Here's My Lions Test Squad

I GENERALLY avoid selecting hypothetical XVs. Opinion is free, like arse holes, everyone has one, but, when it comes to selecting rugby XVs, the only opinions which matter are those of the coaches/selectors.

But, these days, it seems, everyone and his grannie is obliged to pick their Lions Test XV, so, I may as well go with mine. As ever on here, this is announced in 1-15 order and it is:

1. Wyn Jones (Wales). I would have, prior to his injury in Paris, have gone for our own Rory Sutherland. Hopefully, the Hawick man will travel, but, for now, Jones, who has been outstanding for Wales, has the number one jersey.

2. Ken Owens (Wales). Like Jones, he has been in outstanding form for his country, and has been, by a distance, the top British hooker in the Six Nations.

3. Tadhg Furlong (Ireland). For me, the world's best tight-head. He has to go, more-so after that wonderful bit of side-stepping against us.

4. Joe Launchbury (England). Every Lions team needs an out and out donkey in the tight five; a guy who does the unfashionable, hard yards. I don't think any British player does this better than big Joe.

5. Ian Henderson (Ireland). Everyone and his brother would apparently take Itoje. To me, he would be a liability in South Africa. I think the conditions in the high veldt would be too-much for AWJ, so, I go with Henderson, who is a sort of Willie John McBride for this century.

6. Tadhg Beirne (Ireland). There is a long history of the Lions putting a big lock at six – think Roger Uttley and Nathan Hines in the past. Beirne did a terrific job for Ireland at six in the 6N. He could reprise this role well for the Lions

7. Tom Curry (England). He was the one England forward to play consistently well in the 6N, and in the position with the most choice for the Lions, I have put him in ahead of our own Hamish Watson.

8. Sam Simmonds (England). Like Launchbury, he wasn't in the England 6N's squad, which was their loss. But, you cannot argue with his form for Exeter in both the Gallagher Premiership and in Europe.

9. Gareth Davies (Wales). I think you need half-backs with the X-factor, and I would love to see Davies in tandem with my first-choice ten.

10. Finn Russell (Scotland). At his best, he's unplayable. Even at less than his best in the 6N, there was a buzz every time he got on the ball. He has the magic touch the Lions will need.

11. Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland). Ok, there are questions about his defence, but, give him the ball in the least of space, in his homeland, and he will, if not score, definitely make a lot of metres.

12. Robbie Henshaw (Ireland). I felt, as a pairing, the Irish centres were the best-balanced duo in the 6Ns. So, I have picked them together.

13. Gary Ringrose (Ireland). See the note above. Chris Harris ran him close, however.

14. Anthony Watson (England). He has the same x-factor presence as Rees-Zammit and Darcy Graham, but, a lot more experience, why is why he gets in. Like Curry, he stood-out in a poor England team.

15. Stuart Hogg (Scotland [Captain]. In the absence of AWJ, I would have Hoggy lead the side, on his third Lions Tour. Hopefully, this time he will get the recognition and the length of tour he has been denied in the past.

16. Fraser Brown (Scotland). Provided he proved his fitness, I would take the Herioter, for his work around the park.

17. Rory Sutherland (Scotland). The Hawick man's selection is again, provided he can demonstrate his fitness. Otherwise, Cian Healy would get my pick for the bench.

18. Zander Fagerson (Scotland). I toyed with picking WP Nel, to come off the bench for the final quarter, but, on balance, Zander deserves his chance, ahead of Andrew Porter of Ireland.

19. Jonny Gray (Scotland). Again, his selection is provided he proves his fitness.

20. Hamish Watson (Scotland). He has to go on the tour, so, why not unleash him in the final quarter.

21. Conor Murray (Ireland). His great experience would be very-useful down the finishing stretch of any game.

22. Owen Farrell (England). The number 22 has to cover both centre and stand-off, in which case, Farrell is the outstanding candidate.

23. Liam Williams (Wales). Again, the guy wearing this number has to cover the back three, Williams, like Farrell, is the outstanding choice for the bench.

Five Irish, four English, three Scottish and three Welsh players get into my starting Test XV. On the bench: five Scots, one each from the other three nations. Perhaps a bit of a Scottish bias there – Guilty, M'Lud.

One thing my long experience of Lions Tours has taught me is this – my team will not be the one which takes the field for the Test series.

I can also guarantee, once Warren Gatland actually names his squad, everyone and his grannie will again have a go at picking the Test team. I can also guarantee, nobody will get that side right either.

