Great Result But, Paris Might Be a Different Ball Game

SCOTLAND'S terrific win over the Italians at BT Murrayfield on Saturday was just the result BVC and Co. needed, this close to the Rugby World Cup. The fact that, for the first time in a while, the Kiwi coach had more-or-less his first-pick XV on duty, and, with the return of the quality players, Scotland produced a quality performance.

 

The SRU has to register the final 31-man RWC squad with the IRB today, before it is released to the media and public tomorrow afternoon. It will be interesting to see the final composition of the squad, but, there will be no forecasts from this blog.

 

Beating Italy so-comfortably, was a great morale-booster, this weekend's final run-out, against France, will be a better indication of where we stand in relation to competition readiness.

 

 

 

MEANWHILE, Glasgow and Edinburgh, although having contrasting results, can both be happy with their weekend results. Edinburgh, by all accounts, played really well in beating Ulster, never an easy feat to pull off, so it seems, Alan Solomons' high standards are finally being met.

 

It must have been disappointing for Glasgow, to go all the way to Halifax, Nova Scotia and lose, but, I am willing to bet, a full-strength Glasgow would surely have beaten the Canucks, and, for the hugely under-strength side which Toony was forced to field, to come so close to winning, was a hugely-encouraging result.

 

The squad played what is now, very-obviously, Glasgow rugby. The "dirt trackers" who were on-duty couldn't win, but, add the likes of Hoggy, Marko Bennett, the wingers, Pete Horne and Finn Russell, plus the likes of Gordy Reid, Jonny Gray, Leone Nakarawa and Ryan Wilson to the squad, and, as I said earlier, my money would have been on Warriors.

 

 

 

STILL on Warriors. It seems Fijian-Aussie Taqele Naiyarovora will not be available to the team until late October, by which time he may well be a fully-fledged Wallaby.

 

Apparently, he will endeavour to secure Australian citienship prior to moving to Glasgow and, even though he has been left out of the Aussie RWC squad, he is one of ten additional players on stand-by.

 

I hope he lives-up to the hype, and that he turns out to be what we hope he will be.

 

 

 

THE new BT Premiership season kicked off on Saturday, and, there were no surprise results - other, perhaps, than Currie's margin of victory over Stirling County.

 

County have lost a number of first picks in the close season, and are everyone's tips to struggle this season. Therefore, that Currie should win at home was no surprise, but, the big margin of victory was maybe a shock.

 

Currie were actually the only home team to win at the weekend. At Philiphaugh, Selkirk's long unbeaten run in the lower league was unceremoniously ended by Gala. No big surprise, but, now his young charges have had a taste of what the Premiership is all about, I expect coach Peter Wright to have them winning games soon.

 

John Dalziel and the boys at Melrose must have been delighted with going to Mansfield Park and beating Hawick by 16 points. I will wager, not many teams will do that this season. Again, however, pre-match, 'Rose were the favourites to win this.

 

Finally in the top league, Ayr comfortably won the West Derby at Old Anniesland, denying Hawks any kind of possession on their way to a five tries to nil win.

 

Star of the show for Ayr was new prop Javan Sebastian, the former Scarlets Academy player who has turned his back on Wales, to take advantage of his Scottish qualification and play up here on a deal involving Ayr and Warriors.

 

On the  basis of Saturday's display at Old Anniesland, this young man has a big future in the game.

 

Champions Heriot's and cup-holders Boroughmuir produced an entertaining curtain-raiser to the International in the SRU Charity Shield match at BT Murrayfield, with the Champions edging through by three points in a match which was as hard-fought as the 28-25 score line indicates.

 

Methinks we are in for another tight finish to the top domestic league this season.

Barclay's Back In What Looks Like A First-Pick Team

Scotland team to play Italy at BT Murrayfield this Saturday (29 August, kick-off 3.15pm):

 

15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne (all Glasgow Warriors), 11 Tim Visser (Harlequins); 10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors), 9 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester); 1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Ross Ford, 3 Willem Nel;  4 Grant Gilchrist (all Edinburgh Rugby), 5 Jonny Gray; 6 Ryan Wilson (both Glasgow Warriors), 7 John Barclay (Scarlets), 8 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby). – 26 caps.

