An Entertaining Week-End Of Rugby

WHAT IS this slander about men being unable to multi-task? I certainly had no bother in that respect around tea time on Saturday, simultaneously watching - Ayrshire Bulls beat Southern Knights at The Greenyards, on my lap top, and Glasgow Warriors winning in Llanelli on the television.

I am putting Warriors' terrific second half showing down to the fact the Super6 game had finished and I could give Glasgow my undivided attention in the second period, when we heard that glorious sound of silence from a Welsh crowd, apart from the noise of the Taffs fans' feet as they trudged away from another beating.

Then, to complete a marathon day of TV-watching, I thoroughly-enjoyed seeing the Scotland Women's team beating Ireland at the DAM Health Stadium.

The day had begun in Dublin, with that glorious Heineken Cup semi-final between Leinster and Toulouse. No question, the Dubs deserved to win, but, I just wish they could maybe learn to win with a bit of panache and flair, rather than the snarl which they so-often show.

The big talking point in this game was the head-to-head between French prop Rodrigue Neti and Leinster's Josh van der Flier. No question, in the current climate, Neti deserved his yellow card;but, well done Wayne Barnes for mitigating the penalty down from red.

There is no doubt in my mind, VDF initiated the contact with a needless charge into the ruck. His entry was never going to win back possession for Leinster. In olden days, such aggressive rucking would simply have earned him what Fin Calder used to call: “a guid shoein'” - today it gets an opponent a yellow card.

Back in the days when Ayrshire Junior Football was war without bullets, Auchinleck Talbot were the masters at starting fights from which they emerged as the victims – Leinster and Munster have today brought that dark art into Rugby Union. I reckon Wayne Barnes would have been well within his rights to have yellow carded VDF as well as Neti.

Never, even when called upon by Editorial diktat to score them, have I been a fan of awarding marks out of ten for individual performances in team sports. I used to have to dish out the marks to the football team I covered on a weekly basis.

This meant some interesting conversations with the players on a Monday:

Player - “How come you only gave me five out of ten on Saturday?”

Me: “Because the Editor wouldn't let me give you four out of ten.”

Then there was the conversation with The Fat Controller, as we all referred to the Club Chairman, who questioned why I had given Man of the Match to the club's centre-half, whom they had signed from Donkeys United, and not to the sweeper and club captain – who really was a class act.

The answer was, the Class Act never got less than seven out of ten, for the Donkey to get higher than a five was unusual – so I reckoned his seven that week had trumped the Class Act's similar score.

But, as I keep saying – sport is all about opinions, which, like erse holes, we all have.

Any way, after that wee meander down some back roads, back onto the motorway of Saturday sport and that game at The Greenyards.

Here again we saw evidence of how a referee can affect a game. Match official Sam O'Neill wasn't bad, but, neither was he very-good; and I honestly believe his performance and what everyone in black and pink perceived as a leaning towards the home team seemed to so impact Bulls' skipper Blair Macpherson, that the Bulls' number eight produced the sort of power he gets from the jet engines he fettles in his day job, to drive his team to victory.

Rumour has it, Frazier Climo seized up at half time, but, he had already earned his on-field coaching fee with the way he slipped into space to set up two first half tries for the Bulls. Form and fitness may be transient, but, class is eternal, as the former Taranaki and Scarlets play-maker showed on Saturday.

The common denominator in the Bulls' win, and the later Glasgow one, was, fantastic defence. We all enjoy the swashbuckling tries, the coast-to-coast handling extravaganzas which are a Warriors' trade mark, but, one of the biggest differences under Franco Smith has surely been the high standard of Glasgow's defence – they so-frustrated Scarlets on Saturday.

Now, onwards to Dublin for the club's first European final, something which seemed years away in the dark days under Danny Wilson.

Finally on Saturday, I was delighted for Bryan Easson and the girls, the way they calmed the Irish storm to pull away in the second half. The electric atmosphere at the DAM came across in the TV coverage – two committed teams, driven on by equally committed supporters, and a Scottish win. What more can you ask for?

I started watching the Toulon v Benetton game on Sunday, but bailed at half-time, to watch that re-enactment of Irish history at Hampden. However, I had already decided, there was no way Toulon – even with 14 men – were going to lose.

Sure enough, it's Glasgow v Toulon in the final.

I missed the start of the La Rochelle v Exeter game, but, hard though Chiefs fought, they were always in second place to the defending Champions.

Leinster will perhaps start as favourites, given the final is in Dublin, but, I suspect it will be quite a match – quite a couple of games, given the Friday night game between Warriors and Toulon will be a terrific warm-up.

