They Like Tripe In Yorkshire and Nigel - This Were Tripe

“I am hugely excited about this opportunity to join England Rugby in what is a very buoyant time,” he said. “This year already the men have claimed the grand slam, the domestic game has continued to thrive, the U20s are looking to win the Junior World Championship in Manchester and the men and women will compete in the sevens competition at the Olympics in Rio for the first time ever. I am looking forward to helping bring further success to England teams.”

THE above is a quote, taken from this morning's 'Guardian'. The words are those of this man:

Nigel Melville

He is Nigel Melville, one-time scrum-half and captain of England, former Director of Rugby at Wasps and, since 2007, head of USA Rugby. He was speaking following his appointment as succesor to his former England half-back partner Rob Andrew as the Rugby Football Union's Director of Professional Rugby.

Just one wee point Nigel - Olympic Games rugby is a Team GB matter, it is not the plaything of the RFU. The Team GB rugby sevens squads in Rio will be multi-national squads, we Scots and the Welsh are involved. Of course, the bulk of the squads will be English, but, it is not as if the English are far and away the best sevens exponents in these islands. They might it could be argued, be the best of a bad lot, but, to assume the Olympics squads will be "English", well, even for a Yorkshireman, that's taking English arrogance to extremes.

TO less-upsetting matters; last night's Warriors' demolition of Zebre was one of those nights when it was good to be alive. OK, it was "only" Zebre that Warriors put to the sword, but, given the number of fringe players Toony selected, this was a potential banana skin for the Weegies.

Ten tries to two is, to use an old Scots word, a skutchin' by any standard, but, the performance was not without its blemishes.

• When will Scottish sides get a grip with defending driving mauls?

• Will Taqele Naiyaravoro ever learn to tackle properly? Not that this is a problem for Glasgow; last night was probably his farewell performance in a less-than-devastating cameo career at Scotstoun.

• Who will provide the forward X-factor next season, when we don't have Leone Nakaraw? (below)

These questions will keep Toony's mind on rugby over the summer. But before then, there is a league to win, and, albeit winning in Galway against Connacht is anything but a given, we can surely be more than just hopeful of a season's finale at Murrayfield next month.

MEANWHILE, Munster edged-out Edinburgh, as we feared they would. Alan Solomon has worked wonders in lifting Edinburgh out of the slough of despond in which they dwelt when he took over, but, for all the bright young Scots he has brought through, there continues to be something missing in that club.

The arrival of Dunky Weir might help, although, to be fair, Jason Tovey has proven to be an inspired recruit on his short-term contract. As they showed by their Christmas/New Year double over Warriors, Edinburgh can rise to challenges, but, they remain, annoyingly, just short of being a top club side.

Duncan Weir

I am looking forward to seeing Dunky driving Edinburgh next season. He has been a terrific servant to Glasgow, but, clearly, even Murrayfield has now decided it wasn't good for Scotland to have our two top stand-offs playing for the same club.

Farewell To The Weegies From Fiji

Leone Nakarawa on the charge

SOON, there will be no "Weegies from Fiji", with Leone Nakarawa and Jerry Yanuyanutawa leaving the Warriors. We don't know where the popular Jerry will go, but, apparently big Leone is set to become a Polynesian Parisian; if rumours pan out, he will be with Racing 92 next season.

However, Nakarawa's departure, though it will be mourned by all Scottish rugby fans, at least does some good for his club. Rugby chaps, being essentially gentlemen, do not, unlike their footballing cousins, discuss transfer fees and such matters; but, again the rumour mill tells us Glasgow have extracte a sizeable fee for their prize asset, one which will be put to good use in helping Toony's team-building for next season.

Circumstances such as the demands of the Rugby World Cup meant Glasgow was carrying a somewhat-bloated squad this season. A cull was always going to happen, and this week it did, with names announced which means more than an entire XV of players have already gone or will be departing at the end of the season: Glenn Bryce, Taqele Naiyarovoro, Robbie Fergusson, Kevin Bryce, Gregor Hunter, Duncan Weir, Mike Blair; Jerry Yanuyanutawa, Shalvu Mamukashvili, Mike Cushack, Leone Nakarawa, James Eddie, Will Bordill, Jason Hill, Tyrone Holmes, Fergus Scott and Javan Sebastian being the players leaving.

