Tim Visser - Was The Writer Taking the Piss Er

WELL, that's that, we've had our autumn tests, now it's back to the Heineken, then it's Christmas and New Year and, before we know it, it'll be Six Nations time, and after that Lions Time. Stop it Aristotle, you're wishing your life away.

 

I had to laugh this week, when the Chief Rugby Writer of the Tory Party's daily newsletter named his Lions Test XV, based on the performances during the autumn tests. Not unsurprisingly, for someone from within the London media bubble, he packed his team with Englishmen, while there was buy a single Scot - well not even that, the only Scotland player he named, and pardon me if I didn't detect a little bit of editorial over-view here: ("Look old chap, you haven't named any of the Sweaties and you know how they become upset if over-looked - why don't you pick that Dutch chap they've capped?).

 

Tim Visser, I mean Tim Visser - he shouldn't have a number on his back, rather an L plate, since he's still very-much an international work in progress. If our poor Anglo-Irish writer HAD to pick a Scot, why not Sean Lamont, who for me out-shone Visser, or either of our props, or Richie Gray or Al Kellock?

 

One thing I have learned in over 50-years of watching the Lions is - the Lions test XV which you name after the autumn tests is nothing like the actual XV which takes the field for the first test; in fact, the test XV which you name as the party boards the aircraft to fly south will be nothing like the XV which plays in the first test - always has been, always will be. To quote old Supermac, former Prime Minister Harold McMillan - "events dear boy, events". These are things for which you can never legislate.

 

 

 

OF COURSE, darn sarf, they have, as ever, gone into overdrive at the smallest sign of success. I had to laugh at some of the headlines, about England "smashing" the All Blacks. OK, fair play to Lancaster's men, they won and won well - but "smashed", come on, it was three tries apiece and for me, tries scored is still the measure of a game - there are so many potential penalties at every break-down, it's a lottery.

 

England were lucky, they got to face a tired ABs team, at the end of a hard season, and coming off a group-wide dose of the dreaded lurgy. But, they beat them, well done, I still hope to live long enough to witness the first Scottish win over the men in black - but, no-way did England "smash" the ABs.

 

One of Management's best pals is a charming Welsh lady, who generally gives me stick at Scotland's poor rugby record. So you can bet I've been chiding her gently about the fall from grace of her heroes; sure, she hit back about us being Tongaed, however, as I remarked: we've never (in rugby) had Wales's delusions of adequacy and are never far from disaster.

 

It goes without saying, the Welsh could come out in February and win another Grand Slam, but I prefer to believe, they've been over-hyped, almost to England proportions of late; last season was a one-off aberation and this time round, they'll get found-out, big time.

 

 

 

  

Ignore The Lions Tour - It's Still Too Early

HERE we are in the last few days of the Autumn International Window and the Fans With Laptops who write about rugby in the mainstream media (MSM) are running out of ideas for things to write about.

 

Of course, these days, with even The Scotsman and The Herald becoming as obsessed with fitba as the Daily Ranger and The Hun, you don't get much sensible rugby writing there anyway. That said, chapeaux to Kevin Ferrie for a couple of excellent pieces both before and after Andy Robinson was handed his jotters, and to Tom English for a very good midweek piece this week in th Hootsman.

 

And, while I'm on my high horse -what will it take to get The Herald to properly cover the RBS Premiership, the high end of the club game in Scotland. This Monday round-up, done by a wee team of freelances who would barely know a rugby player if Dan Carter said hello, is an embarrassment to the paper which once boasted the must-read columns from McLaren.

 

Hopefully the replacement editor for the hapless Master Russell will do a wee bit better.

 

Anyway, to get back on-track. Rugby comment these days is, courtesy of Sky and the dominance of the London-based papers in the MSM mainly about England. That's OK if you're reading the excellent Brian Moore, otherwise, it's shite - a wee bit like the current England team.

 

Sure, the current England squad is a work in progress, but, as I am sure Messrs McCaw, Carter & Co will demonstrate on Saturday, England is still far from the finished article.

 

In fact, with England on the upslope of their learning curve, Ireland on the downslope, Wales still to work-out they're not nearly as good as they think they are and us deep in the doo-da and seeking yet another Head Coach, British Isles rugby is not nearly as healthy as it should be some seven months from a Lions Tour.

 

The English-based papers have this week been filling space with World XVs and potential Lions XV selections. Have these writers no sense of history? Don't they know any "dream" Lions XV chosen ahead of the Six Nations leaves the guy whose by-line is on the story looking very silly by the end - particularly when the choice appears in an English paper and is subsequently loaded with Englishmen.

 

 

 

WE'VE got some competent players in the current Scotland squad; we've even got some good big men in there. But, one of the things which disappointed me about our big guys in the Autumn Tests, was how they didn't make their poundage count int he contact area.

 

Sure, we scrummaged very well indeed. In fact, the fact that nobody from south of Hadrian's Wall or on the other side of the Irish Sea noticed how well he scrummaged might be our secret weapon in the 6N. However, one of my abiding memories of the games was the way, given the ball in space and invited to make a dent in the Springbok defensive wall, Jim Hamilton, all six foot eight and 19 stones of him, was shunted backwards by a smaller Saffer.

 

The Saffer front five, when launched into space, seem to hit their stride faster and be a lot harder to stop, they create momentum -our broken field impact runners, apart from Sean Lamont, don't. And, fine runner though he is, can someone please tell me if Lamont has ever successfully off-loaded to a support runner?

 

Might it be we are not launching them properly? It seems to me we, even when we put the ball into the arms of say Euan Murray and Richie Gray off ruck ball, give it to them, too-soon, too-close tot he breakdown and when they are moving too-slowly.

 

Better perhaps to have them wider-out, and coming onto the ball at pace. Of course, the drawback to this is our concern that our forwards would be unable to take a pass delivered at pace, then to hold onto the ball in contact, because our individual skills are somewhat lacking.

 

I accept that our professional rugby teams work harder than do our professional football teams. They lift the poundage in the gym, they work on scrums, line-outs and the contact area (not all that well in the latter area perhaps). But, I worry, do they spend the time they should on individual skills? Their poor passing and decision-making in internaitonals leads me to believe the answer to that one is, no.

 

Let's hope Robinson's replacement can get Toony and Michael Bradley to correct these deficiences - quickly.