FINALLY, I have a lot of time for Martin Bayfield, but, he boobed badly when he name-checked Stafford McDowall as “Stafford Macdonald” on Sunday. Still, not quite as bad as the Welsh commentators who, in spite of the fact Zander has 50-plus caps and is a British Lion, still call the Fagerson brothers “Ferguson.”

 

Weekend Reflections And The Thoughts Of An Old Coach

EDINBURGH'S disappointing season faded away in the second half at The Kingspan on Friday night; just as I feared it would when Ulster edged in front late in the first half.

Knowing they had to win, once the home team got their noses ahead, they were not going to blow it and duly achieved their aim of a second-place finish and home games all the way, they hope, to the final.

This was a typical Edinburgh performance. They have some good attacking ploys, and some terrific attacking players, however, in the final analysis, they just fall short of being a tier one BKT United Rugby Championship team.

Hopefully, with the right coach in place – somebody who realises for instance that Blair Kinghorn is not up to the job of playmaker at this level, then maybe they can take that step up.

GLASGOW'S hard-fought win over Connacht on Saturday night was almost-perfect preparation for their home quarter-final in the URC – when they welcome Munster to Scotstoun, on 5/6 May.

If they beat the Munstermen, Warriors will have to travel to either Dublin or Durban, since they will then face Leinster or Cell C Sharks in the semi-final.

Munster will be expected to play a similar game to Connacht, with a wee bit extra intensity, but, with home advantage and a lot of hard work in the physio room, Warriors should be ready.

SINCE getting my Viaplay subscription sorted-out, I have been watching fewer Gallagher Premiership matches. However, on Saturday I took in the Harlequins v Bath match, from Twickenham, then Gloucester v Sale Sharks.

I reckon a wee punt on Bath winning something next season might pay dividends. Their back division produced some terrific stuff on Saturday, and that without both Finn Russell and Cam Redpath. Stick those two super Scots into the mix and they will have something else.

Bath are bringing-in Springbok tight-head Thomas du Toit for next season; in which case, Glasgow could, I think, do far worse than bringing home Darcy Rae – another home-grown product who was side-lined/ignored by Dave Rennie. I reckon he and Zander Fagerson could well inspire each other to great things – as they did before.

It was good too to see Adam Hastings back and motoring for Gloucester by the way.

Last week I received an interesting email from a rugby friend of mine, a retired teacher who during his years at the chalk face spent a lot of time passing-on his love of the game to a new generation or two. Here is what he had to say:

“Aristotle is, as ever, spot on with his assertion that the Laws of the game require a thorough overhaul - the need is all the more pressing now that referees have been turned from empathetic arbiters of play into technocratic implementers of the laws

Prime recent example: the Exeter v Leicester match when it took me some time to understand why reference was being made to the TMO for that try in the corner as it did not occur to me that Woodburn had committed an offence of any kind. We have reached the point where players are genuinely bewildered on receiving red cards

For your possible interest I offer six points:

1. Most importantly, ensure greater contestability across all areas of the game to reduce the sheer predictability of endless cycles of possession going up against attritional defence. 

- revive the art of hooking by requiring the ball to be put in straight at scrums

- likewise ensure a fair contest at line outs (once called ‘the illegal child of rugby’ but I cannot recall by whom, reflecting the view that line outs have always been problematic and very difficult to referee). Possibly revive the side with the throw dictating the length of the line out

- stop players going to ground in a maul to lie between the ball and the opposition. Aim to recreate the conditions for clean, dynamic rucking

- stop the catch and drive from a line out- the English speciality of ‘truck and trailer’ - where the ball is shielded at the back of the maul by a phalanx of forwards such that the defensive team cannot contest possession except by coming round offside or by being deemed to have collapsed the maul leading to a penalty or penalty try

2. Stop rewarding teams that kick the ball off the pitch. Is there another field game where there is merit gained for sending the ball out of the playing area?