Blair and Eddie have been forced to retire, Weir and the Bryce brothers are moving across to Edinburgh, while Bordill, Hill and Sebastian were always more Premiership than Professional game players, and Scott found his career derailed by long-term injury and the progress made by James Malcolm. Fergusson and Cusack have already takent he High Road South, to London Scottish and Newcastle respectively. Javan Sebastian is returning to Wales, but, we can expect to see Bordill and probably Scott in Ayr's pink and black next season.

We aready know who some of the replacements are. Leonardo Sarto will come in to bolster wing resources, Corey Flynn will arrive, probably to be more of a hooking mentor than a challenger to Fraser Brown and Pat McArthur, while with some front row berths cleared, we can expect to see more of Djustice Sears-Duro and Jarrod Firth, not forgetting D'arcy Rae. Kiaran Low is also due back from his loan spell with the Saracens' Storm – the English champions' 2^nd XV, to complete his two-year deal, while we await more new arrivals.

Warriors' new boy Leonardo Sarto takes on "old boy" DTH Van der Merwe

Glasgow and some of the departing, sign-off at Scotstoun tomorrow night, when they face Zebre in their final home regular season game. Hopefully, between that game and their final fixture, at Connacht, the Warriors will get the results which ensure a home play-off semi-final and one more Scotstoun sell-out.

The team for tomorrow night's game is: Glenn Bryce, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Mark Bennett, Alex Dunbar, Sean Lamont, Duncan Weir, Grayson Hart; Jerry Yanuyanutawa, Pat MacArthur, D’arcy Rae, Greg Peterson, Leone Nakarawa, Rob Harley (Captain), Simone Favaro, Adam Ashe. Replacements: Fraser Brown, Gordon Reid, Zander Fagerson, Tim Swinson, Ryan Wilson, Ali Price, Finn Russell,
Tommy Seymour.

THE 2015 Rugby World Cup has only been over for six months, but, already the qualifying process for the 2019 tournament is underway.

What has this to do with Scotland – we have already qualified? You might ask, well, it matters to at least one Scottish player, Ayr and former Glasgow Warriors' prop George Hunter, who flies out on Sunday to Nassau, to prepare for his Rugby World Cup debut, at prop for the Bahamas, against Mexico, in the North American qualifying round.

George Hunter on the charge for Ayr

Hunter, who played for the Scotland Club XV in their two wins over England and Ireland, earlier this year, qualifies for the Bahamas through his grand-father, and he is looking forward to the experience, after all, where would you rather be – freezing in Glasgow, or training in 30 degrees in Freeport, on Grand Bahama? That's a no-brainer.

He will only play in the game against Mexico, however. He will miss the Bahamas' next two qualifiers, against the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, because he has to come back and start an internship with Aberdeen Asset Management, in London. However, he hopes to be back with Ayr for the start of next season.

We understand Ross Curle, the Ayr captain, is taking a sudden interest in his family tree, looking to see if the Curles owned plantations in the Caribbean, to qualify him for an exotic cap or three!!!

Cheers Big Man - We Will Miss You

James Eddie - retiring immediately

"EVENTS dear boy - events". Former Prime Minister Harold "Supermac" MacMillan's famous quote came back to haunt me this morning. No sooner had I posted my last blog piece, about the professional teams' rosters, than Glasgow Warriors announce the immediate retirement of a player who definitely commands that title: "Fans' favourite" - back-row forward James Eddie.

 

James is a definite Glasgow boy, arriving at Warriors via GHA. He has played over 100 games for the club over his ten-year career with them, quite happily filling-in across all back five positions in the pack and never, ever, giving less than 100%.

 

It was the same when he was sent out to play in the BT Premiership, most-often of late for Ayr. Here again, unlike some other Warriors, even Scottish-grown ones, he bought into the club ethos and played for the jersey.

 

Sometimes, you see a professional, sent out to play in the Premiership, take the field with the obvious attitude: "I am a star, playing at this level is beneath me". These guys, all too often, went through the motions. That accusation could never be levelled at James Eddie.

