Top Television Viewing This Weekend

THIS IS getting a bit worrying; Glasgow, even without a whole raft of big names, travelled to Newport to give Dragons a serious beating. This result will make Warriors even-firmer favourites for when the sides lock horns, in the last 16 of the European Challenge Cup, at Scotstoun, at the end of March.

We Scots, traditionally, do not handle being favourites well. And while Glasgow went into yesterday's game on a run of good form, given that so-many of their bigger guns were with Scotland, there was always that nagging fear, that they might not be able to keep their great run going.

In the end, we need not have feared; indeed, on the day the biggest stumbling block to a Glasgow victory came from Television Match Official Olly Hodges – who seemed to go out of his way to try to find spurious grounds on which to deny Glasgow tries. I thought Mr Hodges was Dragons' best player.

For Glasgow, Fraser Brown roared back to his best in a Man of the Match performance. Sebastian Cancilliere was again outstanding; Sam Johnson came back to his best while skipper Stafford McDowall gave a great lead.

Dragons had to be content with a four-try losing bonus, but, in spite of this, they found Glasgow's defence difficult to breach. There was one first half defensive set which was quite outstanding.

Coach Franco Smith will be hoping his squad can maintain their present consistency in their next two games, at home to Ulster on 17 February, then in the rescheduled trip to South Africa to play the Emirates Lions, the following week.

GLASGOW'S win was the first part of an enjoyable Saturday afternoon of TV watching. Unfortunately, Edinburgh couldn't make it a Scottish double, losing narrowly to a very-good Cell C Sharks squad at The Dam Health Stadium later on Saturday afternoon.

Both sides were short of big names and I honestly thought Edinburgh's failure to win a game which was in doubt right up to the final whistle, some seven minutes past the optimum 80 minutes was down to the fact, they lack runners with genuine “gas”, when Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe are absent.

This failing cost them South Africans, when they could not convert one or two breakaway chances and Edinburgh runners were overhauled by South African defenders.

Sharks' defence was absolutely first-class, denying Edinburgh several good opportunities to score and in the end, that was probably the difference between victory and defeat for Edinburgh.

I spent a couple of pleasant hours this morning, watching the Racing 92 v La Rochelle game on Viaplay 2. Both teams were shorn of some big names, by injuries and French calls, but The Gallus One was on his element at ten for Racing.

He contributed 24 of Racing's 39 points in their narrow victory – converting all three tries (all of which came from Russell “assists”) and adding six penalties – including the winning kick, right on 80 minutes. However, he did miss one conversion I would have expected him to nail, and threw a couple of passes to nobody.

Our boy also got tip-tackled by Fijian Levani Botia, who was yellow carded for his trouble. That incident had me sweating, but Oor Finn got up, grimaced, then nailed the penalty.

If England want to give away penalties anywhere in their half at Twickenham on Saturday, I'll be quite happy that Finn can punish them from the tee. However, it's the way he opens-up defences which is now so good. He's the best Scottish passer since Jim Baxter was in his pomp in the hooligan's game.

SUNDAY MORNING compensated for a frustrating period on Saturday night, when I struggled to get any sense out of the SRU website, and in particular their Fixtures and Results segment.

I know, I forecast chaos when we lost wee Ron Evans – who was Mr Rugby Results as far as Scotland was concerned. I also know, I've been saying for years, for as long as Matt Horler – the Chocolate Fireguard's chocolate fire guard is running the SRU's media operation – it will be unfit for purpose, but, really – is nobody else inside The Junta paying attention.

I, and other commentators, have been saying all season, and indeed during last season, this part of the Murrayfield operation is not fit for purpose. The SRU's website ought to be the go-to place for results on a Saturday.

However, you go on there at seven pm to find results, which were up on sites such as BBC Sport Scotland and Borders Rugby TV two hours previously, still not showing. You click on a league table, to find it shows four lines for each club, and half the fixtures not updated.

If we are paying for people to make such simple fuck-ups – why are we paying them at all? This is not a new complaint, but, I get the impression, a lot of people inside The Junta simply don't give a fuck. In which case, it is time we had a top to bottom clean-out.

FINALLY – few clubs can have had such a drop in levels as Langholm in recent years. So, I was delighted to see The Muckle Toon's first XV clinch the East Regional League title at the weekend.

