IF AYR Rugby Club has tonight's Third Test between the Springboks and The Lions, in Cape Town, up on the big screen at Millbrae, I might pay it some attention. However, my priority around 5pm, when the match is due to kick-off, will be getting quotes from Pat McArthur and Graham Shiel, for my match report on the Ayrshire Bulls v Boroughmuir Bear FOSROC Super6 match.
Like many Scots, I have kind of lost interest in the Lions, partly due to Warren Gatland's failure over recent tours to fully-appreciate Scottish talent. OK, Hoggy's form has shaded at the wrong time, but, as I keep saying: form is transient, class is permanent. Also, I think Gatland has been sending-out mixed messages for tonight's game.
This is a “Must Win” match for the Lions – the series is riding on the result. He has to gamble, so, why is he leaving the ultimate rugby poker player, Finn Russell, on the bench?
If I was facing an all-to-play-for crunch match, which had to be won, I would have Finn, Hoggy and Anthony Watson starting.
Mind you, that attitude is dependant on the Lions actually mattering – which I doubt is still the case. As I have said before, you will not find the Lions featuring on World Rugby's rankings, games against the Lions don't come into play when it comes to the big boys willy-waving of world rankings or Rugby World Cups – so, why all the hype?
To be frank, if the level of rugby we have seen in the first two Tests are indicative of where top-flight international rugby is going: count me out. I want to see running rugby, rather than an 80 minute arm wrestle. I want to see the ball in play, rather than the forwards indulging in a staring and shirt-grabbing competition.
Back in the amateur days, the likes of Willie-John McBride, Gordon Brown, Colin Meads and Frik du Preez didn't growl and grab shirts, if they thought an opponent had crossed the line – they punched and kept punching. Life was simpler back then.
To quote the guru that is Creamy: “I wouldn't say today's game was dirty, every game in New Zealand is dirty.” Today's “hard me” don't know what a dirty game is.
I WILL be blogging at length next week on the thorny subject of S6; this one will definitely run and run. However, just a wee thought. On Facebook yesterday I had a slight tiff with one of my friends from clubland, who is vehemently opposed to S6.
He keeps telling me it will wither on the vine and is a complete abomination. This stance is based on – never having seen an S6 game live. So I challenged him to goe to an S6 game, watch it and then tell me what he thinks.
Invitation refused, no,he will stick with club rugby, where he feels a connection to the team on the park. OK, I can see his point, but, I just wonder how this club first attitude converts to supporting the return of inter-district rugby, which is being promoted from various sources.
So, extrapolating the: “I need a connection to the team on the park” forward, we can take it, if his particular club does not have a player in the hypothetical District team – he will not be watching. He will not attend an S6 game – even when a couple of players his club produced are on the park – so how can we believe he will attend a District match, where there are also a couple of his club's products on view.
I fear there is a lot of dishonesty going around regarding S6.
JAMMY BAR STEWARD of the week is surely Scotland, former Glasgow Warriors now Bath tight-head prop D'arcy Rae. Big D'arcy has won a great competition, the prize in which was half a dozen different bottles of the Macallan.
You can go off some people with that degree of luck. But, D'arcy, do not, under any circumstances, take these bottles south to Bath with you; that degree of quality is wasted on the Sassenachs.
FRIDAY NIGHT'S Super6 match between Watsonians and Stirling County was a bit of a curate's egg; good in places, but, spoiled by too-many unforced errors.
The TV coverage, on the BBC Scotland Sport website, however, was, I thought, a step or two up from that in the opening Friday night game. Commentator Paul Mitchell even managed to name-check referee Keith Allen, twice, But, having a talking head from the home club on the mike is something I feel they need to look at. A wee bit of neutrality is called for here.
I appreciate S6 is a cost-saver for the SRU, but, I feel they should maybe look at bringing in a TMO.
I’m feeling conflicted about the Lions. Terrible game last week and if that’s what constitutes the top of our sport - hell mend us.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your thoughts on S6 AA.
As with all things, I sort of agree with your FB critic. I wouldn’t pay to watch an S6 match. Why would I put money into an enterprise I disagree with? As I do in the rest of my life, my consumer choices are conscious and I won’t buy from companies I disagree with in terms of values and approach. Wetherspoons are one such.
I return yet again to the central point of the GHA motion - an integrated strategy for the whole game. Not just the people that get paid to play.