Super6 - Real Rugby For Real Rugby Fans And Writers

FILMING of the 'docu-drama' “The Great Game” took place at Raeburn Place on Sunday. This is a film about the first international football match, of any code – the 20-a-side encounter, “under the Rugby laws” between England and Scotland, back in March, 1871.

Nice to know wee Rob Robertson of the Scottish Daily Mail bagged himself a gig as one of the extras, dressed in period costume, for the filming. Of course while Rob is the House Luvvie of the rugby-writing world, real rugby journalists, like Big Barney were either at The Greenyards, watching that brilliant match-up between Southern Knights and Boroughmuir Bears, or watching the action from Melrose, on Free Sports on TV.

It was a cracking game too, as were the other two S6 games earlier in the weekend. Funny how, now the action has actually started, the S6 critics have all gone quiet.

I think I had a wee query which had been kind of bothering me, answered by the coverage from Melrose. Just why, I wondered, had such an enthusiast as Mike Dalgety chosen to stop being the Greenyards DoR?

Well, there he was, in the background during the broadcast – and all was revealed, Mike, was on-duty, complete with yellow Hi-Viz, as a steward. Chapeau Mike, you cannot keep a good man down – clearly you were born to wear hi-viz gear.

A final wee thought on that Greenyards game. Knights' tight-head prop Euan McLaren scored a cracking try and backed-up some solid carries, with a good game at the coal face of propping – the scrums.

Euan was a bit of a child prodigy, playing one year up in the Scotland Under-18 squad, but, once he got into the Academy system, his career appeared to stall. He has always been good about the park, but, actual scrummaging has been seen as the weak point of his game.

Now, after a spell in Hong Kong, he is back with the Knights, and that youthful promise is being shown at adult level. At 22, he's still a babe-in-arms in propping terms; who knows, like Jamie Bhatti before him, he may well get his career back on track at The Greenyards. Let's hope so.

I WAS a late call-off from the Marr RFC Jubilee Dinner on Friday night, a gala occasion to mark the club's 50 years on the Fullarton site. Apparently I missed a great night, but, then nights at Fullarton are always great – it's what Marr does.

Peter Brown, a true son of Marr, who captained one of the teams in the opening match back in 1971, was the top speaker, along with fellow Scotland cap and British Lion, Kelso's Roger Baird.

Mind you, I sense there was a bit of the “Ah kent his Faither” about the evening – placing Marr's most-distinguished son at the same table as Scottish Rugby's version of 'Jack and Victor' – Tony Peters and Glenn Davis.

Kudos to Jim McGuffie (and more-so his better half, Heather) for pulling it all together.

There was an interesting wee Facebook discussion over the weekend, associated with the Marr Dinner. Gary Torbett, in his capacity as keeper of the flame, took along The Ayrshire Rugger Cup, a fine piece of silverware which a weel-kent member of Kilmarnock RFC put up for annual competition back in the days of the amateur game; when all the Ayrshire clubs were still junior ones and Ayrshiremen seeking to play at a higher level had to find their way onto what Bill McMurtrie described as: “the drove road to Glasgow and rugby fame.” - a road PC Brown travelled in the early 1960s.

The Ayrshire Cup has not been competed-for in over a quarter of a century, I gather the feeling on Friday night was, that is too-long a gap and it is time it was brought back into regular use.

So, come on the eight Ayrshire clubs, particularly Kilmarnock, how about getting it back into competition?

ONE OF my reasons for starting this blog was, it would give me the chance to float the occasional flight of fancy – an idea which would never see the light of day, even in the days when the mainstream media in Scotland treated sport seriously. Now is the time for such a flight of fancy.

Back in the days when he was a youngish firebrand, setting off on his media career, John Beattie wrote some excellent pieces for the Herald – which was still a bloody-good paper back then.

Our favourite 'Eccie' came up with one cracker, which while some details are now sketchy, I have never totally forgotten. This was just as Uncle Rupert Murdoch was starting to show an interest in broadcasting Rugby Union on his new satellite TV station.

Beattie forecast we would see the development of a hybrid game – called simply “Rugby” and taking-in elements of both Rugby Union and Rugby League. As I seem to remember it, he reckoned it would be 13-a-side (RL), but would include lines out (RU), and incorporate the best features of each game.

“Rugby” would be a global game, fully-professional and would perhaps have a different season from its two parent games. Beattie's belief was, by going to 13-a-side, that bit of extra space on the field would be provided and we would see a faster-tempo game with the emphasis on running and handling.

I think there is a case for re-examining this concept of a hybrid game. Certainly, given the mess we are getting ourselves into in trying to bring together the northern and southern hemisphere seasons, it is worth looking at. The days of all-year-round play are now upon us.

Calling the professional game “Rugby” and giving it separate seasons, laws and other protocols just might be the making of a truly global game. Meanwhile, the traditionalists could still, at a lower level, play the game they had grown-up with and love, for fun.