3. Revise tackle law in a practical way that takes account of different player heights and the nature of contact

4. Penalties awarded only for foul play or persistent infringement; all other infringements given free kicks which cannot be kicked directly to touch 

5. Revise role of TMO and the use of red/yellow cards which are currently over reliant on a slow motion replay that can distort playing intent

6. Penalise players who run ahead of the ball as screen/decoy runners. Players who deliberately put themselves ahead of the ball are not in a position to receive a pass and are therefore in an offside position 

By simplifying the Laws, referees can then be required to apply them with consistency rather than being able to pick and choose what suits them

With international ticket prices now reaching a rate of £2 per minute, there is a need to make the game more intelligible and user friendly 

It may be a forlorn hope, but the aim should be to regain rugby’s unique characteristic, namely a game for all. With the emphasis on physicality, players are much more one dimensional- it is extraordinary to think that TGR Davies received his first cap for Wales as a centre

Otherwise the injury count is going to take its toll, particularly when those who have played the game suffer in middle to old age. The sheer physicality of the modern game has an image problem among parents; I am always struck by the number of ex players I come across who express relief that their children/grandchildren do not play the modern game

I also find it interesting that rugby starts off as a running game at junior level (tag/mini rugby etc) but then transforms itself into a physical confrontation when players hit their teens - where training so often consists of running into blocking pads rather than running into space. It is therefore not surprising that numbers tail off as the nature of the game changes; hence we return to Robert Kitson’s interesting article regarding what we want from the game going forward.

I find it difficult to argue against any of the points he makes – other than the one about rewarding teams who kick the ball off the park – I think the introduction of the 50/22 rule has been a good move.

I do however, think he hits the nail squarely on the head in his final paragraph – definitely something there for the game's High Heid Yins to dwell carefully upon, always provided their brains are still working.

Are The Players Asses - Or The Laws - Or Both?

AFTER the weekend, I am even-more convinced, Rugby Union's law book is in as bad a state as the SNP's finances. The Gallagher Premiership might, often, be a case of sporting paint drying, but, it does have a media presence the superior BKT United Rugby Championship can only dream about. So, when those intellectual giants Ben Kay, Austin Healy and Lawrence Dallaglio start pontificating on incidents such as Ollie Woodburn's second yellow (red) card v Leicester, well, we are all duty-bound to listen.

The lesson was that while Karl Dickson (maybe not the Willie Collum – perhaps the John Beaton of rugby referees) was correct (by the letter of the law) to give Woodburn his marching orders – somehow the sending-off was against the spirit of the game.

Look people – the teams might still line-up and shake hands at the cessation of hostilities, they might even applaud each other off and offer three cheers, but, at the elite level, the spirit of the game dissipated into the ether as soon as the brown envelopes tucked into the players' boots gave way to official pay cheques.

Take that wee phrase I used two paragraphs ago: (by the letter of the law); when a law is so-clearly the subject of debate, you have to perhaps acknowledge: Then the law is an ass and needs to be changed.

I've been saying that for as long as this blog has been going. But, since I am a non-person in the eyes of Junta members such as TCD and Buddy the Elf, I can only hope my observations are passed on to Vice President Jeffrey, by whichever Murrayfield minion is delegated to read my ramblings and pass any relevant points up the chain of command.

Perhaps, in pushing for genuine root and branch reform of the Law Book JJ can maybe bring meaningful and lasting improvement to the game.

It will take a rewrite to eliminate incidents like the Woodburn card from the game. Getting shot of plooks on the game's visage such as the weekend's other big talking point – The Duncan Taylor red card – that's easier.

Bring the new belly-level tackle line from the community game up into the performance one and while you will never entirely eliminate tackles such as Taylor's, you will make them a lot rarer.

Mind you, I fear, that until the professionals learn their lessons, and it will maybe the coaches who will take longer to adapt, we may see a few big games ending up as 11 or 12-a-side. Unless of course the referees, perhaps in fear of being branded as “spoil sports” adopt the same laissez-faire attitude to high tackles they currently show to squint scrum feeds.

Here's another wee adoption from another game, which our rulers might like to adopt. Now that the old-fashioned “Donnybrook” rules, and cherished ikons such as the “99” call are not permitted, when it comes to clearing the air, we should maybe look at ice hockey's “Third man in” rule.

When it comes to shinty on ice, certainly in its North American home land, the occasional punch-up is if not actively encouraged, at least tolerated as a necessary part of game discipline. However, when the spark ignites and the gloves come off, there are rules, which while not written down, are understood by everyone.

One of these is that third man in rule which I mentioned above. OK, so the Maple Leaf's 'Goon' (think Etzebeth on skates) decides to flatter the Flames' star scorer – it then falls to the Flames' Enforcer to take revenge. The designated punchers then set to it, the rest of the players stand back and watch. However, should any player from either side decide to join in, the third man in protocol comes into play and the additional combatant(s) join the original pair of scrappers in the penalty box.

Mind you, there hasn't been a decent scrap in rugby in decades. Today, it's all handbags at dawn stuff, very tame for those of us from the old days.