It's a long way back from there to where the club once was – Unofficial Champions in 1958-59; but, it would be great to see them building on this season's success to get back up through the leagues.

 

Look Out For Spat Dummies

THERE'S A bit of a stooshie going on on Facebook at the moment. The cause, it seems at least one of the FOSROC Super6 franchises has asked a well-known rugby agency to recruit some new players for the new campaign, which is due to start in March.

Cue outrage, foot-stamping, dummy-spitting, often from “proud clubmen” who have sworn an oath to never darken the doors of any of the six franchises. Where do I stand? It is fairly well-known that to quote the great Franklin Clark: “A surfeit of succulent lamb lunches at Millbrae” have forced me to suspend common sense and get behind S6.

I am convinced S6 is the future, but, as I have never stopped saying from the start, the problems with S6 are of Murrayfield's doing. He perhaps cannot help himself, but Sodoff Baldrick, the CEO of the Scottish Rugby Union, keeps coming up with cunning plans – which he hasn't quite thought through properly. S6 is such a plan.

As I've been saying from the off, S6 is professionalism done on the cheap. Ideally, the SRU should have stuck with at least three – preferably four - full-time professional sides. However, TCD (to give him his other title), decided we couldn't afford it and that he couldn't afford to make that confession – so, S6 was conjoured-up.

I would have hoped by now that at least five of the six franchises: Ayrshire Bulls, Boroughmuir, Southern Knights, Stirling County and Watsonians, given they all have long-standing youth development programmes that have been shown to work, would have no need to attempt to recruit more than the occasional player from outwith the Scottish club system.

I accept, the reality – there will always be some need for players to be brought in from beyond the borders of Scotland. Hopefully, these players would come from the ranks of the Great Caledonian Diaspora.

The SRU this morning announced the 34-strong Scotland Under-20 squad for the 2023 2023 Under-20 Six Nations. Of these players 27 have come through the domestic system, with the other 7 being Scottish-Qualified, playing in England and Wales.

So, 80% of the squad are home-grown. 16 of these players (60%) are with Super6 clubs. Twenty-three of the 27 home-bred players are in the Academy system, with 10 being in the full SRU Scottish Rugby Academy and the other 13 attached to the Regional Academies. That worries me a wee bit, I might have expected the cream to have risen to the top and most to be in the full rather than the Regional Academy.

The full Scotland Under-20 squad is:

Forwards

Max Surry (Cardiff Met University)
Craig Davidson (Watsonians RFC)
Moby Ogunlaja (Glasgow Hawks)
Callum Norrie* (Stirling Wolves/Glasgow Warriors)
Robbie Deans* (Watsonians/Edinburgh Rugby)
Eben Cairns** (Glasgow Hawks)
Elliot Young (Exeter Chiefs/Exeter University)
Corey Tait** (Boroughmuir Bears)
Jerry Blyth-Lafferty** (Boroughmuir Bears)
Harris McLeod* (Stirling Wolves/Glasgow Warriors)
Ruairaidh Hart** (Glasgow Hawks)
Eddie Erskine (Bath Rugby/Bath University)
Jake Parkinson (Ealing Trailfinders/Brunel University)
Rudi Brown* (Southern Knights/Edinburgh Rugby)
Sam Derrick** (Southern Knights)
Jonny Morris** (GHA RFC)
Liam McConnell* (Boroughmuir Bears/Edinburgh Rugby)
Ewan Guy (Cardiff Met University)
Johnny Rutherford** (Currie Chieftains)

Backs

Ben Afshar* (Ayrshire Bulls/Glasgow Warriors)
Finlay Burgess* (Stirling Wolves/Glasgow Warriors)
Charlie Clare (Harlequins/Surrey University)
Richie Simpson (Ayrshire Bulls)
Harris Rutherford** (Gala RFC)
Kerr Yule** (Glasgow Hawks)
Duncan Munn* (Boroughmuir Bears/Glasgow Warriors)
Murray Wilson** (Gala RFC)
Geordie Gwynn (Ealing Trailfinders/Brunel University)
Findlay Thomson** (Musselburgh RFC)
Amena Caqusau** (GHA RFC)
William Robinson (Caldy RFC)
Logan Jarvie* (Stirling Wolves/Glasgow Warriors)
Dan King** (Heriot’s Rugby)
Ben Evans* (Heriot’s Rugby/Edinburgh Rugby)

*FOSROC Scottish Rugby Contracted Academy Player
**FOSROC Scottish Rugby Regional Academy Player

Good luck to all the boys, however, with the U-20 6 Nations then the World Trophy to follow, there might still be a requirement for the Super6 sides to fill their squads with players form outwith Scotland, recruited via that rugby agency.