Substitutes: 16 Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby), 17 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors), 18 Jon Welsh (Newcastle Falcons), 19 Robert Harley (Glasgow Warriors), 20 Blair Cowan (London Irish); 21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors), 22 Ruaridh Jackson (Wasps), 23 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby).

 

That's the team then - and, all being well, I don't think our team to face Japan in the World Cup opener, at Kingsholm, Gloucester, on Wednesday, 23 September, will be much different.

 

I can see a fit Tommy Seymour, who has had to drop out of the team for Saturday after suffering a back strain, filling one of the wing slots at Kingsholm, with Tim Visser perhaps under the greater pressure to get a start in the World Cup opener.

 

The continuing absence of Sean Maitland and Alex Dunbar from the match-day squads is beginning to be a worry. Time is running out for the pair of them.

 

I am pleased to see Rob Harley in the match-day squad. His ability to cover all of the back five positions in the pack will be critical during the tournament. He and Blair Cowan look like being the two versatile forwards - always remembering, if we hit injury trouble, the two back-up hookers, Stuart McInally, who is on the bench on Saturday and Fraser Brown have both shown they can do a job in the back row if required.

 

Saturday's Murrayfield clash will be slightly different from the first game with Italy, in Turin, last Saturday. For a start, the wonderful Paressie seems likely to be back to inspire the Azzurri. Any Scottish plus points from Turin came in the confirmation of how good our defensive systems are. Now, with Mark Bennett back, in concert in the centre with Peter Horne - we will be hoping to see Scotland more on the front foot and able to give our back three scoring opportunities, which Hoggie, big Sean and Tim Visser are all capable of taking.

 

Perhaps no Scottish player is under greater pressure on Saturday than John Barclay. At his best, he remains our best open-side - he really needs to demonstrate this on Saturday, to clinch the jersey for the tournament. If he can bring his Scarlets form to the game, it will be good for Scotland.

SQUADS - 'TTENSHUN!!

MY e-mail in-box was busy this morning, with various missives flowing in from BT Murrayfield, giving details of weekend matches involving top Scottish players.

 

First-up was the release of the Glasgow Warriors' squad for their pre-season hop across the Atlantic, to face Canada, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This squad reads:

 

FORWARDS - Jason Hill,  Josh Strauss, Will Bordill, Simone Favaro, Chris Fusaro, Scott Cummings, James Eddie, Kieran Low, Tim Swinson, Mike Cusack, Zander Fagerson, D'arcy Rae, Kevin Bryce, Pat MacArthur, George Hunter, Jerry Yanuyanutawa.

BACKS -  Peter Murchie, Junior Bulumakau, Lee Jones, Rory Hughes, Mark Robertson, Glenn Bryce, Robbie Fergusson, Fraser Lyle, Rory Clegg, Scott Wight, Mike Blair, Grayson Hart.

Now, even with so-many first-picks involved with Scotland - and big Leone Nakarawa away with Fiji, Toony can still list 12 internationalists in his squad for the trans-Atlantic trip. The game will be terrific experience for young Scott Cummings and Zander Fagerson in the pack - two guys I would have expected to have been watching for Hawks against Ayr, at Old Anniesland on Saturday.

 

Mind you, the Ayr squad for Saturday will be minus Will Bordill, D'arcy Rae, George Hunter and Robbie Fergusson, all of whom are jetting off to Halifax.

 

I also expect Rory Hughes to be keen to make a point to BVC from some 3000 miles away.

 

The Warriors's squad release was quickly followed by details of the Scotland squad to face Italy at BY Murrayfield, also on Saturday.

 

This squad is:

 

FORWARDS - John Barclay (Scarlets), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Blair Cowan (London Irish), David Denton, Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist (all Edinburgh Rugby), Jonny Gray, Robert Harley (both Glasgow Warriors), Stuart McInally, Willem Nel (both Edinburgh Rugby), Ryan Wilson, Gordon Reid (both Glasgow Warriors), Jon Welsh (Newcastle Falcons).

