Selection Problems for Gregor Townsend and Tough Choices for The Club Game

JONNY GRAY is out of Saturday's game against France, courtesy of a foot injury. Once upon a time, that news would have generated “Disaster For Scotland” headlines. However, the sad fact for Jonny is – for about the last year or more, his form has dipped. He may perhaps be the better for the break from International Rugby.

I certainly feel, in the two games thus far, Grant Gilchrist has been our more-impressive lock. Losing Gray the Younger is not the blow it would have been 20 caps or so ago.

With Rory Sutherland and Jamie Bhatti also out, our forward resources are going to be stretched for the French and perhaps the Italian games.

HERE I AM, resplendent in my John the Baptist get-up: a voice crying in the wilderness, as I return to the burning topic of the day:

What are we going to do about the club game in Scotland?

Player numbers are falling, more and more games are being called-off, and are being re-scheduled twice or three times, some are even abandoned altogether, as clubs struggle to get today's young men to play for fun.

I still believe the long-term answer is Recreational Rugby, our game's response to the popular Recreational Ice Hockey.

This game takes away the big hits and physicality of the full fat game, but, encourages the core skills to be utilised.

So – what might we do?

In a cogent below the line comment on The Offside Line, on this subject, that weel-kent man about Midlands rugby, Dom Ward of Grangemouth suggested we could:

1. Remove subs from the club game

2. Make the game the aerobic activity it was in the past

3. Look at lowering the tackle area to below the waist.

4. Ban taking-out opponents at rucks and mauls

5. Encourage the return to rugby being a game of evasion.

6. Match playing numbers, by making more use of the Game On principles.

7. Find some way of organising a player pool system, so a club with a surfeit of players could help out struggling neighbours.

8. Encourage Festival Rugby – where a club invites other clubs to play full or small-sided games; just turn-up and play, like adult mini-rugby events.

There's a good basis on which to start. I would add, amending the Laws to suit. For instance, let's sort-out the scrums: straight feeds, hookers to hook, no playing for penalties.

We could ban line-out lifting. And, while I stand by my long-held belief we should go back to old-fashioned rucking, I somehow don't think today's snowflakes would take kindly to a guid shoein', so perhaps not.

In the BTL part of the TOL article, both Dom and Iain “The Bear” Milne made well-reasoned contributions.

Among the points which The Bear raised were:

• That our game is struggling is not the fault of the SRU, but we can see the club game is struggling.

• Premiership and National 1 clubs are struggling to put-out 2^nd XVs

• Our league structure is dated and no longer fit for purpose.

• Our season does not fit in to the lifestyle of the modern player.

• The substitution regulations are totally irrelecant to most club rugby.

• To his mind, nothing has been done to address things in the last decade.

The Bear is a great advocate of getting what he calls “bad players” playing – these are the guys who are never going to win representative honours, but, will be the backbone of their clubs for years to come.

Every club has such players. They only got into the first team in times of epidemic, they were never great plaeyrs, but, they have turned up, they've happily done the jobs nobody else wanted and they've kept their club going.

These guys tend to come out of 2^nd or 3^rd XVs, if we don't have such teams, in a couple of decades time, we will not have the volunteers to keep the clubs going.

I have said this before, and I will say it again.

• We have too-many National Leagues and National league clubs

• We should be making the club game more regionalised.

• Take a leaf from the Scottish Junior Football Association – split Scotland up into regions, play regionally but, have one national tournament each year, under-pinned by regional leagues and cups.

Maybe, if we ever get the overall governance sorted out, we can dig deeper, because:

Doing nothing is not an option.

FINALLY, I have high hopes of young Iain Hay, freelance reporter of the Glasgow parish, taking-on my role as Chief Irritant to The Junta. He is certainly showing early promise and when, in the not-too-distant future, I shut down the computer for the last time, I believe he can be passed-on the torch.

Young Hay was certainly different in his reporting of Saturday's Marr v Hawick Premiership clash at Fullarton Park. His Talking Point in his Offside Line match report, was of an exchange of views between a Marr supporter and the Hawick bench, when Greens' hooker Calum Renwick was yellow carded.

Now, here in God's County of Ayrshire we have a long and proud history of close crowd involvement in games, particularly in Junior Football. The regular audience on Hecklers' Hill, behind the technical areas at Fullarton may wear Royal Troon GC apparel and have slightly more-refined accents than their contemporaries on the terraces at Beechwood or Meadow Parks, but, they could give the Juniors guys a run for their money when it comes to invective at opposition players.