 

He was also a popular part-time member of the Scotland Sevens squad, again, rampaging around the park to good effect and never letting the side down. Lesser players have been capped, having put a lot less than James into Scottish rugby. If we rugby scribes ever get around to (which I just might do during the close season) picking a "Best Uncapped Scotland XV", well, James will be a shoo-in for one of the back-row places.

 

A niggling, long-term shoulder injury has forced him to retire, aged 30. His immediate plan is to go back to work with the family business, but, I would like to think he might do an Andy Henderson and put something back with his former club side - or maybe elsewhere in the Glasgow District. James Eddie is a man we can ill afford to lose from Scottish Rugby.

 

Well done Big Man we will miss you.

Too-many Players: Too-few Clubs

THREE-QUARTERS retired as I am - I really ought to have stolen dear old Jack Adams' idea and, when I retired, taken the name "Half-Day Press" for my freelance activities.

 

(Jack, for those who don't recognise the name, was a long-time Daily Record football reporter who, late in his career switched to covering rugby and loved it - he was given an early-retirement deal and began freelancing).

 

But, having the time to think about the game which is denied to those hacks still on the treadmill, I can get aerated about the dog's dinner which is the relationship between the two professional teams and the top clubs in the BT Premiership.

 

The Edinburgh website lists 42 players. I had a look at these and was able to divide them into three categories: 1, the "Core" squad - who make-up the match-day squad most weeks: 2, the "Fringe" squad, who either play very little, or, if they do play, it is with the Scotland Sevens squad or in the BT Premiership: 3, those players who we already know will be leaving the club at the end of the season.

 

The Core squad: Michael Allen, Sam Beard, Tom Brown, Phil Burleigh, Jack Cuthbert, Chris Dean, Nathan Fowles, Will Helu, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Damien Hoyland, Sean Kennedy, Jade Te Rure; Magnus Bradbury, Anton Bresler, Alan Dell, Alasdair Dickinson, Cornell du Preez, Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist, John Hardie, Nasi Manu, Stuart McInally, Fraser McKenzie, Willem Nel, James Ritchie, Rory Sutherland, Ben Toolis and Hamish Watson.

 

The Fringe squad: Dougie Fife (Scotland Sevens), Otulea Katoa, Nick McLennan, Andries Strauss, Simon Berghan, Neil Cochrane, Jack Cosgrove (on-loan to London Scottish), Grant Shiells, Alex Toolis, George Turner.

 

Leaving: Matt Scott, Jason Tovey (probably), John Andress, Mike Coman.

 

Glasgow has a far-larger squad, 64 players are named on its list,

 

The Core squad: Mark Bennett, Rory Clegg, Alex Dunbar, Grayson Hart, Stuart Hogg, Peter Horne, Rory Hughes, Lee Jones, Sean Lamont, Peter Murchie, Ali Price, Henry Pyrgos, Finn Russell, Tommy Seymour, Richie Vernon; Alex Allen, Adam Ashe, Fraser Brown, Kevin Bryce, Scott Cummings, James Eddie, Zander Fagerson, Simone Favaro, Jarrod Firth, Chris Fusaro, Ryan Grant, Jonny Gray, Rob Harley, Tyrone Holmes, James Malcolm Greg Peterson, Sila Puafisi, Gordy Reid, D'Justice Sears-Duro, Josh Strauss, Ryan Wilson, Jerry Yanuyanutawa,

 

Fringe squad: Junior Bulumakau, Nick Grigg, Gregor Hunter, Sam Johnson, Fraser Lyle, Hugh Blake Scotland Sevens), Gavin Lowe (Scotland Sevens); Will Bordill, Andrew Davidson, Cameron Fenton, Jason Hill, Kirnan MacDonald, D'arcy Rae, Matt Smith, Fergus Scott.

 

Leaving: Mike Blair (already retired), Glenn Bryce, Robbie Fergusson (already gone to London Scottish), Duncan Weir, Mike Cusack (already gone to Newcastle), Kiran Low (already gone), Shalva Mamukashvili, Leone Nakarawa, Javan Sebastian.

 

The Edinburgh numbers are probably about right - a total squad of around 40, when you include next season's new arrivals which we know about, such as young Lewis Carmichael - whose performances for Melrose have deservedly earned him a full contract.

