Don't Worry England Fans - Steve Borthwick Has a Cunning Plan

THE FLIP, throwaway line is easy: “If Carlsberg did months, August 2023 would be it.” The reality is a bit more complex. Yes, the out of town try-outs have gone reasonably-well for Scotland's World Cup squad; they are in a good place. We investors, for whom how they will do in the big show next month really matters, we are happy. However, might it be our happiness is being magnified because The Common Enemy is making such a dog's dinner of their preparations for Rugby World Cup 2023?

I bow to nobody in professing ABE – Anyone But England. I honestly feel sorry for the many good men and women in English Rugby, being badly let down by a jingoistic press corps, England expects and a governing Union who in many instances make our own Murrayfield apparatchiks appear competent. But, the reality is, we are unlikely to have to face England in France, so, why waste time thinking about them.

Our principal concerns have to be South Africa and Ireland. In mentioning them, I use the word concerns with good reason. On the KPIs (Known Performance Indicators) we are in line to finish third behind them in our group – that's the reality.

The way South Africa put New Zealand, albeit an All Blacks team reduced to 14 men before the interval, to the sword at Twickenham on Friday night has to be a worry for us. That was a World Champions' performance, however, the haka always lifts the Saffers a couple of notches. If they cannot bring Friday night's intensity to Marseilles, if they come with the attitude: “It's only Scotland; they're good, but we're better,” we have a chance of catching them out.

Ireland's scrappy victory over Samoa also gives us hope. They didn't send out all their front-line troops and struggled. Imagine, by the time they come to face us, in what already looks like being a winner takes all game, they have had one or two injuries to key men – then this might be the night when recent results turn around and we win.

It's all up in the air. We have emerged from the out of town try-outs stage of our preparations in a good place, we need not fear the opposition when it all gets very real next month.

I was pleased with our performance against Georgia. Even when, in the first half, it wasn't happening for us, we trusted our systems, stuck to the script and, after the break, we clicked. We were then able to show, even if we take Finn Russell off early, we can still go through our options and get pay-off. For once, we are going into a big competition in a good place.

We have a settled team, playing well, and with no injuries. The rest is up to us – go well Toony and the Boys.

FOSROC Super Rugby latest. You have to give Buddy and the Elves within the SRU Media Bunker their due. They really do treat the press and the public with a level of disdain which is breath-taking.

I am writing this at 9am on Sunday morning. The Heriot's v Futures XV match finished 16 hours ago, and the fact Heriot's won 45-14 is still not up on the SRU's website. It's been up on the BBC Scotland website since Saturday night. You know, BBC Shortbread – the station which thinks “Sport” means The Old Firm.

It's not as if the elves weren't in the office on Saturday night – you cannot usually move in the Bill McLaren Gallery on international days for SRU apparatchiks. How long does it take to input a result and update a league table?

Let's face it, they've got a cushy number, which calls for little effort – working for a quarter wit. Many of the elves will struggle if they ever go out into the real world. We punters deserve better.

FINALLY, how good it was to see wee Hollie Davidson strutting her stuff so effectively and well at Twickenham on Saturday. Even the Prime Sports team acknowledged her as: “one of the top referees in the game;” she's a better referee than at least four of the guys who will be working at the World Cup.

The day cannot be far off, when Hollie takes charge of a Men's Tier One international.

Chortling though I was at the English pain on Saturday, I had to laugh out loud at one below the line comment on The Guardian's below the line comments on Fiji's win.

It came from an England fan, who assured the world: “England Coach Steve Baldrick has a cunning plan.” Kudos to that fan.

 

Steve Borthwick's Saturday press conference

 

Relax - These Games Are The Phoney War

BACK IN the day, when I covered Football as well as Rugby Union, I used to be criticised for my efforts to get the round ball Tartan Army to “Keep the heid” after yet another “Disaster for Scotland,” as our finest footballers lost some meaningless friendly against a nation the TA viewed as “inferior.”

I simply struggled to get it across – in “friendly” internationals, Scotland had a winning record of something between 35% and 40%, but, make the game competitive and meaningful – in a World Cup or European Championship for instance, and our wins percentage shot up to closer to or above 50%.

For this reason, I am not reading too much into Saturday's results; the reaction to which have largely been driven by how hysterical each nation's rugby media feels about the outcome.