Mr Renwick has a bit of a reputation as being from the extremely-mouthy end of the hookers' spectrum (all hookers are mouthy BTW); so, here was a match made in Hell.

We used to have a winger at Lugar Boswell Thistle whose response to individual criticism was to approach his critic and offer him “A square go,” this was normally sufficient to ensure silence for the remainder of the match.

Mind you, when it comes to touchline critics, the G.O.A.T. Is surely one of my Cumnock RFC contemporaries – he was a bigger embarrassment than the Rangers Lunatic Fringe, before the club finally banned him from the touchline.

Come Nuclear Armageddon, I believe two species will survive, Cockroaches and Scottish Fitba Numpties.

There's Something About Finn

THE FARRELLY BROTHERS' gross-out comedy 'There's Something About Mary' is one of my favourite films – and it's not merely because it stars the wonderful Cameron Diaz. The current media obsession with oor ain Finn Russell has me thinking, 'Finnsanity' is becoming a male “something about” figure. Mind you, that said, I don't see 'There's Something About Finn' being a Hollywood blockbuster – for a start I cannot buy Ben Stiller as a world-class fly half.

 However, in the aftermath of another bad Scottish day in the Cardiff office – a lot of media commentators have chosen to pass judgement on our boy.

In a recent blog, I referenced one leading Scottish football writer calling for Denis Law to be dropped – in spite of him scoring all three Scottish goals in a 3-4 loss to Norway. Well, the Scottish Football Writers Association has a long history of admitting and tolerating half-wits – I expect better of the Scottish Rugby Writers, and, to be fair, none of them is calling for Finn's head. Instead, it's rugby commentators from elsewhere who have been piling-on in “dissing” our hero. Methinks they fear him.

Take Finn's yellow card in Cardiff; had he made the interception he was trying for (and it was an attempted interception – he went for the ball with both hands), he gets clear of the first defensive line – Duhan van der Merwe gets up in support and we might well have had a winning try as good, if not better than the famous length of the park 1982 one.

But, that's international rugby. I honestly believe, had Dan Biggar done what Finn did, he'd have got away with a knock-on only decision. Because, at this level, referees, sub-consciously or not, go out with a feeling, something like: “Wales, the reigning Champions, at home to Scotland, who haven't won here in years, so, Wales is the better team.” Then, that same referee has the home crowd howling for every decision. In such a scenario, the Scottish players should have had the Jock Stein dictum drummed home: “Don't give the referee a chance to make a decision which could hurt you.”

But, Finn is the ultimate risk v reward player, and, he nearly pulled it off.

I put our defeat in Cardiff down to the fact, we finished second up front – our pack never had the control we required, and, they never produced fast enough ball for our backs to flourish. We have some good players up front, and the value of Jamie Ritchie to us is only now becoming evident, when he isn't around. Also, one or two of the eight in Cardiff didn't hit their straps.

It's an old rugby adage: “Forwards win matches – backs decide by how much.” In Cardiff, our forwards didn't do enough to put us in a winning position.

So, lay-off Finn, the real blame lies elsewhere and I trust Toony and his team to put things right before we face a perhaps even-harder task, in trying to beat France at Murrayfield.

JINGS CRIVVENS, HELP MA BOAB, but, I let the genie out of the bottle again and mentioned the FOSROC SUPER6. Cue indignation all round and the club rugby purists calling for S6 to be ditched and a return to the old ways.

Look guys, I've said this before and will probably have to say it again in the future, but, we are not going to see a return to club rugby under-pinning District Rugby any time soon – if ever.

Some of your clubs might, if they are lucky and can get their act together, have a chance to take-up franchises eight and perhaps nine and ten – but, the rest of you are going to have to get used to reduced circumstances in club rugby.

How long will it take before you realise, the only form of the game which has the capacity to attract a mass media, money-generating following, particularly television, is the international game. Yes, the TV companies will bid for elite-level club rugby, provided the clubs pack their squads with international players. But, it's the international contracts they want.

Maybe, when Scotland is independent, a state-owned or funded Scottish Broadcasting Corporation, will send some cash the way of Murrayfield, but, until that day – and aged 75 in a few days' time and looking at the current SNP ruling cabal, I doubt if I will now see independence. But, if we are looking to BBC Shortbread, far less a cable or satellite company to chuck some cash the way of the Scottish club game – in your dreams pal.

