the end of the time off they were given on their return home, but, the majority of their team mates have been involved in the pre-season fitness slog for some time now, while the would-be Olympians such as Mark Bennett and Lee Jones, have never stopped.

At the top end of the still supposedly-amateur club game, the squads are already back in training, why, even the clubs who still play rugby as a means of building-up a Saturday thirst are now getting down to pre-season training.

I just wish we were getting a positive lead from Murrayfield. It was ever thus; you come into rugby-writing mostly because of a love for the game and all it stands for. But, after a wee while, you discover, there is a mind-set, a thought process inside Murrayfield best described as: It is our job to frustrate you, to make you question your sanity and to be a bloody-minded and obstructive as we can be.

Murrayfield moves in mysterious ways, and at its own speed. Homo Sapiens evolved faster than Alickadoo Murrayfieldus has.

Take the domestic fixtures, for instance. I understand, the clubs, certainly those in the Premiership, got theirs in early May. The fixture list did not appear on th SRU website until 1 July. Even then, there was no official announcement, not even an email to those of us journalists who are on the SRU list – they were simply posted. And, they went up in dribs and drabs, for instance, the West District fixtures did not appear until a week after everyone else's.

Here was a chance to get some media exposure, at a fallow time for the game. The rugby writers were crying out for something to write about, they got no help from Murrayfield.

Compare that with how the Pro12 did things this week – a proper announcement, fixtures ready, with a”steer” for the sports desks on what to write about. It is not good enough.

THE Team GB sevens squad for the Rio Olympics will be announced on Tuesday. The players who will form the final 12 to travel to Brazil already know who they are, but, the announcement is being delayed until after this week-end's European Rugby Sevens Grand Prix event in Poland, in which the 25-strong “long squad” will be participating in their normal guise of “GB Royals” and “GB Lions”.

Lee Jones (above) and Mark Bennett (below) two of Scotland's Rio hopefuls

 

We will have to wait until Tuesday for confirmation, but, the indications from the warm-up events in Moscow, Exeter and now in Poland are that there will be one or two Scots in the final squad.

The Team GB preparations have attracted virtually no media attention. One “Fleet Street” title has given-over acres of newsprint to one American Footballer's failure to make the Fijian squad for Rio, but, couldn't even send a reporter the 180 miles down the M4/M5 to Exeter to cover last week-end's Grand Prix, which was won by GB Royals.

As for those Scottish titles which bother with rugby, no, no interest in Sevens – in the land which invented it. Shakes head in disbelief and disgust.

EVEN more head-shaking and disbelief, as Edinburgh, having off-loaded Hugh Blake to Glasgow last season, signs a Tongan flanker nobody has heard off, while Glasgow loans the afore-mentioned Blake to Bay of Plenty, to play in the Ranfurly Shield.

Now, it could be Master Blake was over-hyped when he arrived here and was put straight into the national squad and quickly capped. But, in the 12-months since, he has been switched to Glasgow, vanished to the Scotland Sevens squad and now sent back, perhaps only temporarily to New Zealand.

 Hugh Blake - back to Bay of Plenty

Either, someone bought a pup, or, Scotland has not agreed with him. But, it strikes me as odd that a young Scottish international is being allowed to wither on the vine, while one of our two professional clubs signs a South Sea islander who is not even a household name in his own household.

I have been increasingly frustrated at the recruitment policies of Murrayfield and our two professional clubs. One of the core principles of the SRU is to guide, nurture and expand Scottish rugby. Maybe promoting Scottish players should be paramount in this, but, right now, I don't see this happening.

AND, still wondering what is going on. The British &Irish Cup pools were announced this week, again without Scottish involvement. I don't get this; I am utterly convinced Ayr, Currie, Heriot's and Melrose, the four Scottish clubs who would have been involved, had Scotland participated, could, with the proper support from Murrayfield, have made a good impression in this competition.

There is still no word from Murrayfield about the proposed Italian-Scottish Cup competition, which was supposed to be the consolation prize for our top four clubs. Might this, as I fear, be another case of the SRU quietly not doing their job.

