He's Back - Aristotle's First Blog of 2022

A GUID NEW YEAR TAE ANE AN AWE -

MAY 2022 BE A BETTER YEAR THAN THE LAST TWO

NOW, LET'S GET GOING

THE GREATEST living song-writer spoke for us all, when he wrote:

“and I'll trade all my tomorrows, for a single yesterday – holding Bobbie's body close to mine.” Old KK got it in one – we all have regrets, what might have beens, coulda, woulda, shoulda moments. Mine is, I never put in the supposed10,000 hours of practice to produce a good professional, otherwise, it might have been me and not Alan Rough who got all those Scotland caps.

Well, let's make this one of Rugby Union's precepts – that, right at the start of their 10,000 hours of practice, young players learn to tackle properly – BELOW THE HIPS.

I cannot claim the credit for coming up with what is perhaps, a statement of the obvious. I read about the idea in The Guardian, where the notion is being advanced by that deep thinker on the game – Eddie Jones.

Wee Eddie is growing on me. OK, he may have chosen to throw in his lot with the sporting equivalent of Master Race Are Us, but, he knows his stuff. He is suggesting in Under-12 rugby, the tackle height should be lowered to below the hips, to encourage the kids to learn proper technique: arms wrapped, head behind the torso. And, by teaching proper technique at an early age, hopefully there will be fewer head trauma in the game in later life.

I am 100% with Wee Eddie on this one. And how good it is to see one of the leading coaches pushing this initiative. Mind you, the question is: will the Old Farts in the blazers listen?

I can see but one drawback to this. Sure, if it works, we will produce future generations of players who have had the basics ingrained from an early age, and who can tackle properly. Then they will take-up professional careers and bad coaches will coach the good habits out of them.

They will enter an environment where the watchwords are #whatever it takes, just so long as the ball carrier is stopped.

• Proper technique - doesn't matter

• Player safety doesn't matter - just don't lose.

I fear it will take more than the excellent notion of teaching proper technique and lowering the tackle height, to at least reduce the dangers inherent in a collision sport such as rugby. We could also make the breakdown offside line one metre back from the rear-most body on either side. At least then, the tackler would have time and room in which to set him or her self for the collision.

I caught the final five minutes or so of the Harlequins Women v Wasps Women match at Twickenham, on BT Sport. Wasps' hooker was red-carded for a head-high tackle, which was the result of abysmal technique; the girl could, in my view, should, have got a lot lower than she did. Then we have the commentators giving it the “poor girl” act. The girls who play at that level are being well-paid for their trouble; they prepare to a professional degree – there ought to be no need for such red cards.

The fact red cards for high tackles still occur in even semi-professional rugby speaks of a game which is not taking professional standards of preparation seriously enough. This lack of professionalism will come back to bite rugby in the bum in the years to come.

And, there's another thing which Jones highlighted in his Guardian interview – the fact, in the Northern Hemisphere, players tend to play around 35 games per season, whereas in the Southern Hemisphere, they tend to play 25 games per season. Let's also adopt the NFL watchwords: fewer games, better quality. It could work.

WE HAVE a wee think tank going here in the Scottish Rugby Philosophy department, where we discuss matters of mutual interest around the game. Some of our thoughts and discussions occasionally find their way onto the blog.

Left Field, one of our wiser sages, recently raised the issue of the malign affect Rugby League practices have brought into Union – which got us thinking.

Back in the amateur era, received wisdom in Union was – you attacked space, which was a somewhat chancy operation. The attacker might become isolated, possession would be lost and the opposition then had their opportunity to attack against a disorganised defence.

In League meanwhile, received wisdom was, you attacked opponents, looking for speedy second phase off the “play the ball” rule to utilise a mis-match or an overlap off which you might score.

League defences were more-structured and better-organised than the defences in Union, so, when League coaches began to drift across, they brought their habits with them and in attack, Union began to ape the 13-a-side game, with defences ranged across the field and the concept of setting-up a ruck, off which you could attack with quick ball, spread. Against this, defences concentrated on slowing the attacking team's possession, to allow the defensive line to re-form.

Suddenly, free-flowing Union began to more and more resemble war of attrition League.

So, how do we reverse this?

