Scotland Doesn't Do Big Finishes

SINCE professional sport is partly show business these days, you might hope the high heid yins running rugby could set it up that, you have a big kick-off, to get the fans immediately enthused. Then, hopefully, you can keep the enthusiasm going, build on it, then carry on all the way to a big finish.

Sadly, rugby doesn't seem to have got it right yet. Sure, the Guinness PRO12 and the two European competitions do, in theory build-up to big finishes. It's just that there will be no Scottish involvement, which is a fact of life. We would probably still be enthused, if Glasgow was still in their fighting for one or both of the titles, and Edinburgh's season hadn't collapsed quite so-badly as it has.

No, for Scotland, the season ends with a whimper with this weekend's Round 21 of the PRO12 and the following week's second leg of the 1872 Cup, at Scotstoun. After that, 2017 Lions Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour and the guys who will be going on Scotland's summer tour to the South Pacific, will have a couple of weeks to rest and relax, before picking themselves up again, while their unchosen team mates can get an early start to their holidays.

For the enthusiastic amateurs of the club game, well, there are still maybe one or two meaningless games to be got out of the way, a sevens tournament or two, but, in reality, the season ended with the weekend's cup finals day at Murrayfield.

Well done Melrose in lifting the BT Scottish Cup. Being from God's County of Ayrshire, I was rooting for Ayr, but, it was perhaps fitting that the two outstanding club teams should each come out of the season with a trophy – Ayr taking the BT Premiership crown and 'Rose the Cup. Really, there is little or nothing between them, so, fair play all round. Congratulations too to the other winners on the big day at Murrayfield.

THE Lions squad was announced last week, and I didn't bother posting about it. It seemed pointless to me. This site is all about Scottish rugby and it was always likely, as soon as Warren Gatland was reappointed, that there would be little or no Scottish involvement in the Lions 2017 project.

We keep being told, it is rubbish to think this, but, I have barely found a person involved in Scottish rugby who does not think that Gatland doesn't like Scotland, or Scots. His inclusion of so-many of his favoured Welsh players confirms this. Then, of course, he has to keep the English press on side, by picking too-many English players. I fear the Lions will get completely turned-over by the Abs, It will not be pretty.

Of course, given this will be an attritional tour, we may yet see some Scots called-up from our own tour, but, I fear any who do get the call, might find themselves cast as tackle bag holders and “dirt trackers”, condemned to the midweek side. In fact, I can even see Gatland picking Leigh Halfpenny and George North ahead of Hogg and Seymour.

Last Thursday, I was in the downstairs area of Greaves Sport in Gordon Street, in Glasgow. The sales area was wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with replica Lions merchandise, and the sales guys were telling me, everyone who had been in since the squad was announced had been of the same mind.

Basically this was: “Take that lot out and burn it – if the Lions want nothing to do with Scots, we want nothing to do with the Lions”. I don't see them selling too much-stuff this summer.

MY late elder brother played for Saracens. I am still in-touch with one of his old school friends, who also played for Sarries back in the day. This old friend is these many years domiciled in the middle of the New Zealand wine-growing area and he will be wearing his replica black shirt and supporting the ABs this summer. He was thinking of a wee nostalgic trip home to see Saracens playing their European final against Clermont, at Murrayfield, but, has decided against it.

I will certainly be supporting Sarries – even though Clermont is my French side. It would be nice too if Kelly Brown got a wee run-out towards the end, to go out in real style. Ditto big, bad, Jim Hamilton.

Ayr Are Champions As The Ghost of 2016 Is Laid

  Ayr are Championees

 WHEN I telephoned him on Saturday night to discuss Ayr's BT Premiership final win at The Greenyards, earlier that day, one of my Ayr RFC contemporaries was in full Corporal Jones mode – when I told him how upset Jim Telfer was at the end of the game.

Creamy has never been a good loser – nothing wrong with that – but, he had a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp, even before Frazier Climo hoofed the ball half way to Gala to end the game and leave Ayr as champions.

My pal, unable to travel to Melrose, because he is up to his knees in lambing on his farm, laughed: “Serves the miserable auld cunt right” he said. Past battles are not easily forgotten in rugby.

I must admit, I thought going to The Greenyards would be a trip too far for Ayr. But, I also knew the game would be a close, tight affair, liable to be decided by either a horrendous mistake, or a moment of genius. There were, it is true, plenty of mistakes, all of them minor ones as both teams seemed affected by the enormity of the occasion, but, while there were one or two individual moments of magic – we had to wait an awfully long time for the defining moment of inspiration.