 

New Edinburgh professional Lewis Carmichael

 

Glasgow, quite honestly, has too-many players. OK, there were mitigating circumstances this season, with the demands made on the club by the World Cup. Indeed, 56 players have taken the field for the club this season, but, a cull is necessary there.

 

In theory, if you include the long-term injured, Glasgow could field three full XVs this week, and still have players sitting watching - 

 

First XV: Hogg, Seymour, Bennett, Dunbar, Lamont, Russell, Pyrgos; Reid, Brown, Fagerson, Gray, Swinson, Harley, Strauss, Fusaro.

 

Second XV: Murchie, Jones, Vernon, Horne, Hughes, Clegg, Price; Yanuyanutawa, McArthur, Puafisi, Peterson, Cummings, Wilson, Ashe, Favaro.

 

Third XV: Lyle, Lowe, Johnson, Grigg, Bulumakau, Hunter, Hart; Allen, Bryce, Firth, McDonald, Davidson, Eddie, Smith, Blake.

 

Watching: Scott, Sears-Duro, Rae, Fenton, Bordill, Hill, Smith. And that does not include those players who will be leaving, or Ayr prop George Hunter, who was on a short-term deal during the World Cup, and who could still, in theory, be called upon in a front row emergency.

 

In football, the big Scottish Premiership clubs have established a system whereby young players they feel need more-intense competition than Under-20 or Reserve games, are increasingly being loaned-out to part-time lower league clubs. They train with their full-time clubs most days, but join the part-time club to which they have been loaned for their twice-weekly sessions. Surely that system should operate in rugby, if and when the semi-professional league is up and running.

 

Certain protocols would have to be introduced, to ensure the young players got sufficient game time, also, surely it is not beyond the wit of the professionals at BT Murrayfield, to get our Academy young players playing regularly against the Irish and Welsh Academies, even, occasionally, against such English Academies as Newcastle, Sale, Leeds Carnegie, even Wasps or the other East Midlands clubs - they are not that far down the M6 and M1.

 

I do not think, at the moment, we could make a positive case for a third or even a fourth professional club in Scotland, but, the situation of London Scottish MUST be seriously addressed by that club and the SRU. For as long as Scottish remains in the English second tier, it could provide a useful destination for some of the fringe players at Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, if and when Scottish gets promoted to the top-flight in England, they will be bound by the English Premiership rules, which require 70% of the players in any match-day squad to be "England-qualified".

 

In that eventuality, the case for Scottish joining the Pro12 becomes, in my opinion, paramount. It has to happen. 

Sort-Out This Refereeing Shambles

LET US put to one side the fact, during Saturday's BT Premiership Play-Off Final between Ayr and Heriot's, Graeme Wells gave a display of refereeing which was so honkingly bad as to make Willie Collum at his worst appear competent.

Bad though Wells was, the fact cannot be escaped, 21st century Rugby Union is becoming well-nigh unrefereeable. The task of a referee is to ensure, as far as possible, the Laws of the Game are adhered to and that fair play is possible.

One of the High Heid Yins in Scottish refereeing circles, admitted to me earlier this season, there are now so-many infringements at any breakdown, in any game, the match referees are being instructed to look for "materiality" in making decisions. This means, they are instructed to only penalise the infringement which they think has the greatest material affect on the game.

This means, the one-time zero tolerance of offences is no more; this is a cheat's charter - the team which cheats best will enjoy an advantage. The best example of this is surely the success of the Irish provinces, also, to some extent, New Zealand - since, nobody cheats better.

The game of Rugby Union, therefore, has to seriously address this issue. This blog has long championed the introduction, at least at the upper level of the game - semi-professional and professional - of the American Football system, of multiple officials.

  An NFL refereeing team pictured pre-match

The above picture is of a normal team of officials, as required for each NFL match - seven officials, to cover a maximum of 22 men on the park at any one time. The NFL believes they need that many referees, to cover the many nefarious practices that go on in a game.

I accept, American Football is more stop-start that Rugby, but, AF is an off-shoot of rugby and the basics remain the same. So-much of AF match action stems from the set-piece, in AF;s case the line of scrimmage. Similarly, in RU, everything stems from the set-pieces, scrum, line-out or ruck.

AF has referees with specific duties and responsibilities and, with so many pairs of eyes on the field, it is, in that game, well-nigh impossible to get away with some of the things which go on in rugby.

