Could The Pro Sides' Success Kick-Start A Great Six Nations?

ALRIGHT class, settle down – we have a fair bit to get through today, so, listen carefully.

Now, we were all absolutely delighted by Glasgow's marvellous win over Leicester on Saturday, but, that was then – we are into a new week, with new challenges facing us. Not least among these is the imminent start to the 2017 Six Nations, and, as you all know, we've never won the damned thing.

Well, if the Scotland squad can channel their inner Warrior, who is to say this will not be out year. I realise, received wisdom has it that Scotland's best chance of winning the Six Nations is in the season when we have England and France at home. Well we were away to both the last time we won the Five Nations, so let's just ignore that old chestnut.

I am under no illusions as to how difficult it will be to win the damned thing this year – because, it's very hard to win it in any year. However, if a squad based on the club squad which has beaten Racing 92 and Leicester home and away does not believe, then that squad never will.

Scotland has improved markedly since Big Vern Cotter took over. Regardless of the politics which have conspired to see him finish his contract early, the players surely owe it to the big man to send him on his way to France victorious.

First up are Ireland, nearly everyone outside the Sudentenland's favourites for the title this season. Sure, they beat the All Blacks, and won well on the day. Of course they are dangerous, but, unbeatable, no way Jose. It used to be the Irish couldn't even win a penalty at Murrayfield; formidable though they are, we can get back to these days.

A win over the Irish can kick-start a very good campaign. If you can beat the team that beat the All Blacks, you need fear nobody. Wales are in severe decline, England are in disarray with injuries, and we are well past the time we won again at Twickenham, while with home advantage, we should surely beat Italy this year. That only leaves France. Well, you never know with France, but, even in Paris, they are beatable.

I like the look of our extended squad. I have just two quibbles – there is absolutely no way, even in a bad year, which this is gearing up not to be, that Simon Berghan is Scotland class. Good luck to the boy, but, he shouldn't be in there, Glasgow's Darcy Rae is a superior tight-head, and, Cornel Du Preez ahead of Magnus Bradbury – what is that all about?

Of course, both Berghan and Du Preez are “project players” - well, unless you are getting someone special such as Josh Strauss, or you are recruiting genuine, top-class Scotland-qualified talent such as John Hardie and Huw Jones, I'd forget about overseas recruitment and spend a bit more on bringing through young, Scottish talent – but, that argument is for another post.

Meanwhile, let's hope the squad has a good camp and we get off to a winning start on Saturday week.

JIMMY Hay's funeral in Glasgow on Friday was a true celebration of a great rugby character. Being Scotland team doctor for a spell in the 1990s was an enjoyable break from the reality of life as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon for wee Jimmy, an Honest Man of Ayr who always seemed to be smiling.

Jimmy had a good rugby life. He captained the legendary unbeaten Ayr Academy First XV of Mike Denness, Ian Ure and Ian McLauchlan. He played in the first Ayr Seven to win the club's tournament, they had to wait 22-years for a second win, by which time Jimmy's son Andy was playing, but, mainly he simply enjoyed playing. Never more-so than when in tandem with his equally laid-back brother-in-law Bill Mowat as a pair of half-backs who could have played tig wi a room full of monkeys and never been het.

Club ties was the order of the day and just about every club in Glasgow District, and a few from elsewhere were to be seen inside Sherbrooke St Gilbert's Church, alongside various medical faculty ties. The congregation included everyone from former Scotland captains and SRU Presidents down to guys who never got into their club's first team, all, touched in some way by Jimmy. Scottish rugby has lost one of the good guys.

IT IS still a quiet murmur, little more than a whisper, but, I get the feeling if Mr Dodderer, the Lesser-Spotted Johnston and the other High Heid Yins at BT Murrayfield do not do something, and quickly, the club game will rise in revolt.

The BT Premiership is, yet again this season, producing some pretty good quality rugby. OK, with two games still to play, we know three of the four teams in the end of season play-offs, but, below that, we have a ding-dong between Currie and Heriot's for the fourth spot, and a relegation battle which will go right to the wire.