Ayr had had the better of the first hour, and honestly had they taken their chances, would have all but been out of sight by the 60 minute mark. But, they couldn't find a way past the Melrose defence, and while they led by four Frazier Climo penalties to one from Jason Baggot, it was still anyone's game.

Frazier Climo - kicked four penalties

Then, Melrose finally startedd to go through the gears and, though Ayr's defence was also terrific, finally, the 'Rose bloomed and they created an overlap for big Ruaridh Knott to crash over wide out. Baggot could not convert, while he also pushed a long-range penalty past the uprights. In the end, those lost five points would prove crucial.

In the final five minutes, trailing 8-12, Melrose were camped deep in the Ayr 22. They had to go for a try, and time and again Baggot, who had got them there with a monster of a free kick, put the ball into the corner and invited the home pack to drive over.

Ayr's defence of the mauls was heroic, but, when Melrose went for a third driving maul from as many lines-out, skipper and Man of the Match Pete McCallum pulled down the maul. This was deja vu, in last season's Final against Heriot's, he had done the same and, as on Saturday, been yellow carded.

The difference between 2016 and 2017 was, Mikey Adamson considered the yellow card and another penalty to Melrose to be sufficient punishment; 12 months ago Graeme Wells had awarded Heriot's a match-winning penalty try.

Again, Baggot kicked to the corner; Again, with 40 seconds on the clock, Melrose threw to Neil Irvine-Hess at four. However, having stayed down to use his 19 stones as ballast against the drive, this time, big Scott Sutherland launched his si foot six inch frame into the sky, at three, to beat Irvine-Hess to the ball.

Scott Sutherland beats Neil Irvine-Hess to crucial line-out ball

Ayr simply stuffed it up their jumpers and went through four or five pod drives, recycling the ball every time until it was safe to throw it back to Climo, to hoof it as far off the park as he could. Adamson blew his whistle – the game was over, the entire Ayr team leapt skywards in joy, the Melrose lads slumped to the ground in despair.

OK, it wasn't a great game, nobody will try to say it way. But, for sheer effort and commitment, it will be very difficult to equal, far less beat. Fraser Thomson, as ever, produced some brilliant broken field running for Melrose, just as teenager Stafford McDowall did for Ayr. The back row battle was engrossing, with the Ayr trio of skipper McCallum at eight and flankers Will Bordill (who had to go off injured) and Blair Macpherson just edging it from 'Rose captain Grant Runciman, the under-estimated but excellent Irvine-Hess and Ian Moody.

Climo didn't just kick the goals, his string-pulling was crucial to Ayr throughout. Also, Mikey Adamson again showed, here we have a referee who is going places.

Ayr not only claimed the silverware, they also regained possession of the Bill McLaren Shield, from the only other club to have their name engraved on it and will begin their defence of it in their first home game next season.

To those who felt disappointed by the fare on show at Melrose, fear not, there is an early chance for the teams to demonstrate they can provide champagne rugby, when they go head-to-head again next Saturday, at BT Murrayfield, in the final of the BT Scottish Cup.

It will be just as close, the commitment will be just as absolute, but, hopefully Murrayfield inspires the players to put on a real show of running rugby.

Finally, in a further effort to prove he is the successor to Ally McCoist as the cheekie chappie of Scottish sport, at the end, while admiring younger brother Archie's Championship medal, Scotland stand-off Finn Russell asked: "Hey, where's mine, remember, I played in two games for Ayr this season".

Pictures courtesy of George McMillan.

We Need To Have More Players Playing Rugby If The Game Is To Prosper

I have been meaning to get this off my chest for some time now:

WHEN, aged 15, I made my bow in club rugby, back in September, 1962, it was a whole different ball game. For a start, the 1963 Scotland v Wales game, with its 111 lines-out, the match which forced through the laws change - “the Australian dispensation” (because Australia did it first) - which banned kicking directly into touch from outside a team's own 22, and consequently opened-up attacking rugby, was still more than five months away.

Wingers still threw into the lines-out, real rucking was allowed and the ball had to be put down the middle of the tunnel in a scrum, which allowed hookers such as I was back then to count strikes against the head (13-0 v Whitecraigs the same season was my best result). Today, aged 15, I would not be allowed to play adult rugby, and the whole game has changed.