[Here's a wee aside about scrapping at ice hockey. By common acceptance, Edinburgh's Tony Hand is the best-ever British player. Tony had an elder brother, Paul, who was his Enforcer in their early days on-ice. Paul was a hard man, but, he had principles. One evening when things got feisty in a Paisley v Edinburgh game, Paul, by now playing for the Buddies, got flung out of the game for his part in a mass stooshie. He glared at the referee, told him he wasn't going to go for that, but, for this. He then skated down the ice and set about the Edinburgh net minder – who had started the whole rammy. Pulled off him, Paul quite happily skated off to get changed.]

I digressed a bit there; so, to get back to today's sermon. Maybe if referees were to send the originators of any bouts of handbag swinging to the sin bin, then send the respective third-men-in to the bin to join them – I reckon even the dimmest coach would soon have his players behaving themselves.

Or, if a team was repeatedly in the referee's ear – the “too many voices” warning which I have heard referees issuing lately – send the Captain to the sin bin. We need better behaviour in the game; anything which might help, we ought to try.

ROBERT KITSON in The Guardian, has a nice wee exclusive about fears that the RFU is starving the English second tier – The Championship – of funds, allegedly in an effort to reduce the number of professional sides in England.

Given that England's top tier – The Gallagher Premiership is stuffed with teams making repeated losses, but blaming everyone but themselves for the greed and lack of business acumen which has got them into that position; it stands to reason, stupidity doesn't end with their bottom club, it must also be present in the ranks of those keen to participate in such a badly-run league.

I tend to think, with so-many of the top English football clubs now having overseas owners: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Leicester City, Newcastle United to name but a few, it is possible for big rugby clubs such as Leicester Tigers or Sale to get the backing of well-heeled locals. Also, clubs such as Exeter, Gloucester, Bath or Northampton don't have a big football club in their catchment area, so should be able to attract sponsorship.

Greater London is big enough to support half a dozen top football teams and the same number of top rugby clubs, but, the reality is, even with a good TV deal, the only area of Rugby Union which can make real money is the International one, and, for as long as the top clubs in England are allowed to con the public that their domestic product is as good as the international one, then we will see well-heeled individuals losing their heads and a considerable part of their fortunes in supporting a system which cannot work.

That said, I still feel the best place to put the third full-time professional team which Scottish Rugby needs, would be in London, based on London Scottish. A BKT United Rugby Championship franchise, based in London, would be a genuine money-maker. I am convinced of that; however, setting it up – finding the ground etc, would be costly.

Let England continue to mess things up, that just makes it easier for us to compete internationally. We should maybe be more-interested in sorting-out the failings in our own system and getting upsides with Ireland – then, we can move ahead.

 

What - No Entertainment Bonus!!!

WARRIORS V SCARLETS on Friday night was a bit of a tough watch. It's maybe just as well for the Weegies that they've got Franco Smith, rather than the late Jim McLean as Head Coach. Wee Jim might well have withheld their entertainment bonus after that ugly win.

However, to be serious, the awful weather, plus the visitors showing the typical Welsh ability to drag what was, on paper, a superior Glasgow outfit down to their level. This meant, we didn't get the spectacle we wanted.

Still, the BKT United Rugby Championship is a results-driven business so:

• Match won

• Home quarter-final secured

• Unbeaten home record extended

• Marker put down for Europe

That adds up to “Job done,” Warriors now move on to Connacht in the final regular season game, then Europe, then the knock-out games in the URC. Glasgow are in a good place.

Watching on TV, I thought it was the strength of the Glasgow bench which proved crucial, and, for once they got a wee bit of luck from an Irish officiating team – when Brian MacNeice in the TV truck, spotted that Scarlets' Vaea Fifita had jumped the gun in picking-up at the base of a Warriors' ruck and so his 80 metres sprint for a try had been in-vain.

Chris Busby deferred to him – I wonder if the likes of Clancy, Lacey or Brace would have agreed with him. I thought young Chris had a good game with the whistle, more-so given the hour-long battle between Zander Fagerson and Wyn Jones at the scrums. I can remember Nigel Owens getting so pissed-off at a previous battle between a Scottish and a Welsh Lions' props, that he sent Ryan Grant (pictured below for reasons which will not be immediately apparent) and Adam Jones off, because their personal battle was ruining the game. I thought maybe Busby was about to follow suit at one point, before Zander gained the upper hand.

 

ON SATURDAY I watched the Boroughmuir Bears v Glasgow Warriors A game, on the SRU website. I went onto the main site just before the 5pm kick-off, clicked on the “more” button, and nothing happened.