Indeed, it might be that, on 18 February, Gala will host Boroughmuir in a winner-takes-all survival battle. The Braw Lads are in a braw pickle, however. There last two games are that one with Boroughmuir, preceded by another big game, at third-bottom Hawick – who's going to referee that one – Nigel Owens?

Mind you, the team that finishes second-bottom will still face the promotion/relegation play-off against the team which finishes second in National League One, which, as far as I can ascertain, has been a high-quality competition this season.

Peter Brown was at Jimmy Hays funeral, it was noticeable, he was wearing his Marr rather than his Gala tie, which might tell you something.

I LAVISHED praise, rightly, on Glasgow, at the start of this post. So I end it with further praise, for Edinburgh, who have topped their pool in the European Challenge Cup and consequently have a home quarter-final.

Yes, the capital side is still, at times, guilty of inconsistency, but, they beat Harlequins home and away and thoroughly deserve to have qualified.

Two Scottish teams in the European finals, in Edinburgh – is this too-much to ask? It could happen though.

Weegie Warriors Winning At Welford Road Would Be Wonderful

WELL, we ken noo; if Glasgow beats Leicester at Welford Road this weekend, they will have crashed through their glass ceiling and into the knock-out stages of the European Champions Cup.

It cannot be doubted, Gregor Townsend's squad has the talent and belief to win at an English ground where away victories have long been thin on the ground. The Tigers are in some disarray following the sacking of Richard Cokerill and Aaron Mauger's elevation to Honcho status. They have an injury list as long as the M1, but, it will still be very, very difficult for Glasgow to win there.

I think they can win I only hope the get a strong referee on the day, because Leicester will do everything in their power to prevent Glasgow from playing their entertaining front foot rugby. Munster managed to do this at Scotstoun on Saturday, but, I don't think, even with home advantage, this Leicester side is as good as Munster.

But, we are Scottish after all. The typically Scottish thing for Glasgow to do would be, having twice beaten Racing 92, and thrashed Leicester at Scotstoun, to stumble at this final fence and just fail of qualify. A scenario like Glasgow winning without a bonus point, but losing-out to a team which gains one would be about par for the course.

There, I've said it, let's hope I am, as so often, wrong.

I ONLY saw the highlights which BT Sport showed, of the Munster game at Scotstoun. I did have a laugh, however, at some of the “below the line” readers' comments on the Guardian website. The Guardian has a solid readership amongst Irish rugby fans, and they were livid at what many perceived as Glasgow “targetting” that awfy nice wee boay Conor Murray, with some late tackles and other allegedly nefarious Weegie tactics.

You have to laugh – there was me thinking our Irish friends got irony. To hear any Irish fan complaining about key men being targetted, about late hits and other unseemly practices gave me a laugh. Have they not been watching the four Irish sides in the Guinness PRO12 these many years, during which they have turned such foul play into an art form?

I suppose this helps explain where the Celtic Family's holier than thou attitude springs from – it's in the genes in Erin's green valleys.

I WAS covering Ayr v Boroughmuir, when the BT Premiership came out of festive hibernation on Saturday. And, after 12 minutes, with Ayr 21-0 up, I thought I would be chronicling a record score. Indeed, had Boroughmuir not taken the very brave decision to back-off and not engage as Ayr tried to rumble a maul forward off a five-metre line-out, I fear the flood gates would have burst asunder on them.

Whoever made that call had cojones. Ayr got done for truck and trailer and the pressure was relieved. This gave 'Muir new belief and the remainder of the match was a much-closer affair. Take away the first ten minutes of so, and, over the remaining 70, the score was 21-19 to Ayr, AND, 'Muir might have had two more tries. Ayr also gave away twice as many penalties as 'Muir as they battled to contain them. It was a lot closer than the eventual 42-19 scoreline might appear.