MY DESIRE to become a sports writer was to some extent fuelled by my choice of reading material as an impressionable boy. Back then, we had comics that you had to read. These were mostly published by DC Thomson, and had names such as The Adventure, The Rover and The Wizard.

In their pages, I, a wannabe goalkeeper, was transfixed by the exploits of Bernard Briggs, who only ever let-in one goal – in the pre-match warm-up before the FA Cup final. Bernard played football for Darbury Rangers, and, in the summer he played County Cricket, as a leg-break bowler. He was also a scrap metal dealer, who travelled everywhere on his motor bike, with an old bath as a sidecar. I somehow see Harry Maguire as a reborn Briggs.

There were other fictional heroes: Wilson of the Wizard, a 200-year-old hermit, who had discovered the secret of eternal life and could outrun, jump or throw the likes of Usain Bolt and Daley Thompson. Then there was Alf Tupper – The Tough of the Track – his day job was as a plumber and welder, while at the weekend he could show a clean pair of heels to the likes of Sir Bastion Coe and Steve Ovett.

Or how about Nick Smith, whose speciality was to take over a struggling Third Division club, sign his long time wingman, Arnold Tabbs, and immediately take the team to promotion and an FA Cup win.

Every Christmas, I would get one or two of the magazines' annuals, which always contained some special stories. And that's the nub of this blog. One year in The Rover Annual there was a story about a young rugby player who had a problem with tackling – he simply couldn't do it, so, he was more-often out of the team than in it.

Any way, he was tricked into going along to the local United States Air Force base, where he finds himself, reluctantly, kitted-out in the full uniform and taking part in the grid iron squad's training.

Here, his confidence boosted by wearing all the padding and the helmet, he is taught correct tackling technique – round the hips, arms wrapped, head behind the hips of the tackled player is restored.

He gets back into the school team and, in the biggest match of the season, against their biggest rivals, he dashes across the field to make a text-book, try-saving tackle which wins the game for his team.

I can remember, when I was starting off in rugby, aged 11, over the first two or three school practice sessions, Matt Todd, our coach – with whom I would later play for Cumnock Rugby Club, spent a lot of time drumming correct tackle technique into us. We didn't always do it, but, we all knew what we were supposed to do and, by and large, more often than not – we got it right.

We didn't have tackle bags, or rucking sacks, or even padding back then. Such equipment is freely-available today. In my day, most rugby players were 11 or 12 when they first picked up a ball (OK down in the Borders they were maybe three years ahead of us thanks to the likes of Bill McLaren.) But, we were properly taught and the lessons stuck.

Given how most clubs today start Mini-Rugby at about Primary Four level, I see no reason which proper tackling technique cannot be hammered into the youngsters taking up the game, and, as a result, the game made safer.

That this doesn't happen is maybe down to clubs and coaches putting winning above producing well-rounded, technically competent young players.

Of course, rugby being a collision sport, there will always be accidents, that's a fact of life, but, with proper coaching, teaching and insisting on correct technique, then these accidents will become fewer and fewer and rugby has a future.

That's why I am all in favour of the RFU's ban on above the waist tackles and why I cannot stand the negativity, from professional players who should know better. Give the new law a chance, and, maybe if World Rugby got involved and put the same law change into effect in the professional game – we would see rugby really flourish, going back to being a game of pace, invention and invasion and not the clash of the juggernauts which it so often is at the top level.

Apparently World Rugby is getting involved; the tackle height will also be coming down in the professional game. Why does that worry me? After all, it's not as if the Dublin Murphyia has a track record in making poor, badly-thoutht-through decisions which harm the game.

Let's get rid of the Rugby League influence and go back to playing Rugby Union.

 

Scottish Teams - Ability To Win The Wrong Games The Wrong Way A Long-Standing Speciality

ONE OF the most-iconic of legends in Scottish sport concerns the planning for the 1967 Wembley win over England – the day when Scotland became unofficial World Champions. The authorised version has it that the team were discussing what they wanted to do on the Friday night. The consensus was: “England can play nane;” the problem – how much did Scotland want to win by.

