THE Gospel according to Alan Hansen reads: "You win nothing with kids". Aye right - as Alex Ferguson said as he blooded Beckham, Butt,Giggs, Scholes and Co. But, apparently only at Old Trafford is it possible to bring together bunches of kids and win.
Golden rules for football do not necessarily cross borders to apply in rugby and certainly, because of the fact that rugby is all about possession and to win the forward battle in rugby you need mature bodies - it is fair to say that, in rugby: you win nothing with kids.
However, kids, particularly in the backs, can make rugby more-exciting, particularly if such kids come blessed with that uncoachable element - genuine pace. In a club rugby sense, young Mark Bennett certainly possesses genuine pace. Whether that pace is sufficient for the higher and harsher grounds of the Magner's League, we will start to find out tonight at Royal Dublin Showgrounds.
I must admit, I'd have loved to have seen Mark facing BOD, as God is known in the Emerald Isle, but, that is not to be. I wish the kid well, not that I think he will need good luck or good wishes - this teenager is the real deal.
In fact, with Duncan Weir at stand-off, we might well be seeing the future of Scottish rugby for the first time - factor in the highly-rated Harry Leonard of Boroughmuir and Edinburgh, currently off for six months of intense grooming in New Zealand - as the medium term replacement for Graeme Morrison and there is cause for optimism.
The problem is, the Hansen view seems to hold sway in Scotland. We do tend to be suspicious of kids, even kids with Bennett's potential. Let's be brave, move heaven and earth and keep young Mark with Glasgow - but PLAY him. It's not as if Glasgow will win things;Glasgow and Edinburgh are rapidly becoming finishing schools from which the English and French clubs with bigger budgets will cherrypick their next signings.
Therefore, if Glasgow trust in young Mark, give him game time, as a starter rather than as an impact or clock-running-down substitute, and watch Scotland benefit.
BACK in prehistoric times, when rucking was real and, in fact, you HAD to play the ball with a foot before it could emerge from rucks, I made my club debut, aged 15, as hooker in my club's 2nd XV. I was a good deal smaller than I am today, but still, I was only 15.
I had great protection from a front five of two huge polis, my older brother and a gnarled veteran who hewed coal at the face from Monday to Friday, so I survived, learned the black arts and got a terrific free education in forward play.
In time, as I grew, I played anywhere in the front five and occasionally at number eight. I have always felt I was lucky to have such an easy introduction to the club game, protected as I was by some great colleagues.
My grandson is now 15; he's six foot three and probably weighs as much as I did then, although I was six inches shorter. He has no chance of playing for the same club's 2nd XV. In some ways this is a good thing - on health and safety grounds and I cannot argue that the demands made on a teenaged hooker, operating between two experienced props and with a massive boiler-house pairing behind him are different from those facing a young, slim and still-growing lock, so, we are making progress.
Before he can play even Under-18 rugby, my grandson will have to pass the SRU's strength test; this is a good thing - except, nobody can tell me exactly what the perameters are: what will be asked of him. Come-on SRU, clarify matters. And while they are at it, can someone tell me what the qualifying date is for the various age groups. I think he is, because of his date of birth, eligible for another year at Under-16, but cannot find out for sure. This too needs clarifying.
I HAVE been enjoying myself these past few days, speculating on what may happen to the club game the season after next, 2012-13, when, if the sensible proposals being put before the SRU annual meeting next month are, as they ought to be, carried - we will see the birth of a genuine pyramid system in Scottish rugby.
Being a West of Scotland boy, I am particularly interested in what might happen, if we have - as has been mooted by the Season Structure Working Party (SSWP) just 20 national league teams: ten Premiership teams, ten National League teams; under-pinned by two x ten-club Championship divisions - East and West, with regionalisation below that.
It's how the likes of the West Region will be organised which fascinates me. I can see linear rather than vertical organisation being preferable - a South West Region covering Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, producing some fierce local derbies and great rugby. Likewise the Glasgow and Renfrewshire clubs could produce some fierce and enjoyable rugby, while Lanarkshire and its environs will also see somecracking local encounters. Far better than region-wide vertical boundaries.
The future seems bright - if the very sensible suggestions of the SSWP go through - but, there's the rub.
No comments:
Post a Comment