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.
No comments:
Post a Comment