The best thing that could happen to the game, below international level, is for the English Premiership bubble to burst. I keep thinking: “the professional game in England is unsustainable,” then I read of events like this week's £32 million Saracens take-over, and I think, reality has yet to hit the bubble that is casino finance in the City of London.

When that club bubble bursts, maybe the 57 Old Farts at the head of the RFU could get their act together and break the habit of generations, by speaking to the Celtic Fringes to set-up a British Isles League for the professional game. But, I fear that is wishful thinking on my part.

As things stand, the greater share of any monies which the SRU will have to spend will go on the Performance element of the game: National teams, age group sides, the Sevens squad, the pro teams and the Super clubs. Don't forget, the SRU has already worked-out, they cannot afford to fund all these teams themselves, there is not the private money interest in Scotland to fund either the pro or semi-pro sides, so, to try to make it work, they have had to go down the franchise route at S6 level.

The S6 clubs are keen to build bridges with the club sides, and I know they would like to see the club game given a set budget each year for game sustainability and development, but, just as they have had to go out and find commercial partners and sponsors, so too should the clubs. That seems fair to me.

Another reason why S6/8/10 is the future is this – that part of the franchises' remit which deals with player development and bridging the gap between the club game and the pro one. For this to work properly, there has to be a minimum standard. This strategy is only as strong as the weakest club. Such a strategy cannot be risked on transient form or a string of injuries, on promotion and relegation.

It cannot be risked on several clubs with delusions of grandeur and a sense of entitlement, skweaming, and skweaming and skweaming until they are sick because they are not seen as top clubs.

Sure, bad decisions have been made around the way ahead – by the SRU and by some of the S6 clubs. The system isn't perfect, it has a long way to go and a few problems to be solved. But, S6/8/10 gives us a better chance of keeping Scottish Rugby and the international team relevant than going back to a general club-based game. Live with this.

When And In What Way Will The Six Nations Change?

AND FORWARD, THO' AH CANNA SEE – AH GUESS AND FEAR. Thus wrote The Bard, all those years ago, and his imperfect forward vision certainly strikes a chord with those of us looking at the future of International Rugby.

The South Africans are, increasingly, aligning with the northern hemisphere – the inconveniences of travel and playing some games at the height of their summer being offset against the convenience of time zones and the greater financial pull of the northern hemisphere. They have agreed to remain within the SANZAAR sphere of influence until 2025, but, what happens after that is anyone's guess.

By then, the four South African sides will be able to compete in the Heineken and European Challenge Cups, further strengthening their ties with Europe. In that case, getting The Springboks into the Guinness Six Nations is a no-brainer.

 The several million dollar question, however, is:

• Will it be a Six Nations? With South Africa replacing Italy?

• Will it become a Seven Nations, by simply adding them?

• Or Might it become an Eight Nations, with Georgia also being added?

I honestly don't see Georgia being done any favours by the current six nations, however, were Russia to get their act together and become the dominant Tier Two team in Europe, then, concerns over institutionalised state doping not withstanding, it would be difficult to keep them out.

Any thoughts of South Africa replacing the sixth team in the existing competition should be concentrating minds inside Murrayfield. Should the Italian Under-20 squads continue to improve as they have been and still are doing, and should our own Under-20 programme continue to under-perform, well, Scotland could well be ranked sixth and reliant on the Old Pals Act to keep them relevant. (I should add, the same concerns could be voiced in Wales.)

My own view, taking how FIFA and UEFA operate in their form of football, is that in time, we could well see the Six Nations expanded into something like football's European Nations League, with promotion and relegation between the various groups. Such a competition might well be a decade away, but, I can see it happening – unless the Old Boys Club members decide to look after their own interests and put them ahead of letting the game grow.

South Africa looking more towards Europe might also help reignite one of the game's truly great rivalries. At the moment, the All Blacks v Springboks is an annual event, Suppose, with South Africa playing more in Europe, it reverted to being an occasional series – I reckon that would make more money for the respective Unions. In any sport, you have to see the top talents facing each other, but, such meetings have to be kept rare and special. That's when the game can really sell itself.

However, if South Africa in Europe might help sell series against the All Blacks, it might be the death knell for Lions Tours to South Africa – unless, as I feel needs to happen, we can find a way to re-package the Lions' concept.