One cub reporter at the game had it down as “one-sided” and was very hard on 'Muir. He'll learn, but, he will have to face Peter Wright again at Old Anniesland on Saturday. Might be fun.

HUGE Kudos are due to Edinburgh, for winning at The Twickenham Stoop. Harlequins, like a lot of the top English sides, are not as good as their media mates make them out to be, so, losing to an Edinburgh side which, I gather, many in London do not rate, was a reality check for them.

I appreciate, Edinburgh can still be maddeningly inconsistent, but, I don't know what more Duncan Hodge can do to stake a claim for a longer shot at the Head Coach's role. I cannot think of any appropriately-qualified New Zealand coach whom the SRU might wish to airlift in.

Let's hope the Myreside move works for the club. Also, with so-many young Scots in their side, Edinburgh's future is bright. Good, too, to see Ben Toolis, arguably Europe's top line-out operator, having another good game in London. I rate Big Ben highly.

ANOTHER player I rate very highly is Hawick's young wing Darcy Graham. This kid ought, at the very least, to be in the Scotland Sevens squad. I get the feeling, if he doesn't get a pro contract from Murrayfied at the end of this season, one of the English clubs, probably Newcastle, will nick him.

Surely Scott McLeod has told Dean Richards what an unpolished diamond young Darcy is.

Let's See Our PRO12 Sides Continue In 2017 As They Ended 2016

A GUID NEW YEAR to all readers of this blog. I hope 2017 is good to you, and particularly good to Scottish Rugby.

Our two Guinness PRO12 sides certainly finished 2016 on a high, with their wins in Italy. I was particularly pleased to see Edinburgh beat Zebre, this one was a definite potential banana skin for Duncan Hodge's troops and one can only hope the move to Myreside brings better results for the team.

Glasgow's win at Treviso was not an easy watch for us stay-at-home fans. When Glasgow were good, they were kilometres better than the Italians, but, when they were bad – oh dear. Let's just say, Glasgow won ugly, which is a handy habit to have. They certainly got no favours from the Italian referee, who was, I felt, out of his depth, but, they didn't help themselves with a lot of sloppy handling and poor decision-making. Still, a win is a win.

I am getting a wee bit concerned at the new players. Big Brian Alainu'uese has been cited for a “no arms tackle” in Italy and both he and the other recent recruit, American Langilangi Haupeakui have, in their early weeks at Scotstoun, attracted a lot of unwanted attention from match officials – this needs sorting-out, and quickly.

The experiment of playing Hoggie at ten certainly worked, if not to 100%. I don't for instance, think Finn Russell has the gas to have pulled-off that length of the field intercept try which opened Glasgow#s account.

Speaking of our pro players. I noticed, from the latest set of Opta statistics, kindly distributed by the PRO12 media team, that Edinburgh's Ben Toolis is top of the line-out winning stats. I have long thought, he should be ahead of the quiet Tim Swinson in the Scottish pecking order.

MY OWN rugby travels generally take me round the BT Premiership grounds, and, I really feel, it is time the big clubs were making waves around BT Murrayfield and getting themselves a fairer crack of the whip.

OK, the vast majority of the players in this top club division are amateurs, and they obviously want to enjoy themselves a wee bit at this time of year. However, a 28-day break, including three fallow Saturdays is not good for the club coffers.

Fair enough, if bad weather intervenes, but, with global warming and what not, the days of losing games to bad weather in December are maybe behind us. Yes, the players will have had a chance to rest their tired bodies, but, the BT Premiership is a good league, which deserves better than the stop-start fixture scheduling which has been its lot this season.

And, I am missing my weekly live rugby fix.

LEICESTER'S decision to hand Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill his jotters just might be bad news for Glasgow, who are due at Welford Road on European Cup business on 21 January.

This could turn out to be a “must win” game for Toony's troops, and I have a feeling that, if, as has been widely reported in England, Cockrill had: “lost the dressing room”, then Aaron Mauger just might rediscover it before the Glasgow game, which will make it all the harder for Warriors to win at a ground where the home side does not often lose.