BACKS - Mark Bennett, Stuart Hogg, Peter Horne (all Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (CAPTAIN) (Gloucester), Sean Lamont, Finn Russell, Henry Pyrgos, Tommy Seymour (all Glasgow Warriors), Greig Tonks (Edinburgh Rugby), Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Tim Visser (Harlequins).

 

So, at last, the big guns, the "shoo-ins" from the original extended squad will see some match action. The good news is the return to action of Warriors' Mark Bennett, but, this is balanced by the continuing absence of his co-centre Alex Dunbar, whose World Cup hopes are now, for me, hingin oan a shoogly peg.

 

Good too, to see John Barclay in the squad, and, I reckon, barring accidents the 25 guys named in Saturday's squad will all go to the World Cup.

 

But, who will the other six be? Well, from what I have seen thus far, I would expect Ryan Grant, Josh Strauss and one from John Hardie or Hugh Blake to be added to the pack, with Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Richie Vernon and one or other between Sean Maitland and Dunbar also going. If neither Maitland nor Dunbar is deemed to be fit, I reckon the 31st jersey will go to either Ruaridh Jackson or Duncan Weir.

 

The pulse and the pace is quickening.

Sympathy For Some, But, No Surprises In the Names Of Those Cut From The Squad

NO real surprises among those who have been cut from the extended Scotland World Cup squad. The guys who have been sent back to their clubs never really grasped their chance, either in Dublin or Turin, or even in training, to be included in the pools for the final two warm-up games.

 

I feel one or two others might also have gone, but, with the continuing uncertainty over Mark Bennett's and Alex Dunbar's recovery from illness, clearly BVC is being very careful in not getting down to the final 31 too soon.

 

I applaud his decision to send Josh Strauss back to Glasgow to get game time. The big Saffer cannot pull on the navy blue jersey until the opening game of the tournament itself, so, had he not been given the chance to turn out for Glasgow, he would have been under-cooked.

 

I do feel sorry for Ben Toolis, Edinburgh's young Australian-born lock. He is clearly the future, but he's out, without hitting the park in the two warm-ups thus far. Big Jim Hamilton, who is now clearly on the downward slope of his career, remains with the squad, in spite of a very anonymous (he didn't reprise his pantomime villain act) game in Turin. I'd have kept Toolis and sent Hamilton back to Saracens.

 

Sympathy too for another Edinburgh forward, Hamish Watson. I thought he did more when on the field in Turin, than did Hugh Blake in his spell in Dublin. But, Watson is out and Blake, who is surely becoming to BVC, what Darren Fletcher was to SAF at Manchester United - a favoured "son", is still in.

 

I would also have kept Rory Hughes and sent Tim Visser away. Visser, to me, is what they called in cricket: "a flat track bully". Aye, he will score in club games, but, I fear his defensive deficiencies show up at international level.

 

It will be interesting to see who of the previously unused players is called up to face Italy at BT Murrayfield on Saturday. In particular, we need to see the likes of Sean Maitland, Mark Bennett and Alex Dunbar in action - or they may well be among the second group cut from the final World Cup 31.

 

Never mind, I think we are in a better place than England. Maybe the hype is starting to get to them. 

Scotland Win Ugly - Surprise (Not)

FORGET the Olympian ideal - all that: "The glory is not in winning but in having taken part" guff. In professional sport, even at international level, which is supposedly: "War without the bullets", it's all about winning - except we poor misguided writers like to harp on about how we played the game.

 

Sure, Scotland won ugly, but SCOTLAND WON, and it has been nearly a year since we have been able to write that.Traditionally, matches between Italy and Scotland are scruffy, scrappy affairs, error-ridden, with few moments of Prosecco, far-less champagne moments.

 

Last night's little effort in Turin was par for the course, but, we won and can move on a bit towards the World Cup.

 

I have always held that, we don't have enough international-class players, so, any time we go into a game missing a handful, we will struggle; and we struggled last night. Hardly surprising, but, let's not take the normal Scottish position of having the wind in our faces until we have seen our squad shoo-ins in action over the next two games.

 

So, who did I think played themselves into the World Cup 31, and who did their chances some harm?

