It's Official - He's Going Home, He's Going Home, Johnson's Going Home

I SUPPOSE, the consensus in Scottish Rugby will be that Christmas came early, with this morning's announcement of the Lesser-Spotted Johnson's departure from BT Murrayfield, at the conclusion of the Guinness 6Nations, to take-up a new role as Director of Rugby for Rugby Australia.

Scott Johnson - going home in the Spring

It has been an open secret for some time that family issues had caused Johnson to seek a return to his native Australia. I have every sympathy for him as regards these, and hope he can quickly overcome them and settle down. I wish him well in Australia.

But, how will he be remembered here? Not with affection I warrant. But, while it was patently clear to anyone who ever met him, he cared not a jot for the club game, he must take some credit for the rude health of the performance side of Scottish Rugby.

We humble scribes were told, on a few occasions, the L-S J was NOT Director of Rugby – i.e. having oversight of every aspect of the game from Cumnock P1 minis, via Ferry Road Wanderers, Glasgow University Medics, to Marr, Melrose and on to the two professional sides – to pluck a few names out of the air.

No, we were assured, the L-S J was 'Director of Performance Rugby,' which begs the question, OK, so what about the rest of us, the silent, overlooked majority?

He, apparently, said: “The Premiership is not fit for purpose,” but never said what he thought its purpose was.

He, seemingly, dreamt-up Super-6, a concept which was badly sold to the body of the kirk, ineptly handled by TCD and the minions and which looks likely to cause strife long after the L-S J has settled back to throwing prawns on the barbie, and cracking a few tinnies, in his Sydney back yard.

I suppose, I he was only charged with overseeing the Performance end of the game, he can hardly blame him or the ongoing clusterfuck that is Agenda-3 and the continuing saga of where the franchises' core slubs will play – but, these issues are collateral damage from S6.

Then there is the question of who will replace him, and at what salary? To be blunt, Director of Rugby at the SRU, whether charged with overseeing the whole shooting match, or just the performance end of things, has never been a bed of roses.

We know Jim Telfer and Ian McGeechan were excellent National Coaches, neither embellished their escutcheon when promoted to DoR. Johnson departs to less than enthusiastic praise – might the next incumbent be the one who finally gets it right?

Mind you, it has been said, getting Scots with sporting agendas to agree to anything is a bit like herding monkeys. I have long held it to be a truth, when clan wars ended, the Scots took-up sport.

I have covered nearly 60 different sports, and the politics within each sport in Scotland and the internal wars, make the present-day Conservative Party look like best buddies.

I await developments with interest.

THAT WAS a cracking performance by Edinburgh yesterday, to beat Newcastle Falcons, in Newcastle, and move to the top of Pool Five in the Heineken Champions Cup. They are now on 15 points, four clear of Montpellier.

 He can laugh, but, hopefully he will be "Stern" Vern after Montpellier face Edinburgh

They still have to travel to Toulon, before what might well be a winner takes all final game, against “Stern” Vern Cotter, “Wagga” Hines and the rest of the Montpellier gang, but, right now, things are looking good for the capital side.

We Scots are all brought up to believe: “It matters not who won or lost – so long as you beat the English,” so, yesterday's win was particularly enjoyable. Edinburgh had no failures, but, I just wonder how much more highly-regarded the likes of Hamish Watson and Ben Toolis are this morning.

It says much about the level of performance we expect from Glasgow these days, that there was a bit of disappointment at their failure to gain a bonus point in seeing-off Lyon at Scotstoun on Saturday.

In those conditions, just to be able to hang onto the ball was a major feat of endurance. I strongly suspect, on a half-decent afternoon, Glasgow would have secured the bonus-point, but, given the weather on the day, I will happily settle for the win.

By the way, the manner in which Adam Hastings broke the line and sparked-off the move which ended with Niko 's opening try, in 44 seconds – that was Russellesque in its execution. And a final word on the Glasgow game – another excellent refereeing display from Ben Whitehouse, who is now clearly the heir apparent to the Blessed Nigel among Welsh referees.

And, I thought George Clancy was again very fair in his game at the weekend. (No more Christmas cheer for the auld yin – Ed.)

HOWEVER, arguably the performance of the weekend came from Ayr, beating Melrose 32-15, to go back to the top of the Tennent's Premiership.

After the manner in which Heriot's took the Ayr pack apart at Millbrae the previous week, I honestly feared to the Millbrae Men in the Borders. But, came the hour, came the men. Frazier Climo, who scored 22 points, again confirmed his class, while Pat McArthur, who hadn't trained for nine weeks, came in to steady the forward ship and lead from the front.

Ayr and Melrose should now kick on and confirm their home advantage in the Premiership play-offs, but, this season, I don't think there are any certainties at the top of the club game.

The Premiership might not be fit for the L-S J's purpose, but, it continues to entertain and enthral. There will be no more action until 5 January, when Glasgow Hawks hope to get their postponed game with Currie Chieftains out of the way, meanwhile, the table reads:

Pos	Team	P	W	L	D	F:A	Diff.	TB	LB	Points
1	Ayr RFC	14	11	3	0	418:236	182	11	2	57
2	Melrose RFC	14	11	2	1	468:251	217	10	0	56
3	Heriot's	14	10	3	1	469:242	227	8	1	51
4	Watsonian FC	14	10	4	0	339:257	82	4	2	46
5	Currie Chieftains	13	8	5	0	409:288	121	9	3	44
6	Boroughmuir	13	6	7	0	335:292	43	7	2	33
7	Stirling County RFC	14	5	9	0	289:413	-124	6	4	30
8	Hawick RFC	14	4	10	0	215:459	-244	2	1	19
9	Glasgow Hawks RFC	13	2	11	0	243:484	-241	3	3	14
10	Edinburgh Academical FC	13	0	13	0	199:462	-263	1	3	4