46-51-37-Hike - It's The Way Forward

IN THE aftermath of losing to Tonga and Andy Robinson's subsequent resignation, I am struggling for something to write about other than the current dire straits in which Scottish rugby finds itself. Time perhaps to be whimsical, to polish-up the Aristotle Armstrong model for brighter rugby.

 

It is time to do something about the current fad for bish, bash, bosh wars of attrition in rugby. Let's open-out the game and bring back running and handling - so, why don't we import an idea from rugby's basard child, American Football?

 

Let's allow limited forward passing. Of course, this will immediately hand the Welsh, who have been using the forward pass as a matter of course for years, an advantage, but, let's bear with it.

 

The biggest bug-bears in modern rugby, to most people are the squint feeds at the scrum and the way we have almost adopted American Football's method of advancing by yards in a series of "drives".

 

Of course, while AF has wisely decreed that you have to make at least ten yards in four drives, to keep the ball; in rugby, you can make less than ten inches in four drives and still retain possession.

 

But, to return to scrums. Since the IRB has apparently - without telling anyone, decreed that it is acceptable to put the ball into the second row of the scrum, why don't we simply clean-up the game, by getting rid of the pathetic croup, touch, set clap-trap. Instead of insisting on 3-4-1 or 3-2-3 scrum set-ups, let's go to the AF way and have a line of scrimmage? The side in possession retains possession and the hooker, has to "snap" the ball to the scrum-half - WHO THEN HAS THE CHOICE OF HOW HE PASSES - FORWARDS OR BACKWARDS.

 

A forward pass, even of the "Hail Mary" variety, at least gives the option of by-passing even the best blitz defences and moving the ball down field. The scrimmage does away with the nonsense of taing the hit, or whatever, the game would be more open.

 

I would keep the line-out - we have to do something to keep the likes of Richie Gray playing - but again,the scrum-half would have the option of the forward pass, a bit more accurate and likely to retain go-forward possession than the box kick.

 

 

 

HOWEVER, I cannot totally ignore Robinson's resignation and the business of the succession.

 

As with Scottish Football, currently also looking for a new national coach, I reckon it doesn't matter who gets the gig, unless wholesale changes are made elsewhere, we'll be going nowhere fast, other than backwards.

 

I wish Jim Telfer had stayed quiet. Great servant though he was to the game in Scotland, Creamy's days are past and honestly, having been once-bitten by Murrayfield machinations, will George Graham be all that ready to give the blazers a second bite at him?

 

Will Sean Lineen, having already been "promoted sideways" to give Toony some experience, be all that keen to take the big job, with which goes just one definite - if you don't resign, you'll be sacked, eventually; when he already has a cracking globe-trotting job? If I was Sean, having given what he has so far to Scottish rugby, I'd stay where I was.

 

No, until the revolution, I don't see us getting the right man in right now.

 

 

 

I AM already looking forward to Saturday, and the Millbrae match-up between table-topping Gala and Ayr. It might be a bit early to say this, but, this one could settle the RBS Premiership. It promises to be a cracking game.

 

By the way, I'd fancy Ayr's chances even more if they had Mark Bennett playing. Bennett turned-out for Stirling County at the week-end: why? Surely, if he had to be tied to a club side, then it should have been Ayr.

 

 

 

 

Forget A New Coach - Hire a Shrink

HERE we go again - "wanted, masochist to take charge of perennially under-performing national side: apply - SRU, Murrayfield, Edinburgh". Will the next sacrificial victim please make himself known?

 

I was never totally convinced by Andy Robinson; he was and still is a terrific coach, however, even when he was in charge of England, a much-bigger country, with a much-deeper player pool, there were doubts about his selectorial ability. I can see a selector/coach getting into a fankle when he has to decide between three players, of more or less equal ability, competing for one position, but that situation doesn't arise too-often in Scotland, or certainly as often as in England.

 

The more myopic or generous amongst us might have been able to make excuses for Scotland's defeat on Saturday - had we been playing a better-regarded team than Tonga, but, not withstanding their defeat of eventual finalists France in the last World Cup, there is really no way we should lose at home to the South Sea Islanders.

 

Yes, the referee let them away with murder at the breakdown, but, it has always been the case in rugby, if opponents insist on lying offside and slowing down your ruck possession, then you - the players, if the referee isn't seeing it, to sort it out.

 

How about, somewhere inside the opponents half, after several go-forward rucks have been illegally-disrupted by the opposition, you give the culprit a bit of a shoeing, then, when the referee produces the yellow card - your captain bluntly tells him: "Hey baw-bag, how come you could see our guys rucking him out of one ruck, but you couldn't see him lying offside at the last three? Either play fair or GTF."

 

A player might have to take a ten-minute seat, but, I'd wager you'd get a fairer call next time.

 

Ian McLauchlan always said that the player who said: "Do that again and you're for it" had lost the argument.

 

Hit them, then say: "That was your warning", was always the McLauchlan way - I think it worked.

 

However, to blame it all on the referee (again) would be wrong. The reality is, our players are lacking in the basic skills, and they don't have the mental strength which is necessary for international rugby.

 

I am fully aware that the six or so inches between the ears is the bardest part of the human body to boost. It's easy to spend hours in the gym bulking-up, a lot more-difficult to get the brains and particularly that secret something called "game intelligence" to work properly.

 

Back in 1958 the Brazilian FA, fully-aware that their players for the World Cup Finals in Sweden had the ability to win the tournament, but, doubting if they had the brains to do so, took along a psychologist with the party.

 

Brazil won, and it wasn't all about Garrincha, Didi and Pele. Fifty-four years later, maybe, instead of recruiting another Head Coach, the SRU should recruit a good psychologist - to convince our guys they have what it takes to win internationals.

 

The skills failings can be sorted out, just as our former lack of bulk has been, it's the mental failings which will hold us back for longer.

 

 

 

MIND you, we're not alone in having players lacking something upstairs. What was Andrew Hoare thinking about? This, of course, assumes a Kiwi hooker is capable of rational thought - discuss.

 

Then, what about England. The Saffers were there to be taken, but, England failed to beat them.

 

England, in truth, are not that good. English rugby players come from a culture of painting by numbers almost; every move has to be pre-planned. When it comes to ad hoc, off-the-cuff thinking, they are lacking and get things wrong.

 

I am sure Clive Woodward would have had a system in place for the position they found themselves in, awarded a penalty, three minutes from time, when four points behind - that's one situation when "painting by numbers" works.