Denis Law, the solitary survivor of the 9-3 thrashing on the same pitch back in 1961 wanted Scotland to put as many goals as possible on their opponents – he wanted at least a three-goal win, and an even bigger thrashing if it could be done. However, 'The King' was apparently out-voted by a combination of Billy Bremner and Jim Baxter, who persuaded the rest of the side: “Let's humiliate them 1-0.”

Baxter then orchestrated a one-goal Scottish win. The actual score was 3-2, but, in reality it was probably a 6-2 win for the much-superior Scottish side.

At this juncture, I can picture all the old Bufties in the Establishment Edinburgh rugger clubs asking each other: “I say, Fergus, Cameron – what's this daft old Ayrshire bugger getting at here – what's that got to do with rugger?”

Just this, the same old Bufties are probably very happy that, on Sunday, Edinburgh beat Saracens in the Heineken Champions Cup. This is the permanent curse on Scottish sport. Our next-door neighbours are bigger than us, they are richer than us, there are more of them, Yet we are cursed by having to take them on one-on-one. We don't win as often as we would like, and, when we do win – we have this great gift for not quite getting it right.

This was the case at The DAM Health Stadium on Sunday. Edinburgh ought to have won the first game, in London, but, typically Scottish, managed to find a way to blow it. Saracens came north minus every Scot's favourite Englishman – Owen Farrell; without him pulling the strings at ten, they were vulnerable.

Edinburgh had 70% of the possession, played most of the rugby – but, in the end, while they won – they didn't win by enough to give themselves an easier last 16 game – if any game in the round of 16 in a pan-continental competition could ever be described as: “easy.”

It's the big which separates the truly-professional from those who are merely playing round the edges. British Cycling used to talk about: “the one per-cent improvement,” the small attention to detail moment which makes a big difference.

I wonder if anyone in the Edinburgh camp looked at the various scenarios around the game. The match was, after all, the last one in the pool rounds – everyone else had played; did the Edinburgh management ask the right questions:

• OK – we are in the last 16, but, in which position?

• What do we need to do to secure a home tie?

• What do Saracens need?

• What are our options?

Maybe, if they had asked the correct questions pre-match and come up with a better game plan, they could have got the bonus point win they needed – although, scoring four tries against Saracens will never be easy.

Perhaps, had they known they needed at least one further score, they would have pushed harder in the second half. However, that is all speculation.

And, given that final kick was head-on to the posts, from the limit of Blair Kinghorn's kicking range, and into a strong wind, might it have been worth the risk to invite Mark Bennett, who has a stronger boot, to try his luck?

A final thought on the Edinburgh game – is Jamie Ritchie the right man to captain Scotland? I wasn't too happy with the way he interacted with the referee; and I don't think the French official was either. Managing the match officials and getting them to look favourably on your side is a key requisite of captaincy; OK, Jamie is still learning, but, he is a bit of a penalty machine and at times, when he approaches officials, he is too-obviously a chippy Jock with a grievance.

If VdM can go to Tackle School, then maybe Jamie needs diplomacy lessons.

DR ROBERT Primrose Wilson PhD, BA, OBE, better-known as Bob Wilson, has I think, a lot to answer for. He's a lovely man, a gentleman to speak with and he was a better goalkeeper than his two Scotland caps might indicate.

But, in his PhD thesis, which he wrote on the art of goalkeeping, Bob promulgated the notion that simply stopping the ball going into the net – by any means possible – was the be all and end all of being a goalkeeper.

As a fully-paid-up member of Goalkeeping Lodge Number One, I take his point. We goalies are only ever called into action when the ten numpties in front of us fail to do their jobs, so, anything we can do to spare their blushes has to be welcome.

But, like Bob, who is only seven years older than I, I learned my craft back in the days of heavy, woollen, roll neck sweaters, which doubled in weight when wet. Like him, I pre-date Sepp Maier and Reusch gloves – the main factor, I insist on why so-many of today's supposedly top keepers cannot catch the common cold.