 

Starting at the front - Gordy Reid and Alasdair Dickinson will be our two loose-heads. Until a head knock forced him off, Reid was coping really well with the Italian scrum - less well with JP Doyle's well-known inability to referee the scrums. A fit Jon Welsh will have the number three shirt, but, who backs him up is still a good question. Mike Cusack and WP Nel still have it all to do.

 

The three hookers will all go, but, in the second row, BVC has a big decision or two to make. I think Jim Hamilton needs to be put out to graze. With Grant Gilchrist and the Gray brothers all shoo-ins, it probably comes down to Rob Hartley's ability to cover all the back five positions, against Ben Toolis's athleticism, with Hartley favourite.

 

In the back row, I thought Hamish Watson made a real case for the number seven shirt when he was on the park last night, but, so too did John Hardie. Blair Cowan and Dave Denton will go, as will the still ineligible Josh Strauss. I would also take John Barclay, but, BVC might not. Decisions to be made there.

 

Assuming Laidlaw starts, I think Pyrgos has now leap-frogged SHC as number two, but, all three will go. Finn Russell is a shoo-in, but, I have a feeling Ruaridh Jackson might be number two at ten, because he can cover more positions than Dunky Weir, who has done nothing wrong.

 

A fit Mark Bennett will go in the centre, with Peter Horne, Richie Vernon and Matt Scott, while I thought Rory Hughes's Turin debut has put pressure on Tim Visser, and Sean Lamont will also go to move closer to his century of caps.

 

Tommy Seymour, Sean Maitland - who really needs a big game for us in one or both of the next two matches, and Stuart Hogg will all go.

 

So, I have filled 26 of my 31 shirts for the World Cup - we have one prop to find, two or three back five forwards and a couple of backs who can fill-in in a couple of positions.

 

There are still issues to be settled, we are in for an interesting week or two around the squad.

 

 

 

JP DOYLE, the Irishman turned Englishman who had the whistle in Turin, has long been an acquired taste. He has also, repeatedly, shown, he hasn't a clue about the scrum.

 

He did so again in Turin, repeatedly ignoring Italian malpractices to penalise Scotland, but, this is nothing new. The elite level referees nearly all seem to think Scotland - the land of Mighty Mouse, of Sandy Carmichael, Iain Milne, Hughie McLeod and Davie Rollo, David Sole and Jim Aitken has forgotten how to scrummage.

 

I don't quite know what we can do to change this opinion, other than to have a bloody good World Cup. Mind you, I still think John Humphries, our Welsh scrum coach, isn't up to the job.

 

Mark Dodson should maybe take a trip down to Melrose and ask Jim Telfer who he thinks we should be recruiting to sort out our forwards. Because, it isn't all about the front row.

 

Also, John Jeffery should maybe start sorting out the elite level of referees, after all, he does chair the IRB's refereeing commission.

 

When, less than a month out from a World Cup, a game is still suffering from uneven refereeing interpretations in laws covering some key areas of the game, then that game has a big problem.

 

 

The Shoo-Ins Are Certanly Beginning To Emerge From The World Cup Training Squad

WITH the announcement of the match-day squad for Saturday night's international against Italy, in Turin, Scotland's RWC squad of 31 is beginning to take shape. After Saturday's match, 34 of the 46-strong training squad will have match involvement. It is now surely not too-much to expect the dozen not yet asked to strut their stuff are the likeliest to be going to Gloucester and beyond.

 

The supposed shoo-ins are: Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland, Mark Bennett, Alex Dunbar, Tommy Syemour, Finn Russell and Greig Laidlaw in the backs and Jonny Gray and Josh Strauss among the forwards.

 

I would reckon forwards Ben Toolis and Alan Dell are now relying on injuries to others if they are to have a chance of making the final 31, with Dougie Fife and Ryan Wilson needing big games, if they are named in any of the three remaining matches, if they are to make it.

 

It will be interesting to see which of WP Nel and Mike Cusack is handed the number three jersey in Turin. Assuming he recovers from the head knock he sustained in Dublin, I believe Jon Welsh will be the starting tight-head, which means Nel and Cusack are playing for the back-up role. Their scrumming credentials will be seriously tested by Italy, so, they have everything to play for.