The presumed Test XV has never takent he field together. In fact, given the tour itinerary, with the Tests coming as the final games, it makes it even more of a certainty that one or two nailed-on certainties for the Test XV will be back home in these isles, beginning their rehab from injury, when the First Test is played.

As I said at the start, pick the Lions' Test XV is a game I usually avoid like the plague, but, in this strangest of seasons – why not indulge myself?

What A Paris Match That Was

 

WELL, that was the best Friday night I've had for some time. Those final five minutes – wow! I was convinced we were about to see another episode of: So Near Yet So Far, the continuing story of Scottish Rugby, then Bruce Dulin had the brain fart of all brain farts and we were back in the game.

Then Adam Hastings out-Finns Finn Russell with that pass for Duhan van der Merwe to score the winning try- unbelievable.

It was still, for me, a case of so near yet so far. If Finn and Stuart Hogg were as as good at place kicking and dropping goals as they are at running the ball, we might well all still be drunk and celebrating a Grand Slam this morning, the margins at the end were that close. Or, if we hadn't given away that late penalty against Ireland, and the match had ended as a draw, we would have finished second, with Ireland fourth.

Certainly, in what I think is the closest Six Nations yet, we showed we are competitive. We are getting there, but, we are still Scotland, so still probably some way away from the end of the rainbow.

BACK IN 1980 I returned to Scotland, after some years working in England. I relocated to my current home, in the same part of East Ayrshire where I had been born and spent my formative years.

When I went off, aged 15, to college in Glasgow, then on to work in Edinburgh, fitba was king around here. But, we didn't grow-up wanting to wear Rangers' blue or Celtic green and white hoops. We wanted, depending on our home village, to wear the black and gold stripes of Auchinleck Talbot, the black and white hoops of Cumnock, the red and white of Glenafton Athletic and, in my case, the yellow goalkeeper's jersey, behind the outfield maroon strips of Lugar Boswell Thistle.

When I returned in 1980, basketball was the booming sport locally. Cumnock Curries, a wee team formed b y a couple of returning PE teachers were one of Scotland's top teams, and Cumnock Academy was the top basketball school in Scotland.

One of the reasons behind this was Curries had a couple of American players. They could not, under Scottish Basketball Association rules simply be paid to play basketball – the “day job” was to be Basketball Development Officers, spreading the word and encouraging the kids to play.

Bill Baillie, the head of PE at the Academy had them in the school as much as possible, coaching, but, where the work was really done was in the lunch-time pick-up games in the Games Hall, where each American would be on one side, helping-out the kids.

The Cumnock system worked. The first time a Scotland Schools side beat England in an international – the entire starting five were from Cumnock, and three of that quintet went on to win full caps. As the parent of another Cumnock age group internationalist – indeed that one father saw three of his sons play for Scotland – said to me: “what really brought the boys on was playing with and against the Americans every lunch time.”

Sadly, Cumnock Basketball was a bit of a supernova. Bill Baillie retired, the other teachers who had happily coached got promoted away from the school, the Teacher's Strike killed extra-curriculum coaching; while the club could not compete with the bigger city outfits and died too.

That is a sorry tale, however, there can be no doubt, if you can get players involved in youth coaching, passing-on their expertise, the kids will listen and learn, be enthused and stick with the game.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, when I was playing, every club had a lower XV which was a hotch-potch of youth and experience. You would find grizzled front five forwards, who through work/family commitments could not train during the week, but cold still trot around on a Saturday, mixed in with students, who maybe only came home at weekends, or players from the club's feeder schools, who had not got rid of all their energy in their Saturday morning school game.

The youngsters were the “legs” for the veterans, who repaid them for their running with tips, experience and as enforcers. The youngsters learned life lessons too, such as how to handle their drink. That system worked.

My old mate Michael Green dubbed that level of the game: “Coarse Rugby” and wrote a still very-readable best-seller about this level of play. If you haven't read Michael's book, you should.

Can we maybe get back to something like that? Let's have the
Edinburgh and Glasgow full-timers, and the semi-professionals from the FOSROC Super6 going round the schools “selling” rugby. Can we not devise law changes which would allow a fomr of less-contact Recreational Rugby to encourage running and handling, but, take away the sheer physicality of the breakdown and the “big hits” culture. This could perhaps keep more youth players playing into adulthood.

There is also, surely, a case for promoting walking rugby to keep we older chaps mobile and interested.

