Celebrate - We Might Get A regular Season Soon

THE NEWS, released last week – we can expect the new club rugby season to kick-off in September – was hugely welcome. We really needed, after such a long lay-off, to see signs of a return to normality.

We should not, however, take this as a sing that things will get back to normal then. It all depends on the continuing fight against Covid, and, with this present SNP-led Scottish Government, they are proving to be a bunch of control freaks who will shut things down at a minute's notice, so, let's keep our fingers crossed.

The next big date to watch for will be next Monday, 21 June, when the fixtures for the new season will be released. I am really looking forward to seeing these, as a sign that we really are getting back to normal.

I AM indebted to The Guardian's 'Breakdown' column for publishing the Gallagher Premiership Team of the Season. Two Scots feature, not unexpectedly Stuart Hogg is named at full-back, while named at seven and handed the captaincy is London Irish's Blair Cowan (pictured).

 

The now 35-year-old “Kilted Kiwi” has had a sterling season for The Exiles, leading from the front throughout. His Scotland days are firmly behind him, but, it is good to know that, should we ever need to call him up in an emergency, he can still cut it at the highest club level.

Interestingly, those much-hyped (vastly over-rated in my book)
England props, Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler didn't make the cut, the numbers one and three shirts going to two of the older masters of the dark arts – Joe Marler and John Afoa, showing yet again, props are like fine wine, they take a wee while to mature.

Afoa certainly handed Genge a huge lesson in that final scrum in the Leicester v Bristol game the other weekend.

LEGEND has it that, after returning home from his outstanding form for the 1955 British Lions in South Africa, Jimmy Greenwood didn't turn out for his club, Dunfermline, until December. That game was his only club outing of the 1955-56 season.

He is rumoured to have only played eight games that season: that one club game, one game for the North and Midlands, the two Scotland trials and the four internationals in early 1956.

After the 1971 Lions Tour, which for him ended with a serious knee injury in the fourth Test, Gordon Brown did not reappear on the field until the final Saturday in November, and it was a similar story after the 1974 Lions Tour, which also saw him injured, with a broken hand.

Today, with rugby being professional at the top end, the leading players are almost rushed back into action following summer tours. OK, for countries such as Ireland, Scotland and Wales, where the Unions tend to have a degree of control over their top players, return to play protocols allow the top men to have a bit more rest, but, in England and France, where the clubs rule the roost – player burn-out is a genuine concern.

When you consider the inflated wages these clubs are paying the top players, it cannot be a surprise when they are encouraged to get back playing sooner rather than later, after international duty. It is also no surprise that, every year, we seem to see more and more players opting out of the international game for the riches of the club game. It's a short career, and if you can make more money with a top club rather than playing in internationals, why not take that money?

Rugby is now an all-year-round game. Player burn-out should therefore become more of an issue each year. Maybe we should be looking to have our top talent playing fewer games, over a shorter season, to preserve the quality of the play.

Maybe we should be going back to the old pattern of a season lasting from 1 September until 30 April. After all, in several games, it is now accepted player rest is as important as actual playing time.

A maximum 40 week season is surely sufficient time to play the game, and allow the players recovery time before the following season.

SATURDAY'S final regular season Gallagher Premiership clash between Exeter Chiefs and Sale Sharks was a cracker, with 14-man Chiefs coming from behind to snatch victory and home advantage, against the same opponents, in this weekend's semi-final.

I thought Chiefs' Dave Ewers was incredibly lucky to avoid a red card, while oor ain Sam Skinner unlucky to cop one. The cynic in me feels it was a case of referee Karl Dixon bending over backwards to NOT red card an England squad member, then, feeling obliged to rectify his error by sending-off a Scot.

A great game for all that.