It' Aye Been - But, Not Any More

I CAN almost hear the conversation, up there in the Great Clubhouse In The Sky, as Jock Wemyss and Bill McLaren gazed down on events in the Borders on Saturday - with Glasgow Hawks clinching a last-kick RBS Scottish Cup semi-final win over Gala at Netherdale, and Ayr also left it late before deflating Hawick at Mansfield.

 

"Whit's happening," I can hear the ghosts of past South greats asking.

 

"It used tae be, these Glasgow District sides came doon here and we gied them a guid shoeing, before sending them hame tae lick their wounds - noo, they come here and win, it's nae richt."

 

Here, at least, the ancient Borders tradition of Aye Beenism has, perhaps temporarily, been turned on its head - which has to be good for Scottish Rugby.

 

OK, we still have Cup Finals Day, which, regardless of the temporary loss of the lift the lesser sides, contesting the minor finals, surely get from strutting their stuff on the International Pitch, at Murrayfield, will, I feel certain, benefit from the more-intimate atmosphere of Broadwood; otherwise, the club season is over.

 

What have we learned? Well, the RBS Premiership is in rude health. Champions Melrose, Gala, Ayr and Heriot's proved beyond reasonable doubt, their right to the four British & Irish Cup places, by finishing well clear of the rest, who are headed by cup finalists Hawks.

 

The top six is completed by Hawick, who came away from a sluggish start on their return to the top flight, to be a really competitive team in the later fixtures. The top six in club rugby is an infinitely-more competitive group than the same group in football.

 

It is only to be expected that some clubs, more-properly those which fear being left on the outside, looking in, are against the proposal for an eight-club so-called "Superleague", to try to bridge the gap between the club game and the Rabo Pro12, but hey, in sport, any attempt to raise standards will always run up against the objections of the fearful and the stick-in-the-muds.

 

However, I hope the SRU will persevere, Scotland needs to find some system which works better than the status quo and, in the top-flight of the club game, there are several clubs which, with the right encouragement and financial help from Murrayfield, could grow the game.

 

One would hope Murrayfield might look at central contracts for our key international players, closer integration still between the two full-time pro sides and the top club outfits and, maybe, a meaningful acceptance of the difference between professional and semi-professional rugby and the community game.

 

We are approaching 20-years of professional rugby, now, it is time the SRU grew-up and got their act together. The basics are there, as this season has shown.

 

 

'Rose Blooms - But, It Was Nerve-Shredding Stuff

CONGRATULATIONS to Melrose, on winning the 2013-14 RBS Premiership title, in dramatic circumstances. It must have been Hell for the 'Rose players and fans on Saturday; John Dalziel's troops had done their part of the equation, by beating Currie, however, just down the road, at Netherdale, in circumstances which had some Ayr men fearing an old-fashioned Borders carve-up. Gala's late charge to overhaul the soon to be deposed Champions was allowed to stretch to 88 minutes, before big Opeta Palepoi got over for a try which, after David O'Hagan's conversion, left the Braw Lads a single, tantalising point adrift of Ayr and edged out for the title by their close-neighbours.

 

Actually, in a season during which none of the top 12 has shown itself to be measureably better than the rest, albeit Ayr, Gala, Heriot's and Melrose finished well clear of the rest to claim the British & Irish Cup places - should that competition run next season - it was perhaps fitting that it all came down to the final few minutes of meaningful rugby.

 

Yes, the Premiership lacks real quality, but, it is a very-competitive league and, with a wee bit of sensible tinkering from Murrayfield, it could and should be better. But, there's the rub - that phrase:" sensible tinkering from Murrayfield - Aye Right!!

 

I am an unashamed prophet for the suggested eight-club Premiership, but fear those eternal bugbears of Scottish Rugby, self-interest and what Allan Massie memorably described as: "Aye Beenism", will get in the way.

 

 

 

I WAS at Old Anniesland on Saturday for the Hawks v Aberdeen Grammar game, and was intrigued to be assured by one OA old timer, who is able to navigate even the murkiest back-alleys of Murrayfield without map, compass or torchlight, that, any hopes we have of an early and meaningful to reaction to that dfreadful Cardiff hammering will be dashed.

