To Lose One Exile Recruit Is Careless.....To Lose Two.....

ONE OF this blog's regular btl contributors posted on Facebook this morning, that Leeds Rhinos had signed young Calum McLelland from Edinburgh Rugby. Calum, in case you had forgotten was seen as potentially: “The Next Big Thing” when he emerged as a 16-year-old from the Casleford Tigers Academy.

 Calum McLelland - from a Tiger to a Rhino, via Edinburgh and Scotland Sevens

I seem to remember a good bit of positive spin from the Small Controller and the Elves at the time he signed, but, given the kid – whose Dad comes from these East Ayrshire badlands where I stay – was steeped in 13-a-side rather than 15-a-side rugby, I thought he might be a longer-term punt by Edinburgh.

If he did get on for Edinburgh in the nine months he spent there, I blinked and missed it, but, he certainly showed glimpses of potential with the Scotland Sevens squad on the HSBC World Rugby circuit.

Now, he has gone back to his roots. From the interview with him which Rhinos have put up on their website, I get the impression he was none too enthused by being in the

care of the SRU, and perhaps a wee bit homesick for the joys of West Yorkshire.

Any way, good luck for the future young man.

ANOTHER SRU signing from Farfarawayland has also gone home recently. HUGH BLAKE was not the first “Kilted Kiwi” to be fast-tracked into the full Scotland squad, when “Stern” Vern Cotter brought him into the squad for the 2015 6Nations. He was capped against Ireland, in a pre-World Cup warm-up, but, with his status as “Scottish” confirmed, the former New Zealand Under-20 star's career stalled.

Hugh Blake on the run for Bay of Plenty Steamers

He was capped even before making his Edinburgh debut, but, he failed to establish himself at the capital side, was loaned to Glasgow, then demoted to the Scotland Sevens squad – rather like McLelland.

Blake was also a regular member of the squad, competing in the HSBC-sponsored World Rugby Sevens circuit, but, he was omitted from the squad which completed the 2017-18 season by playing in the Sevens World Cup, in San Francisco.

He is now back playing with Bay of Plenty Steamers in New Zealand's Mitre-10 competition, the level below Super Rugby. But, whether or not he returns to Scotland is a moot point.

Blake turns 26 in September, it seems strange that a player of his quality – an out and out seven, has not been able to establish himself in the land of his grand-parents. Will he be back with the Sevens squad, or Glasgow, for the new season, I wonder.

THERE have been some mutterings on the Glasgow Warriors supporters' “Warrior Nation” Facebook pages and chat rooms of late, about the lack of a “marquee” signing for the new season. Sure, there will be some new faces, but, none with the “Wow!” factor some fans are seeking. Indeed, it appears as if, around the money men at Murrayfield, 2018 is Edinburgh's year to be allowed to spend a bit more.

Warriors still have a good squad; so I would not be in a rush to be concerned for their welfare. We have to hope young Adam Hastings can grasp the challenge of replacing Finn at ten, but, hey, he's a Hastings, I think he is up to it. Also, if some of the big men whose absence hurt Warriors last season can stay healthy, I am unconcerned.

 Nick Frisby - Glasgow's big summer signing is a tent rather than a marquee

Where I am concerned, and I was discussing this very point with one of the doyens of Glasgow club rugby this week, and we both think, this unrest is symptomatic of the success of Warriors' off-field sales pitch to the public of Glasgow and its environs.

There is no doubt, Warriors have attracted an element within their fan base who are not traditional rugby fans. Murrayfield crowds have long been described as: “the largest old school reunion in the world,” as all those Herioters, Watsonians, Academicals of whatever hue, Fettesians-Lorettonians and Merchistonians of every description descend on EH12 to renew old acquaintanceships.

Their numbers always include a fair number of Old and New Anniesland veterans, guys who learned the game at Balgray and Hughenden, not forgetting the scruffs from Hutchie or St Al's, or Weegies who had their rougher edges smoothed out on the playing fields of Perthshire.

That has long been rugby's core constituency, but, initially at Firhill, where, if you were in the press box for a Friday night Warriors' game, then back less than 24-hours later to watch Partick Thistle, you saw some of the same faces, Warriors have tapped into, and built-up a non-rugby audience of converts.

I fear one or two of these newcomers have maybe brought with them a football attitude of a big team only being a big team, if it spends ridiculous money on big-name players. They have yet to realise, rugby does not work that way – yet, and, I am not being an old fart when I say: I hope it never does.

We are a long way from seeing the top rugby clubs shelling-out the obscene transfer fees we are used to in top-flight club football, but, deals such as Fin R's reported £700,000 per year deal with Racing 92 are the thin end of a long wedge.

That's a road the SRU cannot afford to go down, in any case, the spend, spend, spend cadre in the Scotstoun stands had better realise quickly – the clubs will never let them go down that road, without revolution.

AM I alone in having some doubts about the wisdom of taking Warriors' first pre-season game, against Harlequins, on Saturday, 18 August, to Perth's North Inch?

The Strathallan-schooled Fagerson brothers are heading back to Perthshire on Saturday

I know, Perth-based Matthew Gloag & Sons, distillers of The Famous Grouse, are the game's naming sponsors – who pays the piper calls the tune and so on. I accept, it is taking the Warriors' brand into the country, with shades of pre-Broadway try-outs in Hicksville in the mid-West, but, I would still rather see them playing at home, at Scotstoun, and getting the Warrior Nation out in force.

A new, temporary and from the look of the single photograph of the structure I have seen, not very substantial grandstand is being erected. How much will that cost? Then, there are the other peripherals around a temporary home, marquee hire perhaps. No, for my money, they'd have been better-off staying at home and using Scotstoun, or maybe playing it at Millbrae or one of the other West of Scotland grounds, if they didn't want to use Scotstoun.