A Good Time To Be In Scottish Rugby

MANY moons ago, so long ago in fact, I am sure John Greig was still playing for Rangers; my old mucker 'Kaiser' Bill McMurtrie, back then a "poacher" as Rugby Correspondent for the then Glasgow Herald, rather than today's "gamekeeper" as a respected member of the SRU Council. wrote a funny little piece which had "rioting" supporters of GHK making their way home from a European Rugby Cup tie in Paris.

 

The idea, back then, of a Scottish rugby team ever taking a body of fans, a sort of well-behaved Tartan Army - into Europe seemed absurd. Today, however, the travelling Warriors' support, although perhaps merely a company, when compared with the regiments of the footballing Tartan Army, are a familiar sight in airports in France and Italy. We are still a few years from Warriors having a "Seville", but, it is coming.

 

It is in some ways a pity that the momentum which has built-up around Toony's team following back-to-back European wins will now be allowed to calm down, as we have, after Friday night's Treviso match, at Scotstoun, the half-life of the Autumn Internaitonal window, with most of the Warriors' squad on Scotland duty, before, they have to re-gird their loins for the small matter of back-to-back games against Toulouse. But, hey, we are never likely to be able to properly reconcile the demands of top club and international rugby into a pattern for a season which suits everyone.

 

Let's just enjoy where we are right now, it doesn't often get this good in any Scottish sport.

 

I must, at this point, pay tribute to the resiliance of the Edinburgh squad, in posting a run of three straight wins, including two in Europe. I felt a season in Europe's second tier would not greatly harm Edinburgh. It is, however, such a pity they have so-horrendous an injury list. Perhaps, somebody in the corridors of power in Murrayfield should be asking questions about the club's health and fitness programme, since an awful lot of their players seem to pick-up wee, niggling injuries.

 

It will be interesting to see which team Vern Cotter, or B (for big)VC selects for the opening Autumn Test against our friends from the pampas. Good player though he is, I have never had Grant Gilchrist down as one of our two best locks, so, maybe losing BVC's captain-elect will be no bad thing.

 

IF, as we have long suspected, the Gray Brothers are the future - now might be a good time to set them loose together in the boiler-house. And, while he is at it, BVC should maybe try some Alex Ferguson-style mind games, give Johnny the number four shirt and Richie the five, casually reminding people that four comes before five. A wee aside to the bigger/elder Gray, along the lines of: "show us you're a Lions lock big man", might also be worth-while, particularly before the All Blacks test.

 

 

 

FINALLY, spare a thought for our dear Sassenach neigbours. All that pain and misery they inflicted on us to get a better deal in Europe for their precious Premiership clubs - who then go and play like the bunch of over-hyped numpties they are.

 

 

Great MIni-Tour - The Kids Loved It

I WAS out at Ayr's Millbrae ground on Wednesday night when the Scotland team boss rolled-in. On board were several of the Scottish women's squad, but, more-importantly, what would be a pretty fair sevens squad - Sean Maitland, Mark Bennett, Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg, Gordy Reid, Rob Harley and Sean Lamont. There to meet them were several hundred of Ayr's mini and midi players, plus parents, all organised and brought together by Stuart Fenwick, Ayr's Academy head.

 

The kids, by and large, didn't know the bus was coming and the effect its arrival had was amazing - a stampede of youngsters to see it, before the players were engulfed in a tsunami of pink and black.

 

The Millbrae stop was the final one on a whistle-stop tour of Ayrshire: Largs, Irvine, Kilmarnock, then Alloway, to publicise the Scotland v Tonga game, at Rugby Park, on 22 November.

 

This ought to be something Kilmarnock FC can only dream about for Rugby Park - a complete sell-out, it will be great to see rugby back at the old ground for the first time since 1956.

 

The tour also demonstrated something the SRU does rather well, but, for which they get little or no credit. They certainly sell the game a lot better than many other sports, and, certainly better than football. It is just a pity that so-many sports desks in the mainstream Scottish media are piloted by guys for whom football in general and what remains of the "Old Firm" in particular, is the only game in town.