Normally, even if only to say: “The news is, there is no news”, we accredited hacks receive, at around 6pm every Friday, the SRU's week ahead media schedule, telling us what is, or quite often is not happening around Murrayfield. We haven't had such a schedule on either of the last two Fridays, although we did get one release trumpeting the appointment of Scotland's first official gin partner – I bet that raised a cheer or three among the “blazers”.

Rugby has long been a bad second to football for media coverage, these days, our home-grown media pays more attention to a pair of extremely-talented brothers from Dunblane than it does to Scottish Rugby. Come on SRU, get your act together better.

We Got Our Selection Wrong And Paid The Price Against England

THE FACT England beat Scotland in the World Rugby Under-20 Championships in Manchester does not surprise me. Given the sheer weight of numbers, plus the difference in the resources which the two Unions are able to put into age group rugby, England really should beat us every time.

OK, we beat them during the Six Nations, however, we had home advantage then, while several of England's brightest Under-20 players did not feature then, being required to fill-in at their clubs for players who were on Six Nations duty. We might, therefore, have expected things to be closer in Manchester on Saturday, when England had their bigger boys back. But, a 62-point turnaround in four months – from an 18-points Scotland win to a 44-points defeat, is frankly unacceptable.

Certainly, Scotland paid a heavy price for beating Australia in their opening match, a mere four days before they were due to face England. I worried when I saw the number of changes the Scots' management team made. Certainly, some were necessary, but, to choose to rest Zander Fagerson at this stage, when we would be facing an England team which tends to play by firstly gaining the upper hand up front; that one defied logic. In the event, we conceded 13 scrum penalties – I wager, with Fagerson at tight-head, we would have won a few of our own.

Zander Fagerson - resting him for England was a mistake

However, the big lesson is hardly a new one. Compared to England, we lack depth, but, we are not “hot-housing” our talent well-enough. Our youth talent identification programme needs tweaking, as does our development programme. To take the Avis example – we are not the biggest, so, we must try harder, and work smarter than we are doing.

That much is obvious – but, what we do and how we do it, to get to where we want to be – difficult one.

WELL DONE Ireland, whose win over the South Africans on Saturday was undoubtedly the pick of the three results involving Six Nations teams against the best of the Southern Hemisphere. It is never easy to win in Cape Town, or indeed, anywhere in South Africa, but, to win when playing virtually an hour of the match with only 14 men, well, that was fantastic.

CJ Stander in action v Scotland in the Six Nations 

I honestly felt a red card for Stander was over-reaction from a referee who did not impress me. A yellow card would, I am certain, have been the appropriate penalty. Stander's was, firstly, attempting to charge-down Pat Lambie's clearance. No way could he have avoided contact. The challenge was never a red card.

Still, Ireland buckled down an deservedly won. That final, try-saving tackle at the death, with some four Irish defenders involved, summed-up the commitment of the men in green. We now must wait and see what sort of backlash this produces from the injured Saffers.

FOR Wales, it was the usual story, since 1953. They didn't lost to the All Blacks, the World Champions merely scored more points than did the red dragons!! I always fancied this recast AB

s team would take an hour or so to gel and find their feet; they have lost a phenomenal amount of class and experience since the World Cup final, but, as I expected it would – class told in the final quarter. No surprise that the ABs won.

ENGLAND beat Australia, no real surprise here either. Given Australia only got as far as they did in the World Cup thanks to the uselessness of Craig Joubert, the Scottish line-out and more-particularly an out of his depth TMO, it was hardly a surprise that, next time out, they should fall to an England team which continues to grow in confidence and stature under Eddie Jones. The next two tests in this summer series promise to be very interesting indeed.

Ned Haig Will Never Believe It, But, Sevens' Day Is Dawning

THIRTY years ago I sat in a bar in Seattle and listened as one of the then leading officials in the USA Rugby Union spoke of the travails the game faced in that great country. A Scotland party were billeted, two to a room, in the Edgewater Inn in that city in Washington State. The Pacific Coast Grizzlies squad they would face in a tour match were squeezing in, four to a room, in the lesser rooms in the same hotel. Back then, nobody had heard of Starbucks, or Bill Gates; hardly anyone visited Seattle, the city was known only for Boeing. It was beautiful, but, distant.