 

"They (the Murrayfield Mandarins) are doing what they always do in times of crisis," I was assured.

 

"The drawbridge has been hauled up, they have all gone to ground. The next Council meeting has been put back, the paid officials are all: 'too busy on other projects' and the hope is that we will simply forget the Cardiff result, Vern Cotter will come in, we will do well on the Summer Tour, beating USA, Canada and Argentine, then, at the least running South Africa close, and they can put-up a brave face to an AGM which will be coreographed to keep opposition to the minimum."

 

This scenario has worked in the past, hopefully, the clubs won't get fooled again.

 

 

 

There is also a wide-spread suggestion that Murrayfield has given up on Edinburgh this season, throwing everything at getting Glasgow into the Rabo Pro12 play-offs and into the revamped Heineken next season.

 

Edinburgh will see a mass clear-out of dead wood over the summer, with a slimmed-down, re-energised (hopefully) squad coming out intent on going far in the second-tier European cup (the old Amlin Trophy) next season.

 

That's the theory anyway.

 

 

 

 

Time For Some Serious Talking Then Even More Serious And Positive Action

NOW the fun starts. We've gone through the minor disaster of the 2014 Six Nations, Scott Johnson has stepped down as interim Head Coach, Vern Cotter - unless the DVDs of the five games which he was presumably sent have scared him off - and, beginning with the Summer Tour, a bright new dawn is upon us.

Aye Right.

When I was a boy, we were as-competitive as the other then four nations. The legendary 44-0 thrashing from the Springboks was before my time, I can only go back as far as "Arthur Smith's Match", the game in which we beat Wales 14-8 to end that inglorious run of 17 straight defeats.

But, even I, in those nearly 60-years of watching Scottish rugby, have only seen a couple of Grand Slams, plusone outright and three shared Five Nations titles; nothing at all from the Six Nations. So, we Scots have never had much to crow about when it comes to the annual winter showpiece of  Northern Hemisphere rugby. I can also remember the dismal statistic that some of Scotland's most-iconic players had to have a caps total in the twenties before they enjoyed an away win.

But, back in the amateur days, we muddled along, just as the other four nations did. Back then, it seemed having three initials and having gone to the right school, then played for the right FP club was of more importance than having actual rugby-playing ability.

This amateur, bungling-along, it'll be alright on the night approach doesn't work in the world of professional sport. We're the smallest rugby nation - Wales is actually smaller, but, rugby is their mainstream game - we have the smallest player pool, so, to succeed, we have to be smarter.

Trouble is - we haven't been at all clever. We have made bad decisions when it comes to coaching choices - both at international and at professional club level. We have made bad decisions within the corporate structure of Murrayfield. We have never, as compared with the Irish or Welsh, or even the English, GOT professional rugby.

We cannot wait any longer. We have to make the on-going review of the Six Nations a real one. We have to finally graps the nettle of Scotland's inadequacies, and DO SOMETHING.

I have grave doubts about Scott Johnson's suitability for the Director of Rugby role. As I have said before, if great coaches such as Telfer and McGeechan couldn't make the job work - what chance a poor coach such as SJ.

There again, as rugby journalists who know the guy better than I have said - he just might have the right ideas; he just might pull it off - if he concentrates on the DoR job, and the DoR job alone. So, perhaps, we should give him a chance.

But, for the job to work, for Scotland to get up off the floor, it needs more than an unexpected spot of magic from SJ, it needs EVERYONE, inside Murrayfield and outside, to decide on a hymn sheet and start singing from it.

This, of course, goes against the Scottish grain. We are apparently happiest when holding a wee or big clan battle. If we haven't got the English to fight, we will fight amongst ourselves - always apparently has been thus. This has to stop.

We are at the bottom of the barrel, the only way now is up.

Surely We Have Bottomed Out - Time To Fight Back

ONE of my school-mates, who has toiled ceaselessly in the cause of  educating the Sudeten English these past 40-years, has been in touch following Saturday's calamity in Cardiff.