WATCHING the Boxing Day clash between Bristol Bears and Leicester Tigers was interesting. There were 15 scrums in the game. With only 1 of the first 13 actually completed. Scrums 14 and 15 were let go, but, earlier in the game, they would surely have been, at the very least, re-set. I think by that point, 79 minutes in, referee Tom Foley just wanted to get off the park.

The BT Sport team were full of praise for referee Foley, for his patience and tolerance. Rubbish. I was longing for him to do what Nigel Owens did, a few years back, when he yellow carded Warriors' Ryan Grant and Ospreys' Adam Jones, after the first six scrums in a game at Scotstoun were a collective mess.

At the time, Grant and Jones were the best players in the British Isles in their respective positions. This was not the case at Ashton Gate on Boxing Day. Here the bother was largely being caused by Bears' Kyle Sinckler and Tigers' Ellis Genge, who, certainly in this game, reaffirmed the wide-spread belief that neither can scrum for toffee.

If he had yellow carded that pair in the first half, Mr Foley would have had a much easier and more-enjoyable afternoon – and so would all of us watching. On the same subject, of setting scrums, can I repeat something I wrote earlier this year:

The most-often ignored Law in the book is surely Law 19 (4): “Teams must be ready to form a scrum within 30 seconds of the mark being made.”

If a team is not ready, the sanction is a free kick to the opposition. I raised the subject of that Law with a leading refereeing official at the time, his response: “Ah! Well, Yes.....”

Bath v Gloucester at The Rec. This finished in a thumping win for the Cherry and Whites, and another disaster for Bath. This got me thinking; I know we are critical of football boards of directors, when they sack managers or coaches after a couple of defeats, but, while congratulating Bath on the way they are backing Director of Rugby Stuart Hooper, given the way they've not played in the first half of the season, why is he – even if he is a club icon – still in-post?

Such a pity I have to talk about English games, but, on the whole, I'd rather be living under the ultra-cautious Scottish government than that bunch of Old Etonian chancers down at Westminster, even if it does mean we don't have the Glasgow v Edinburgh double-header to cheer us up in the deep midwinter.

THE SCOG – that's the SRU's Standing Committee on Governance has a new Chairman. Gavin McColl QC has stood down from the role and been replaced by another of Scotland's top legal brains – Professor Lorne Crerar CBE.

An Old Anniesland man, Lorne was good enough to play for Glasgow and the Scotland Under-21 team, before injury ended his playing career, which led to him becoming a top referee out of GHK, while in the day job, he ran one of Scotland's top law firms, Harper Macleod for 30 years. Emeritus Professor of Law at his Alma Mater, Glasgow University.

Weel-kent across the rugby world, Lorne is an excellent replacement for Gavin McColl and if anyone can assist President Ian Barr in navigating the still choppy waters of the Governance Review, it is surely Lorne Crerar.

That's the first significant event of 2022, it will not be the last.

Early Christmas Present Lifts The Edinburgh Gloom At The Covid Restrictions

SAM SKINNER was unveiled earlier this week as an early Christmas present for the Edinburgh rugby family. He will arrive for next season in what is a convenient one-out (Ben Toolis), one-in (Skinner) exchange of international locks. I can now see one of the capital side's coterie of young locks being sent along the M8 to augment the somewhat thin boiler-house resources at Scotstoun.

Let's hope too, some of the young guns in the Academy etc get a lot more game time when S6 resumes in the Spring. This blog will never stop preaching the gospel, it's more game time that our young players need.

I HAVE recently taken out a subscription to the quarterly magazine RUGBY JOURNAL, and am liking what I am reading in there. The latest edition dropped through the letter-box on Monday, and I found one article particularly illuminating – an in-depth interview with RFU Chief Executive Bill Sweeney.

Now, unlike our Führer, TCD, Bill Sweeney is a rugby man. I have this on the authority of one or two veteran rugby men of my acquaintance, who know him personally. This shows in how Sweeney goes about his business.

For instance, in the interview he reveals that, in his two and a half years (at the time of the interview) in the Twickenham hot seat, he has personally visited over 70 GRASS ROOTS clubs. He, when appointed, committed to visiting smaller clubs, rather than merely going to Premiership games, and he has stuck to this. TCD please note.