This American administrator, I cannot even recall his name prophesied: “Rugby will never take off in this country, until it gets Olympic Games recognition, that will be the catalyst. Once rugby is in the Games, America will start to pay attention, and the cash we need will start to come our way”.

This, remember, was in the far-off amateur days and these Grizzlies really did play for love. Well, later this year, rugby will become, once again, for the first time in over 90-years, an Olympic sport, but, already, money is flowing towards American rugby.

But, it will not be 15-a-side, “real” rugby which will be seen in Rio at the Olympic Games, it will be seven-a-side, that “fun”, summery, short form of the game, devised and nurtured at Melrose and in the Borders. We hope that, in time, the USA, Kenya and the other nations beginning to make their way in the abbreviated form of the game will, in time, also embrace the full game, but, wade must face the possibility that, just as twenty-20 has become the most-popular form of cricket, sevens may become the more-popular form of rugby, globally. Only time will tell.

Any way, one of the drawbacks which the Olympic Games rugby programme is facing in this country is the age-old one: we in the British Isles are used to supporting four separate teams, or in the case of football, five. We find it hard to even come together once every four to six years for a British & Irish Lions tour. Certainly, particularly in recent years, the Lions attract a good following, but, while they all wear the red shirt, sit down with any group of Lions supporters and you will find, they still argue that their own national favourites should be playing rather than representatives of the other nations. Only the O'Driscolls, O'Connells and Wilkinsons of this world are accepted across all four contries.

The Team GB Olympic Games Sevens squad will have to overcome this problem. At least, in their favour is the fact, of the preliminary 25-strong squad, only one, Scotland's Mark Bennett, has any kind of half-decent international profile in 15-a-side. The rest, no matter how good their pedigree on the World Rugby HSBC Sevens circuit, are barely household names in their own households.

Team GB are having to gel very quickly, they have a mere four tournaments in which to bring together the talents of the best English, Scottish and Welsh sevens players – the Irish will be doing their own thing. This mission near-impossible began at the weekend, in Moscow, and it has to be said – it began well.

The Moscow tournament was organised by Rugby Europe – FIRA as was – and their rules demand that the two Team GB squads had to operate as separate entities. If a player began in GB 1 “the Royals”, he could not be swapped with a player from GB2 “the Lions” - although, strangely, the coaching staff could, and did, switch around.

The squads did well, GB Lions finished third in the tournament, losing to eventual winners Russia in the semi-final, before beating Germany in the third/fourth-place play-off. GB Royals lost to eventual runners-up France, to a last seconds penalty, in the quarter-finals, before going on to beat Georgia in the Plate Final to finish fifth. Bennett finished as top try scorer in the tournament with seven and, by all accounts, the six Scots who played, all contributed.

Mark Bennett - top try scorer in Moscow

Of course, you will struggle to find much information on the Moscow event in the mainstream media in this country. Even the RFU, who are lead nation in GB Sevens, didn't do a particularly good job of bigging-up a good first outing for the squads in their website, the SRU has still to notice the event passed.

In trying to pull the Rio squad together at the end of the season – the 25-strong extended Men's squad first met-up on 5 June, less than nine weeks before the first game – the management team, led by Scotland's Stevie Gemmell, are clearly working to a Lions schedule. Well, the Lions have done well in the past on even less preparation time, so, we should not rule-out a good show in Brazil, while acknowledging, the competition they faced in Moscow is some way short of that which the southern hemisphere big guns and Fiji will offer in Rio.

The final 12-man squad for the Games will not be known for some time, but, the extended squad has made a good start. It would, however, be good to see them receiving a wee bit more recognition.

LET'S be honest, Sean Lamont has been a great servant to Scotland. Well, you don't win 100 caps by being useless. However, he is hardly going to Japan as a certain starter. I would expect Tommy Seymour and Sean Maitland, who has stayed in the English Premiership by switching from London Irish to European Champions Saracens, to wear the 11 and 14 jerseys in the Tests, if everyone is fit. That said, Sean Lamont will surely add to his already-impressive caps tally, off the bench in Japan.

He is good in press conferences, well, he has done plenty of them, so, from the point of view of the press pack at Murrayfield on Monday, he was a good choice of talking head to put up. But, there are bigger and better close season stories going around than what a veteran fringe player thinks about touring Japan.