 

England failed to take advantage, then, they blew their last chance by poor kick-off reception: they had three choices:

 

1, Let a kick-off which was obviously too-long and going straight-out, drift out, then take the attacking scrum back on half-way.

 

2, Let the number eight, the man in whose direction the ball was travelling, take it, set-up a ruck and then try to mount a series of drives aimed at getting you within range for a match-winning dropped goal (the 2003 option).

 

3, Mess it up totally.

 

They chose option three - how very English (or Scottish for that matter).

 

 

 

FINALLY, when will somebody else notice - the Welsh are not that  good either.

Etzebeth -He'd Be In My Team At Carrick or Cumnock

I WAS delighted to see Eben Etzebeth, the big, nasty, South African lock, being cleared following his citing during last week-end's Murrayfield match.

 

He should never have been cited in the first case, was my view.

 

Now, I look forward to him rampaging around Twickenham, the non-stop booing of the Hooray Henries and Henriettas in the crowd inspiring him to greater heights. For, make no mistake, Etzebeth is the real deal, a worthy successor to the Matfields and Bothas, Andrews, Van Heerdens and Du Preez who have toiled before him in generations of Springbok boiler houses.

 

We rightly rate Richie Gray highly, but, given the choice I'd have Etzebeth first. As we say here in Ayrshire - he'd be in my team at Carrick or Cumnock. Sure, since rugby went professional, we've been able to discover and nurture some seriously big men, which is a bit of a change for Scotland, but, when it comes to using their power and physique,our big men are still a wee bit behind their Southern Hemisphere competition.

 

It was obvious on Saturday, our big impact runners, too often, were knocked backwards in the tackle, or failed to make a dent in the Saffers defence, while, their big men could get up to speed far faster and could regularly breach our first line of defence.

 

That has to be our next priority - getting our big men to accelerate quicker, get their bodies into the correct position and rumble over the top of the first line of tacklers, thereby getting us onto the front foot and able to produce quick, go-forward ball.

 

We also need to be a bit more ruthless at the break-down; if opponents are going to lie there, don't step over them, step on them - they'll soon get the message.

 

 

 

WITH the national side in action at Pittodrie and both the professional sides in Rabo Pro12 action, Scottish resources are stretched pretty thinly this weekend.

 

 

It is noticeable, however, that, for all the suggestions that there are not enough Scottish players good enough to be full-time professionals, we are doing none-too-badly in getting bodies onto the park.

 

For Friday night's meeting with Leinster, Glasgow will have ten home-grown Scots in their starting line-up, with a further six home-grown guys on the bench. Edinburgh's match-day squad for their clash with Ospreys isn't so Tartan-tinted, but, with seven starters and seven-eighths of their bench (plus-Scottish-qualified Greig Tonks) being Scottish, they are holding-up nicely.

 

Add the Scotland squad in Aberdeen, plus by my reckoning 12 capped players - including an entire back division - currently injured, we've got some depth of talent.

That injured back division by the way: say Rory Lamont at full back, a three-quarter line of Jo Ansbro, Graeme Morrison, Ben Cairns, Lee Jones and Chris Cusiter to Duncan Weir at half-back.

 

 

 



Farewell Chunk - Everyman In A Scotland Shirt

SO, it's farewell and thank you to "Chunk". Let's be honest, Scotland has had technically-better props, but I doubt very much if we have ever had one who was so-proud of having worn the thistle, or who had to work as hard to overcome the obstacles in his path to that single cap which all rugby internationalists receive.

 

Certainly, Chunk had his faults; his ball skills were at times sorely lacking; at one time he was a penalty against Scotland waiting to be given, but, he was, I always felt, our man in the team. We, particularly those of us whose active playing career peaked in one of those many club teams for whom the Saturday afternoon game is a chance to work up a Saturday night thirst, didn't have to make too-big a leap of imagination to see oorsels as "Chunk" - while we could barely dream of being Andy Irvine, or Gavin Hastings or Toony.

 

Enjoy what's left of your professional career Allan, and good luck. You have, I feel, timed your exit to percfection and that is always one of the hardest things to pull-off in top-flight sport.

 

 

 

SO, Sean Lineen is reeally starting to earn his corn in his new role as globe-trotting talent spotter for the SRU, with the English lad from the Chiefs dur to arrive soon and the latest "Kilted Kiwi" touching down this week with the Warriors. Not forgetting young Heathcote being fast-tracked into the national squad from Bath.

 

All very laudable, we have too-shallow a talent pool here in Scotland; however, I fear the SRU might be going down the same road as our top football teams, too-busy bringing in non-Scots, pseudo-Scots, kind-Scots and might-eventually-become-Scots to properly nurture real, born and bred Scots.

 

We still haven't got the mix right; we've got some good Scots who are being seen as shirt-fillers with our pro sides, while the imports are favoured; we've got other good, young Scots, playing well week-in, week-out in our excellent Premiership, who are I feel being over-looked or under-rated in comparison to the imports. This requires sorting-out.

 

 

 

AS A former Ayr player I am delighted that the Millbrae club has become the first to have its name engraved on the Bill McLaren Shield - by successfully winning four successive home games since it won the right to hold the Shield.

 

That said, two cup wins over Hillhead/Jordanhill and GHA were hardly surprises, since neither club is a top-flight outfit. Better, perhaps, to have the Shield only up for challenge in the RBS Premiership or in the later rounds of the Scottish Cup, when it's down to the  the Regional Cup Winners.

 

With due respect to "Hills" and GHA, getting your club's name onto the shield would have been far-more worthy if it had been achieved by winning four Premiership games in a row.

 

 

 

I LIKE Brian Moore. I know, shameful admission to make and surely my Tartan Army membership is under review and may be revoked. But, old "Pit Bull" by-and-large tells it like it is and he isn't afraid to have a go at the RFU, when he feels they need it.

 

However, when, in Monday's Telegraph, he penned a piece which purported that it was that nasty purple strip and what was apparently a particularly dire rendition of God Save the Queen which played big parts in the Australians winning at Twickenham on Saturday - well, it seemed to me his Celtic cousin Brynmor Moore had been at the lap top.

 

Brian, it's the Welsh you never beat - you only out-score in points. England lost because, they are not nearly as good as your media friends would like us all to believe they are.

 

Also, I cannot help wondering what Mr Moore and the English media would have made of matters had they had TC Clancy as referee, and he had performed as abyssmally as  he did at Murrayfield.