Of course, setting-up such schemes would be costly, but, can anyone give me a better use for some of the CVC money which is coming the SRU's way? Or, will The Junta simply piss it away on maintaining their own wee Murrayfield empires?

When Are We Going To Sort Out The Grass Roots?

I RECEIVED the following message, on Facebook, from a former team mate. I feel he makes some good points. The message reads:

"Dobie, McLean, Cherry, Steele, Magnus Bradbury, Fraser Brown, Sam Hidalgo Clyne, all current Scottish internationalists, all from Merchiston.

Add in Zach Mercer, England and Pasquali, Italy. Dan Nutton at Edinburgh too. Merchiston is proverbial rugby gold, not to mention a scrum half factory.

Aristotle, can you imagine what it would be like if many schools were producing these numbers. We would be challenging at the top end of world rugby.

I understand that Merchiston is expensive and probably quite elite, but there is no doubt they nurture any talent who come through. Same with cricket. It’s like a who’s who of Scottish cricket teams too. Sport is treated there just as important as academia.

If only we could return to the days when schools took rugby seriously and paid teachers to coach the kids. Are we missing a beat here?

Could the SRU not pay someone to coach rugby at every school? I don’t know where our rugby future is going, but without our Merchistons and such like, our age group rugby would be on a par with Italy. I’m sure a guy like you will know these facts already, but it is interesting just the same. Cheers”

He could have added Glasgow Warriors' Stafford McDowall, currently it seems, out of favour with Danny Wilson, to his list of Merchistonians currently-active in professional rugby, but, it cannot be denied the school has an impressive track record.

Merchiston has a long tradition of producing top-class talent. Back in 2017 I did a retrospective piece on Lions Tours and turned-up one tour where three of the Scottish contingent listed their club as “Merchistonians.” That was over a century ago.

Well done to them, and good luck in the future, but, how much better might things be if that opening sentence of the final paragraph of my mate's missive came to pass and we had paid rugby coaches in every school?

A breakdown of the 29-man squad which Gregor Townsend released earlier this week, for Friday's game in Paris, makes interesting reading. This breakdown is:

• 8 players from Scottish Public Schools

• 8 players from Scottish State Schools

• 6 players who were schooled in England

• 4 players who were schooled in South Africa

• 2 players who were schooled in Australia

• 1 player who was schooled in New Zealand

More than a quarter of the squad came from just three schools – Dave Cherry, Jamie Dobie, Rufus McLean and Scott Steele went to Merchiston, the Fagersons and Jamie Ritchie to Strathallan, and George Turner to Stewart's-Melville.

Hawick High School – a State School - produced Darcy Graham, Stuart Hogg and Rory Sutherland, the other 356 State Schools have between them produced just five of the current Scotland squad, 17%.

If you look at the XV which started the game against Italy, you find only the three Hawick High School boys, plus Grant Gilchrist, from Lornshill Academy, Alloa, went to a State School, that's 26.6%.

We really need to broaden and deepen the grass-roots, and get more rugby played in the schools to which most of our young people go.

I don't know if paying teachers to coach rugby is the answer; however, it may be necessary in 21^st century Scotland. Certainly, the men who encouraged rugby in my young days, guys such, as in Ayrshire: TB Watson at Ayr Academy, Jock McClure at Cumnock Academy or Campbell Bone at Kilmarnock Academy did their coaching for the love of the game. That spirit is not abroad in the teaching profession these days.

We really need to see team sports such as rugby and football more-integrated into the overall curriculum. Might we need to go down the American route, of employing specific sports coaches to teach games?

The matter, to me, certainly needs to be seriously addressed, or Scotland will slip ever further behind in promoting the game.

Get the kids interested and encouraged when they are at school, then make it easier for the talented ones to have that talent nurtured within the clubs. This approach, I am certain, would increase the playing numbers and make for a brighter future.

We cannot afford to leave it to the Private Schools, or to carry-on as we currently are. Change for the better should be a priority, for whoever takes over from Sheila Begbie, and for the SRU in general.

NO REAL surprises in the match-day squad which Toony revealed at lunch-time today. That squad is:

He appears to have gone back to his first-choice players, with George Turner, Ali Price, Finn Russell and Chris Harris all back after missing the Italian game.

We need a huge game, both individually and as a group, from the players named. They will face a determined French team, and it will be a difficult game. But, I have faith in this team being able to do us proud.