Of course, all this is pure speculation. World Rugby has its view of how to grow the game and its future, we will have to wait and see what the great brains in Dublin are thinking, before we know what the international game will look like, going forward.

WELL, WE KEN NOO: The FOSROC Super6 will return in April for “A Sprint Series” each team will play the other once, before a top-half against bottom-half series to determine finishing positions one to six. This will be followed by an East v West challenge. Heriot's, Southern Knights and Watsonians will supply players to the East team, with Ayrshire Bulls, Boroughmuir Bears and Stirling County providing the West squad – I dare say this will be played at Dam Health Stadium, if only to maximise SRU income.

The full FOSROC Super6 Championship will then kick-off on 5 August, same as last season, home and home games leading to a Grand Final at the end of October.

The new set-up is a compromise, since, once again, there will be no cross-border games, with the Home Unions concentrating on recovering from the effects of Covid. The clubs are now, however, guaranteed between 17 and 20 matches in a calendar year.

The six clubs are already recruiting, since quite a few of last season's players have moved on. A couple of the clubs have posted advertisements on the Oval 15 rugby recruitment website. Significantly, they are primarily seeking “Scotland-Qualified” players, following criticism of some of last season's recruitment moves.

Once again, each franchise will be allocated five Stage III Scottish Rugby Academy players, while their funding has been increased, to enable each team to recruit a full-time General Manager, whose responsibilities will be to develop and improve all off-field activities, prioritising commercial expansion and overseeing the marketing and communications strategy for each team.

This cash has come from the existing high-performance budget at Murrayfield.

The announcement came with usual amount of waffle from Jim Mallinder, but, the sad truth is, Super6 will only begin to show its true colours and a positive effect on Scottish Rugby when the cross-border element gets up and running. Either the projected games with the Welsh Premiership sides, or, better still, a re-vamped British & Irish Cup, that will allow S6 to flourish. Until that happens, we are marking time.

We Are Still Getting Elite Player Development Wrong

CLUB FAN, one of the more-faithful and ready to engage followers of this blog picked-up on my distress following the Under-20s loss to Wales on Friday night.

He and I both felt the lack of game time given to the Scotland team was evident and a definite factor in our abject loss. So, what do we do about it?

The Fosroc Super6 was supposed to be a means of getting our younger players more game time, and bridge the gap between the club game and the professional one. The S6 clubs are indirectly managed by the SRU's Performance Department, so you might expect S6 players to be the favoured option for the likes of the Scotland Under-20 team.

A check of the Under-20 squad, however, shows this is far from the case. The official SRU website lists 33 players in the current U-20 squad, the break-down of where they play their rugby, however, shows:

• Super6 players 12 (4 Stirling County, 3 Boroughmuir Bears, 2 Heriot's, 1 Ayrshire Bulls, Southern Knights, Watsonians)

• Premiership players 5 (3 GHA, 1 Glasgow Hawks, 1 Marr)

• English Universities 7 (Durham 3, Exeter 2, Newcastle 2)

• English clubs 6 (Ealing Trailfinders 4, Leicester Tigers 1, Newcastle Falcons 1)

• French clubs 1 (Montpellier)

• Scottish Universities 1 (Strathclyde)

• Scottish Schools 1 (Strathallan)

Few of the 12 S6 players are first-choices for their clubs, most have to be content with game time off the bench. Is there, perhaps, a case for insisting on minimum game time for the U-20 players, particularly those who are “Full-Time Academy Players?”

Given the SRU's central funding to the S6 franchises, this might be one of the offsets to be considered. As has been mentioned in btl comments on the blog – the S6 franchises want to win the competition, hence some recruitment of Non-Scottish Qualified players.

Given the player development aspect of the S6 project, could there also be a requirement to have a certain percentage of any match-day squad Scotland Qualified?

It could also be argued, that the seven U-20 squad members who play in the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) competitions are playing at a level of rugby which is at least as-good, if not better than S6, perhaps a partnership between the SRU and our top universities could see more players having the chance to compete at a higher level.

I would also argue that the six players from full-time English sides, plus Montpellier's Robbie McClintock are playing at a higher level than the S6 guys. We need to see more players playing at a higher level. But, how do we achieve this?