The match was on the SRU's You Tube channel, only thing was, this wasn't made clear in any of the pre-match publicity – such as there was. As a result I missed the first five minutes.

It's the small errors and omissions like this which make the SRU subject to so much criticism. Attention to detail is clearly not a big issue with The Junta. It's almost as if they don't give a fuck, so long as their noses are in the trough.

I've been saying, since the whole thing kicked-off, the biggest weakness about the FOSROC SUPER6 is that it's the SRU that is running it. If they can mess it up, they will and they do.

I like the inclusion of the Edinburgh and Glasgow A teams in the sprint series, showing the other franchises the standard they need to achieve.

What I liked about the Glasgow performance was the way the A team seeks to mirror the approach of the main team – playing Glasgow rugby. It's great to have old hands such as Sean Kennedy and Dunky Weir in there as on-field coaches; but, I have to say, there is some exciting young talent in the Glasgow ranks.

Boroughmuir were blown away, but, they stuck to their guns. Here too, I like the balance between the likes of Craig Keddie and some terrific kids. I feel Bears are the only one of the three Edinburgh franchises with the right grasp on what S6 should be all about.

I REMAINED (in spirit anyway) in the Capital, for the Edinburgh v Ospreys broadcast on Viaplay. All I can say is: where has this Edinburgh team been so far this year?

Ospreys tried to do the usual Welsh thing of dragging a superior Scottish outfit down to their level, but, never had a look-in. The game was over by half-time and, if Edinburgh went off the boil in the second half, their visitors never looked like making up the deficit.

Great to see Darcy Graham back at his dancing best too – he was a deserved Man of the Match.

By the way, I liked the Italian referee Gianluca Gnecchi. He had an excellent game.

SO NOW WE KNOW – The Tennent's Scottish Cup Final will feature Hawick and Marr, after the favourites emerged victorious from Saturday's semi-finals. Credit to Marr, for surviving the first-half red carding of flanker Ben Johnstone – who collected tow yellow cards – before pulling clear from their hosts in the second half.

That match pulled a massive crowd into Millbrae, while, up in Glasgow, Hawick also pulled away in the second half to beat Glasgow Hawks.

Now the Greens will take their season-long unbeaten record, plus the Bill McLaren Shield to BT Murrayfield for the final – which will also be Craig Redpath's final outing as Marr coach.

This could be quite a game.

SINCE I honestly believe, we have too-many “National Leagues” in Scotland, I tend not to – other than checking-up on my own club – bother with much rugby below National League 1.

Maybe that's my loss, when I look at the final finishing order in National League 2. That particular division has been won by Glasgow Academicals, by a single point from Newton Stewart. Both clubs finished with 14 wins and 8 losses from their 22 games. Each club secured 14 three-try bonuses and one losing bonus point. Accies scored 714 points and conceded 318, for a points difference of + 396, while the Galloway Irishmen scored 691 points and conceded 296, for a points difference of +395.

Could it have been any tighter? But congratulations to Head Coach Ryan Grant – another former Scotland prop making his way in coaching, and his squad, on their success, secured with a thumping win over third-placed Falkirk on Saturday. Winning 53-15 in what was a “must win” match, made all the difference and got Accies over the line.

Once We Had Teams, Today We Have Squads

WHEN I were nowt but a lad, sport had certain certainties – you always knew what the first team was and you could rhyme off the names:

• The football team against which I measure all others – Lugar Boswell Thistle – season 1955-56: Fraser, Love and Cathie; McEwan, Baird and Donnelly; Bingham, Collins, Sharp, Neil and Wilkie.

• My first Kilmarnock team: Brown; Richmond and Watson, Beattie, Toner and Kennedy; Stewart, McInally, Kerr, Black and Muir

• The best Scotland team I ever saw play: Brown; Hamilton and Caldow; Crerand McNeill and Baxter;' Scott, White, St John, Law and Wilson.

• The Rangers team against which all later are judged by Me: Ritchie; Shearer and Caldwo; Greig, McKinnon and Baxter; Scott, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson.

• The definitive Celtic team: Simpson; Craig and Gemmell; Murdoch, McNeill and Clark; Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld and Lennox.

• The first Scotland rugby team to really get me excited: Brown; Steele, Frame, Rea, Biggar; Turner, Paterson; McLauchlan, Dunlop, Carmichael, GL Brown, McHarg; McEwan, Arneil, PC Brown.

Of course, the reality is – these iconic sides didn't always play together. Distance has us recalling the same team was picked, week-in, week-out – the reality was different.