 

BVC may well switch Ruaridh Jackson and Greig Tonks on Saturday. Jackson did well at 15 in Dublin, but, I would like to see him given a run in his normal stand-off position.

 

The continuing uncertainties over the fitness of our three leading centres, Messrs Bennett, Dunbar and Scott is unsettling. Might we yet see Stuart Hogg given a run-out there in one of the remaining Summer Tests? Just in case.

 

Looking again at Saturday's game. I hope John Hardie gets on, hopefully from the start. He comes from the Highlanders with a terrific reputation, it would be good to see if the hype is justified.

 

Finally, no harm to Kevin Bryce, after his unexpected call-up as injury cover for Fraser Brown, but, it beats me how Warriors's second and third-choice hookers are both in the Scotland squad, while first-choice Pat McArthur is still with his severely-depleted club squad.  

 

 

Not Bad, But, Don't Read Too Much Into Saturday's Result

CHEERING though it was to see Scotland's World Cup preparations move up a gear, with the first taste of match action, let's not get carried away with what was, a patchy but encouraging Dublin display. I will be surprised if any more than three of Saturday's starting XV are in our starting line-up against the Japanese on 23 September - when the RWC begins for us in Gloucester.

In football, old Craig Brown used to respond to hysterical press demands that he cap so-and-so by doing just that, thereby giving the flavour of the month the chance to play himself out of international contention.

OK, we seldom see the same media hysteria when it comes to naming the Scottish rugby XV, but, I reckon yesterday's match, and at least this weekend's Italian Job are BVC's way of allowing some of the fringe members of his big squad the chance to play themselves out of the RWC.

The big Kiwi probably already knows his preferred match-day 23, leaving him with just eight players to find from the remaining 23 wannabees. Of course, there will almost certainly be one or two injuries over the remaining three matches, so, it would be pointless to name names at this stage.

I don't think anyone played themselves OUT of the final 31 on Saturday, but, interestingly for BVC, the overall standard of the team has made his job in arriving at the final 31 names that wee bit harder.

It will be interesting to see who makes it onto the 'plane to Italy this weekend. Thereafter, for the final two warm-up games - things will become really intriguing.

One aspect of Saturday's game did concern me. Again we had a supposedly elite level referee treating Scotland as "the wee team". We simply didn't get the rub of the green (if you can say that in the context of a game in Ireland) when it came to the iffy decisions.

Our forwards were repeatedly pinged at the breakdown, while the Irish got away with murder, for instance - this is nothing new, but, the SRU has to get it sorted out.

Mind you, in at least three of our RWC group games, against Japan, USA and Samoa - Scotland will be the "big" team and likely to get the refereeing breaks; so maybe we should not say too-much, too-soon.

IT WASN'T just BVC who had reasons to be cheered by defeat at the weekend. When you looked at the squad he took to Clermont Auvergne on Friday night, Toony can surely only be happy with the closeness of the defeat the young Warriors suffered at the hands of a much-more-experienced French side.

One of the many good things which Toony has done since he took over at Scotstoun has been his willingness to risk young, inexperienced players. Clearly, Toony believes in the old adage: "If they're good enough, they're old enough".  Maybe the longer in the tooth Alan Solomons could take a leaf out of his younger colleague's book.

I WATCHED Saturday's Dublin match in an Ayrshire rugby club, sitting alongside some equally-aged, if not older "silverbacks". But, in the opposite corner of the club-house, also watching the game on the big screen, were a group of that club's women's team.

And their behaviour won approval from my long-term former team-mate seated next to me.

"That's the attitude I like to see", he said, alluding to the fact these young ladies were, to a girl, drinking pints.

Women backing old-style rugby values - that's what we like to see.



WATCHING the highlights of the England v France game on the BBC iplayer this morning, one thing was patently obvious, that is the sheer quality of Brian Moore as the co-commentator.

"Pit Bull" wasn't on-duty at Twickenham on Saturday night, with the odious Jerry Guscott moving-up from talking head to co-commentator. Now, one thing has long been patently obvious about Guscott. Even in his playing days, for all his sublime skills, he came across as a total tosser.