 

The Herald and The Scotsman are traditionally the Scottish papers which have treated rugby as a genuine, grown-up sport to be covered well. Their core readership - Scotland's professional and business classes, is also Scottish rugby's core constituency. At a time when, not always as well as they might, the SRU is striving to grow the game's base in Scotland, what a pity that rugby is so ill-served by the two papers which should be doing most.

 

Neither title currently has a "Rugby Correspondent". The mantles once worn by the likes of John Downie and Bill McMurtrie in Glasgow, and by Norman Mair and Chris Rea in Edinburgh are hanging-up on a peg.

 

Certainly Ian Morrison is a staffer at Scotland on Sunday, while Alasdair Reid writes for the Sunday Herald and for the Monday to Saturday editions. However, by and large, rugby coverage in Scotland has been devolved to freelances. We hear that modern journalism is a freelances' market; Lewis Stuart, David Barnes and a handful of others serve the game well, but, for real in-depth coverage, the serious papers need full-time rugby specialists.

 

The BBC used to have Bill McLaren on every week. I bow to nobody in my admiration for Bill Johnston, John Beattie still does a sterling job when he picks up a microphone at rugby, but, Beattie has moved-on, and become mainstream.

 

The BBC doesn't have a main man when it comes to Scottish rugby, STV never really did, but, Norman Mair and Ian Anderson did the game proud there. The Scottish Express, a pale shadow of what it was in the Albion Street days o' lang syne, no longer has a rugby man, ditto the Record. The Scottish Sun never did have. At least Rob Robertson still struts his stuff for the Mail, but, the tabloid market has almost all been delegated to David Kelso, who runs his empire by remote control from Arran.

 

FFS, the Herald even gives weekly column space to Neil Drysdale, a man I haven't seen at a club match in the last four years.

 

Scottish rugby deserves to be taken a lot more seriously by the msm.

 

 

 

NOW to the big news of the week, the announcement of the squad for the Autumn Internaitonals. Much of the comment has been about the players left out. I must admit, the absence of Pat McArthur of Glasgow is a strange one, but, that's Vern Cotter's choice and, it's not as if Pat had, as yet, nailed down the number two shirt.

 

Still, I am surprised that Ross Ford hadn't joined Kelly Brown and Jim Hamilton on the overlooked list. Surely, in these three tests, Ford is drinking in the Last-Chance Saloon.

 

I am also a wee bit concerned at the naming of Grant Gilchrist as captain, for the simple reason, I don't think he is one of our two best locks - I'd have started with the Gray brothers. We have an embarrassment of riches in some areas, such as the back row, but, we could do with a bit more choice elsewhere, such as the front row, however - on balance, there isn't too-much to quibble about in the squad.

 

 

Well Done Bath - Terrific Reaction To Defeat - True Sportsmen

HUGE kudos to Bath Rugby. They must be gutted to lose to "the Sweaties", but, while quite a few of the English scribblers went straight into default mode following Warriors' superb win at Scotstoun - Point-out Bath's injury problems, with no mention of Glasgow's; make it look like, rather than Glasgow winning, it was a case of Bath losing; concentrate on Bath errors - rather than praising the Glasgow pressure which forced them, etc - the Bath website gave a straight down the middle report, paid due regard to Glasgow and praised their victory. This was the work of a big club.

 

Quite what that paragon of Bath Rugby, one Jeremy Guscott, will say, will be interesting. Guscott is one of that poor benighted England team who were hoisted by their own arrogant petard in "The Grudge" back in 1990. Time has failed totally to heal the scars of that day, and, while the estimable Brian Moore, for one, has worked his way through and out of his obvious pain - Guscott still gives the impression, it was all a bad dream and, some day he will wake-up and England have indeed won. Since it was inconceivable that "the Sweaties" could so-comprehensively kknock the wheels off England's chariots.

 

Mind you, we Scots have paid a high price for that win in the intervening years. Let's hope this terrific victory does not come back and bite Glasgow. Winning was a terrific start, but, Pool Four in the new Champions Cup, is truly the Group of Death. Having set their benchmark, Glasgow dare not dip below it.