That Referee's A Baw Bag - But It Wasn't All His Doing

NO EXCUSES HERE, WHEN PUSH CAME TO SHOVE, THE SAFFERS WERE TOO-GOOD FOR US, END OFF.

But, that having been said - might we have won with a referee other than Mr Clancy, or TC Clancy as I refer to him and there are no prizes for working-out what TC means. Not for the first time, but, hopefully for the last time, this obvious Jock-hater did us.

The inconsistency over the two 'truck and trailer' tries was disgraceful, but, given the way the IRB has apparently washed its hands of any responsibility for adequate refereeing, should we have been surpised. What we need is a Scottish captain who is prepared to get right into the referee's face, until he gives us our deserved share of the tight decisions, it doesn't matter what we do - we will lose.\

Of course, the neutering of the ruck has hampered Scotland greatly. The All Blacks have found a way round this, courtesy of Mr McCaw; why cannot we be like them. All I can say about the Saffers blatantly illegal slowing-down of Scottish rucks yesterday is - would they have managed this against a back row of Calder, Beattie or Paxton and Jeffery?

That trio would have trampled all over them, but, with referees such as TC Clancy, it will never happen. I'd like to see a Scotland captain tell the likes of Clancy, the first time opponents ilgally disrupt a ruck - 'Right, ref, if you will not blow them up, we will ruck them out and if you penalise us - we're off'.

However, having got my rant at refs out of the way, again our failure to do the basics under pressure cost us dearly. Take that brilliant attacking line-out, less than five metres from their line, near the end of the game. As Ross Ford came across to take the throw-in, I said: 'He'll fuck this up".

Needless to say - he did. Throwing-in is such a vital part of the hooker's armoury today and sadly, as has been proved too often in the past, under pressure, Ford crumbles. Time to say ta-ta.

OK, we are hurting just now, but, not nearly as much as the Welsh and the English, both of whom are, I believe, victims of believing the hype of their own media.

I have never bought into notions of Welsh greatness. I reckon they are the luckiest Six Nations Champions ever, You only have to look at the poor rugby their Rabo Pro12 teams are producing to see, all is not well in Wales - a lot of average players being over-hyped.

The same is true of England. English rugby is now like English football - a lot of well-paid foreigners bringing attributes to the teams which are beyond the native Englishmen, who are, perhaps even more than the Welsh, being over-hyped, by the Sky Sports bandwagon.

A wounded Aussie is always a dangerous beast, as England found-oput yesterday an, th the Saffers and ABs to come, things are about to get mighty tough for Stuart Lancaster, an able coach whose biggest short-term job is going to be dampening down English over-optimism and their supporters' belief in England - the Master Race in Rugby.

FINALLY, a wee bit of praise for Ryan Grant. Not that long ago, it was a case of: if anything happens to "Chunk" we're in deep doo-dah. By his recent performances, Grant is now unquestionably our Number One at number one and we should praise him for that.aA

No Surprise Then - We Got Well Beaten

AS I was saying on Saturday, that the All Blacks will beat Scotland is one of the four certainties in life, so, we need not be too-despondent at losing to arguably the greatest squad of players in the history of the game - at least two of which, Messrs McCaw and Carter, would surely be in any Earth XV to take on Mars.

 

Aye, we had our moments on Sunday, sadly, not enough of them; while once again that old Scottish Achilles heel, our inability to do the basics under extreme pressure, came back to bit our bums - back to the drawing board then.

 

 

 

AT least, we haven't talked ourselves up into a state of having delusions of greatness, life the Welsh have done. Long before the visitors went in front at Cardiff on Saturday, I could only see the game going one way - and that wasn't Wales's.

 

Regular exposure to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in The Southern Hemisphere Championship has been the making of Argentina; they are now a seriously good side, while Fernandez-Lobbe has, along with McCaw, sealed-off two of the three places in the present-day World Select XV. Indeed, given the quality of Italian skipper Sergio Parisse or French skipper Thierry Dusator, no British Isles back row player would, in my view, get into such a XV.

 

 

 

I AM happy to see Mark Bennett returning, albeit temporarily, from Clermont Auvergne, on-loan to Glasgow Warriors.

 

Wee Mark is the real deal and could well, playing regularly for Warriors, break into the Scotland squad this season - we need him capped, quickly, before he qualifies for France on residential grounds.

Relax Lads, It's Only The All Blacks - Nae Pressure

HERE we go then, the Autumn Tests are about to kick-off; we can put aside tribal club concerns for three weeks and discover where stands Scotland in the world game.

 

Aye, I'm concerned too. At least that symbol of national well-being: the Scottish fitba team, is so consistently bad that we don't have to worry about the feel-good factor, it just isn't there. With our Braveheart rugby lads, however, things are slightly different.

 

Did we not after all con the Aussies into taking us too lightly during our summer tour of the Pacific region, then, against all the long-established pattern of Scottish consistency, kick-on to beat Samoa and Fiji, to return home unbeaten.

 

We now have some small delusions of adequacy. Thankfully, starting tomorrow at Murrayfield, we hold no great expectations of keeping the run going. After all, there are four certainties in life - birth, death, taxes and the All Blacks will beat Scotland.

 

At least the Scottish team takes the field unburdened by expectations. They are not England or Wales, often deluded but always expectant when their representatives face the men in black. All we ask is that we are not humiliated by McCaw & Co.

 

I honestly cannot see us winning tomorrow - perhaps I am conditioned to see us losing to New Zealand - but if we put on a show, I'll be happy.

 

 

 

THE RBS Premiership action today is allabout catch-up games, while those clubs which have been able to keep playing, through not being in British & Irish Cup action, will indulge themselves in the RBS Regional cups.

 

The team under the most pressure is Gala, who need to keep winning - and racking-up bonus points - as they seek to overhaul Ayr's lead at the top.

 

Already the meeting of Ayr and Gala, at Millbrae, on 3 December, has the look of a title decider; but, only if Gala keep playing to the consistently high level they have in recent weeks.

 

The Premiership is a very tight league, there isn't much between any of the teams and Stirling County, this afternoon and Melrose, at the Greenyards - particularly the latter, hurting terribly from some inexplicable lossees this season - will give Gala two hard games; which, from a Gala stand point are just what they need before the big one at Ayr.

 

 

 

AT THE start of this blog, I mentioned Scotland's lack of expectations in facing the All Blacks. Should we not, perhaps, have some sympathy for the England squad which takes on Fiji at Twickenham.