ONE such story is the new pitch for Scotstoun, and not before time. Having a top-quality artificial surface to play on next season will, I believe, make a good Glasgow squad even better. The new surface will really suit the type of rugby Toony wants his team to play.

Well done to everyone who helped make it possible. Probably the happiest man in Scottish rugby this week at this news has been Hugh Barrow, that stalwart of Glasgow Hawks. In a previous life, Hugh was a brilliant miler, indeed, he carries membership card Number 1, for the British Milers Club.

 Glasgow Hawks' stalwart Hugh Barrow

Hugh is a life-long Victoria Park AC man, and he is delighted that an upgrade to Scotstoun's athletics facilities will be included in the work being done. This will greatly help Victoria Park.

Hugh in his racing days

FINALLY, good luck to Coach John Dalziel, skipper Scott Cummings and the Scotland Under-20 team, as they begin their Junior World Cup campaign in Manchester. Australia first-up is hardly the start they would have chosen, however.

In The Blue Ridge Mountains Of Murrayfield - On The Trail Of Rugby Success

 Stan and Olly - who wears London Scottish's blazer and who the SRU's

WHICH one is Stan and which is Olly? That's my response to the tiff between London Scottish and the SRU, and the termination, after just four months, of the loudly-trumpeted player development agreement between the two parties. Because, make no mistake, this is another fine mess they've got us into.

I do not presume to know all the details of the deal and how and why it fell apart so-spectacularly and so-quickly, but, I can presume, with a degree of certainty – there were faults on both sides.

1. Were the two sides totally honest in what they wanted, during the preliminary discussions?
2. Was their an agreed common goal at the end of it?
3. Was the pathway towards that goal set out and understood?
4. Was a properly worked out management structure in place?
5. Was it costed properly?

These are just a few of the questions which the wider Scottish rugby public will want answered. This tie-in between Scottish and the Scottish Exiles community and the SRU was an opportunity to provide professional rugby for a greater number of Scottish players. With its failure, the immediate question for the SRU is: Is there a Plan B, and, what is it?

Will we see these questions answered any time soon? Hopefully, barring some sort of response before then, I would hope someone will raise it, if not before, under 'Any Other Business' at the SRU annual general meeting.

For my part, I can see one big problem, for London Scottish. That is, what, in the 21^st century, does this grand old club seek to be? Does it still wish to be a Caledonian enclave in the heart of English rugby, or, does it seek to become a leading English club, because, under RFU rules, these roles are incompatible.

For most of its long history, Scottish was one of the leading clubs within the RFU, regularly fielding XVs comprising mainly top English-based Scottish internationalists or Scottish-qualified players. The current first XV still contains some Scottish-qualified players, but, they are now in the minority.

If Scottish strives to get back to where it was, in the top flight of the English club game, then, its unique selling point – its Scottishness, will by necessity have to be diluted. Because, quite simply, if Scottish is to win promotion out of the Championship into the English Premiership, once in there, they will be required to have 70% of their match-day 23. “England-qualified”. In numbers, this means they will require to strip 17 Englishmen, or England-qualified men, for every game, leaving a maximum of just six Scots able to pull on the famous navy blue shirt each game.

Whaur's yer Scottish noo, is surely the response to that. 'London Scottish', playing in the Aviva Premiership with a token handful of Scottish players, well, it simply would not be London Scottish. Also, Scottish, in the top-flight in England, could not, because of the eligibility rules, be part of any Scottish player development project.

So, if the joint development project with the SRU was to work, the Scottish management would have to forget all about promotion and playing at the highest level. What, therefore, would be in it for the club and the guys running it? Some would surely want to get back to hosting and visiting Harlequins, Leicester, Wasps, Bath, Gloucester and so on on a regular basis. They would want to play at the highest level possible. How would they take to being told: “No you have to settle for the second tier”.

Mind you, in club statements, London Scottish have stressed, they see the Championship as being the perfect vehicle for proper development of young Scottish players. OK, but, even while they accept this, they would also, it seems to me, want to have the best young Scottish players seconded to them.