Some of these changes, such as “the Australian dispensation have been for the better; I still reckon, bringing back real rucking would speed-up the game tremendously, and mourn the mess today's scrums have become.

But, one thing from 1962 I would bring back, in fact, I would encourage the SRU to take positive steps to bring it about, is a return to the strict season dates which existed back then.

In 1962, you could not play a real 80-minute game of rugby before 1 September in any year, and, you needed SRU dispensation to play after 30 April. You might be able to play a Sevens tournament in May, but, you had to have a compelling reason to play a 15-a-side game after 30 April.

Even with such a strict calendar, you have 35 or so Saturdays on which to play rugby, plus the opportunity for clubs who do not have floodlights, to play midweek games in September and October and March and April. I recently came across a record book I kept from season 1972-73 – the final season in which the club championship was unofficial (Boroughmuir won it that season). I was with Ayr that season, and the First XV played 41 fixtures, with tight-head prop John Burston an ever-present.

They played unofficial championship games, Glasgow Knock-Out Cup and Ayrshire Cup fixtures, plus a good few friendlies.

This season, 2016-17, Ayr kicked-off with a pre-season friendly against GHA on 6 August, and have, to date, played 25 games in total, with the two cup finals – Premiership and Scottish Cup against Melrose to come, giving them a total work load for the season of 27 games. Of these 18 were regular season league games, plus the two BT Premiership Play-Off games, four BT Scottish Cup ties, and their three pre-season friendlies.

Cumnock, this season, began their season on 27 August, with their opening league game. That season, 22 games in duration, finished on 4 March. Like Ayr, they only had 12 home games over the season

These fixtures will have been completed inside 38 weeks. Which means, for almost 30% of the weekends available to them this season, Ayr have been idle. The club only had 12 home games over the entire season. Now, Ayr are an amateur club – or perhaps it would be fairer to say a “semi-professional” club. None of the players or coaches makes his living from playing for Ayr or coaching the club, but, they do get paid generous expenses, while Frazier Climo is paid for his coaching and development work around local schools. If Ayr had it hard, Cumnock, a much-smaller club and much-more truly amateur had it even harder.

To run one of Scotland's top clubs on only 12 weeks' gate income over a 52-week year, or even a 38-week playing season, puts huge demands on the volunteers who have to raise the money, arrange the sponsorships and keep the club going. The challenge is no-less-difficult for the smaller Cumnock club - who do not have the luxury of gate money, or generous big company sponsors.

Ayr today runs two and a half adult teams – the First XV, who play in the BT Premiership, the Second XV and the semi-autonomous Millbrae, who play in Division Two of the West District Leagues. Back in 1962, when I started, I was with Cumnock. We were only in our second season and ran two XVs. In 1972-73, when I was with Ayr, that club was running five adult XVs, Firsts, Seconds, A1s, A2s and Third XVs. Cumnock, that same season, was running three XVs, Firsts, Seconds and Thirds.

OK, today, both these clubs are running youth XVs from U-13 up to U-18, but, in some ways, these teams are making-up for the damage done to schools rugby in the 1980s, and from which that genre of rugby has never recovered.

But, Cumnock RFC is today running the same number of adult teams it was running 55-years ago, and one fewer than it was 45-years ago, while Ayr is running two fewer teams than it was 45-years ago. In other words – fewer guys are actually playing, and those who are, are playing fewer games than their fathers or grandfathers were 45-years ago.

Today's Ayr RFC, for all its success, is fielding on a regular basis (given today's 20-man match-day squads), in real terms, fewer players than they were back then. This is not good for rugby, which is supposed to be a player's game.

The Glasgow Knock-Out and Ayrshire Cups used to be terrific tournaments, generally played midweek at the end of the season – it gave you a continued interest into the spring evenings. That's my experience here in the West, I seem to recall there were similar competitions elsewhere in Scotland, and, the Border League continues to attract supporters.

We are constantly told: “Rugby is a players' game – meant for all shapes and sizes”. Well, for all shapes and sizes to play – there has to be enough teams, playing at enough levels and there is evidence this is no longer the case.

It's all very well the SRU being pleased with the way Glasgow attendances have grown over the years, and being delighted to announce that Murrayfield has sold-out for internationals, but, the SRU's main reason d'etre is to promote and advance the game of Rugby Union football. Well, if fewer players are playing the game than a generation or two ago – clearly, that aint happening.