There are maybe too-many things to go into here, but, the NFL and indeed top college football in the USA has an officiating system which means, there are a lot fewer arguments about breaches of the law.

Now, I accept, the NFL's seven-officials system might be hard to initiate into RU. Indeed, seven officials may be overkill. Well, what is wrong with five officials, I certainly feel, we need, in top RU, more than the current three. Also, and this is an aside - let's introduce the American Football system for referrals to the TMO, and have him review contentious issues in real time.

We need more on-field officials. Mind you, that said, there is no guarantee we do not end up with three Gary Conways and two John Laceys, say, in a five-man team. Or, even worse, five Graeme Wellses.

That's the risk we have to take. Over to you John Jeffrey, get your committee working on this - then you can perhaps look at the overall Laws, starting with: BRING BACK REAL RUCKING.

NOW we know, the European Cup Final will be between Saracens and Racing 92 - the best in England v the best in France. Seems fair enough to me.

But, I find myself torn somewhat. I love Daniel Carter to bits, fantastic player, and would love him to be on the winning team. However, my late elder brother played for Saracens, when they were a distinctly unfashionable, amateur team from North London. Another of my best friends in rugby was also a Sarrie.

Sarries, with Duncan Taylor (above), and Kelly Brown, (below), also have a Scottish presence in their squad. See what I mean about conflicted.

     

WARRIORS have announced, this morning, that Rory Hughes and Junior Bulumakau have signed new one-year deals.

Good luck to Hughes, who I believe will develop into an international-class winger, but, Junior??? FFS, he was the worst of the wingers on show in Saturday's BT Premiership Play-Off Final; he didn't beat one single opponent and his defensive frailties were time and again expose by Heriot's.

He is Premiership standard, at best, and there are younger, potentially-better Scottish backs out there, who are, in my view, more-deserving of a professional contract.  

Graeme Wells - The Willie Collum Of Scottish Rugby

IT WAS just as well for Graeme Wells that he did a "Joubert" and fled the scene of his crimes on Saturday afternoon at Millbrae. If one tres formidable Ayr lady to whom I spoke after the BT Premiership final had got hold of him, he would have discovered, painfully, Ayr might be unsurpassed for Honest Men and Bonnie Lassies, but, the spirit of Cutty Sark is still around the auld Brig o' Doon.

 

Heriot's duly completed their "Treble" of SRU Charity Shield, BT Scottish Cup and BT Premiership, and congratulations to them - but, this third leg completion was as much down to the failings of Mr Wells as a match referee as to any brilliance on the part of the Goldenacre side.

 

The simple fact is, Mr Wells has had control of five Ayr matches this season, the Millbrae side has lost every one, and in each defeat, he has had a big part to play, with highly-controversial decisions against Ayr.

 

Yes, accuse us Ayrshiremen of paranoia, but, just because we think this way, doesn't mean he wasn't out to get us.

 

Apparently Mr Wells was being assessed in this game for possible promotion to the Pro12 panel. Well, I reckon he is a shoo-in. Yesterday in this match he was every bit as hopeless and useless as Clancy, Conway, Lacey an the other blind Irish referees who have so-blighted the Pro12 this season. In fact, to use a measure of refereeing incompetence borrowed from football - this was a Willie Collum-standard performance of inadequacy.

Willie Collum - are he and Graeme Wells related?

 

If this is the best we've got in Scotland - God help us. His performance was totally and completely unacceptable and unsatisfactory.

 

With a competent referee, Heriot's might well still have won - so evenly-matched were the sides. But, this game did not have the competent referee it cried out for, and as a result, it suffered, badly.

 

Such a pity the excellent Sam Grove White and Mike Adamson, two terrific young referees who do deserve advancement, should be guilty by association in the view, this particular game was inadequately controlled.

 

 

 

  Joe Marler says hello to Anaud Heguay

TWATUS SAXONUS is a none-too-rare beast, an English "sportsman" who gets right up the noses of we Scots, and our Argentinian, Australian, French, Irish, Italian, New Zealand and South African cousins.

 

So, after his efforts to prove, Rugby Union players do carry their IQs on their backs, in Friday night's European Challenge Cup semi-final against Grenoble, we can now admit, Joe Marler has surely replaced the now reformed Brian Moore as the supreme example of Twatus Saxonus.