I am telt, Our glorious Leader has been seen in one or two, but not all, of the S6 clubhouses, but, sadly we don't have pictorial proof of these sightings. However, he has definitely not been seen in many, if any, smaller club houses.

WHEN I started blogging, the Scottish Rugby Union was in a dark place, with a bunch of “Sir Humphreys” running rings round the poor “Jim Hackers” we were electing onto the Council. Indeed, some of the Council members of a few years back would not have looked out of place in a Conservative Party cabinet.

However, the good guys hung in there and today, I think we have a much better Council, who are listening to the clubs and acting on their behalf. We now get the Council minutes published, apart from understandable redactions on the grounds of commercial sensitivity.

There are still battles ongoing and yet to be won, some of our top executives would still far rather the clubs fucked off and left them to run things as they saw fit and I will never be happy until two in particular are shown the door.

From the latest published Council minutes, I not Vice President Colin Rigby has been elected to the main SRU Board, well done to him. But, that's not the item which most pleased me.

I am delighted to note that my long campaign to have President's Caps awarded to those players who played for Scotland in what were, at the time “non-cap” internationals, against the likes of Argentina, Japan and the Pacific Islands, games which today carry full-cap status, has been taken-up by the Council and goen to the full Board for consideration.

Hopefully, these players will now, belatedly, get the recognition they deserve.

SEVERAL leading Scottish clubs, such as Ayr, Melrose and Glasgow Hawks have reacted to the mainstream media's disregard for the game, by publishing their own monthly newsletters.

The Ayr publication: Pink and Black, is in the safe hands of former number eight Alex MacLeod, now retired, but, when on the tools mainly with the Daily Recrod-Sunday Mail Group, one of the top production journalists in Scotland.

Alex recently asked me to do a piece on a former Scotland cap of the 1960s, with a firm Ayr connection, so, below is the feature what I wrote – enjoy.

HIS short Wikipdeia entry reads:

“Alasdair Hugh Wilson Boyle' (born Glasgow, 30 September 1945) was a Scottish rugby union player. He played as a number eight.

He also played for London Scottish FC.

He had 6 caps for Scotland, from 1966 to 1968, scoring 1 try, 3 points on aggregate. He played in two Five Nations Championship competitions, in 1966 and 1967.

His brother Cameron Boyle was also capped for Scotland. ”

But, to many who look at his portrait, hanging on the bar wall at Millbrae, he is: “Alasdair Who?” since his connection to the club seems tenuous. The truth is stranger.

The Glasgow-born Alasdair was transplanted from The Dear Green Place, and Glasgow High School, in Primary Two – when ill health caused his father to move the family from the city to a bungalow overlooking the Low Green. Alasdair went to Ayr Grammar, where, among his class-mates was the young Donald Frame, later to also play for the Ayr first XV, before a broken neck, sustained against Kelso, ended his rugby career – and the girl who would later become Mrs Aristotle Armstrong. However, his time at the Grammar was short, before he was enrolled at Dalhousie Castle Prep School in Fife – where he first picked-up a rugby ball.

From there it was on to Merchiston Castle School, where he spent three years in the XV and was selected for the annual London Scottish v Richmond Schoolboys game in 1964. This was the equivalent of a Scottish Schoolboys “cap” in those days, with try-scorer Alasdair picked-out by the Glasgow Herald as the Man of the Match.

Leaving Merchiston, he returned to Ayr. Speaking from his retirement home in Barnstaple, Devon, Alasdair recalled: “Because Quinton Young was already established, I couldn't get a game at number eight, so I played second row, alongside Jimmy Vallance. In fact, I think I only ever had four games for the Ayr 1^st XV – against Ardrossan Accies, Allan Glen's, Shawlands FP and Howe of Fife – where I scored the first try on the new ground on the day we opened Millbrae.”

Alasdair enjoyed his brief spell with the club, from when he remembers the likes of the afore-mentioned Young and Vallance, Jim and John Hepburn, Jock Craig and Alastair McClelland.

He had a recent enjoyable find, when, on You Tube, he came across the short film: “The Making of Millbrae,” of which he says: “It brought back happy memories: Bill Mowat smoking like a chimney and seeing the likes of Jack and Ernie Finnie.”