 

However, I have every confidence that Toony, Shade, Kenny Murray, Matt Taylor and the players can build on this and deliver a place in the knock-out phase for the club.

 

And, while we are at it, let us praise Edinburgh, for getting that last-gasp win in Bordeaux. I felt all along, the Challenge Cup offered Edinburgh a chance of salvation, since, some of the English and French clubs appear to have difficulty coping with being in a second-class tournament. That said, no French team likes losing at home.

 

Edinburgh are still a work in progress, with a long way to go, but, what a great win.

 

 

 

OK, that's the good news - now for the bad. I was at Meggatland on Saturday, for Boroughmuir v Hawks. To quote that auld Scots saying: "I've had better afternoons with the toothache". It was a horrible game, for which, I largely blame referee Daniel Shaw.

 

Edinburgh and Glasgow have had better Irish referees - he had a stinker. Young Mr Shaw was particularly poor at the scrum. It was obvious from his build, he has never been in the front row in his life, so, he hadn't a clue what was happening. But, that didn't stop him squandering 18 precious minutes of playing time, trying to demonstrate he was an expert - and finishing-up looking even stupider at the end than he had been at the start.

 

From there, the rot spread; bad handling, poor decision-making, lack of ambition. For all they did, the 'Muir back division could have stayed indoors. In rugby-playing terms, Hawks were the better side by far, but, for all they had something like 70% possession and territory, they contrived to lose.

 

Still, the game did give us further indication of what a diamond we have unearthed in young Zander Fagerson. There is still a tad polishing to do, but, with every outing, this kid gets better and better. He is clearly tapping into all of Ewan Murray's vast experience in daily training with Warriors.

 

Funnily enough, elsewhere in the BT Premiership, this was a big weekend, with Heriot's beating Ayr at Goldenacre and Melrose downing Gala at the Greenyards.

 

These four clubs are the standard bearers for the league, and, as fate would have it, they continue their own wee mini-tournament on Saturday, with Heriot's at Gala and 'Rose at Ayr.

 

Heriot's top the table this week, if they are still there this time next week, they will take a bit of stopping. Any way, it will be a major surprise if, in the second half of the campaign, any other club comes through to join the big four in the battle for the title.

 

 

Losing In Belfast Was Hardly Disaster For Glasgow

I WAS not surprised that Glasgow should lose in Belfast. Ravenhill, Kingspan Stadium, call it what you will, but, the Belfast ground has never been an arena in which the welcome mat is laid down for visitors.

 

I accept, Toony perhaps doesn't know what is his optimum XV; he certainly has lots of options for different positions, but, while he has across the board strength, he doesn't really have "galacticos" in key positions who can make a difference in tight games such as a visit to Ulster.

 

Stuart Hogg is probably the only Glasgow player who might aspire to galactico status, and, he isn't there yet. Similarly, Niko's lack of composure at key moments also proscribes him from galactico status.

 

However, the defeat will focus minds wonderfully around Scotstoun and Glasgow will I am certain, be ready for the significant challenge which Bath will offer this weekend.

 

 

 

GREAT to see Edinburgh get back to winning ways. OK, it was only the Dragons, who are probably the weakest of the Welsh sides, but, to have halted the slump and posted a win will surely be the lift Edinburgh need going into their European campaign.

 

However, it would be wrong to suggest, all is well in that camp.

 

 

 

IT WAS interesting to see how Calum Forrester and Ben Cairns, two of the brighter young Scottish coaches fared at Millbrae yesterday.

 

They are perhaps the first coaches to have spent their entire careers in professional rugby, as players - Toony was already, it could be argued, a known quantity when the game went pro. So, they have, perhaps a different approach to how to motivate and manage part-time players than their predecessors as coaches.

 

AT the last Ayr home game, some of the survivors from the Alloway club's opening game at the ground, back in 1964, were in the crowd. For a few it was their first sight of the Premiership and one or two remarked as to how "toned" the Ayr team looked, in comparison to Edinburgh Accies.