FINALLY, there has been a lot of speculation as to what might happen as regards this season's Six Nations Championship, depending on the outcome in Paris on Friday night.

To win the whole shebang, France must beat us by over 20 points, and score four or more tries along the way. Well, you can never say never, and, if one team is capable of playing the rip-roaring rugby that scenario will require, it is France.

However, Friday night's match will be the 15^th match in this season's championship. So far, in the 14 games, there have only been 5 matches in which the margin of victory was over 20 points. In each of these 5 games, the losing side was Italy.

The next biggest margin of victory was the 16 points win by Wales over England. Scotland's two defeats to date were by one point, to Wales, and three points to Ireland.

I would reckon, the odds are favouring a Welsh title win.

Leave Them Wanting More After Friday Night's Encore

I SUPPOSE we should look on Friday night's upcoming France v Scotland match in Paris as an encore, particularly following the crescendo to “Super Saturday” that was the France v Wales game. What a finish.

Obviously, since they need to beat us heavily, and with a four-try bonus point, the French team will come out to throw the ball around. This may well suit us, particularly if Finn Russell and say Teddy Thomas have a wee side bet on the outcome. Realistically, France will start as favourites, but, as the game unfolds, you never can tell what might happen.

 

Could Teddy and Finn have a wee side bet going on Friday
 

For instance, if we can put up a truly-epic defensive performance, and the French begin to become frustrated as the tries fail to come along, their discipline could unravel and we could benefit. I am looking forward to this one immensely.

These days, more than ever, international sport is indeed: “War without the shooting.” Some people get awfully worked-up at the outcome. I like to think, as a veteran Tartan Army foot soldier, whose experience of suffering the late David Francey's immortal phrase: “Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear! Disaster for Scotland,” goes back to the days of above the ankle leather boots with cork studs, leather balls which weighed a ton in wet weather and wingers throwing into the lines out; I tend to be a bit blasé about our fortunes as pre-tournament sanguine gives way to cruel reality.

Old Grantland Rice got it right – how you play the game is more-important than the result, particularly so in Rugby Union. As things stand, we could finish-up second in the Guinness Six Nations 2021. That's the best-case scenario, worst-case is, we finish fourth, which, for Scotland will be a triumph of sorts, since we will have met Max Boyce's rewrite of the Grantland Rice doctrine.

This says: “It matters nought who won nor lost – so long as you beat England.”

MY OWN particular take on the games thus far in the 2021 Six Nations is this – we have had some cracking games, matches in which the outcome was still in doubt as the clock ticked into the red. But, and what a shame there has to be a but – Rugby Union is a game with serious structural problems, which are not being addressed by the governing body – World Rugby.

So much of the pre and post-match chatter has been around the refereeing. Endless debates on whether or not a card should have been red or yellow, over and above the ongoing arguments about the officiating at the scrum and the breakdown.

Surely even the brain dead former front five donkeys in the corridors of power in Dublin should have realised by now – when a game has this much discussion on its laws – then clearly, these laws are no longer fit for purpose and need revision.

When is World Rugby going to get round to a genuine root and branch review and overhaul of the Laws? Surely it is obvious, we cannot go on as we have been doing. Re-arranging the deck chairs is no longer enough – it is time to get serious guys.

I HAD grave doubts about his fitness for the post, when Danny Wilson was named to replace Dave Rennie as Glasgow Warriors' Coach.

Nothing which has happened since has caused me to reconsider that initial view. For me, he's the wrong guy, n the wrong job, at the wrong time.

However, given the thinking?? processes of The Junta, I don't see him being removed any time soon. Similarly, I do not see the high heid yins at both BT Murrayfield and Scotstoun changing their operating procedures any time soon.

This means, we can look forward to more cheap non-Scottish imports, Scottish players being largely side-lined and prayer rather than preparation and perspiration being the main management hope.

I've said this before – and I will go on saying it:

There is no relegation in the PRO14, therefore, buying in non-Scots to hold the fort when the top players are away in Scotland duty, is a waste of money.

The idea of the two PRO14 teams is to prepare Scottish players for the international squad, therefore, these teams should pro-actively encourage young Scots to play.

There might be losses at first – but, this would be nothing new when compared to recent results – go with the young Scots, it will pay dividends in the long run.

FINALLY, a wee thought: in previous Lions Tour years, when Scotland has finished the Six Nations as the worst of the Home Nations, we have had, at best, two Scots in that summer's Lions touring party.