Since he has been paid to talk rather than play rugby, it has become even more evident, what an obnoxious human being he is. He surpassed himself on Saturday, as a totally one-eyed little Englander.

The sooner the BBC cleans its stables of the Engurland, Engurland, Engurland cheer leaders whom they employ, the better. But, I am not holding my breath on this.

This upcoming World Cup is increasingly being sold as: "Come and watch England beat the world". You know, I can see them flopping badly - they are not nearly as good as their media cheer leaders - such as Guscott - think they are.  

I Might Be A Moaning Old Fart, But, We Are Being Short Changed

I FEAR this blog is, at the moment, turning into a constant whine about the fall in standards in the Scottish media - for which, apologies.

 

These standards have been falling for years, sadly. BBC Scotland, which is very-much the benchmark-setter, some years ago, decided to blatantly take-on Radio Clyde in chasing the Old Firm fan base, and, in the process, lost all reason.

 

Once upon a time, you could turn on the BBC and have Bill McLaren no less, bringing his unique insight into that day's club programme. I well recall my better half's shock the first time Bill called my home to ask me to prepare a wee segment of a match report for him to use on Sportsreel that Saturday night.

 

She had little interest in sport, other than ice skating (Canadian ice hockey-playing father, she could skate before she could walk); but, she recognised McLaren's voice and it was the fact Bill wanted me to do something which helped ease her concerns anent my swapping regular weekly income from the uncertain world of freelance journalism. If Bill McLaren thought I could do the job - maybe I could.

 

Any way, in Pacific Quay today, if it isn't fitba - it isn't sport - unless there's a wee bit of all-expenses-paid globe-trotting as a camp follower of Andy Murray's Army. And, if it is fitba, it's not "real" fitba, if it doesn't come wrapped in green and white or red, white and blue scarves.

 

OK, BBC Alba does a fine job in covering the Pro12 games, but, as we all know, there is much more to Scottish Rugby than the international team and the two professional clubs.

 

Mind you, if the broadcast media in Scotland is bad, the slippage of standards in our written media when it comes to rugby, merely mirrors the general malaise, which has seen readerships dwindle.

 

The Record never really bothered with rugby. The Express has been a joke ever since the late Brian Meek left for the Herald many moons ago. The Sun - pass. The Daily Mail, I understand, still employs the excellent Rob Robertson and a couple of more-than-capable freelances get by-lines there; but, since I refuse to read such a Fascist paper, I cannot personally verify this.

 

The USP (Unique Selling Point) of both the Herald and Scotsman's sports coverage used to be their rugby coverage. Nobody farted in a scrum without the two "quality" papers knowing. To be fair to The Scotsman, while the rest of the paper has been failing, Donald Walker, Graham Bean and the sports team have continued to keep standards high in what is now a seven-days-a-week unified sports desk across The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday. They, at least, cover each BT Premiership match, as well as the Pro12 teams, and, as the excellent Duncan Smith grows into his new rugby role in tandem with Iain Morrison, I expect things to get even better.

 

Jonathan Coates is still finding his feet as Sports Honcho at the Herald, but, he has some excellent young guns on his team and, hopefully, rugby will get a greater share of the sports desk resources than it previously had. But, the Herald's coverage of Glasgow rugby has not won it many friends amongst a constituency which grew-up in the days when Bill McMurtrie and the late Glen Stirling could be found on the touchline at even the most-obscure of venues across the vast Glasgow rugby district.

 

Add the sheer quality of the rugby analysis from the likes of the afore-mentioned McLaren, Meek and John Beattie Senr and you had terrific rugby coverage. Compared to these giants, Neil Drysdale's weekly article comes across as what it is - pure opinionated shite written by a journalist who no longer even bothers to get out and watch a live match.

 

Given the way their readerships have declined, albeit while they have comparatively-healthy online readerships, it might be too-late to save the two "heavy" papers. But, better rugby coverage might help.