Today it's different; we are in the age of squad rotation, where each squad has more than the basic 11 or 15 players required to strip each week – and how you manage these enlarged squads, all of whom want to play, is one of the particular arts of running a present-day sports team.

We now know, Glasgow Warriors' Head Coach Franco Smith is one of the masters of this particular art, managing to keep every player involved and on-message, whether or not they are in the team.

So, it is interesting to see the team he has selected for tonight's Scotstoun clash with Scarlets. This is a game which is primarily about BKT United Rugby Championship points and the opportunity to seal that home quarter-final, but, it is also something of a dress rehearsal for the same sides' European Challenge Cup semi-final clash later this month.

Smith has, predictably, shaken things up after the weekend's quarter-final win in Europe, naming the following squad (in 1-23 order) for tonight's game:

Jamie Bhatti, Johnny Matthews, Zander Fagerson, Lewis Bean JP du Preez, Ryan Wilson, Zander Fagerson, Sione Vailanu; Ali Price, Tom Jordan; Cole Forbes, Sam Johnson, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Steyn (Captain); Huw Jones. Replacements: Fraser Brown, Nathan Mcbeth, Simon Berghan, Richie Gray, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge; Jamie Dobie, Domingo Miotti.

Smith has made ten changes from the team which beat Vodacombe Bulls, but, in spite of this it is still a team which appears, on paper, to be strong enough to get the job done. The match kicks-off at 7.35pm and, for those who cannot get there in person, it will, as ever, be screened on Viaplay TV.

THE RISE of the Scottish refereeing young guns continues this weekend, for Round 17 of the BKT United Rugby Championship. Hollie Davidson has the whistle in Johannesburg, for the Bulls v Zebre clash, where she has David Sutherland on TMO duties in the truck in the car park.

That's the first game of a double-header, with Sutherland again on TMO duties in match two, where Mike Adamson has the whistle.

On Friday night, Ben Blain is the man in the middle when Ulster entertain Dragons at the Kingspan. Andy McMenemy is TMO here, before heading across the border on Saturday, for TMO duties in Galway, where Connacht host Cardiff. Sam Grove-White is the man in the middle here.

Ross Mabon and Calum Worsley are on flag duties at Scotstoun on Friday night, when Warriors entertain Scarlets; and on Saturday, when Edinburgh play host to Ospreys, Fin Brown and Ruaridh Campbell are on the lines – Brown having a rare excursion in Scotland, following his efforts on the World Sevens Circuit.

Ten Scots match officials on-duty on a single weekend. Not that long ago, that league was a no-go area for our officials. Clearly, a lot of hard work is now starting to pay dividend.

MARK RENTON (or to be fair – Irvine Welsh) was onto something when he came up with yon rant in 'Trainspotting.' That was 30 years ago and nothing much has changed.

Certainly, when you consider the latest news from English Rugby; while they may not be – to quote Renton: “wankers” - they certainly continue to show advance stages of madness – if we accept that “madness is making the same mistakes as in the past, in the hope of a different outcome.”

Jock “Stiffy” McClure, my old PE teacher at Cumnock Academy, was one of those unfortunates whose best years were during World War II. He won nine War-Time or Victory caps, which were apparently not exactly the real thing.

He is permanently linked with Ayr Rugby Club, but, he did once tell me, some of his most-enjoyable rugby experiences were towards the end of the War, when he was posted to London and played for Wasps.

Wasps were then based in Sudbury, and were one of the top clubs in London. Fast forward to the early days of professionalism, and Wasps were a power in the land. But, their Sudbury ground was too small for the professional game and the club split, with the professional side going through a series of moves – to Loftus Road, then Adams Park, before ending up in Coventry and liquidation.

The amateur club meanwhile, continues to thrive, although they too have departed Sudbury for a enw home in Acton.

Now we understand, the professional Wasps are looking to build a 24,000 capacity ground somewhere along the M40 corridor. Good luck to them, but, given their lack of success in building a new base in three different places in 25 years, I don't think even that arch optimist Private Frazer would give them much chance of making a go of this latest venture.

As I said above – madness.

Aristotle Reflects On Men Being From Mars And Women From Venus

AS A YOUNG and very green tyro in this wonderful world of sports-writing, I was given some advice from one of the old guard. This gentleman had reached the very top of his sport, then switched seamlessly from being written about to writing on his passion. When he spoke, everyone in his sport listened – or so I thought.

Then he telt me: “Never offer a view or opinion on the women's game – just stick to reporting the facts – the results. If you stray into the politics of the women's game – they will tear you limb from limb; then, they are wild animals.”