There were problems with the youngsters who were sent to Richmond during the four-month agreement period. Andy Davidson's dad had to buy a bed long enough to accommodate his six foot eight inch son – who has now joined Newcastle Falcons, perhaps unimpressed by the SRU/Scottish set-up. Davidson certainly did not linger long in Richmond, before returning to play the second half of the season, mostly in the Glasgow Hawks 2^nd XV!!

 Andy Davidson - a short stay in London, in more ways than one

We hear rumours that the Scottish coach had: “Lost the dressing room” during the season. Certainly a good few players have left the club. Was there a difference of opinion, or of how things should progress between the established guys at Richmond and Messrs Lineen and Grant, both of whom are now back at Murrayfield?

Of the others sent south - Robbie Fergusson has now signed-on permanently with Scottish, he was the only one sent down to Richmond to get a regular game, although Jack Cosgrove and George Horne were squad regulars, used mainly as impact subs.

I am still trying to work-out what happened with Rory Hughes. He is already a full cap, he scored five tries in four games for Scottish, before returning to either sit in the stand or on the bench for Warriors – he should surely have made a greater impact at Richmond.

I still believe, the answer is – London Scottish, as a full-time, London-based professional rugby team, playing as a Scottish side, in the Pro12. To me, no other scenario makes sense.

FINALLY, good luck to the Scottish players in the GB Royals and GB Lions Sevens squads who will be warming-up for Rio. Now that Lee Jones has been added to the mix, I can see us having a few guys in Rio in August.

Lee Jones scoring for Glasgow, now he's in the GB Sevens squad

No Deal Between the SRU And London Scottish - What Happens Now?

FOR some time now, this blog, and other rugby media outlets, have been calling for the SRU to fund at least a third professional side. The obvious core situation for such a team has, in our opinion, and in the opinion of several other commentators, been London Scottish.

That club has an honoured place in Scottish rugby history, not least from the fact, it has produced more Scotland caps than any other club. It is already functioning as a professional club, and, it seems to us, entirely sensible that the co-operation agreement, which the club and the SRU entered into earlier this season should have been extended and expanded.

Our preferred option would be for Scottish to become a London-based Pro12 club, tapping into the Scottish diaspora in the capital and the greater financial muscle which the Scotia Nostra in the City of London could come up with. Sadly, this aint gonna happen. Scottish have today announced the ending of even their arms-length agreement with the SRU, and, they are making it quite clear, it's Murrayfield's fault.

I dare say, when Murrayfield gets around to explaining their part in the whole minor disaster, theirs will be a different tale, time will tell, but, it is disappointing to see something which promised much, ending so soon and in such rancour.

What happens next? Well, all may not be lost. We keep hearing that the semi-professional Premiership will happen, maybe Murrayfield has decided, their resources are better spent in Scotland, on home-Scots players, playing for Scottish clubs. We must wait and see. Or, maybe they are going to fund the acquisition of some world-class talent for Edinburgh and Glasgow. It might even be, their gin bill has been greater than budgeted for, you never can tell with the blazers.

We can only think, unless they come up with something wonderful from left field, and this is Murrayfield we are talking about, a golden chance might have been lost and the wrong decision has been made – again.

AT LEAST, Dom McKay and his team, by all accounts, made rather a good job of organising Saturday's Guinness Pro12 final, at BT Murrayfield.

Dominic McKay, his team produced a cracking Pro12 final

The day went well, the match attracted a record crowd of nearly 35,000 and Connacht, the underdogs, had their day. Well done Pat Lam, John Muldoon and the men from the West of Ireland. You earned it.

TWO different squads met-up for the first time today. At Murrayfield, the Scotland squad for the Summer Tour to Japan convened, while in London, the Team GB Sevens squad for the Olympic Games met-up for the first time. Good luck to both groups, in particular to the Scots in the Sevens squad.

ITALIAN referee Marius Matrea had the whistle in yesterday's England v Wales match at Twickenham – his first Tier 1 international. He did better there than he has in some Pro12 games, as did his two touch judges – Haud It and Daud It, of George Clancy and John Lacey.

Marius Matrea

Well, that's the top Italian official getting a Tier 1 international, how long must we wait before the top Scottish referee gets a Pro12 game?