 

He tells me he will have to hide in a darkened room for several weeks, to escape the sympathy or crowing of his Anglo-Saxon friends, after our humping from the Welsh. He tells me, for the first time ever, he is giving-up on Scotland.

 

I have endured poor results from Scotland before. There have been times when I have wished to say: "Enough", but, never, in over 50-years watching Scotland, have I felt as low as I did on Saturday night.

 

Sure, poor stupid, thoughless, brain-dead Stuart Hogg offered us a get-out, but, I still think, even with 15 v 15, we would have lost the game - as surely as Scottish Rugby has lost its way, since the game went professional back in 1995.

 

We really need to put our petty differences - the North v Midlands v Edinburgh v Glasgow v South "clan wars", even more so the petty club differences which disfigure relations between neighbouring clubs, behind us and demonstrate and demand that Murrayfield changes and puts in place the protocols which will allow us to compete.

 

Scotland is sliding downhill faster than Robbie Coltrane on a skeleton bob. We simply must arrest the decline and do something to make us competitive again.

 

 

 

MIND you, the weekend was not a total loss. The Ayr v Glasgow Hawks RBS Premiership match, at Millbrae, on Friday night was a cracker.

 

Ayr won 32-7, five tries to one. But, the reality was closer than that. Hawks made Ayr battle all the way, it was a terrific match.

 

The highlight was the way big Al Kellock, turning out for Ayr in his first match since being injured in the Heineken Cup back in December, was immediately up to speed. His class was obvious, as was his healthy appetite for rugby.

 

 

 

FINALLY this week, well done England. Sadly for the basic ABE members, who can see no good in anything to do with the Auld Enemy, this is developing into a very strong England team, who will take a bit of beating in next year's World Cup.

 

But, the weekend belonged to Ireland and Brian O'Driscoll, who really did go out in a blaze of glory.

 

By the way I am sorry to disappoint all those BOD worshippers out there, ready to anoint him as Ireland's Greatest Player. But, having seen all three in action, I place him third in line, behind the great Jackie Kyle and the even-greater Michael Gibson.

 

Kyle, Gibson and O'Driscoll just might be the midfield triangle in the all time Earth XV to take on Mars, but, for me, Gibson's ability to play anywhere in the back-line from 15 to 10 places him above specialist outside centre BOD.

Apres Le Weekend

WE begin today with a serious philosophical question. The Scotland Women's XV lost 69-0 to their French counterparts at the weekend. Can you be on the wrong end of a soixante-neuf?

 

To more serious issues - just how many ways can Scotland conjour-up to lose internationals we ought to win. I cannot believe we lost on Saturday; that was quite the worst French team I have seen, we ought to have been home and hosed long before that final crushing penalty.

 

That said, I always felt Mr Pollock had it in for us and was looking for an excuse to give France a kickable penalty. Why do we always seem to fall foul of referees? Or, am I paranoid?

 

I repeat my long-held opinion, a game wherein the referee's interpretation of the Laws can have such an important bearing ont he final outcome, is a game which seriously needs to overhaul either its Laws, or its refereeing of these Laws.

 

 

 

WRITTEN through the gritted teeth of a fully-paid-up member of ABE (that's Anyone But England for the uninitiated), but, well done England, a terrific win from a great display on Saturday.

 

Mind you, in rugby, I am also a paid-up member of ABW - I find the Welsh the worst winners in the game, mainly because, as we all know, Wales never lose, they merely concede more points than the opposition.

 

It was good to see Gethin Jenkins' illegal scrummaging finally being pinged; he and Adam Jones have been cheating for at least the last two seasons and getting away with it.

 

The age of Warrenball may, finally and happily, be passing.

 

 

 

AND, what about BOD, that was some way to sign-pff in Dublin. Last week the Guardian ran a video series on their website: 'The 13 best O'Driscoll passes' then, on Saturday, he comes up with at least three further pearlers.

 

Definitely the second-best centre three-quarter ever, only surpassed (just) by his fellow Irishman, the peerless Cameron Michael Henderson Gibson.