So, the question is – which two England players get into this year's squad?

Rugby Union Is A Broadsheet, Not A Tabloid Game

THERE COULD be a perception of “Pot – Kettle” in this post – I have after all, a history of ranting at perceived injustices done to Scotland and Scottish teams. However, if so, I apologise.

I am becoming somewhat scunnered by the tabloidisation of rugby journalism these days. There has always been an element of this in Wales and New Zealand, where rugby is the main team sport of the masses, but, in recent years, particularly as England's Gallagher Premiership has aped the excesses of its round ball cousin, these tabloid exclusives etc have mushroomed.

Some of the sound and fury of this season's Guinness Six Nations has been a bit much for the rugby purists:

• Abuse of referees

• Abuse of journalists and players on social media

• Trying to re-officiate matches after the final whistle

Rugby has had its shameful low points in the past, but, like the other “Empire Games” - Cricket and Golf, our game has generally been held to a higher standard of behaviour than some other pastimes.

Rugby adheres to the principle: “The referee is never more right than when he is wrong,” which is why, we accept Law 6 (5) a:

“Within the playing enclosure: The referee is the sole judge of fact and of law during a match.”

That just might be the most-important paragraph in the Laws of the Game. Even when you can see he is wrong – he's right – live with it. Thus, all this hot air about whether or not Maro Itoje scored that try on Saturday is a waste of time; to quote no less an authority than the great Willie John McBride, from the triumphant Lions Tour of 1974: “Forget it, that's history.”

Willie John was dissuading some of the young bucks from wasting valuable drinking time, by re-watching their Test triumph of the previous day. The same reason holds for not trying to work-out if Itoje had or had not grounded the ball. Andrew Brace, with the aid of Joy Neville, had decided he had grounded the ball – dialogue over, it's a try.

The history books show, the All Blacks beat the Lions 18-17 in the First Test of 1959. That was under the 1959 scoring system. However, under the 2021 system, the Lions won 25-18. I don't see the records being changed to reflect this, nor should they be. Let's accept the result and move on.

I am also getting a bit fed-up with specific incidents, perhaps missed by the match officials, being re-run on social media. There might well be a case for the official citing officer to spend Sunday, closeted away in a television studio, going through the match footage to catch incidences of foul play which were missed. Poring over ultra-slow motion footage in the hope of nailing some player for some perceived bit of foul play. But, does this really help the game?

Re-run it perhaps in real time, if a genuinely bad incident shows up, deal with it, otherwise, move on. We have to preserve the sanctity of Law 6 (5) a.

JINGS CRIVVENS, help ma Boab – but Toony caused a bit of a stooshie when he named his team to face the Italians, at BT Murrayfield, tomorrow. He has fairly rung the changes – making seven in personnel and two positional switches, with the back row the only unit to be untouched between the two games.

OK, the Ireland game was a bad day at the office, a match which we were always chasing, with some systemic cracks growing wider by the minute. Therefore, changes had to be made.

The biggie is the Coach's decision to stick with the positional change which was imposed on him last Sunday – Hoggy taking over the lynchpin role at ten from concussion victim Finn Russell.

This decision has got the Scottish rugby family debating. But, since Hoggy is the closest player we have to the Finnster in his ability to pull-off the unexpected X-factor move, and, given Warren Gatland chose the then 21-year-old Hoggy at ten in a couple of matches on the 2013 Lions Tour to Australia, I think our skipper can cope.

Given quick front-foot ruck ball against the Italians, I can see Hoggy igniting our midfield runners in the same manner as we are used to from Finn. Assuming the place kicking duties will not phase him either.

At club level, Scott Steele, who has displaced Ali Price at nine, is used to working with a mercurial, running ten, in young Marcus Smith. I have no fears about him and Hoggy as a unit.

The Italian run of losses has to end some time, and I always worry that it might be against us. However, if we can make a good start and get in front, I think we can secure the morale-boosting win we badly need.

FINALLY, good luck tonight to my favourite current referee – wee Hollie Davidson, who will finally, at the third time of asking, get to control a full PRO14 game, when she takes charge of Munster v Benetton, at Thomond Park, Limerick.

She thoroughly deserves the honour, and she will have the security of Joy Neville talking to her from the TV control truck. I am sure Hollie will do herself and Scottish rugby proud.

It's Time The Law Makers Got Off Their Arses and Did Something

 WAS I the only person who noticed how the weekend's Guinness Six Nations action started?