 

That difference was even more pronounced against Currie on Saturday. OK, almost all the Ayr squad are involved with Glasgow Warriors in some way. Murray McConnell is a full-time professional; Danny McCluskey, and George Hunter are EDP players, as were bench-warmers James Malcolm and D'Arcy Rae, but a handful of the others train with Warriors during the week, while some of the "elder" statesmen around Millbrae, such as Grant Anderson, Kerr Gossman, Stuart Fenwick and skipper Dean Kelbrick, have been involved in the Warriors in the past or are in rugby development roles in the day job.

 

They, therefore, have an acceptance of the physical demands of modern rugby which wasn't so obvious in the Currie ranks. One of two of the visiting pack, whilst packing some beef, were clearly more old school in their physique, ie, carrying too-much fat.

 

It was obvious that Fergus Pringle was having to rotate his front row - they simply couldn't keep going over the 80 minutes as the Ayr trio could. The SRU are clearly determined to raise the standards in the BT Premiership; part-time semi-professional rugby is coming, which will be bad news for some current forwards. 

 

Another minor observation on this: it seems to me, the old-style lard-tub front five "donkey", whilst going out of fashion elsewhere, is still to be seen in some top Edinburgh clubs.

 

I say again, this season's BT Premiership is a cracking competition. Such a pity the Scottish mainstream media is a wee bit reluctant to properly report what is going on there.

 

 

 

 

Well Said John Beattie

WHEN you have John Beattie Senior's talents, it must be difficult to decide how best to use them. As a player Beattie, on breaking through as a 21-year-old Glasgow Academical, seemed to have the world at his feet. A Lion at 21, there seemed no limits to what he might do.

 

But, injuries, the arrival of Iain Paxton, perhaps a bit too-much enjoyment of the good life coupled with an understanding that there was more to life than chasing an oval ball meant that, just maybe, for all he went on a second Lions Tour and won what was, for the time, a more than respectable haul of Scotland caps, when Beattie hung-up his boots, there just might have been a regret or two.

 

He then moved semalessly into a couple of career paths which did not, at first, seem compatable - journalist and coach - where he has enjoyed some success. He was, by all accounts, a very-good coach of a young Glasgow District age group squad which produced a fair handful of guys who went on to winm full caps. In difficult circumstances, he did well at club level, while he was and still is a rugby journalist and commentator who has to be listened to.

 

He also, and this is rare indeed, broke through that thick wall which separates sports broadcasters from mainstream ones, to host an entertaining and hugely popular Radio Scotland daily show.

 

So, when John Beattie speaks - it pays the listener to take tent. I therefore make no apologies for fully endorsing a comment Beattie made during his spell as summariser for Hugh Dan McLennan during Sunday's BBC 2 Scotland coverage of Treviso v Glasgow. And, by the way - the Beattie/McLennan pairing worked a lot better than did McLennan and Peter Wright.

 

As yet another scrum collapsed, Beattie suggested referees act tougher and, when the scrum went down for the third time, they simply sent both front rows to the sin bin. He reckoned that would solve the problem, so do I.

 

I still recall, a couple of seasons ago, Nigel Owens sent Adam Jones and Ryan Grant to the bin at Scotstoun, and, when they returned, every subsequent scrum stayed up. Hell, I played in the 1960s and 1970s and, while the odd scrum went down, and it was at a much lower level than the Pro12, but, we never had the re-sets problems of today.

 

I also recall, back then, as a hooker, taking quite a few balls with my head - so low did we pack.

 

And, while I am on the subject of today's scrummages. Am I the only one who thinks, in yet another very poor match which demonstrated he is totally out of his depth in the Pro12, surely the worst decision the hapless and hopeless Gary Conway made on Sunday was to penalise Stuart Hogg's first put-in as stand-in scrum-half.

 

Of course the feed was squint, but, every feed is squint. I got the impressionthis was a case of the ref thinking: "OK, so you're a Lions superstar - well I'm the ref, and there's a penalty against you to prove it".