Alasdair continued: “I lacked the science subjects necessary to get into medicine, so I went down to Birmingham to take a one-year “cramming” course, before getting into St Thomas's Hospital to study medicine – and almost immediately flew off to Germany on an ancient Douglas DC3 Dakota for a tour, which introduced me to my team mates.

“The London Hospitals Cup was a big competition then, involving teams from 12 teaching hospitals, and it was a good standard of rugby to play. I then got selected for British Universities and for Middlesex in the County Championships. This got me into the Anglo-Scots XV, a game for 'A Scotland XV' against Combined Services, then my first cap, against the touring Australians, on 17 December, 1966.”

in a little over a year in just 30 games, he had gone from the Ayr second row to a full cap.

Alasdair has no illusions about how much of an influence luck was in his career. “I only got capped because Jim Telfer was injured and indeed, all my caps came when the Melrose man was unavailable.” His six caps did include one try for Scotland – on his debut; while he played in one of the more-controversial Scotland games, the 3-14 loss to the All Blacks in December, 1967.

That game is best-known for the Colin Meads' sending-off, with Alasdair having little sympathy for the great 'Pine Tree.”

“They were a dirty team,” he said. “Pringle Fisher caused them problems at the tail of the line-out, so, one All Black held him while Brian Lochore punched him. Meads got a really-severe telling-off from Referee Kelleher in the first half – for reckless use of the boot, so, when he swung that leg at David Chisholm, he was going off, he had already been warned.”

By then Alasdair was playing for London Scottish, where he had a season as vice-captain. But, he was already struggling to dove-tail his medical career with rugby and the long hours on-call as a House Man at St Thomas's meant something had to give – he hung-up his boots, for the first time.

After qualifying, he and two doctor friends set-off to drive overland to Australia in an old Land Rover, but, he was the only one to make it out of Australia unmarried. In Australia, he had a reunion with middle brother John, who, encouraged by TB Watson at Ayr Academy, had become a good enough boxer to win his Blue at Cambridge. John was living in Brisbane, where he had been joined by his mother. The eldest Boyle brother, Cameron, ten years older than Alasdair, was a career Royal Navy officer, he won three caps as a prop in 1963, out of London Scottish.

While in Brisbane, Alasdair played a good standard of rugby, for Wests Bulldogs. He took the long road back home, via a stint working in a hospital in Cape Town, and Rhodesia, whom he represented in the Currie Cup, before settling down to a job in a Birmingham Hospital.

This saw him join Moseley's equivalent of the old Ayr A2s XV – a 4^th XV comprising some players such as Alasdair, who had played at a high level, providing ball for two lightning-fast West Indian wingers, who scored tries for fun.

“I had an enjoyable season at Moseley, before finally hanging-up my boots after we beat Dunlop Tyres 100-0,” he recalls.

After six years in the West Midlands, he practiced in Yorkshire for a time, before spending the final 25 years of his medical career as a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in Barnstaple.

So, having been a pupil at Ayr Grammar, being involved in the establishment of Millbrae as the club's home, and scoring the first try at the new ground, Alasdair Boyle is definitely worthy of his esteemed place in Ayr Rugby Club history.

BARRING unforeseen calamities, this is the final Aristotle of 2021. But, fear not, InshAllah, I will be back in 2022, I still have a few noses to get up. Meanwhile, I wish all my readers a Happy Christmas and a much better 2022. Stay safe and I will see you on the other side.

Bringing Through The Youngsters Is Still A Problem

THE FOLLOWING italicised paragraphs are a straight lift from the BTL (below the line) comments section of the Online Guardian's report on the Harlequins v Cardiff game.

I think one of the problems young Scottish players have though is, if they are unknown kids is there anywhere for them to go?

Will English teams take a non English Qualified 22 year old who has barely played first team rugby? Especially with the salary cap reducing? Not sure they will to be honest.

We are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. There is definitely enough players for a third team, but there is not enough money or interest?

A Scottish third team as well would weaken the two we have, and, if you are being brutally honest, would probably be one if the weakest pro teams in Europe. You'd also probably need someone else to drop out the URC to get in.