 

For instance, I only discovered what the Glasgow Warriors' team to play Clermont Auverge tonight would be, when I looked on the Ayr RFC website. I cannot envisage a pre-season game involving Celtic being ignored by the MSM in the way this Glasgow game has been.

 

It simply is not good enough   

 

 

The Vandals Are Inside The Gates

I AM not that much of a Guardian fan - no "national newspaper" which treats Scotland with the cavalier disregard with which that title does can truly be regarded as: "A national newspaper".

The view that the United Kingdom ends at Carlisle is particularly evident when it comes to the Guardian's rugby coverage - which rarely, if ever, covers Scotland. Hopefully this scandalous situation is, however, ending, now Bill Lothian, having finally managed to escape from the Edinburgh Evening News, is getting his by-lined copy into the Guardian.

On an aside here, just in case my old mate Bill ever reads this shite - I first became aware of rugby back in the early 1950s, with Scotland's 44-0 thrashing from the Springboks. Soon after television came to Scotland, I remember being transfixed by the 1953 All Blacks and the thought of Bob Scott, their legendary full-back, dropping a goal the length of the pitch.

I first picked up a rugby ball to play the game in 1958 and can still pick-out the exact spot, on Marr College's playing fields, where I scored my first try.

So, rugby and I go back a long way. However, in all that time, I have NEVER seen the captain of a rugby team wearing a captain's arm-band, an effete soccer symbol in my view. In recent years however, as real rugby writers have been displaced by football-trained youths who have failed to make the grade in the round ball game, the use of "the arm-band" has grown in articles on rugby.

I have repeatedly pointed-out to journalists who have used "the arm-band", and to their Sports Editors and sub-editors who have allowed this inaccuracy to actually make it through to the final printed paper - it's a load of shite, which, in my view makes the writer look stupid - mentioning something which doesn't exist.

As I say, I've known about rugby for 64-years, have been watching it for 62, first played the game 57-years ago. In all that time, nary a captain's arm-band have I seen - so: why the fuck are we talking about something which doesn't exist?

Bill Lothian should know better. Of him I expected better. But, if even old Bill is starting to use the expression, there is only one answer.

Will the various unions please - start issuing your captains with arm-bands. The cause is lost, the Vandals are inside the gates.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, the Guardian.

Can I please recommend you seek-out today's on-line edition, and check out Patrick Skene's article: "The forgotten story of...Steve Merrick, rugby union's last amateur".

This is a wonderful story of an almost-forgotten Wallabies scrum-half, the aforesaid Steve Merrick. Read it and weep, for it reminds us of so much of what we lost when the game went professional.

Patrick Skene suggests amateurism is dead in rugby. Well, certainly at the top level, but, there are still an awful lot more amateur guys, playing the game for fun, than there are professionals, being paid to play - and for as long as this is the case. This glorious game will survive and thrive.

VIA the dead hand of media management, today's serious rugby papers all feature an interview with Glasgow Warriors' prop Ryan Grant. Fair enough, after his brush with the law in the Kebab Shop Rammy, I suppose the fact big Grantie has fought his way back into the national squad is news.

But, the fact is, in trying to "big-up" big Grantie, as the main challenger to Alistair Dickinson's status as the man in possession of the Scotland Number One shirt; the journos have overlooked one wee point.

This is - Grantie IS NOT the man in possession of the Glasgow Number One shirt. The man in possession there is Gordon Reid, and he, rather than Grant, is the man behind Dicko in the pecking order of Scottish loose-head props.

To be fair to Grant, he has, like his old sparring partner Adam Jones, suffered more than most from the changes to the engagement rules in the front row. Reid has coped far better with these changes, as has Dickinson.

Not all the listed props in the 47-strong Scotland long squad will make the final 31 for the World Cup. On last year's form, Grant is perhaps the most-vulnerable of the available loose-heads. I would have hoped to have seen this written about, rather than the Kebab Shop Rammy.

We must never forget this regretable incident, but, we shouldn't dwell on it, to the exclusion of more-valid rugby reasons to write about a player.

 

The Heat Starts To Build From Now

THE Phoney War is almost over. Scotland go to Dublin to face Ireland at the weekend, and, today, Vern Cotter named his match-day squad. Full marks to BBC Scotland, for an inept attempt to inject a bit of football-style controversy into the announcement - by pointing out the absence of Greig Laidlaw, and Henry Pyrgos's appointment as captain.