Between Wilson's “just stop it – by any possible means” dictum and the advance of Teflon goalkeeping gloves, we've lost our way. Jimmy Cowan, Jock Fraser, Gyula Groscis, Bert Trautmann and Bert Williams – my boyhood heroes, not forgetting the fictional Bernard Briggs, they didn't need gloves, but, they could all catch the ball.

So, it is with due deference to the above heroes that I reveal my disgust at all the current big names, such as that wee Paddy nyaff Sexton, having their say on the RFU's move to lower the tackle height to waist level. Sexton will never have to play grass-roots level rugby in England, he doesn't have a dog in the fight; he plays a totally different game, so he ought to shut up.

In the brand of Rugby Union which Sexton plays, proper tackle technique is not required, it's simply a case of: “stop them by any means – fair or foul. Which isn't even OK when you consider long-term health over short term monetary gain.

Rugby is a collision sport. As such there will always be injuries, to all parts of the body. Yes, poor tackle technique will mean, some players will get their heads in the wrong place and will suffer injuries – it's a fact of life.

However, to simply say no to what is after all a safety move, because, with the best will in the world, accidents will still happen – well, to me that is crazy.

Venus de Milo, the England captain no less, has just attended (we are led to believe), 'Tackle School' in an effort to get him to to modify a defective tackle technique which has already seen him suspended twice. I still reckon the (non) benefits of this attendance will quickly be in evidence during the Guinness Six Nations. Leopards don't change their spots, so I dare say there will be carnage, and red and yellow cards aplenty when the new tackle height comes in.

However, sensible clubs and club coaches will take pains to ensure proper low tackle technique, with the tacklers getting their heads behind the hips of the guys they are tackling, and, in time, peace will reign. I am sure, there will still be the odd occasion when a tackler gets it wrong and gets hurt – but, I also feel sure, we will see the end of head-on-head collisions, at least in the amateur game.

In the professional game, money will continue to talk and I fear, unless the RFU and indeed World Rugby suddenly find the common sense they have lacked for years, we will still see bad tackling, cards galore and bad injuries.

But, let's give the lowered tackle height a lengthy, sensible trial, and see if bad habits really can be changed.

 I saw this photograph, and immediately thought: "Where's Happy?" At least, we know which one is Grumpy and which is Dopey.

 

 

Ugly Wins But Two Sides In The Knock-Out Stages - We Have To Be Happy

GLASGOW WARRIORS v Bath on Viaplay on Friday night was a difficult watch. Bath are a poor side, and for all the money they are going to pay him, Finn Russell faces a hard time when he gets there, turning that load of shite around. However, they did succeed in dragging Glasgow down to just about their level.

Glasgow still got the points they required to guarantee a home tie in the last 16 – and, for what it's worth, I have a feeling they will get Finn and Racing 92, dropping down from the Champions Cup. Now, that would guarantee a full house, and maybe even a switch to a bigger ground – Rugby Park, or even Murrayfield.

Glasgow played nearly all the rugby, but, undid themselves with some truly sloppy handling. To their credit, Bath, once they realised the ball would be going wide every time, produced terrific line speed and great turnover work to stymie the Glasgow game plan and force that sloppy handling.

I felt the referee, who did neither side too many favours, had decided, pre-match, that Bath had the stronger scrum and guessed accordingly when things got messy. I felt he was too quick to penalise either Glasgow tight-head, when the Bath loose-heads, both of them, seemed to me to be pushing inwards and hinging too soon.

That old Scottish Achilles Heel – squint line-out throwing also came back to afflict both hookers, George Turner perhaps more than Johnny Matthews. Can we not get somebody in who can sort out our lines-out. I know it isn't always the thrower's fault, but Richie Gray, Alex Samuel, Lewis Bean and JP du Preez are all big men who are very-good aerially – these mistakes simply should not happen with that number of good jumpers.

If I was Gregor Townsend, who was in the crowd on Friday night, I'd be looking to have Sione Tuipulotu running straight at Owen Farrell at every opportunity on 4 February. If he does, old “Venus” will be off the park after about 20 minutes.

I felt sorry for poor Piers Francis; bad enough to get flattened by the ball carrier, without the added injury of a yellow card – one decision I felt Mr Ramos got spot-on.

How typically Scottish, we don't lose to a top English side, qualify for the knock-out stages in Europe in the process, and we are unhappy. Right enough, you would never mix-up a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine. Still, onwards and upwards.