The high heid yins at Murrayfield, should be finding ways of providing more club rugby, getting more amateur players playing, and, that way boosting the health of the game. Does the will to make this happen exist inside HQ? I, personally, hae ma doots.

The Big Two Go Head-To-Head For The Big Two Prizes

RIGHT at the start of this season, all the forecasts were that the major club prizes would be fought-over by Ayr and Melrose. And, thus it has come to pass, after Saturday's BT Premiership semi-finals, like the BT Scottish Cup last four games the previous week, finished in home wins for the Big Two.

So, on Saturday, 15 April, they will face-off at the Greenyards, for the Premiership crown, before, seven days later, at BT Murrayfield, their clash will end Cup Finals Day. Melrose, given their home advantage in the Premiership show-down will be favourites to win both games. More-so after the “brain fart” which Ross Curle had on Saturday at Millbrae, in getting himself needlessly red-carded in his side's 38-22 win over Glasgow Hawks.

Curle's experience, both in attack and defence, will be sorely-missed by Ayr. His lack of discipline also means, he has probably denied himself the dream send-off, back-to-back cup finals as his final two games for Ayr – he will not be in pink and black next season.

The big talking point at Millbrae was the make-up of the Hawks' side, which included no less than six full-time rugby players in their starting line-up, with one more, TJ Uanivi on the bench. Ayr, on the other hand, had just one full-timer, Canadian prop D'justice Sears-Duro, on the bench.

Now, to be fair to Hawks – the likes of Paddy Kelly, George Horne, Scott Cummngs, Matt Fagerson and Bruce Flickhart are all genuine Hawks boys, while Hagen Schulte came to Scotland on a “partnership” deal whereby he trains with Warriors but more-normally plays for Hawks. So, this was not a case of one side being “loaded” with professionals.

Still, for all that full-time training and coaching, Hawks still lost by 16-points, being out-scored six-three in the try-scoring stakes. Proof maybe that you win nothing with kids, or maybe that you cannot beat consistency of selection and the confidence in each other which comes from that consistency.

As ever, Ayr's defence was awesome, as time and again waves of Hawks attacks were repulsed. Then, when given front foot ball, Frazier Climo again emphasised what a terrific game manager he is.

He will need to be at his best, however, in the final two games, in which, all but the most myopic Millbrae men will surely concede, Melrose are going into these two matches as favourites.

Still on the subject of the Ayr v Hawks game. What a terrific wee April fool trick the Offsideline's David Barnes and Ayr President Billy McHarg pulled with the announcement of a new sponsorship deal for the club – with the Trump Organisation. Some of the older Ayr members were apoplectic at the thought of Potus 45 being welcomed at Millbrae.

I LISTENED to the Edinburgh v La Rochelle game, on BBC Radio Shortbread on Friday night. I have to say, Bill Johnstone and Peter Wright, not forgetting Colin Gregor, were in good form, which is more than can be said about Edinburgh, who, once again, went from bad to badder to kinda good through the game. A strange outfit in the capital.

I ALSO listened to the Saracens v Glasgow match. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it on Radio Shortbread, and had to take the Radio 5 Live coverage. This, naturally, was rather pro-Sarries, with, I am sorry to say, former Scotland stand off Ian Robertson coming across as a Saracens supporter, with little time for the visiting “Sweaties”.

In fact, Jerry Guscott, the man we Scots have little time for, as he continues to harbour a grudge from 1990, came across as more of a Glasgow fan than the Edinburgh guy next to him. OK, I've had a go at Robertson, however, at half-time, we had some BBC twat, whose name I didn't catch, speaking to a couple of Fleet Street aresholes – the terrible Mike Cleary of the Torygraph and some guy from the Times I have never heard of. Well, to listen to them, there was only one team playing and – apart from Sam Warburton, the Lions squad in New Zealand would be entirely English.

Still, that was a good ten-minute recruiting broadcast for the cause of Independence.

Ach! We knew it was going to be hard at Allianz Park. I always felt Sarries would win, and, since my late elder brother played for them, Sarries are my “English” club, so, it wasn't hard to feel happy for them. Mind you, Munster, at the Aviva, in the semi-final, will not be an easy game.

I THEN watched the all-French battle between Clermont Auverge and Toulon. This was brutal in the extreme, very exciting and a fantastic game, played in a stadium that was really rocking. The second semi-final will also be a cracker. Mind you, two Guinness PRO12 clubs, and one each from England and France, who says the PRO12 is the poor relation of professional rugby competitions?