 

 

 

I HAVE to say, I was impressed by Geoff Cross's performance on Saturday. The good Doctor has had a hard time of it since breaking into the international ranks. There was that ridiculous card on his debut, when, I felt, he was victim rather than agressor of a wrong decision.

 

Since then he has quietly toiled away, often under-valued, even by his club coach. Perhaps Geoff should cultivate a South African accent!! Now, in the past game and a half, he has shown his worth.

 

And, still he waits to hear if he is wanted at Murrayfield next season. Should he be allowed to leave, it will be further proof of how lowly the powers that be within our HQ, rate home-grown talent.

 

 

La France - J'aime

The French, God bless them, are different - and seldom more so than when it comes to rugby. They still believe in eight guys built to carry pianos doing the donkey work for the seven guys who can play the damned thing in their XVs, but, somehow they seem, at times to come from a different planet than we Celts and Anglo-Saxons from the islands offshore from La Belle France.

 

Right now, and not for the first time, Les Bleus are a conundrum. Here we are, some 24-hours before France face Scotland at Murrayfield, and we do not have a Scooby which France will turn up. Will it be the "real" France, capable of exciting "champagne" rugby, running-in tries from behind their own in-goal line? Or will it be the hapless, clueless bunch of stumblebums who lost so badly to Wales last time out?

 

For the sake of Scotland, we hope it is the latter XV, but, the team Philipe Saint-Andre sends out tomorrow could just as easily put us to the sword by a record score. That, I suppose is what makes France, France.

 

Actually, had they beaten the Welsh, I would have fancied us more to win tomorrow than I do right now. They might well have arrived with the attitude of: it is only the Scots, who are playind merde, and, by under-estimating us, opened the door for us to shock them.

 

Now, with the honour of La Belle France to be upheld - we could be in bother.

 

 

 

THE belief, which is growing legs across Scottish rugby - that Scott Johnson couldn't pick his nose, was surely enhanced by his decision following Alastair Dickinson's calf injury, to re-instate Moray Low to the bench for tomorrow's game.

 

Excuse me, but, when a specialist tight head such as Low makes such a hash of things against Italy that he is withdrawn in disgrace before half-time, what is the point of re-calling him, at loose-head, as cover for the next game? It defies logic.

 

I just wonder what Gordon Reid, the second-best Scottish specialist loose-head, behind Ryan Grant, has done to be so-consistently over-looked. Or for that matter, what Jon Welsh, who is perhaps the single top-level Scottish prop of the current generation who is equally comfortable on either side of the scrum, thinks of also being over-looked.

 

 

 

STILL on props. I see Glasgow EDP prop George Hunter is being shipped off to London Scottish for the remainder of the season.

 

OK, Scottish still have some ten games to play before their season ends, apparently, while Ayr, for whom Hunter has mainly played this season, have only a single handful of matches left, so, on that basis, sending him to the flesh pots of Richmond makes sense.

 

However, what does it say about the Murrayfield view of the RBS Premiership? I know this is a competition of which the High Heid Yins in the big hoose know little and care even less. But, in next season's British & Irish Cup - assuming that competition runs next season - Ayr will be representing Scotland, while Scottish could well be one of the RFU-backed teams.

 

Therefore, the SRU are tacitly saying: "Your teams are better than our teams". If they will not stand up for Scottish Rugby, who will?

 

Hunter has had an up and down season. He was sent south at the start, then brought back to Ayr, for whom he has endured some torrid times, such as being unluckily sent off in the B&I Cup match in Jersey. He has been hung out to dry by some specialist RBS Premiership tight-heads, but, over the piece, he has come on by leaps and bounds and while he still has work to do on his scrummaging work, in the loose, he has been a dynamic, exciting and successful ball carrier.

 

With Moray Low off to Exeter, he might expect more game time with Glasgow next season - I reckon he is worthy;  and, in front row terms, he is still a baby.

Aye Son, It Were Different When I Were A Lad

ONE OF the old-timers of Scottish Rugby journalism recently made a rare appearance back in the press box for a game. He was writing-up a report for his club's website and, it was good to be thrust back some 40-years, to when we first sat together.