Italy v Wales – the Italians kick-off too long, so Wayne Barnes brings play back for a scrum to Wales on half-way. The centre of the tunnel is right on the half-way line, so down go the packs, with Wales' scrum-half Gareth Davies taking-up his position, about two feet to the Welsh side of half-way, before, as is now mandatory, apparently, feeding the ball straight into the Welsh second row. Ken Owens doesn't even have to strike for the ball, it's down to Davies to hit the ball off his heel on the way in.

 

 

The Best referee in the world, (pictured above) officiating in the game, stands by and does nothing. There you have it, all that's wrong with top flight rugby in a couple of paragraphs.

That squint feed is merely the tip of the laizey faire attitude to the Laws we have today:

• Squint scrum feeds

• Squint line out feeds

• Hookers throwing-in to lines-out from inside the touchlines

• Kickers from hand using the penalty mark as the starting point for their run-up, rather than kicking through the mark

• Players off their feet at the breakdown

• Sealing-off at the breakdown

• Players holding down opponents at the breakdown

• The “milking” of penalties at scrums

There we have it, eight annoying/contentious features of the modern game, seven of which could be eliminated, by the referees being instructed to and following those instructions, in order to clean-up the game.

The odd one out is the milking of scrum penalties. The scrum is a means of re-starting play following a non-penalised error, so, why should it suddenly become a means of winning penalties?

Of course, if a referee spots illegal play, usually by props, he must penalise, but, most of the penalty milking comes when the team winning the scrum holds the ball in the second or back row.

That is easily sorted, bring in a new Law that states the ball can only be held in the scrum by the side gaining possession, when the scrum in question is within five metres of the goal line. We should still encourage pushover tries, but, elsewhere on the park, the ball has to be quickly released to the backs.

I would also instruct the referees to stop “coaching” players; no more instructions to “stay back seven,” or “release” in the tackle, or “stay onside 11.” If the players are breaking the Laws, don't warn – simply penalise. OK, we might have a period of stop-start rugby, while the players adapted, but, if the powers-that-be stood firm, the players and coaches who sought to circumvent the Laws, would quickly come to heel.

Oor ain John Jeffrey is the Honcho on the World Rugby committee which handles matters such as the Laws of the Game, so, we need not look for improvements any time soon. I mean between World Rugby, his sinecure as SRU Chairman, not forgetting the wee matter of running the farm, JJ probably hasn't much time for small issues such as this.

My Oldest grandson finally, at the weekend, let me have his Netflix access codes. I am now working my way through the various series of 'Last Chance U,' the documentaries which chronicle the happenings around various Junior Community Colleges – the fall back seats of learning for athletes with aspirations towards a place in Division One NCAA athletics and hopefully transition to the NFL or NBA.

It's riveting stuff, as we watch the struggles of the mainly black athletes for whom places like East Mississippi Community College, or East Los Angeles Community College really is their last chance of grabbing a college scholarship.

There are some great stories there, but, for me, one of the best, or rather worst parts of these documentaries is the match officiating. We may complain loudly and at length about Messrs Joubert, Gauzere, Carley and in particular Lacey and Clancy, but, believe me, compared to some of the match officials in Last Chance U – these rugby guys are right on top of their game.

My other main thought, from watching these documentaries is – truly, the hardest part of an athlete to train is the six inches or so between their ears. The coaches and athletics advisers such as the wonderful Brittany Wagner at East Mississippi really do have the patience of saints, to deal with some of the athletes in their programmes.

We might feel our young rugby talent here in Scotland has a hard time – thanks to the machinations of Murrayfield, but, on balance, compared to the dog-eat-dog culture in American college sports – our guys have it easy.

I WISH no ill-will on Adam McBurney, Edinburgh's latest signing, from Ulster. The 24-year-old hooker will come in to replace South African Mike Willemse, who is elaving the club at the end of the season.

But, on hearing of the signing, my immediate reaction – yet again – is why? Edinburgh already has three hookers on the roster: Dave Cherry, Stuart McInally and Sam Kitchen. They also have Southern Knights' Fin Scott there – and the former Jedforest man is no mean hooker. There are also some good hookers, boasting Scotland Age Group experience, on the rosters of the three Edinburgh-based FOSROC SUPER6 sides.

So, can someone from The Junta please explain why the need to recruit, as at best third-choice, a non-Scot? These Edinburgh guys must hit the tackle bags with some force, since Cokerill seems to need so many holders in his squad.