 

Now, I know such sentiments come hard to Scots, but, really, anything less than a massive win for England and the calls for change will be strident.

 

The English football and rugby teams, even more than the Scottish football team, suffer from the excessive expectation of a supporters constituency who are brought up to believe their team has a divine right to win every game - even though this hasn't been the case for nigh on 100 years, since the rest of the world caught up (football) or overtook them (rugby in New Zealand and South Africa). But still, the belief clings that they HAVE to win every game - because they are England.

 

Stuart Lancaster has made a good start as England coach. I like what the guy is doing, but, the last thing he needs right now is to have the crushing weight of English expectations brought down on him and the stupidity of an English rugby press which can, on occasions, make their stupid football cousins look well-rounded and intelligent.

 

 

It Worked In Hungary - Why Not In Scotland

I HAVE long understood that the basic clannishness of the Scots means we seldom make the best of our limited, but stretched resources, particularly in sport.

For instance, when the Hungarian Communist government decided, in around 1950, to bring a particularly-gifted squad of players together in one national "Superclub", so they could play together week-in, week-out and thus perform better when they put on the national scarlet strip, they faced a couple of problems.

 

The obvious club to base this new superclub on was Fernecsvaros, the top Hungarian club of the time. But that club didn't meet the idealogical doctrine of the regime. MTK Budapest, the next possible club was likewise disqualified, but for different idealogical reasons, so they picked a third club, Kimset, which became Honved - "the people's club".

 

This was the club of Puskas, Boczik, Grocsics etc - the rest is history.

 

Imagine if a Scottish government had tried something similar. Obviously, for the same, different reasons, Celtic and Rangers, even Hearts and Hibs would have been ruled-out, so Partick Thistle might well have become our superclub. I know, it makes no sense.

 

But, take the superclub concept into rugby, and we have what happened when the game went professional. OK, the SRU managed to much it up big time, but, I suggest, having our betterScottish players playing week-in, week-out, SHOULD have been good for Scottish rugby.

 

Why hasn't it? How long do you have for all the reasons?

 

Let's just leave it. I suppose a totalitarian SNP government, post-independence, might do a North Korea and close the border with England, keeping all our best rugby players at home and giving them a standard of living way above the rest of the population. Allowing them to play for Edinburgh and Glasgow in the Pro12 and for Scotland and in the process producing a World Cup-winning team which rolls over Saxon and All Black alike, pulverises the Paddies, whacks the Welsh, F***s the Frogs, tobers the Tallies, stuffs the Saffers, obliterates the Ockers and annihalates the Argies, while doing a good Krakatoan impression on the poor Pacific Islanders. But, I am not holding my breath on that one.

 

We really ought to be able to produce two good, competitive professional teams, capable of winning in professional club  rugby and providing us with an international side which can compete with the very best. Or is it, as is often suggested, that there is something in the Scottish psyche, which prevents us from winning at team games, for all the good individual sportsmen and women we produce?

 

I know Glasgow are going well at least in the Pro12 and can accept that they got a bad draw, for the stage in their development they are at, in this season's Heineken Cup. But, whatever is going wrong at Edinburgh, it needs sorting out, quickly.

 

 

 

ALLAN Massie had a good piece in Saturday's Scotsman, in which he wondered at the quality of the imports recruited by Edinburgh this season. I couldn't agree more. I feel, perhaps, time is running out for Michael Bradley at Murrayfield.

 

Apparently Brian Redpath is heading for the exit at Sale..........

 

That said, one hears that wee Chic's jacket is on a shoogly nail at the Greenyards..........

 

A wee home-coming, perhaps in an advisory role to Chalmers, followed, after a short but suitable period of time, by a call to Murrayfield. I wonder, might this be a goer?

 

 

 

SPEAKING of Melrose's current inability to win at home, which has all but taken them out of the RBS Premiership title reckoning. This shows what a terrific competition the Premiership has quickly become.

 

I watched Ayr beat Boroughmuir on Saturday and this game was a lot tighter than the result might indicate. 'Muir are languishing in the league basement, but they are a lot better than their results might indicate. They have some terrific young forwards, plus the great experience of Sean Crombie and Ali Davidson and they gave the Ayr pack a good going-over.

 

However, in the end, the pace of the Ayr backs won the day, but it was a terrific game and typical of an under-rated competition. Come on SRU, I know you've got most of your eggs in the pro teams basket, but, the Premiership is a brilliant competition, well worth talking-up. DO SO.

 

 

 

 

Two More Good Guys Gone

THIS has been a sad week for those of us who have been a long time in the game, with the deaths of All Blacks legend Sir Wilson Whineray and Hawick and Scotland legend George Stevenson.

 

I belong to the school of thought which dictates that a star in one era would have been a star in any era; this is a basic add-on to the belief that while form might be transitory, class is permanent and both Whineray and Stevenson oozed class and charisma.

 

I was speaking to one of the current leading men in green and he put it well, suggesting that Geordie was well-nigh uncoachable. He did things off-the-cuff and instinctively, the very antithesis of the sort of playing by numbers which is such a big part of present-day professional rugby.

 

The way Stevie and the smaller and lighter Eddie McKeating of Heriot's repeatedly went in low, like navy blue torpedoes, to repeatedly sink the bigger John Gainsford and Iain Kirkpatrick, their Springbok opposite numbers, during the Murrayfield international of January, 1961 is one of my abiding memories of those school trips through to the internationals.

 

On paper, Scotland had no chance, but, we gave the 'Boks a game and a fright and much of that was down to the two centres.

 

Although they were international contemporaries, Stevenson and Whineray never faced each other on the national stage. Stevie was not chosen for the 1959 Lions Tour to New Zealand and he was out of selectorial favour when Whineray's marvellous All Blacks were held to a 0-0 draw at Murrayfield in 1964 - the closest Scotland has yet come to beating the world's best team.

 

 

 

TO A centre of lesser class. Ayr's Ross Curle has been suspended for six weeks, following his second red card of the season, at Currie a couple of weeks ago. I think he got off lightly, compared with the old days when the SRU used to hand down draconian sentences for the most-innocuous of crimes.

 

Six weeks, Curle got off lightly, but not half as lightly as he did on the day. Ayr coach Kenny Murray apparently went through him. Just as well Ayr Director of Rugby Jock Craig was at the game, or Curle might be missing two "male brain cells" by now.

 

 

 

WITH the best part of a full XV not considered due to various injuries, there were no surprises in the 34-strong squad Andy Robinson named for the forthcoming All Blacks game, the first of the three autumn tests.