 

Given BVC has to reduce his 40-plus-strong training squad to a final 31-man squad for the actual World Cup, it stands to reason, he has to have a look at the guys who are not shoo-ins for the final squad.

 

He will, I suspect, do an initial sort-out in the first two of the four warm-up internationals he has between now and the final 31-man squad moving into their World Cup training base near Gloucester, on 16 September. So he ahs five games, over the next five weeks, in which to make his decision.

 

It stand to reason, the guys furthest from the final 31 will mainly have their chance in the first two games. So, to make out it was a surprise that wee Greig wasn't in the first match-day squad is, even by the disgracefully low standards of journalism we have come to expect from the guys who bring you Open All Mikes on a weekly basis, shite journalism.

 

Scottish football is rubbish - therefore, rubbish journalism is to be expected. The London rugby media might tend to ignore Scotland when it comes to the game (on an aside - if you can largely ignore one-quarter of the international teams in the British Isles, how can you claim to be a "national" newspaper?); but, being ignored by the airheads in the London Media Bubble does not mean Scottish rugby is bad.

 

I have a feeling we will surprise one or two during this World Cup.

 

 

 

I WELCOME the SRU taking a bit of interest in youth rugby, but, I remain unconvinced that the new conferences which were announced at the weekend is the way forward.

 

Asking teenagers to choose between schools and club rugby is not the way I would have done it, but, let's suck it and see how things develop.

 

At least, BT Murrayfield is looking at the youth game. Pity they are doing so little for the real backbone of the game, the clubs.

 

 

Nae Wonder My Old Trade Is Going To The Dogs

UNASHAMED (and unrepentant) Old Fart that I am - I despair of some of today's Young Turks in rugby writing, and even-more-so of some of the older, but apparently no wiser Desk Jockeys who are supposed to guide them.

I still wait to see the first rugby XV captain to wear "the armband", which more and more of the football-trained rugby writers we have today refer to. That's bad enough - even worse is the way real authoritative rugby writing has been jettisoned in  favour of another football fashion to defile modern sports writing - the quotes piece.

This, of course, allows me to rehash my story of the former Kaiser of the Glasgow Herald's rugby coverage and his scornful dismissal of the younger hacks, as they deserted the press box to get instant post-final whistle quotes from the respective coaches of two BT Premiership teams.

"In my day, I told them how the game had gone - they didn't tell me", he thundered. And quite right too.

Another former colleague, whose particular field of expertise was theatre criticism, used to snort at we sports hacks, carrying out management's instructions and seeking post-match quotes from managers and players.

"I don't stand outside the Stage Door to ask Ian McKellen how he thought the performance had gone - I tell him next morning in my review. You are not a PR "puffer" for the talent, you are a reviewer and a critic  -  so, review and criticise", was his advice.

Maybe if a few more of us were prepared to take the back-lash from offended players and coaches, when we criticised them too-much, the print media wouldn't be in such a mess.

Also, maybe if the broadcast media employed fewer "faces" in former players, to spew-out insights which are not insightful, but merely preventing "dead air", and asked a few more-difficult questions, the game, whichever one it be, would be better.

Actual match action in domestic Scottish rugby gets going today, with the first pre-season games. These might not mean much in the grander scheme of things, but, at last, we have players in action. The Scottish rugby press should be out there, setting the scene for the start of the league season, in three-weeks' time. We have been idle too long.

Instead, they are lapping-up any old shite from Scotland's World Cup preparations. At least, the Scottish press is paying attention. Some of the London-based papers, when they do overcome their Engerlund, Engerlund, Engerlund cheer-leading obsession and write about other nations, are very careful to avoid the S word. 

To read some "UK national newspapers" based in London - you would think the SNP had really won the day and the UK ended at the Solway. England, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentine (all of course playing still in the Rugby Championship), plus France, Samoa and even planet Vulcan have all been covered recently. But, Scotland - where's that mate? seems to be the attitude in the Sudetenland.