Could maybe try and put a team in the championship in England, but we kind of tried that before with London Scottish and it didn't go well.

The commenter – Melonface - sums the situation up pretty well there. So, we are back in a familiar place – how do we take Scottish Rugby forward throughout the 21^st century?

Well, maybe The Junta could do something they haven't proved too good at doing in recent years – talking to their constituency. Send the likes of TCD, the White Shark and Jim Mallinder round the regions to explain their thinking. OK, this may have to wait a week or three, until we've got the overall Governance issue sorted out.

However, once the Governance argument is settled, we need to get around to the actual organisation of how we play the game sorted. As a first step, The Junta should be explaining where they want to be, and how they want to get there.

For instance (with the usual disclaimer about how badly-conceived and executed this tier has been); Clubmen across Scotland need to realise:

• Super6 is here to stay, they are not going to disband it any time soon

• So – you can stop shouting for a return to the Premiership being the top tier, with Inter-District play above that. It isn't going to happen.

With the Governance issue, the unresolved arguments are all, if you like, re-arranging the deckchairs. BT Murrayfield has decided, there will be a split between “Performance Rugby” - S6 and above – and “Grass Roots Rugby” - everything below that.

The issues raised by 'Melonface' refer to the Performance Game, so should be looked at within that context.

I feel his first point, about where do our young players go is easily answered, if we take a leaf from the North American professional sports play book. In MLB, Major League Baseball, each of the teams is allowed a 40-player roster. However, only 26 of them can be classed as “active” at any one time.

These 26 players participate in the annual 26-week slog from late March/early April, through to September. While they are doing that, the other 14 players usually play for the MLB organisation's leading minor leagues franchise.

Numbers in professional rugby are different, however, both Edinburgh and Glasgow lists a 56-man squad on their part of the official SRU website. These are the full squads, including 19 Academy players who are full-time with the two clubs.

Supposing an MLB-style “full” and “active” roster system was to be introduced, we could see something like a 35-man active squad, with the other 21 players from each club – including the Academy boys – released to play for the S6 clubs, where they would be guaranteed more game time than they currently enjoy.

With six S6 clubs, that would allow three to be linked with each full-time pro club, so, each S6 club would (long-term injuries excepted) have up to seven full-timers to call-on. These players would therefore be getting more game time than they are at present – where, 15 weeks into the season, ten of the full-time professionals (9% of the total) being paid by the SRU have still to set foot on the field, while several others have had minimal game time.

As I have said before, we ideally should be looking towards a third full-time professional team, although, I accept, the financial position is not currently favourable to this end. Also, fitting a third Scottish team into the URC will not be easy. Although, I stand by my belief, Wales, with four teams, is currently over-represented. They could easily drop Wales to three teams and put in an additional Scottish one.

Failing this, I feel adapting the MLB system and getting the fringe and Academy full-timers playing in S6 has its merits.

Melonface's final point about a team in the English Championship is a non-starter. Obviously we are still awaiting the O'Shea report before what is happening becomes clear. However, if rumours bear fruit, with London Scottish increasing the tier to Super7 we will see the semi-professional teams playing in a sort of revamped British (if not British and Irish) Cup.

FINALLY – good to see the English papers managed to get a report on Leicester beating Connacht onto their websites today. After forgetting to cover Glasgow beating Exeter, it would have been embarrassing if Connacht had done the business and they had to leave another gaping gap in their coverage.

Cynical – Moi?

Not nearly as cynical as I have become after watching that absolute mess of Sports Personality of the Year 2021. At least, the main winner was a deserving one, and Jen Beattie's well-deserved Helen Rollason Award was an extreme shock to we Scots.

 

Even Through The Fog, You Could See Glasgow Were Great

MORE THAN two decades ago, I left the press box at Cappielow, following a St Mirren win over Morton, to enter the press room. Here I saw the great Willie Hunter, Chief Leader Writer of the Herald, but, as befits a Paisley Grammarian, a true Buddie. Willie poured himself a stiff hauf, (Morton have never scrimped on looking after the press), lit a Capstan full strength then he addressed me: “I rather enjoyed that,” was Willie's take on a five-goal Saints win.