 

There were whispers that, just maybe Clermont Auvergne's Mark Bennett might be called-up for the Autumn test squad. If I was the SRU I wouldn't hang around too-long before securing young Mark for the national side - before he qualifies for France on residency grounds.

 

Get him into at least the A squad for the Six Nations, or risk losing him.

Things Can Only Get Better - I Hope

WOE, woe and thrice woe are we. After the Heineken Cup hammering of Edinburgh at Munster, a defeat which came hard on the heels of their Saracens shaming, things are looking black for Scottish rugby.

 

Glasgow's losses to Northampton and Ulster were (slightly) more acceptable. They are in a tough group, but may yet at least beat Castres and the Saints at Scotstoun; Edinburgh could be in for a few more bum skelpings further down the track.

 

For me, equally galling were the British & Irish Cup defeats suffered by the Premiership sides. I know, from seeing them at Ayr last season, that Llandoverey are a good side, but I didn't expect them to win at the Greenyards for instance.

 

A series of losses, such as at the weekend, is not good for the national feel-good factor, with the Autumn internationals looming. Andy Robinson will name his squad this week, it will be interesting to see who he calls up, because we badly need a boost and he has several selection issues to resolve, not least with a few key men injured. I can see one or two surprise selections being revealed.

 

 

 

AYR coach Kenny Murray praised the SRU at the weekend, for their new initiative whereby, in RBS Premiership games, the two coaches have listening-in access to the match officials' feed - the means whereby the referee and his two assistants communicate during games.

 

The coaches therefore know what on-field events are getting to the officials; they now know immediately, if say one of their back row players gets a yellow card at the breakdown - why the card was produced. They also, should have been aware that the card was coming, from the referee's inter-play with the men with the flags.

 

"I think it's a great advance", said Murray.

 

I wonder if the SFA might think of trying this in football - it might stop a few stooshies in that game.

 

 

 

SCOTLAND'S top rugby referees are not currently represented at the very highest level. We don't have a current successor to the likes of Alan Hosie or Jim Fleming taking charge of the really big internationals.

 

But, hope is at hand. Johnny Bacagalupa - former law-bending loose-head prop turned law-upholding referee and now one of the SRU's top referee talent spotters is convinced that we have a handful of young turks coming through the ranks who are going right to the top of the whistler ranks.

 

Murrayfield spends a lot of time and money encouraging young refereeing talent, which is a very good thing. Dislike them, or loath them - without referees we cannot have a game and if players have to sclamber up a greasy pole to reach international level, it is nothing to the obstacles in the way of aspiring referees.

 

A contemporary of mine, who only quit refereeing when he turned 65, is now one of the SRU's young referee mentors and he had a horrific tale last week of mentoring one young charge who was given a second XV league match between two West of Scotland teams.

 

If we take full internationals as Level One - this was about Level 14, 30 basically unfit guys working-up a thirst. Yet the young referee, who was doing his level best was subjected to relentless abuse from the touchlines and dumb insolence and worse from the players.

 

My mate has given both clubs a dire report, which he hopes Murrayfield will act upon, otherwise, the shortage of referees which currently exists will worsen somewhat in years to come.

 

Referees, in any sport, probably love the game more than the players, but are repaid with abuse - it has to stop.

The End of The Beginning - Now Let Battle Commence

THE week-end just passed was, to borrow a phrase from Winston Churchill: "the end of the beginning" - of season 2012-13. The Pro12 and the RBS Premiership will now yield precedence to the Heineken and British & Irish Cups.

 

So, before this change of emphasis, we should perhaps run a State of the Nation type posting. In the professional game, Glasgow, particularly after that fine win over Cardiff on Friday night, will go into the HC in better shape than Edin burgh.

 

OK, there were mitigating circumstances surrounding their loss to Treviso on Friday night - not least an Italianreferee, apparently appointed courtesy of a bit of interference from the Mafia - if you read between the lines; but, that said, good teams, particularly at home, always have ways of taking an incompetent referee out of the equation - although, for some unfathomable reason, this has long proved problematic to Scottish teams.

 

Must Do Better - a LOT better, will surely be wee Michael Bradley's message to his troops this week.

 

A couple of seasons ago, when his name was first being mooted as a ptoential Glasgow recruit, I watched Mike Cusack come second to Gordon Reid, then with Ayr full time, in a B&I Cup tie. I thought then, Glasgow were chasing the wrong prop. However, the two were subsequently signed by the club and today, with Reid's case being helped by Jon Welsh's long-term absence, they have elbowed their way past three four internationalists to be Warriors' two first-choice props.

 

They were particularly effective in Cardiff, with Cusack fully deserving his Man of the Match award and Reid not far behind in a display which totally over-powered the Cardiff tight unit. Of course, props cannot win the bump and grind battle unaided and maybe it is now time to bury, once and for all, that old chestnut about Al Kellock not being a good scrummager.

 

The way the Glasgow pack has worked this season has surely also boosted Shade Munro's standing as a forwards coach, and, while I'm being gracious, the big bearded Saffer in the back row looked a much-better player in Cardiff than he had in Scotstoun the previous week.

 

However, Glasgow's old nemesis of passes not sticking in the red zone, was again evident in Cardiff - but, at least they are creating chances, which, they will soon be taking regularly. I feel they could have a good HC this season.

 

 

 

IN THE  Premiership, Ayr continue to lead - seven from seven so far, which is great for them. They travel to Currie on Saturday and this will be their biggest test yet, particularly with Peter Jerecevich absent on Scotland Sevens duty.

 

This battle of the "New Firm" will not, on its own, settle the Premiership title; however, if Ayr can keep winning - they will become increasingly difficult to peg back over the remainder of the season. This game deserves a big crowd at Maleny Park.

 

The B&I Cup teams' fortunes may well come down to which professionals are available to them. Gala and Melrose are perhaps, on domestic form, the most-likely to threaten towards the knock-out stages of the competition, Dundee and Stirling County will have to climb a few more rungs of the ladder from where they currently are if they are to make an impact.

 

 

 

I HAD a bit of a rant during the Cardiff v Glasgow game, when the referee sent the Halfpenny try or no try decision to the TMO. He ruled, correctly, that Stuart Hogg's brilliant cover tackle had seen him push the ball out of Halfpenny's grasp and into touch-in-goal.