 

I have written before on here, the first time I set eyes on Marler, in a pre-season Harlequins v Glasgow match at The Stoop, I immediately recognised here was Twatus Saxonus, fully-formed. That day, he strutted around pre-game trying to look hard; then, when play commenced, he wasted no time in taking a cheap shot at Gordy Reid.

 

Marler, to be fair, immediately realised his mistake as big Gordy returned with interest, there after, Marler kept well out of Gordy's way. But, with an increased number of English caps, has come greater arrogance. Not even a World Rugby suspension for his verbal cheap shot at Samson Lee has cooled Marler's ardour.

 

On Friday night he conducted a running playground pushing and shoving match with Grenoble hooker Anaud Heguay, before, finally taking a really nasty and dirt cheap shot, by kicking the Frenchman in the head. It wasn't even a good kick, more a childish swish of his shin - pathetic.

 

One can only hope the book, plus the bookcase, is thrown at Marler for this. Sadly, his stupidity is being defended, by Conor O'Shea, the outgoing Harlequins Director of Rugby.

 

Once upon a time, Harlequins stood for all that was good and noble about the game. Now, after "Bloodgate" and the club's support for Marler and the almost as odious Mike Brown, Harlequins is a byword for the worst excesses of the game.

 

 

A Good Day For Phil Burleigh - A Sad One For Mike Blair

JINGS, crivvens, help ma Boab, Ah dinnae believe it - McFadden got suspended, and Burleigh got off. Who'd have thunked it, the Pro12 disciplinary panel got it right, amazingly-so, given it was an all-Welsh selection.

 

Let's hope we can move on from here. It will take a wee while yet before the Irish stop cheating, but, this was a start.

 

 

Mike Blair - retired immediately

IF Burleigh's "Not Guilty" verdict was good news for Scottish rugby, it was quickly followed by some not-so good tidings, as Mike Blair announced his immediate retirement. Given the length of time he has been out with a head knock, it was always asking a lot for Mike to return, but, he switches immediately to the coaching role, which was in part the reasoning behind him joining Glasgow Warriors.

It has been clear all season that Mike's specialist coaching of the number nine's role was bearing fruit. Henry Pyrgos has established himself as a genuine option to skipper Greig Laidlaw in the national team, indeed, I would see Henry as the player better suited to the high-tempo game Scotland is trying to play.

But, Grayson Hart has come on under Blair's wing, while Ali Price has really blossomedand is now pressurising Hart for the back-up scrum-half role at Warriors, where Pyrgos is now the main man. Blair has also shown himself, through his occasional columns in the BBC Scotland website, to be an astute reader of the game and, as such, he will have a key role in video analysis of future opponents for Glasgow.

Mind you, he has hardly looked over the hill when playing for Glasgow, so he might well have been good for one further season as a player. However, we wish him well in his new role.

THIS weekend, for once, the BT Premiership has the rugby field all to itself, with the BT Premiership Final between Ayr and Heriot's, at Millbrae, and the promotion/relegation play-off, between Gala and Marr, at Bridgehaugh.

 

 

The Pro-Elite Cheerleaders will be strutting their stuff at Millbrae

The SRU is giving both games a boost on their website, and through press releases, the Pro-Elite Cheerleaders are even coming along to entertain us. Just how Ayr captain Ross Curle managed to swing that one is a good question. And, for once, the newspapers which treat rugby seriously, are showing interest - we can expect a lot of: "Who's he and what's his background" requests from the guys who normally cover the professionals, in the two press boxes on Saturday.

Particularly at Ayr, they might well get a shock at the standard of rugby on show.

 

Does Phil Smith Do Irony?

HERIOT'S will now arrive at Millbrae on Saturday on the cusp of a League and cup double, as the attempt to add the BT Premiershp trophy to the BT Scottish Cup which they landed at BT Murrayfield on Saturday.

 

Awaiting them will be a fired-up Ayr XV, determined to ensure their run away table-topping regular season campaign nets the trophy it deserved. This one should be a cracker.

 

Now the last time Heriot's travelled to the Premiership's most-westerly outpost, they were well beaten and, Head Coach Phil Smith subsequently gave one of the most-bitter, spitting the dummy, toys oot the pram interviews I have ever seen.