Various commenters – the hard core who do not want S6 under any circumstances – keep claiming the answer is to do away with S6, spend more money on the clubs and wait for results.

This is Pish! Every chain fails at its weakest link – with S6 there is a minimum standard; that cannot be said of the Premiership. As I keep saying, S6 is a work in progress. At least give it a chance over the intended five-year project, then, re-assess.

Super8 or perhaps even Super10, is, I am certain, the long-term answer. Ten well-funded clubs, singing off the same hymn sheet and attracting most of the best-available young Scottish talent, working under our best coaches, feeding into three full-time Scottish sides in the URC, that's the long-term answer.

Going back to the uncertainties of the Premiership and even Inter-District games, that will not work in the 21^st century.

But, on the road there, and that road will be a long and probably winding one – we need to start by getting our best young talent playing more-often.

For instance, there is one young Academy forward I know of; he's a bloody big lump of the size we seldom produce, who is full-time with one of our two pro sides. He is also supposedly on the books of one of the S6 franchises – for whom he has never crossed the whitewash.

I asked one of the high heid yins of his franchise why he wasn't getting any game time – apparently the pro side felt he was better-off training with them. He has, needless to say, never yet got on the field.

That's the problem, somebody has decided he is better-off in the gym, or holding a tackle bag. I say he'd be better-off playing – he needs time on the grass. Some of the decisions being made by the SRU apparatchiks do not make sense.

BACK IN June 1963 the Scotland football team was in a good place. We had had an unbeaten season in the Home Internationals, winning the championship and capping that off with a first Wembley win in over a decade – playing with ten men for 85 minutes.

We had then been miles ahead of a good Austrian side, 4-1 up, when the visitors to Hampden decided they would kick us off the park, so the referee abandoned the game.

We then set off on an end-of-season mini European tour, where we were expected to roll over Norway and the Republic of Ireland, before tackling Spain, one of the continents giants, in the Bernabeu.

With only ten minutes left against the Norwegians, in Bergen, we were leading 3-2, courtesy of a Denis Law hat-trick. We then lost skipper Dave Mackay to injury and, in the final ten minutes, Norway scored twice to win 4-3.

The travelling “fans with typewriters” of the Scottish Football Writers Association took this loss with the calmness which was their watchword. They went into “sack the lot” mode, led by “The Voice of Football,” John Mackenzie of the Scottish Daily Express. He wanted The Lawman dropped and immediately sent home. FFS, the guy had just scored a hat-trick, how could it be his fault we had lost?

Any way, on the party travelled to Dublin's Dalymount Park and a seemingly concrete pitch, where a bad bounce at a corner deceived debutant goalkeeper Tommy Lawrence of Liverpool.

By now, Mackenzie had gone nuclear in his disdain for the party. He demanded the squad return home immediately and call-off what was sure to be a hammering in Madrid. Scotland was embarrassed enough, nothing good could come of playing that last match.

Thankfully, the SFA's high heid yins held their nerve, we went to Madrid, lost a goal in eight minutes, on our way to a 6-2 win, over a team which would, a year later, be crowned European Champions.

That's the Scottish way of doing things, so, keeping this story in mind, I trust those calling, after Cardiff, for the heads of Messrs Russell and Hogg will shut up and see what happens next.

Following Scotland has long been a case of two steps forward, one step back, half a step to the side, then onward again. I don't see this pattern changing any time soon.

I Can See Disaster For Scotland Coming Early

THIS IS my 65^th year as a Tartan Army foot soldier. I have gone from hero-worshipping Geordie Young, Gordon Smith and Lawrie Reilly in football, Ken Scotland, Arthur Smith and Hugh McLeod in rugby to enjoying watching John McGinn, Billy Gilmour and Craig Gordon with the round ball and Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell and Mark Bennett with the oval one.

Another thing I have learned over my many years being let-down by our national teams failing to match my over-expectations of them is to see, early-on, Disaster For Scotland coming out of left field.

That familiar foreboding struck early on Friday night as I watched the Scotland Under-20s taking on Wales in Colwyn Bay. I actually gave-up on the uber-irritating pro-Wales commentary after half an hour. It hadn't helped that the S4C's Welsh language commentary was coming across the English language iplayer link.

But, even then, with the amount of possession we had had, Scotland should have been at least three tries up, but, they kept butchering great positions and opportunities; while the way, just about the only time he touched the ball, the Welsh 13 cut through our defence like a knife through butter – I just knew, this will not end well.