SATURDAY'S rugby viewing was mainly Anglo-centric – with all the money they are paying to the Gallagher Premiership there was no way BT Sport were not going to be doing their usual cheer-leading job for the English sides.

Harlequins v Cell C Sharks was a cracking game. I just loved that solo try from Eben Etzebeth, showing what an intelligent player he is by nicking the ball off Danny Care and sprinting away.

Still, 'Quins made home advantage pay to cap an entertaining afternoon. It was good too, to see Scott Steele come of the bench for Danny Care, and come up with one crucial jackal at a breakdown.

It was then off to Sandy Park for Exeter v Castres, with the home side taking advantage of some indiscipline from the French side to win easily. Referee Andrew Brace had a difficult afternoon, he was clearly exasperated by some of the antics of both sides, particularly the French. I just felt, if he had maybe come down harder on some of the back chat, he could have had an easier afternoon.

I was delighted to end a long day's viewing by watching Ulster v Sale Sharks. This one ebbed and flowed, some of the forward exchanges were brutal but, in the end, the home side I feel deserved to win it.

At least Ewan Ashman hit his jumpers regularly.

Leinster v Racing 92 was the outlier on BT Sport on Saturday. No discernible English connection, but, perhaps BOD and Craig Doyle have it written into their contracts that they get to cover every possible Leinster game.

Of course I wanted to watch this one – any chance to see The Gallus One in action has to be taken, while Leinster and La Rochelle are the two teams anyone who loves rugby would want to watch.

To be honest, Stuart Lancaster faces a big challenge when he arrives in Paris next season. With Finn joining Bath, he needs a play-maker, while several others in the Racing stable have, I feel, reached or gone past their sell-by date.

They can still, particularly when Finn presses the “outrageous risk” button, still lift the spectators' spirits, but, right now, Leinster are a level above them and it showed.

Not for the first time, I say, the SRU should have somebody out in Dublin, finding out how Leinster do it, and ready to come home and put the same systems in-place over here.

 

 

SCOTLAND v England games are always special – more-so when the Scots win. To be honest,it just shows how far off the top tier of club rugby Edinburgh are, that they should struggle to beat a below par Saracens.

They really should have won the first game, in London – but didn't. Edinburgh did win the second, but, they won ugly and it speaks volumes for Sarries that they nearly nicked it. I definitely feel, the problem with Edinburgh and to a certain extent Glasgow, is all in their heads.

I thought the French referee got the yellow cards for head contact correct – I didn't feel either was worthy of a red. However, he got too-many other calls wrong, too-often in favour of Saracens.

However, like Glasgow on Friday night, Edinburgh made too many unforced errors, were guilty of poor choices and made things a lot harder than they might have been. But Pierre Schoeman was something else.

For the record, Edinburgh face a difficult trip to Leicester in the last 16, while, in the Challenge Cup, Glasgow will entertain Dragons. A tie they will be favoured to win.

 

Good Sense From A Good Rugby Man

WHAT follows was written and posted on Facebook by David “Dappy” Gray, a man who is well-known and respected in the world of rugby on both sides of the Border. David, (pictured below) has been there, done that and got a considerable collection of impressive rugby club ties – so, I felt his words deserved a wider audience.

 

I WROTE THIS 3 DAYS AGO AND CIRCULATED AMONG MY EX NEWCASTLE UNI RUGBY MATES …TODAY THE RFU TOOK ACTION….

I have been confined indoors with a hacking cough so have been bored, if you too are bored this may be of interest,or not ….

This last weekend we saw five red cards given in Heineken Cup games for dangerous high tackles, one was – in my view - clearly a ref error, but possibly more could have been given. The post match analysis is always about the rights and wrongs of the tackler very rarely the effect upon the victim. Yet when a player gets hurt making a tackle it is always down to poor technique. How did we get here? I fear it may not be addressed until a player dies live on TV.

In 1996 after the game went 'Open,' someone had the bright idea to stage a Union v League Challenge with Bath and Wigan respectively representing their codes. There were no surprises but it taught us a lot, Jerry Guscott thought it pointless so declined to play.

In the League match Wigan notched up 82 points and ran away with it. The Union return match was much more interesting. In the beginning Bath stifled Wigan by controlling possession and the set pieces, however in the second half the RL players’ superior fitness and conditioning began to tell as they adapted to the different code, the match was a lot closer.