At around 7.20pm on Saturday night, I knew what Willie was getting at, after watching Glasgow Warriors beat Exeter Chiefs in a match played in a Clyde-side pea-souper.Being an English talking head, Ben Kay was keen to emphasise, Exeter are not playing as well as their media cheer leaders think they can, and feel they should. Although to be fair, when BT Sport came back from the first post-game ad break, he was more-generous in his praise of the victors.

The English media, as ever when a Scottish team wins an Anglo-Scottish encounter, were miserly and muted in their praise for Warriors. But, they could not deny, the better team won. Glasgow were better in attack, better in defence and, crucially, they made fewer mistakes. I noted too, no match report in the Online Guardian, wonder why.

Exeter's X-factor men, Stuart Hogg, Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Sam Simmonds were seldom seen – Kay gave the 'Star of the Match' award to Jack Dempsey, no complaints from me, but he had another handful of potential alternatives in the Glasgow XV – Josh McKay, Sione Tuipulotu, Sam Johnston, Ross Thompson, Rory Darge and George Turner; while the rest were not far behind. And how well the Warriors' pack played in the grunt department, where Exeter were expected to rule the roost.

Kudos too to Defence Coach Kenny Murray, some of the Glasgow defensive sets were exceptional.

The frustrating thing for me was, given how well Warriors played here, against a real quality team, makes some recent below-par performances more-difficult to explain. This was a well-timed win for the team, with the 1872 Cup double header against Edinburgh next up. These games could be crackers.

Experience has taught me, when, in whatever sport, a Scottish team knocks over an |English giant, there is a normal pattern: All the Scottish players play at the top of their game, while one or two of the English team have an off night. T|o some degree, from what little I could see on the TV, this was true of Saturday.

However, what is unusual about this one is, I have the feeling, Glasgow didn't play as well as they probably could have, there's maybe another five or ten per cent out there they could find. That wee bit extra might be handy for the return games with Exeter and La Rochelle, and, if they can find it – Glasgow could have a very good season indeed.

Mind you, there is another truth about Scottish wins over big-name English teams, they usually bring previously unsung Scottish talent onto the radar of the beaten, and other, English teams with money to burn in player recruitment. One or two of the Glasgow boys did their chances of big-money moves no harm in this game.

Finally, well done to Andrew Cotter and the rest of the BT Sport team, for making such a good job of commentating in such terrible conditions.

'WRIGGLE ROOM' is this week's buzz-phrase in European Rugby, following the loss of so-many fixtures, between Covid outbreaks and governmental decree – it's a mess.

BT Sport, the broadcasters who have the rights to transmit the European games across this island can hardly be seen as impartial observers. Based as they are at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – the old 2012 Olympic Games site – they are very-much within the London media bubble and have had to take the blood oath to hype the Gallagher Premiership as: “The best league in the world.”

They will not dare state the obvious. The fact we have so little 'wriggle room' is down to the greed of the big English and French clubs. As if playing 26 regular season games (in France) or 24 (in England) is not a sufficient number of games to produce a Champion – they then throw-in play-offs to further extend the season into a ten-month one.

Mind you, we Celts, Italians and South Africans cannot be too-smug, the United Rugby Championship's season is not markedly shorter and, like the other two leagues, could well benefit from being shorter. However, the URC is the league with the most teams.

One obvious question is: if the much-richer National Football League in North America can get their season, involving 32 teams, done and dusted in 22 weeks between early September and early February.

OK, they don't stop for internationals or pan-continent games, but, they still get through their season a lot faster.

FINALLY absolute kudos to Cardiff, for being able, in spite of having 42 players unavailable, to fulfil their Heineken Champions Cup meeting with Harlequins, on Saturday.

Still on the subject of Cardiff. What about that first-half yellow card for Josh Adams? I still don't know what he did wrong; it doesn't matter – Josh lad, you have just been Murphyed!!

In Rugby Union, Murphy's Law has an entirely different meaning.

A Coach Has a Rant

A REGULAR reader, and consistently fierce critic of these ramblings is that weel-kent Ayrshire rugby figure Franklin Clark – printer extraordinaire, Master Bates on the PS Waverley, Irvine Valley resident, and, in his playing days with Cumnock and Kilmarnock, as annoying a wee shite as ever played hooker. This is him today.