My old friend made a telling comment at the close, when myself and the other journalists, working for the MSM, rose to go down to the touchline to elicit the post-match comments of the respective coaches; he said: "In my day - I made the post-match comments."

This echoed something I heard from a colleague, the paper for which I then worked's theatre critic. Hearing me complain that, getting a useable post-game comment from one coach was akin to pulling teeth, this foppish, bow tie-wearing "luvvie" brindled.

"My dear boy, I would never think of asking Ian McKellen or Trevor Nunn how they thought that evening's performance had gone - I see it as my job, nay, my right, to TELL them how the performance had gone."

I am old school enough to agree with my two colleagues. Proper journalism should include the reporter having the critic's right to criticise - however, we have allowed today's coaches/managers to become almost: The Coach As God, only their thoughts and opinions carry gravitas; we members of the Fourth Estate are forelock-tugging servants, carrying their tablets of stone to the lower orders.

I remember a very good friend of mine, back in my days covering football, who was cast into outer darkness by one Old Firm boss, for daring to question his tactics after one game. I am afraid, while we rugby journos still have a modicum of licence to criticise, the same attitudes growing in influence in rugby.

It doesn't help that the MSM seems to think only guys with a barrow-load of caps can comment on games - particularly on TV. Unfortunately, too-often they continue to subscribe to the omerta of the dressing room, or, be unprepared to criticise an old friend or team mate - so, we get a fairly low level of debate these days.

There are exceptions - step forward Brian C Moore, but, by and large a game which demands full and frank debate and disclosure, doesn't get it, favouring anodyne comment.

I actually feel, the sports media in this country suffers from the lack of vehicles for in-depth comment and analysis. We don't have a sports outlet such as Sports Illustrated, or 100% sports-focussed newspapers and magazines such as we find in Europe.

Also, our individual sports magazines such as Rugby World, while they do a fine job, don't go in for the longform articles which are such a feature of sport in North America.

For my recent birthday, I was given a copy of the 2013 anthology of The Best of American Sports-writing, in which I read some really interesting articles about the major North American sports. How I wished we had a British equivalent.



ONE of the articles in my American book was a look at the use of prescription drugs, which the title refered to as "The NFL's Secret Shame". This excellent article chronicled the struggles some retired NFL players had with weaning themselves off the prescription drugs their clubs almost force-fed them, so they could play through the pain barrier.

I believe this article should be required reading for the officials of the IRB, the major unions and the major rugby leagues. After all, there is enough evidence, both real and anectdotal that, what America does today, Europe will shortly be doing.

Since the advent of professional rugby, the players and the hits have got bigger, the injuries more severe and careers shorter. We already, thankfully, have a bit more concern about the effects of concussion and head knocks in rugby players, concerns driven by evidence from the NFL, but, I warrant it will not be too-long before other post-career injury concerns begin to surface.

Already, we have seen several Lions Legends from the 1970s and 1980s reduced to the use of walking sticks and looking years older than they actually are, thanks to the abuse they put their bodies through back in the amateur days - this situation will escalate as the professional players retire.

The NFL, the richest team sport in the world, like most big organisations when faced with some problem it hasn't done enough about, is stalling, denying and fighting a rearguard action - which it will eventaully lose.

I would like to think that Rugby will act quicker, and with more honour, before the inevitable law suits start landing on CEO's desks.

The Unfathomable MInd of Scott Johnson

I FAIL to follow the thinking of our interim Head Coach, insofar as his selection for the French match. OK, we scraped home in Rome, thanks to Dunky WEir's last-gasp dropped goal, a result which wasn't perhaps a ringing endorsement of never change a winning team.

 

So, changes had to be made. No complaints about Geoff Cross getting the number 3 shirt, he put-up a very good case for his retention by his display after replacing the out-of-sorts Moray Low. But, did Chris Fusaro really blot his copy-book to the extent that Kelly Brown has been re-called? Has Alasdair Strokosh offended the fat Aussie in some way, I'd have had him in against the French, once Ryan Wilson went down with illness, which would have kept Johnnie Beattie at eight.

 

I'd rather have seen Cusiter at nine than Laidlaw, although, now his future has been settled, maybe Laidlaw's game will move-up a couple of notches, it really has to.