He's Jones the Jock Now

WOW! I never saw that one coming. I do not pay a great deal of attention to South African rugby, and I do not have Sky, therefore, I knew nothing of Huw Jones, and, even if I had heard of him, with that name I would have put his father down as an exiled member of the Taffia.

Huw Jones of Stormers

Well, I ken noo – he's a fully-paid-up member of the Caledonian Diaspora, one of us, and he could well earn his debut Scotland cap during the Summer tour to Japan. Good luck to the boy, at least, his selection shows, Sean Lineen is earning his corn as global scout for eligible Scottish players.

BT MURRAYFIELD goes well and truly green today, with the Guinness Pro12 final seeing the plce taken over by the Murphyia, for the day.

I make no apologies, I am a Connacht man for the duration. They have been a breath of fresh air in this season's Pro12. They have a tenuous SRU connection through Pat Lam's brief spell on the Scotland coaching staff and, they deservedly beat Glasgow in the semi-final. Any way, it would be nice to see, for the second straight year, a new name etched on the Pro12 trophy.

TODAY'S other big game is at Twickenham, where Saracens must overcome Exeter to land an English/European double. This one promises to be an epic encounter, and I find myself torn as to which outcome I would prefer.

My late elder brother played for Saracens, back in the far-off amateur days of the 1960s, when they were arguably the least-fashionable of the senior London clubs. During their brief sojourn in Watford, the guy I sat beside through school, long since embedded with the Scottish Missionary Service in the Sudetenland, was a major sponsor, so, I ought to be wearing my fez and cheering-on Sarries.

Rob Baxter of Exeter

But, a few years back, I covered a pre-season friendly between Exeter and Glasgow, at Millbrae. I had barely heard of that club, and of Rob Baxter, their charismatic Director of Rugby. I left Millbrae as a definite fan. I like the type of rugby they play, I love the togetherness of the club the way they play for each other. This afternoon, as turn on BT Sport to watch, I am, for once, a confirmed fence-sitter.

PETER McCallum, already his own club's Player of the Year, was last night confirmed as Scotland's Club Player of the Year, at the SRU's annual Club Awards Dinner – and quite right too.

Scotland Club XV number eight Peter McCallum receiving his Ayr P-O-Y award from Calum Forrester, has now added the Scottish Club Player of the Year award to his list of honours

Ah Kent his faither, big Chris – who could have gone further than the Scotland Under-21 team, if he could have been arsed. To Chris, rugby was nothing more than a good way to work-up a thirst on a Saturday afternoon. His son, thankfully, takes the game a wee bit more seriously than his Dad did.

Peter has scored tries this season at a rate which, if he had been scoring goals for Ayr United, rather than tries for Ayr RFC, would have earned him a big-money move to a top team. But, more than that, he has proved to be one-third, with Blair Macpherson and Will Bordill, of a very-effective breakaway unit. He also, stood-out in the Scotland Club XV.

He is, however, unlikely to get a call to Glasgow or Edinburgh, since, he is neither tall enough, nor heavy enough to be a professional Number Eight, and not fast enough to be a professional Seven. So, he will go on causing havoc from the base of the Ayr pack, for a wee while yet. However, he was a worthy winner.

Emma Wassell of Murrayfield Wanderers won the equivalent Women's award, while that jammy so-and-so Phil Smith of Heriot's was named Coach of the Year.

Coach of the Year Phil Smith

The complete list of award winners, announced at Murrayfield last night, reads:

• BT Club of the Season – Annan
• BT Women’s Club of the Season – Garioch
• Coach of the Season – Phil Smith (Heriot’s)
• Youth Coach of the Season – Gary Coupland (Annan)
• Referee of the Season – Duncan McClement
• Caledonia Best Spirit of Rugby – Mike Dawson (Murrayfield Wanderers)
• BT Volunteer of the Season – Peter Hill (Duns)
• Brigadier Frank Coutts Memorial (BT) Try of the Season – Steven Rutledge (Highland)
• BT Premiership Player of the Season – Peter McCallum (Ayr)
• BT National League Division 1 Player of the Season – Ben Johnston (Marr)
• BT National League Division 2 Player of the Season – Ross Gillies (Cartha Queen’s Park)
• BT National League Division 3 Player of the Season – Tony Herron (GHK)
• BT Caledonia Regional Player of the Season – Andrew Findlater (Highland)
• BT East Regional Player of the Season – Jamie Simpson (Earlston)
• BT West Regional Player of the Season – Corrie Louw (Oban Lorne)
• BT Women’s Premier League Player of the Season – Emma Wassell (Murrayfield Wanderers)
• BT Women’s National League Division 1 Player of the Season – Audrey Barr (Oban Lorne)
• BT Women’s National League Division 2 Player of the Season – Nicola Howat (Howe Harlequins)
• Scottish Rugby Club Development Officers of the Year Awards – Brendan McGroarty (Greenock Wanderers), Colin Sturgeon (Glasgow Life), Graeme Simpson (Falkirk)