 

Franklin is now coaching at Bishopton and he contacted me with some views on my recent blogs regarding games going unplayed.

Here are Franklin's messages:

“Might be worth waiting till Sunday and doing an analysis on postponed games, there seems to be a remarkable phenomenon sweeping through Scottish rugby when circa 80% of the Covid call offs are the away teams, I am sure someone much more learned than me could produce a paper on the likelihood of that being bona fide.”

o-o-o-o-o

“Five fixtures in West regional leagues called off due to "Covid" as of 21.50 on Friday evening and all five of them are down to the away team; tell me the probability of that? West 2 and 3 teams can fulfil fixtures with 12 players why are they unwilling to do so? They are preventing ambitious clubs from progressing, something needs to be done, it is getting ridiculous.”

o-o-o-o-o

“I do not mind being quoted as long as I am not criticising specific clubs, I and my club find it really frustrating particularly when the "game on" principles were agreed on so that fixtures could be fulfilled.”

o-o-o-o-o

“Call me cynical but Covid calls being made by away teams, two weekends away from Christmas just does not sit well with me.

Bishopton had 19 guys unavailable this Saturday and we still had 20 quality players ready to represent the club in a league game, that is because the club has concentrated their efforts on investing time in coaching at all levels, particularly youth rugby and as you will see from our team list the majority of our starting 15 have come through from the youth set up.

Community rugby in Scotland is a microcosm of rugby in Scotland, too much emphasis on the top team instead of investing in youth rugby and building a strong foundation.

Youth rugby is the lifeblood of Scottish rugby and should be the main focus of clubs and the SRU without a conveyor belt of young guys coming through rugby is screwed.”

o-o-o-o-o

“Further analysis of Covid outbreaks in West 3 will show that remarkably the three teams at the top of the table have not had an outbreak between them, funny that !

Yip, I just don't get it, why not just turn up short and play using the "game on" set up. Get guys playing rugby every weekend and it becomes a habit.

I arranged for our Firsts to play our over-35s last saturday just to keep the guys playing, other clubs do not seem to understand that if people get out of the habit of playing every Saturday they will just drift away and do other things.”

o-o-o-o-o

These are the thoughts of a guy who, having been there and done it at a high level in our club game, now gets his kicks from passing-on his knowledge and experience to the next generation.

Franklin doesn't simply turn-up on a Saturday to play, or train once or twice per week. On his drives to and from Bishopton to his home in Galston, he is thinking ahead, or analysing the last game.

Guys like Franklin are the life-blood of our game. If he's worried, he should not be alone. Scottish Rugby has serious problems at the grass-roots.

What are we going to do about them?

WITH Edinburgh idle this weekend, Glasgow Warriors have the field to themselves with their Heineken Cup clash with Exeter.

This one promises to be a cracker, not least with the return of Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray to Scotstoun. Then there is the added anticipation of the first head-to-head battle, outside the family home, of the Gray brothers. Let's hope Richie really is the bullying big brother.

My own view is that Exeter will win this one, but, I hope I am wrong. Hoggy, for instance, will be keen to put on a show for the Warrior Nation. I would be more-confident for Warriors, if they could find a way back to the off-loading game they embraced so well under Gregor Townsend, however, I fear former coach Dave Rennie and current incumbent Danny Wilson have coached that approach out of the squad.

Who'd be a coach? I felt for Ulster's Dan McFarland as I watched the Ulster v Northampton Heineken Cup match last night. Ravenhill, or if you like The Kingspan is an intimidating venue to visit and, particularly in the first half, Saints were a poor second to a rampant home side. However, time and again, Ulster undid their good work with stupid penalties, which enabled the visitors to remain in-touch right the way through a match which Ulster really should have won more-easily than they did.

On his home debut, Duane Vermeulen made the sort of impact you hope you will get from signing a World-Class talent, but, again, what struck me was the maturity and composure of the home-bred kids from the Ulster Academy, the likes of Mike Lowry, James Hume and Stewart Moore.

I know we have produced our own good kids from our Academy over the past decade or so, but, somehow I don't think we have cracked youth development to the same extent as our Celtic cousins on Ireland.