 

Speaking to a freelance reporter, who had been nowhere near the game, the gist of Smith's statement was: "I am not complaining about them fielding professionals - but I am, it wisnae fair so it wisnae". (apologies for suggesting any member of staff at Glasgow Academy would ever speak in West of Scotland patois).

 

Come the cup final, suddenly Heriot's have the use of Neil Cochrane, an Edinburgh professional, making his first appearance of the season for the Goldenacre club, and weighing-in with two tries. 

 

Has Phil Smith (pictured below) had an irony by-pass?

 

 

 

The more-serious aspect of this is - it is surely time the SRU laid down proper, workable guide-lines for the use of professionals in the Premiership. If they are not going to go the whole hog and either start-up a third pro team, or persuade London Scottish to quit the English Championship for the Pro12 - which is the cheap option, then they MUST get the long talked-of semi-professional Premiership up and running, with easily-understood protocols for the use of full-time professionals in that league.

 

Otherwise, we will continue to suffer the present unsatisfactory dog's breakfast.

 

 

 

TRADITION dictates there are two types of rugby players: the piano shifters - those great hulking brutes who wear numbers one to eight and who are built to move pianos; and the slighter, more-talented guys wearing numbers nine to fifteen, who make great music on those self-same instruments.

 

Of course, modern rugby doesn't work that way. In some respects th glamour boys today are the breakaways, wearing numbers six, seven and eight, who seem at times to get most of the action.

 

How gratifying therefore to see Glasgow's old-fashioned approach to beating Scarlets at the weekend. From Gordy Reid to Josh Strauss, they provided the muscle, while Finn Russell, Lee Jones, Mark Bennett, Tommy Seymour and Henry Pyrgos hit the high notes with the seven tries.

 

To keep the music playing - a case of tearing Scarlet(s) to Ribbons. Ah'll get ma coat!!

 

 

 

GOOD to see Fergus McFadden's "tackle" on Damien Hoyland at the RDS on Friday night caught the attention of the citing commissioner. During the same game, Leinster's Ben Te'o was doing a bit of moaning about one challenge from Phil Burleigh - who has now been cited also, for alleged contact with his fellow New Zealander's eyes.

 

Phil Burleigh - cited

 

Given possible cases of eye-gouging are rugby's offence of the moment, it doesn't look good for Burleigh. I will be watching the outcome of these two cases carefully. 

 

Edinburgh have little left to play for, while Leinster will be in the Pro12 play-offs. Am I alone in sensing a possible outcome from the two cases, more-favourable to the Irish province?

 

Just because we are paranoid when it comes to Irish cheating - doesn't mean they don't do it.

 

 

 

MORE good news arrived over the weekend, with Scotland's Sevens squad winning the Bowl at the Singapore Sevens - with a win over England along the way a wee additional bonus.

 

Scotland's Sevens squad celebrate in Singapore

 

IF the Tea GB sevens squad for the Rio Olympics is chosen from those British players who are regulars on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Circuit, then we will see one or two Scots included. I see this as the more-likely road down which the management will go.

 

After all, the Home Nations are all signed-up to summer tours, we are coming off a year-long run of rugby for our top players, preparing for then playing in the World Cup, before going back to their clubs for the professional season, then back into international mode for the Six Nations, then back to their clubs.

 

By the time they return from the southern hemisphere, the last thing these guys will want is to switch from 15-a-side to sevens, go into camp, and prepare for the Olympics - so, we are unlikely to see a Lions-type, big-name sevens squad.

 

So, we may see one or two Scots, who are only household names in their own households, being able to describe themselves as Olympians, come August. And good on them.

Warriors Win As Scarlets Fever Weakens Welsh

BACK when I was on the tools full time, almost single-handedly producing a minimum of four pages of sport on a daily basis, the local football team which I covered had a manager who was, back then in the last century, a rarity in Scottish football.

 

This guy had had a life; he had not been thrown into the goldfish bowl of full-time professional football as a 15-year-old, scrambled up the greasy pole to regular first-tem football, before segwaying into coaching and management.