In the aftermath there was a general trend to employ RL coaches especially for offensive tackling, handling skills , fitness and conditioning ,and above all, structured defences . Very soon tackle height increased to smother and prevent off-loads and out went the age old technique of drawing the man and passing simultaneously.

No longer was the ball carrier brought to ground, he was to be smashed into next week. Those who like to see the big hits on the TV have, I would suggest, not stood pitch side at a live match and heard the impact of such tackles, comparable to a car crash.

Soon players fanned out across the pitch and only a required few would join rucks and mauls, thus denying backs the space to run into. Gone was the day when forwards who didn’t join rucks and mauls were condemned as “loose or fringers”!

And so the pro RU game evolved into one of close quarter attrition, endless “pick and go” and most recently long phases of box kicking or kick tennis , symptomatic of a no risk/adventure culture forcing the opposition to make a mistake.

And scrums, least said the better. Instead of being a genuine restart procedure by gathering the forwards in one place and setting a new phase in motion they have become a penalty source. Even more incredible a penalty is awarded against a losing front row for incompetence rather than foul play which is what a penalty is designed to punish.

The dominant scrum no can longer assert their dominance by wheeling, or pushing their opposition back many metres, the Ref blows for a penalty!

So, we now have a strange hybrid game that has the worst of both codes, British Bulldog type RL collisions with frequent stoppages for RU line-outs, scrums, re-sets..... Whereas in RL the quick “play the ball” action gives little time for teams to rest or reset and align defence, thus creating a quicker game. Whereas RU comprises a series of set plays like US Football with minor conferences in between.

No wonder attendances are falling at club level and that International matches are treated as a day out on the beer, rather than the sporting contest they should be, as spectators troop back and fro to the bars.

Similarly ,parents taking youngsters to see matches where players are knocked out cold, stretchered off on body boards in neck braces, are going to be less likely to encourage their offspring to take up the game . (I well remember my own Mum’s alarm many years ago as I aged16 had a gashed eyebrow stitched up pitchside !)

One simple answer, and it really is simple, is for players to re-learn the discipline of tackling below the waist .That way we will get fewer head impacts and a more fluid,open game that is attractive to watch and safe to play.”

No doubt lots of “the game’s gone soft” warriors will respond.

Well said that man – there is a lot of good, common sense in what David has written above. His entire argument had me nodding in agreement as I read it.

It may be coincidence, but, in an ironic clash of timings, David's words of caution came the same day as:

1. It was announced that a number, 55, former amateur players were to sue World Rugby for damages, claiming their brain damage was caused by playing rugby. Lawyers for the group have written to the governing body, prior to potential court action.

2. The RFU announced that they were to introduce, on 1 July, a new directive lowering the tackle height in the amateur club game to the waist and lower; thereby lowering the current 'nipple line' high point for a legal tackle to 'the belly button height.'

At least two of the more-active members of this blog's think tank: Club Fan and Left Field have been in-touch, wondering if this is coincidence, or a cynical, and perhaps typically clumsy attempt by the game's high heid yins to stave off further bother.

I cannot help thinking, however, it may be very-difficult to prove the amateur players' cases, and getting a resolution will not be a quick or an easy job, but, it might be a lot easier to get resolution in the cases of those former professional players, such as England World Cup Winner Steve Thompson, who appear to be suffering serious medical issues connected to their rugby careers.

One therefore wonders, how long will it take World Rugby and the major Unions to get around to lowering the tackle height in the elite level of the game too. And, might we ever get back to rugby as a game of skill and evasion, rather than unarmoured tank warfare?

 

Crunching Numbers Gives You Insight

WHEN IT comes to living high on the hog and spending other people's money badly – nobody does it better than politicians. Just think of the billions the Conservative Party led UK Government managed to pish up against the wall during the Covid emergency; or the other billions they have wasted on aircraft that didn't fly, ships that spend more time in dry dock than on the high seas and other defence procurement catastrophes. Then there is their repeated failure to address the very-real issues of the NHS and every day life.

So, when a UK Parliamentary Select Committee, The Digital, Cultural, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee says that the finances of elite-level English club rugby in the Gallagher Premiership are: “clearly unsustainable,” you might have expected the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to have immediately acted.