 

The decision to award Cardiff the put-in to a Scrum Five was therefore, the correct one - I just felt, the TMO ended up making a decision which he wasn't asked to make. Or am I being pedantic? I can see, somewhere down the line - please, please, let it be in a crucial Calcutta Cup decision which goes Scotland's way - the TMO making a huge, match-turning decision, which will unleash all kinds of argument about what ought and ought not, be referred "upstairs".

 

A wee bit more thought and guidance would not go wrong, even if, on the whole, anything whbich helps-out the poor bloody ref is to be applauded.

 

 

 

I WATCHED the Leeds v Warrington Rugby League Grand Final on Sunday. The very good BBC coverage was spoiled, yet again, by the prattling of the ubiquotous Jonathan "Piles" Davies. But I had to laugh at one point when he - a former Warrington player - squealed about a Leeds forward pass not being called.

 

If there is one thing the Welsh do know about it is forward passes - seeing as they make them so often nowadays.

Glasgow Won Ugly - But, They Won

I'LL say this for fresh-faced Glasgow Warriors coach Gregor Townsend - he has quickly bought-into the Glasgow sporting psyche - where supporting your team doesn't have to be all about the feel-good factor of cheering-on a winning side; but must involve a degree of suffering and moaning along the way to the happiness which winning brings.

 

Hardly surprising mind you; when you remember some of "Toony's" performances in the dark blue of Scotland, you realise, while the ending usually left you at least reasonably happy, it could be a bit of a roller-coaster ride. But, maybe that's how it has to be with Scotland's rugby geniuses - Andy Irvine had his days when the far side banking at Murrayfield had the demeanour of a lynch mob, with him as the target, before a single sublime moment would save his neck.

 

Thus it was with the Warriors against Zebre last night. I always felt Glasgow would prevail, but it was only when the Italians missed that late, potentially match-tying penalty, that I sensed we were safe. But, the Italians always make it hard for any Scottish side, we should accept that by now.

 

I actually think Toony showed a real coach's flair for the occasion by his team selection. Quite clearly most of Glasgow's big players were either in the stand in civvies, or on the bench, so asking so-many of the "stiffs" - not that there are too-many in the squad who are making-up the numbers, squad rotation is a vital part of success in professional rugby and every guy has to be up to the challenge - to front-up against the Pro12 whipping boys was a good move.

 

The jury is still out on much-hyped number eight Strauss, who didn't adapt well to Glasgow conditions and didn't get across the gain line as we were maybe led to expect he could. MacDonald looked, at last, like an All Black blind side, while young Sean Kennedy demonstrated that we still produce good number nines in Scotland - he didn't look out of place in the Pro12, which is a big step-up from the Premiership, his normal habitat with Stirling.

 

Yes, Glasgow again coughed-up ball under pressure in the red zone, but, they are getting in there regularly. I felt referee Leighton Hodges did them few favours; he yellow-carded two of the Italians and could have banished several more. But, and this is a typical Scottish trait when frustrations grow, once or twice he had to remind skipper Chris Fusaro that he was hearing too-many Weegie voices. Just as well Weegie Moaner-in-Chief John Barclay was in the stand rather than on the field maybe.

 

However, a win is a win, onwards and upwards.

 

 

 

WEEK Six of the RBS Premiership will see the first third of the campaign completed. Ayr will be favourites to maintain their sparkling early season form against a Heriot's side which has, so far, blown hot and cold.

 

But the chaps from Goldenacre have, like Ayr, won at Melrose this season, lifting the Bill McLaren Shield in the process, before dropping it into the grateful lap of Edinburgh Accies last weekend.

 

The Edinburgh side will wish to make amends at Millbrae, so I am looking forward to a good game.

 

Elsewhere, the game of the day is surely at Maleny Park, where Gala are the visitors. Currie have been ear-marked as the side most-likely to de-rail the Ayr express, the visit of the cup-holders will surely be a good indication of how ready they are for the role of bringing back the Ayr aces - this one will sizzle from start to finish I wager.

 

Another good game is in prospect at Raeburn Place. Accies finally posted a win last week in their Stockbridge Derby with Heriot's, whilst Dundee's results so far this season have disappointed that hard task-master Ian Rankin. This one will be just as tight and hard-fought as the one at Currie and is difficult to call.

 

Boroughmuir badly need a home win, and could get it against Stirling County, whilst Aberdeen Grammar's early season travails are unlikely to end as they entertain a Melrose side, still smarting from their home hammering from Ayr last week.

 

Craig Chalmers clearly had on his petted lip when he gave his post-match press briefing, which was a model for the bad loser coach. Chic son, losing by three tries to nil at home is a bad defeat - bad luck had nothing to do with it.

 

I expect Aberdeen to feel the back-lash from the Greenyards Gang.

Suffer The Little Children

LIKE almost every other player of my Baby Boomer generation, I learned my rugby at school, starting aged 11, when I went to secondary school. In my case (fortunately) I passed the "Qualify" and went to a Senior Secondary - Cumnock Academy.

 

In 1950s Ayrshire there were only a handful of senior secondaries - Marr College, Spiers School, Dalry High School and the Academies at Ardrossan, Ayr, Cumnock, Kilmarnock and Irvine Royal. All these schools played rugby, with Cumnock and Irvine also playing football.

 

So, for my generation, you learned your rugby at school, before passing seamlessly to the clubs. All the Ayrshire clubs, Ardrossan Academicals, Ayr, Cumnock, Dalry HSFP, Irvine, Kilmarnock, Marr College FP and Old Spierians were "open", but as a general rule the four clubs without the obvious FP suffix were largely former pupils clubs for the relevant schools.

 

Indeed, as a member of Ayr in the early 1970s, I can recall some Ayr Academicals threatening to oppose the nomination of a non Ayr Academical as captain, before wiser counsel prevailed and the nominee proved to be one of the club's finest skippers.

 

With PE teachers such as Jock McClure at Cumnock, TB Watson at Ayr and Campbell Bone at Ardrossan, you played rugby - or else. Indeed, I still find it ironic that the only Cumnock Academy pupil to openly defy "Stiffy" McClure and refuse to play "egg ball" was Jock Craig - now Director of Rugby at Ayr.

 

Anyway, you were shown the basics by a teacher who was an active club player, you progressed through the XVs and when you left school, you joined the local club, found your level and played on for as long as you wished. Indeed, one of my contemporaries turned-out in the Legends Match at the start of the season which was part of Irvine RFC's 50th anniversary celebrations, at the age of 66.