 

He had, age 17, been given the: "Sorry son, you're not going to make it" speech, but had gone away, used the fact his brains were not entirely in his feet and got an education, emerging as a qualified teacher, spent several years in the lower reaches of the senior game, then gone into coaching and management.

 

One of the things these experiences had taught him was - professional sportsmen, particularly footballers, cannot drink to excess. They spend so-much time getting fit and staying fit, when they throw alcohol into the mix, they react badly and are usually pissed after three pints. This, remember, from a guy who had been a student and knew all about alcohol-fuelled weekends in the Student Union.

 

His experiences had also taught him, like cossetted and well-trained athletes, the least wee thing going wrong health-wise hit them embarrassingly hard.

 

Once upon a time, rugby players operated on beer and adrenalin, not any more, at least at professional level, it seems. Today, they are, yes, even most English tight forwards, athletes. As such, they are easily knocked-off their stride by an excess of beer, or, in the case of Scarlets this week - by some kind of bug.

 

So, while there was an element of good fortune in Glasgow getting the Welsh region at a time when the majority of the Scarlets players had, to use another old Max Boyce line; "Scarlet fever", the fact they were playing a handicapped Welsh squad should not be allowed to take the shine off a brilliant performance.

 

Yes, it may have been humiliating for such a proud club as Scarlets to lose so heavily, at home. Yes, they had a great excuse for the loss, in the after-effects of illness in the camp. But, this cannot detract from a super show from Glasgow. Visiting sides are not supposed to win by such a large margin at Llanelli.

 

Apparently, George Clancy had a good game, however, as I have been saying: George is, by a country mile, the best of the current crop of Irish officials. Now, that is worrying.

 

 

By all accounts of the game in Llanelli, Finn Russell (pictured above) was a deserving Man of the Match. Having watched Finn regularly since he was a callow youth, not universally trusted by Ayr to run games, I know what a fine talent he is. He is probably our best ten since the Blessed John Rutherford, but, am I alone in noticing how much better he seems to play, and also Glasgow plays as a whole, when Henry Pyrgos is inside him at nine?

 

Greig Laidlaw, since moving to Gloucester, has moved up a gear or two and is right now, our first-choice half-back, but, Pyrgos is charging up on the rails and, great news for Scotland, we now have two fantastic nines competing for the Scotland place.

 

It is no coincedence, Glasgow's progress towards a possible successful defence of their Guinness Pro12 title has gathered pace with Pyrgos's return from injury. He has become a class act, and for that, we should be grateful.

 

Henry Pyrgos

SO, Heriot's have won the Cup and will now be installed as favourites to complete a League and Cup double, by beating Ayr in Saturday's BT Premiership Play-Off Final, at Millbrae.

I watched the Cup Final via the SRU TV You Tube live stream and, I have to say: Heriot's will need to improve greatly over their Murrayfield performance, if they are to win at Millbrae. They struggled somewhat to overcome a Melrose team which did not play as they can.

A rested and reinvigorated Ayr team, some of whom may well be playing their final game in pink an black, will, with home advantage, be a far-tougher nut to crack on Saturday.

Right now, South Ayrshire is perhaps where it is at in Scottish rugby.

AYR won the BT Premiership regular season at a canter. Yes, they under-performed against Melrose in the Scottish Cup semi-final,  but, put that poor performance behind them in the Play-Off semi-final. Over the season as a whole, they were the best team in the country.

MARR, having only just survived in that league in 2014-15, kicked-on to finish second in National League 1, and go into Saturday's promotion/relegation Play-Off, against Gala at Bridgehaugh, with a genuine chance of upsetting the Braw Lads and becoming the second South Ayrshire side into the top flight.

Craig Redpath the Marr Coach

Veteran that he is of so-many Borders battles, Craig Redpath, the Marr Coach, will be only too keen to put one over on the old enemy, Gala, and see Marr into the top flight on Saturday.

 

CARRICK landed the BT National Shield, by beating Highland, at BT Murrayfield on Saturday, a terrific performance from the Maybole side, well done 'Rick.

 

And finally - MILLBRAE, in effect Ayr's Social XV, struck a real blow for Coarse Rugby, by a come from behind win over Aberdeen University, in the BT National Bowl final, also at the National Stadium, on Saturday.

 

Were he around today, Robert Burns would surely be penning a poem to South Ayrshire rugby.