As the father of four daughters, fine Ah ken where he was coming from – since Management was taken from me far-too soon, I have occasionally felt like calling-in UN Peacekeepers to settle family rows.

I well remember, covering a local Ladies Bowling Championships, receiving a lot of unsolicited drinks from various ladies and wondering why. Our snapper, who knew a few of the ladies (in the Biblical sense), put me wise the next day. Apparently when I telt one of the two rival Queen Bees of the sport where to get off, I became a hero to those ladies who had, over the years incurred her wrath.

So, my advice to The Murrayfield Junta, who apparently, at the moment have a little local difficulty involving the ladies in the sport is:

• Prepare an exit strategy

• Caa' canny

• Say nothing – and don't write anything down

• Accept it – this one you cannot win

Why do you think the more-sociable sports: bowls, golf for instance have separate governing bodies for men and women? It makes for an easier life.

“Men are from Mars, women are from Venus,” there's a lot of truth in that.

“HIM – AH kent his faither” is a wonderfully Scottish turn of phrase for damning someone with faint praise; we also have long memories with regard to slights or wrongs done to us. Getherin' her broos like getherin' storm and nursing her wrath to keep it warm never was the sole preserve of Mrs Helen Graham, wife of Tam, of Shanter Farm, Kirkoswald.

So, I was not at all surprised to find several stalwarts of a certain Glasgow club being less than generous in their tributes to Ryan Wilson, with the announcement of his impending departure from Glasgow Warriors.

The Kebab Shop Barney was almost a decade ago; whatever the rights or wrongs of that night. I would suggest the 33-year-old player who is leaving the club is in many ways different from the player who was lifted that fateful night. But, if Ryan is thinking of staying in Glasgow, I can tell him one club he ought to steer clear of.

I hope he does stay around; he has become an excellent talking head on the game via his punditry duties with both Viaplay and BT Sport. I'd far rather listen to Ryan Wilson discussing a game than Lawrence Dallaglio.

I UNDERSTAND World Rugby is considering the introduction of Orange cards for the Rugby World Cup, as a means of speeding-up the game.

Apparently, if a referee is adjudicating on an incident such as a collision of heads, he can issue an orange card – so the offending player goes off, and it is then up to the TMO to decide, after an in-depth analysis, whether the offence is worthy of merely a yellow or a red card.

Typical World Rugby – if they can fuck this game up – they will. What happened to: The referee is the sole judge of fact. Of course, they put the boot into that basic tenet of the game years ago, when they added: For the duration of the match, then brought-in citing officers to re-examine decisions.

In a match-day officiating team there are:

1. The Match Referee – the man who is supposed to be in-charge

2. Two assistant referees – additional eyes on the pitch

3. A Television Match Official – reviewing the match tv footage in the production truck round the back

4. A Fourth official (actually a fifth) – looking after substitutions and yellow card timing.

The senior member of that team is the Match Referee – he's the Honcho, the guy with the big stick – the other four are there to help him give of his best. So:

• he has to have the final say, not the guy sat in the truck in the car park.

I CAN SENSE the RFU getting ready to do what they do when England isn't winning – they will be looking for changes to how the two European Cup competitions are run, so long as it makes it easier for English teams to win.

It will take them a long time, if they ever do, to get away from Britannia waiving the rules.

OK, the French do it their way – with their big clubs enjoying a lot of assistance from their local authorities, in terms of stadia, facilities etc. But, they have now got their big clubs to agree to put French players first, then they fill-in as necessary.

The three Celtic Unions all have a modicum of central control – they have lang syne realised, their pro teams are there to produce players for the national sides, and while, they accept, a degree of cross-fertilisation from non-qualified players is no bad thing, their teams are there as feeders for the national side.

Only in England is there this climate of the clubs being as-important, if not more-important than the national side, with these clubs allowed to more or less pack their ranks with non-English players.

Well, that hasn't worked for English football, and it shows no sign of working for English Rugby. But, maybe we shouldn't tell them, and allow them to go on spending beyond their means.

 

The Correct Legacy Can Work Wonders

I SPENT Sunday night on the lap top, on the BBC Sport website, watching Scotland beat Canada 9-3 (that's a lovely winning score line) to become World Curling Champions. The team: Hammy McMillan III, Bobby Lammie, Grant Hardie and skip Bruce Mouat, who now Sir Andy Murray is on the downward slope just might be the finest active Scottish sportsman; had to silence a partisan but brilliant Ottawa audience to beat Canada for Scotland's first world curling title in over a decade. And let's not forget fifth man Kyle Waddell in the celebrations.