 

Had the French not been so dire last time out, I'd have fancied our chances of upsetting them at Murrayfield. Now, with their reputations to salvage - I predict we could be in for a torrid time from the visitors.

 

 

 

I WISH Greig Laidlaw well at Gloucester. The move will be good for him, enabling him to make a bit more money for his retirement fund, but, it will be even better for Edinburgh and Scotland, since, along with Cusiter's move to Sale, both of our pro teams will have younger scrum-halves in the pivot role.

 

Grayson Hart must be favourite to get the number 9 shirt at Edinburgh, but, if he can accept he is far from the finished article and knuckle down, Sean Kennedy could run him close.

 

 

 

THE final games in this season's RBS Premiership will be very interesting, not least in the dog fight to escape the relegation zone. However, at the top, Gala are now the hot favourites, although, they will surely not relish, even with home advantage, possibly having to beat Ayr on the last day to take the title.

 

If it comes down to that, Netherdale will definitely be the place to be.

 

 

I Fear A French Renaissance

SPRING has, apparently, broken through. Aye Right, it is just as miserable this morning in God's County, than it was last week - when it was still winter.

 

There is one thing which rugby fans fear about spring - and that is the French, with the sun on their backs, suddenly breaking-out the champagne rugby to put the stuffy British Isles teams to the sword.

 

I fear, this might happen at Murrayfield on Saturday. Les Bleus were so bad last time out, history almost demands the "real" France comes out to rip us to shreds on our own shredded Murrayfield pitch.

 

Of course, having escaped from Rome with an unexpected win, and having at least played with a bit of conviction for half a game, we have rediscovered a bit of belief. Had France beaten Wales, I'd actually have fancied us to win on Saturday. Maybe the French would have arrived with the Attitude: "Well, eet is only les Ecosse, zey are merde, we only ave to turn up to win". Then, we could have caught them cold. 

 

But, a French team seeking redemption - I am concerned.

 

 

 

I ENJOYED Friday night's Edinburgh v Ospreys game on Teuchter TV. The difference in the atmosphere from taking the game to a proper club ground, was obvious.

 

Come on SRU, get Edinburgh into a more-compact ground and watch the team flourish.

 

Glasgow came up just short in Dublin. Now, if somebody can just get Toony to bring some consistency and obvious planning to his selections, our pro clubs just might get somewhere.

 

I feel, at the end of the season, the Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow managment teams HAVE to get together to sort out the obvious inequalities in the personnel of our two pro sides.

 

It does Scotland no good to have a seeming imbalance in resources in key positions and a paucity in  others, so close to the World Cup.

 

With the SRU being the owners of Glasgow and Edinburgh, we already have de facto central contracts in SCottish rugby. This ought to allow the SRU to properly manage the careers of our top men. They certainly do this to some extent now, but, I maintain, they should do better.

 

 

 

WE HAD a wee bit of fun at Millbrae on Saturday, at the Ayr v Edinburgh Academical game. Quite how Ayr managed to be so out-played in the forwards, so far off the pace for so long, and still score a bonus-point win, is still a mystery.

 

Of course, it helps if you have the pace and alertness of the Gossman's on the wing - when Ayr spun the ball, they looked awesome. That said, the outstanding runner in the game was Accies' stand-off Alex Blair. Ok, the youngest of the Blair brothers has had his injury problems, but, every time I see him play - I wonder why he is not getting game time with either of the pro teams.

 

However, the real fun came after Murray McConnell - who deserves every praise for fighting his way back into the Warriors development system after being dropped - scored a superb solo try.

 

Aye, he was smirking when he scored. Sure, Accies took exception and, as the Original Gordon Strachan told McConnell afterwards: "Son, if you'd done that to me after scoring - you wouldn't have done it twice"; the try sparked-off a melee, which ended with Ayr president Billy McHarg involved and "sent off" by referee Sam Grove-White, who enhanced his growing reputation with an excellent performance.

 

Just as well Ayr Director of Rugby Jock Craig, who was at the other end of the ground, wasn't involved. Then there would have been mayhem.