Brendan McGroarty - Hawks's skipper's development work has been recognised

Finn's Fine, But Cotter Must Cogitate On A Replacement

THIS has been a quiet, and in some ways disturbing week, for Scottish Rugby. I believe I speak for many, when I say my greatest concern is the health of Scotland and Glasgow Warriors's stand-off Finn Russell.

 Finn Russell - on the mend and hopefully home soon

It was worrying to learn, Finn was transferred from the local hospital in Galway, to the Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, however, Beaumont is the best facility in the Republic of Ireland for those who have suffered a neurosurgical injury – therefore, he could not be in better hands. Hopefully, he will, as expected, soon be back home in Scotland, and going through the various stages of the SRU's return to action following a head injury protocol. This protocol was, as we all know, written by Dr James Robson and his team, so all being well, Finn should be passed fit to return to action in the new season.

Before then, however, we have the Summer Tour to Japan, and the answer to the question – who fills-in for Finn? Big Vern Cotter has the decision to make, and he appears to have several options.

Ruaridh Jackson - should be our starting 10 in Japan

Or, might Peter Horne get the job?

1. He could nominate the versatile Peter Horne as back-up to Ruaridh Jackson, who should now go on-tour as our starting stand-off, and for cover bring-in another centre, perhaps taking Mark Bennett out of the preliminary Team GB Olympic Sevens squad.
   
   Or Duncan Weir?
2. He could simply call-up Duncan Weir, Russell's deputy for club and country – but, may prefer to allow Dunky to bed-in with new club Edinburgh.
   
    
3. 1. He could call-up Greig Tonks, or, more likely Tom Heathcote,  who has garnered some good reviews with his play with Worcester Warriors.
      
      Greig Laidlaw - another potential fill-in at 10
      
      
   3. He might leave the squad as is, since either Horne, skipper Greig Laidlaw, or, as a long shot, Stuart Hogg, could fill-in for Finn at 10.

I suppose we will find out on Monday, when the tour squad meets-up at Murrayfield.

BEFORE then, we have Saturday's Guinness Pro12 Final, at BT Murrayfield, Connacht v Leinster. It will be interesting to see how well Scotland's rugby fans support this game, given Glasgow's failure to qualify. The Irish fans, we know, will travel in numbers, but, it would be nice to think the Scots fans might go along to help off-set the numerical advantage in supporters which the “Dubs” from Leinster seem certain to enjoy.

Nigel Owens - the logical choice for Pro12 final referee

As expected, the great Nigel Owens, the best referee in the world today, will have the whistle, with his fellow Welshmen, Ian Davies and Ben Whitehouse on flag duty, and another of the Rugby Taffia – Jon Mason, on TMO duties – a clear case of: “Who's the Mason in the truck”?

As yet the minor officials: fourth official, citing commissioner etc, have not been names, so, there might well be some Scottish input in those positions.

FORMER Scotland coach Andy Robinson is back in the big time, after his Bristol side beat Doncaster Knights in the English Championship play-off, to end their seven-year exile from England's top flight. Former Edinburgh and Scotland prop Kyle Traynor, (above), played his part in getting the West-Country club back to the big time.

 

Doncaster Knights, their opponents in the play-off, had a Scottish connection too. In their squad were Andy Bulumakau, elder brother of Glasgow and Scotland Sevens winger Junior, and Dougi Flockhart, who doubles-u as the Knights' Strength and Conditioning Coach.