I then switched to BBC Radio Shortbread, where not even the enthusiasm of talking heads Colin Grigor and Pete Horne, and match caller Paul Mitchell could hide the fact, Glasgow Warriors were making heavy weather of beating Munster. Mind you, even the ultra-fair-minded Grigor was growing exasperated at an Italian referee who appeared to be well out of his depth – so I don't think that helped.

At least, Glasgow won – then Friday night got better, when news came through from Italy of the Italian Under-20s beating England 6-0.

A late night Facebook message from one of the leading Moss Troopers found me agreeing with his message. The Under-20 game had been a tough watch and we really need to get our promising kids playing more rugby. Our team appeared to lack game intelligence – a commodity you only accrue from time on the grass.

IF FRIDAY night was disappointing, Saturday afternoon was torture. I've had enough experience of us losing in Wales, it's a fairly-normal bi-annual occurrence, but, I thought we had a real chance on Saturday against a not very good Welsh squad.

But, if we only scored seven out of ten in beating England, then we were maybe only worth five out of ten in losing to Wales. We seldom breached the gain line on the attack; we made too-many unforced errors and we gave away dumb penalties at dumb times.

I accept Chris Harris is a wonderful defensive centre, but, I want to see a bit more attacking flair from my 13. I still reckon, and I admit my bias in looking at him, although injuries have blunted his pace, Mark Bennett, still runs the best attacking lines of any Scottish centre. If Marko's days as a first-choice are gone, then I would like to see Redpath at 12, with Tuipulotu or Rory Hutchison at 13, to address our lack of midfield threat.

When he first burst onto the scene, we hailed Jonny Gray as a future British and Irish Lion. The 2017 New Zealand Tour perhaps came too soon for him, and we assumed, he would be a shoo-in for the 2021 South African Tour. He didn't get picked. In fact, I fear he has gone backwards since leaving Glasgow for Exeter. He was largely anonymous on Saturday, as were too many of our pack.

We have a forwards squad of nice, competent boys – we lack one or two hard-nosed international beasts and, until we unearth these rarities, I am afraid in the modern game, we are going nowhere.

Could Guinness Six Nations 2022 turn out to be yet another massive Disaster for Scotland? I'm worried now. That's the gloomy stuff, but, for the neutral, it was a most-entertaining game which could well have gone either way – Wales just made fewer mistakes and took their chances better.

But, if we cannot beat that lot, we're in bother, because I don't think the Welsh team which beat us is as good as the England one we beat. We still have to face the two strongest teams in the competition, and go to Rome. I am one Scotsman with a grievance whom you couldn't mistake for a ray of sunshine today.

Gregor Townsend now has a couple of weeks in which to re-set his squad; a lot of hard work will need to be done before we welcome the French to BT Murrayfield.

REVIEWING France's victory over Ireland in Paris, a line of Robert Burns' came to mind: “And forward tho' Ah canna see, Ah guess and fear.” I can see some big problems coming down the road to meet us.

The game in Cardiff was enjoyable, but, the heavyweight clash in Paris was at a higher level of intensity, physicality and skill. We will have to improve greatly from what we have shown in the two games this far if we are to compete with these two sides. Even that may not be enough. We will I feel, also need them to have a bad day at the office if we are to sneak wins over them.

To make it worse, if we play in Rome, the way we played in Cardiff, we could be in bother. I am a tad depressed – again.

SO MUCH for Italy maybe shocking England in Rome this afternoon. Eddie Jones' changes worked, England played a lot better than they had at BT Murrayfield. They got a boost from a fast start and an early score, after which, they never let Italy get a grip of the game.

Significantly, Maro Itoje, who was largely anonymous at Murrayfield, was more like his usual self in England's win. Mind you, worryingly for us, looking ahead to our visit to the Eternal City. I thought the Italian scrum asked more-difficult questions of the England eight than we had.

England were well worth their victory, which enabled Sir Clive Woodward and the other talking heads to be even-more annoying than they usually are – and encouraged me to switch channels right on the final whistle.

FINALLY, as if the weekend wasn't bad enough for Scotland and our leaders at BT Murrayfield, in the early hours of Sunday morning, Austin Gilgronis beat Old Glory, our subsidiary team in the USA, 57-12, as the new season of Major League Rugby got under way. In Scotland – it never rains but it pours.