This win has been coming for some time, and in celebrating it I want to mention somebody who wasn't there to see it, since he died in late February. Hammy McMillan Senior packed a lot into his 91 years, he earned an MBE but his most-significant move was to build a curling rink at his hotel in Stranraer.

Lots of great curlers emerged from there, since this is a rugby blog – I could mention John Parker, younger brother of the great Hugh Parker, who was in a Stranraer rink which won the World Juniors. Then there is Hammy McMillan Junior, a World Champion in 1999, twice an Olympian and a multiple European Champion.

Today we have Hammy McMillan III and Grant Hardie, Hammy Senior's grandsons, winning that world title on Sunday night – just to keep up with another McMillan grand-child, Robyn Munro, who played third in the Scotland Junior Women's team that won their world title last month. Robyn's father Jock, was a very good scrum half with Cumnock and Kilmarnock, just to keep the rugby connection going.

“If you build it, they will come,” is a misquote from the Kevin Costner movie: 'Field of Dreams,' but Hammy McMillan Senior built a curling rink – and they came. The rest is history.

I know we have a marvellous rugby history in Scotland, and wonderful traditions in places such as Hawick, Melrose and Stirling; but, I just wonder if there might be somebody, somewhere in Scotland who could, in today's much-changed rugby world, build the sort of legacy for our game which Hammy McMillan Senior built for his down there at the head of Loch Ryan.

RECEIVED wisdom appears to be – Glasgow Warriors dodged a bullet, getting to play Scarlets in Llanelli, rather than having to travel to Toulon in the European Challenge Cup semi-final. Ah hae ma doots.

Glasgow has a long tradition of trekking down to the valleys and being sent homeward to think again. Parc y Scarlets is never an easy place to visit, and the Welsh clubs, even when struggling, have long had the ability to drag, on-paper superior Scottish sides down to their level.

The mind games around this one are fascinating, particularly since the two clubs will clash at Scotstoun on Friday night. Franco Smith has demonstrated, he's the Master when it comes to squad rotation this season, so it will be interesting to see who he stands down and who he brings in for this one.

Opposite number Dwayne Peel was, of course, at one time the most-capped Welsh scrum half, so, we can assume, as a coach he has retained his Masters degree in winding-up opponents, and his Doctorate in rugby mind games – he too will be planning how to get the most from the two games.

But, I can see no reason why Warriors cannot beat Scarlets in both games and set-up an end-of-the-season jolly to Dublin for many of the Warrior Nation.

I DO NOT DO Sevens. Yes, at one time I was a somewhat minor member of Tom Inglis' team which made the annual Ayr Sevens such a great occasion, but, we now appear to be in a totally-different age from those halcyon years of the 1960s and 1970s.

Apparently there were spaces available at The Greenyards on Saturday, and there are suggestions that, in welcoming so-many guest sides and ignoring the neighbouring teams, Melrose have got it wrong. The fact is, however, the Spring Borders Sports circuit is not what is once was.

A year or two back, when Independence for Scotland seemed possible, I thought we were maybe going to have to get really serious about Sevens, since, perhaps by 2024, certainly by 2032, we would have a Scottish team competing on the World Rugby Sevens Circuit and in The Olympic Games.

Today, with the likes of Robbie Fergusson, Ross McCann and Paddy Kelly full time in the Great Britain Sevens squad, and the SNP under Haunless Yousless heading for the rocks, I fear I will never see Independence, or a Scotland Sevens side on the world stage other than at the Commonwealth Games.

However, that ought not to stop us from treating Sevens seriously up here. If we do, let's get together, get it organised properly and make it work, otherwise, Melrose Sevens could well decline as much as some of the other long-established tournaments have in recent years,

THERE IS a legendary clip, on You Tube of the late, great Marty Feldman commentating on an England v Uruguay match in the 1960s. The clip is nearly 60 years old, but is still hilariously funny. It might also function as a comment on wee Austin Healy Sprite's colour commentary shift from La Rochelle on Sunday.

Wee Austin is – perhaps when he remembers to take his medication – one of the sharper tools in the BT Sport tool chest. He really is a better analyst than The Italian Gelding, but, whenever he is asked to cover an English team against one of the inferior nations, i.e. anyone not English, Austin goes into full English Master Race mode, and that's where he was on Sunday.

I really was wishing co-commentator Johnnie Beattie would reprise his Dad's attack on Wade Dooley from all those years ago and shut the wee nyaff up, Healy was so myopic in favour of Saracens that, if he ever could do embarrassment, he would have shut-up and died.