 

At school, we had a full fixture list, home and away matches against the other Ayrshire senior secondaries, plus trips to Dumfries to face Dumfries Academy and St Joseph's College, into Lanarkshire to play Hamilton Academy and Dalziel High School and into Glasgow to play the likes of Shawlands Academy, Queen's Park Secondary, Bellahouston Academy, Hyndland School, Jordanhill College School, Whitehill Secondary, we even had a fixture at first and second XV level with Keil School.

 

On a good year weather-wise, we could play some 30 matches. We also had access to the school-boys enclosure at the front at Murrayfield for the internationals, while at senior level, our better players got to play for Ayrshire and, if good enough, for Glasgow Schools.

 

Then, somewhere around the late seventies, the tide turned against school sport, the older enthusiastic teachers began to retire and their successors weren't as enthusiastic. Then came the Teachers Strike of the early 1980s, after which school football and rugby all but sank without trace.

 

Sure, in Ayrshire "Luddites" such as Brian Gilbert and John Sharkey at Marr, or Hector Crawford at Belmont Academy, fought against the rising tide of apathy, but, somewhere along the way, to be involved in schools rugby almost become a barrier to career advancement. SChools rugby withered on the vine and for all some sterling efforts at club level - Ayr being a terrific example, the club's didn't take-up the slack.

 

We now have, this season, a situation whereby there are NO state schools playing in the Brewer Dolphin Schools Cups, at the elite level. This competition has in effect become the private schools' Scottish Chamionships.

 

Nothing against private schools. As a player I simply loved rucking squealing members of Old Boys club XVs out of rucks; this was an uplifting experience for we working class thugs. However, rugby in Scotland will never prosper until it becomes classless.

 

Some clubs have excellent relations with their "feeder" schools, even to the extent of providing the rugby coaches - but, the SRU ought to be more pro-active in selling the game to today's school children, to guarantee the game's future.

 

Unless we nurture the grass roots, out top sward will wither. We could start with a really determined effort to broaden the entries to the Scottish Schools Cup. And, while I am at it, what happened to the plans to merge the Schools and Under-18s competitions into one.

 

It seems to me, the posh schools didn't fancy having to expose their little darlings to the oiks, so, it didn't happen. Shame on the SRU for not making it happen.

 

I fancy a lot of rugby-mad former PE teachers in the state sector, not least a certain W McLaren, are sitting up there in the great club house in the sky, seething into their beet at what we have allowed to happen.

Chic Chalmers - Dummies Spat To Order

NOT having my Oxford Book of Quotations to hand, I cannot re-call who came up with that line about never being able to mix-up a Scot with a grievance and a ray of sunshine; it might well have been that old English fart Dr Johnson, but, who really cares.

 

These days in rugby, Craig Chalmers comes across as a definitive Scot with a grievance, his being a double one - that he's not coaching Scotland and that his Melrose side are not walking away with the RBS Premiership title.

 

There were no Cheeky Chic quotes in Sunday's as usual pitifully sparse coverage of the Premiership; not that, Ayr having beaten 'Rose at the Greenyards, it was ever likely that Chic would have rushed to offer his post-match thoughts. However, when Willie Paul was unable to elicit the great man's thoughts for Monday's Scotsman report, I sensed a spat dummy lying in front of the home dug out.

 

But, all was not lost, whoever did the Herald's Premiership round-up for Monday - and (again) I offer the thought that, maybe if the Herald paid more than lip service to the top tier of our club game, its circulation would not be going through the floor - did manage to get a quote from Chalmers. Even by his poor standards of reaction to defeat, it was a belter.

 

Class, they say, is permanent. Chic was a classy player, sadly he seems to have left that aspect of himself behind when he retired. His reaction was totally graceless and petty.

 

Mind you, Ayr's rebound from last season's under-performance has been spectacular. OK, you never win any title in September, but, a poor start to the season can fatally wound title aspirations.

Kenny Murray's men have now beaten all four of this season's Scottish representatives in the British & Irish Cup, two of these victories came at Netherdale and the Greenyards, two of the genuine fortresses of the club game. So, Ayr's title aspirations have, event his early in the campaign, to be taken seriously.

Admittedly, they gained in spades from Glasgow Hawks' disappointing campaign in 2011-12, the Gossmans, Peter Jerecevich and the injured Dean Kelbrick have proven to be excellent recruits. Ayr entertain Heriot's on Saturday and if they can beat the Goldenacre men, then there will be a lot of pressure on Currie to peg them back, since they are now being seen as the side most-likely to impede Ayr's progress.

However, behind Ayr's storming start, the new Top Ten is proving to be an engrossing and entertaining competition, which has to be good for Scottish rugby.



THE Herald this week ran an interesting piece on how we are bringing through our young props. Certainly a few of our top teams have been busy recruiting southern hemisphere "donkeys", when perhaps they should be putting more emphasis on grooming our own big boys for the vital roles in shirts one and three. It seems a long time since the likes of Sandy Carmichael and Iain Milne were being blooded in the national side at what is today seen as a callow age.

Props notoriously take longer to mature, but there are some good and highly-promising young bloods learning the grunt and bash game in the Premiership. Young George Hunter is showing well, generally off the bench, with Ayr, whilst also gaining valuable game time, again off the bench, for Warriors. However, we need a few more to be pushing in more ways than one.



WE ALL like to bitch and moan about how out-of-touch the Murrayfield "blazers" sometimes appear to be. I sometimes think they actually enjoy being thus seen, particularly when they pull a master stroke, such as getting All Blacks coaching guru Wayne Smith to come over and impart his wisdom to some of our home-grown coaches, as he will next month.

Chapeau tipped in the direction of EH12.



I SEE Sir Clive Woodward might find himself out of a job as the success of London 2012 fades and the long haul to Rio 2016 starts.

Please, please, please, will whoever is charged with putting together the Rugby Sevens programme for Rio immediately put out of their heads, any thoughts of, because of his track record as a World Cup winner with England and his subsequent role within Team GB up to and throughout London 2012, Sir Clive being the man to run Team GB's Rugby Sevens programme.

Maybe as a technical director, along the lines of cycling's Dave Brailsford, he could set-up the programme - but, he doesn't for my money have the necessary feel for sevens and honestly, sticking the ball up the pack's jumper and rumbling forward for the by then nearly 40-years-old Jonny Wilkinson to kick dropped goals, will not bring gold in Rio.