Of course they did, the RFU and Premiership Rugby Ltd (PRL) issued a statement saying: “We are working hard to create a sustainable league.”

Aye Right! We might see some cosmetic changes, but, these will amount to little more than shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic, waiting for the next iceberg to come along and pick off the next club to follow Wasps and Worcester Warriors to the sea bed.

Leopards don't change their spots and I am absolutely certain the English clubs will simply carry-on spending and hope, when the cumulative losses once again become unsustainable, some other idiots will come in to make the same mistakes again. There is something about owning a major sports franchise which causes otherwise hard-headed, successful and rich businessmen lose their marbles, make crazy choices and lose money.

What, I hear you ask, has the clusterfuck that is English elite-level club rugby got to do with Scotland? Well, since professional Scottish Rugby is now discovering something which professional Scottish Football has known for the best part of 150 years – The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road to England.”

Yesterday, Gregor Townsend announced his 40-strong squad for the Guinness Six Nations. The break down of the squad was as follows:

• 15 players – 37.5% - play for clubs outwith Scotland

• 15 players – 37.5% - play for Glasgow Warriors

• 10 players – 25% - play for Edinburgh.

• Therefore – 62.5% of the squad are employed by the SRU's two wholly-owned subsidiary clubs, the other 37.5% are employed elsewhere.

• 19 players (13 forwards/6 backs) were developed by Scottish clubs

• 21 players (10 forwards/11 backs) were developed outwith Scotland.

• Therefore – 19 players - 47.5% of the squad came through the SRU's club system, the other 21 players - 52.5% were developed elsewhere.

• Of these 21 players (11 – 6 forwards/5 backs) came through the Scottish Qualified recruitment system in England and Wales, the other 10 (4 forwards/6 backs) were recruited from overseas.

• Of the overall 40-man squad, 3 players – 7.5% - are complete non-Scots

• 18 players – 45% are from the Caledonian Diaspora

• 19 players – 47.5% are home-grown through Scottish domestic club rugby.

The above break-down demonstrates, there is something seriously wrong with the SRU's Player Pathway in Scotland – that fewer than half the players in the international squad have come through it. This needs fixing.

As far as the 37.5% of the squad playing for clubs outwith Scotland; this is something we will probably have to live with, at least until financial reality strikes the guys running the major English clubs. Even then, I believe it will take a long time for this reality to happen.

I do feel, however, we should be pro-actively selecting guys who play with Edinburgh and Glasgow. However, to get back to financial reality – for as long as the English and to a lesser extent the French clubs – are able and willing to pay more than the SRU, we will lose players to them. Maybe time to look at something like the Welsh system and tell the guys playing for clubs other than the Scottish ones – after you have won a certain number of caps, you can go and still be picked for Scotland, otherwise, forget it.

Another thing I feel we need is to see a return to A or B teams playing regularly, so the maximum number of our professional players can be exposed to international rugby. Bringing back A/B games would also allow us to give greater experience to younger players, between the Under-20 squad and the full team.

THE BTL (below the line) comments on any Offside Line story is now the true supporters' forum in Scottish Rugby. Interestingly perhaps, the most-commented-on story on TOL at the moment is about Toony selecting Ruaridh McConnachie for his 6N squad.

Let's face it, with that name – the boy has to be Scottish. He came through the London Scottish Academy, so, rather than asking why it took us until he was 31 and already capped by England to get him into a Scotland squad, we ought perhaps to be asking how we missed him when he was at Scottish, or when he got into the England Sevens squad?

That's the thing with giving a single coach virtual absolute power of selection. If the incumbent coach doesn't fancy the player – he doesn't get picked. For instance, Toony has now, belatedly, called-up McConnachie, but he has left out one or two other players, who other selectors might have chosen.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the foundation of a “scrum school” in Scottish rugby is to be welcomed. Friends of this blog who are involved in the grass roots club game have been saying for years, it's the shortage of props, and the unwillingness of non-specialists to go into the front row which causes a lot of the match call-offs we wee. So, if this initiative helps, it has to be a good thing.

Good luck to the 50 or so coaches who have already been trained-up and will get the scrum school going. I wish them well. I cannot help, however, thinking how great it could be if some still active golden oldie props, or recently-retired front rowers, guys such as Gordy Reid or Chunk Jacobsen could be enticed to become the faces of this initiative.