 

I have said this before, and will doubtless say it again. The quicker somebody at the SRU gets hold of the White Shark and tells him: "JJ, you're supposed to be the head of the IRB's refereeing committee - sort these cunts out", the better.

 

 At the same time, the SRU should drop a line to the Pro12's Chief Executive, telling him straight: "If you schedule Conway to referee another Edinburgh or Glasgow game this season - the game will not be played. The man is incompetent, out of his depth and we will not allow our teams to go under him".

STILL, we must not allow the failings of a shoite Oirish referee to detract from a splendid win by Glasgow. To go away, play if not badly, then certainly at less than 100% and still score six tries is, regardless of opposition, the sign of a good team.

Some of the Glasgow tries were absolutely top drawer; and, remember, this was far from the best-available Glasgow XV. Mind you, that is Glasgow's great strength, they don't really have a "first XV".

Neithe does Edinburgh, but, for a different reason.

Final word on Glasgow. In a game where so-many of the referee's decisions were a joke, surely the biggest joke was Niko's yellow card.

And, absolute final word - in Alex Allen and Zander Fargeson, I have seen the future of Scottish propping - I wonder what the odds are against them being Lions props in New Zealand in 2017?

SADLY, the BT Premiership gets a lot less publicity and attention than it deserves. Any league which has three clubs tied on the same number of points at this stage of the season has to be a good one.

And, when you factor in the position where there are no easy games, no club which is the whipping boy for the rest, it shows strength-in-depth across the league.

OK, we could quibble about the overall quality, but, I would say, right now we have the strongest club game ever at the top level.

It's Academic - This Isn't The Best Way Forward

I KNEW they were getting desperate when my old sparring partner and all-round good guy Graham Law sent round a reminder about yesterday's high-profile launch of the first Scottish rugby academy, at Aberdeen University.

 

Nothing would upset the Murrayfield Mandarins more than detailing Messrs Dodson, Cotter and Johnson, plus the token BT partnership representative all the way north to the Granite City, then discovering the media had passed coverage over to the usual local stringers - they had to get some of the big names north to ask the usual anodine questions.

 

I have nothing against the concept of regional academies, except, these are yet another manifestation of the SRU's policy of top-down change, when, everyone knows change is best implemented from the bottom up. And, the grass roots in Scottish rugby, while they are far from withering away, need a better form of fertiliser than Murrayfield media bullshit.

 

OK, they don't exactly help themselves; their in-fighting and old-established local rivalries make Auchinleck Talbot and Cumnock supporters look like an otherwise happy family having a minor difference of opinion. But, rather than spending money in Aberdeen, I reckon it would better serve the SRU to spend it getting rugby back to where it once was in the local consciousness of the Borders - the only area in Scotland wher the average boy in the street goes home from school and plays with an oval rather than a round ball.

 

Getting rugby played more in state schools across Scotland, putting in place proper coaching and league structures, ensuring close co-operation between schools and clubs, getting kids playing rugby - this would do more good than establishing four academies which, in the short to medium term will best benefit youngsters from private schools.

 

I am not saying opening Aberdeen, and the other three academies which we hear will follow is a waste of money - I simply believe it is not the best way to spend the money Murrayfield does have to apportion to the problem of Scotland's lack of numbers.

 

Of course, our clannishness will impede developments. For instance, Ayr, which is in many ways a shining, guiding light on how to do things, has its own academy, which draws-in promising boys from all over Ayrshire. However, there are guys in the smaller Ayrshire clubs who would far rather their sons came out as gay cross-dressers, fully intending becoming trans-gender, than see that boy in a pink and black rugby shirt.

 

"Wear a pink dress son, aye fine - wear a pink and black hooped shirt - aye right!!"

 

Get the semi-pro club league up and running. Fund these clubs like Ayr with ambition to become schools of excellence. Let them run local schools and club rugby at age-group level. Make the semi-pro players development officers.

 

This, I am sure, would, in the long run, benefit Scottish rugby far more than setting-up these four academies.

 

Good idea, wrong execution.