These summer games are sports' equivalent of the theatre's out of town try-outs. Why do you think France are doing a tour of more-local stadia, before they come into Paris for the real deal – hosting a World Cup?

I accept, The Aviva or the Principality might not be the Municipal Theatre, Smallville, Kansas, or the Civic Auditorium, Hicktown, Connecticut, but the idea is the same: iron out the kinks and be ready to hit Broadway with all guns blazing. And here's another pearly of wisdom from the world of stage make-up and footlights - “poor dress rehearsal – great first night.”

I suspect that's what Warren Gatland and Steve Borthwick are seeking.

Enjoyable though it is to see Our Colonial Masters suffering, best to say little or nothing – we've got our own potential banana skin looming come Saturday.

One thing we did learn over the weekend is – World Rugby really needs to grow a pair and bring-in the lowered tackle height, now being imposed in the amateur game, into the professional one – or somewhere down the track, they will be paying-out a lot of money for head trauma.

It's simple damage limitation. The game's high heid yins surely realise, the big pay-outs are coming, and, if they don't do something to mitigate this, the game is finished.

OK, I can see a season of turmoil while the players and coaches adapt and modify their behaviour, but, in the end, all the pain will, I am sure, be worthwhile. I am also, not stupid enough to believe that lowering the tackle height to the sternum will solve every problem – there will still be high shots, but, at least, the damage will have been limited – more-so if repeated offenders, such as a certain stand-off, know each subsequent offence will see them sitting-out a longer ban.

IF A GAME gets the administrators it deserves, then Rugby Union in Scotland is in a mess – a big mess. OK, the fact we have perhaps as good a national squad as we have ever had is perhaps papering over the cracks; but, if we look below that, we've got problems right across the board.

OK, I've been getting pelters for years, particularly from the dafties end of Marr RFC, for my support for Super Rugby. We need a “bridging” tier between the club game and the performance one – Super Rugby is that bridge, unfortunately, I suspect the SRU got a descendant of Sir Thomas Bouch to come up with the concept of Super Rugby.

The SRU fucked things up from the start, but, TCD and The Junta cannot help themselves, they are in a hole and they keep digging. Their latest boob being the half-arsed way they have integrated the Futures XV into the competition.

Their timing is wrong. The squad make-up is wrong. I shudder for the boys as they prepare to take on the big guns – Heriot's, Ayrshire Bulls and Watsonians – I predict carnage.

• Make it basically an Under-23 competition

• By all means, allow a limited number of older, more-experienced players in each squad, but, ensure the bulk of each squad are Under-23 and, more-importantly: SCOTLAND QUALIFIED

• If we have to have a squad of mainly Under-20 players, then make sure their more-experienced players are drawn from the ranks of the two professional sides – to give them a fighting chance.

• If we were to make it a mostly Under-23 competition, why not make it up to eight teams, by including a Scottish Universities squad – just a thought.

When the great brains at Scottish Gas Murrayfield came up with this notion of a Futures XV, I pointed-out the disastrous precedent, the Gael Force team which took a few kickings in the Old British and Irish Cup.

What was that about madness being repeating past mistakes in the hope of a different outcome. Do the numpties inside HQ ever learn?

FINALLY – bad news for the RFU, who have the Farrell Appeal and the Vunipola sentencing to get through this week. I understand the FA has outbid them for the services of their favourite KC, who is needed in their efforts to get the Women's Football World Cup replayed – on the grounds the Lionesses didn't win.

You Have To Admit - As "Squirrels" Go, The Lionesses' Progress Is A Belter

RIGHT PEOPLES – time to get into Willie-John McBride mode. As the great man told some of the 1974 Invincibles, who wanted to waste good drinking time on a Sunday, by watching the television replay of their series-winning Test victory over South Africa, the previous day: “Forget it, that's history.” The RFU, the Six Nations and World Rugby have squandered their annual whitewash budget in exonerating The Liability, so the rest of the Rugby World should park its righteous indignation and move on.

One or two thoughts on the 2023 Rugby World Cup Squad announcement:

• Why trumpet – the squad will be announced at 8am on Wednesday, watch it on the SRU's You Tube channel – then slip it out on Facebook at 8.01?

• If you're going to do a big reveal – do a big reveal, you managed it fairly well in 2019.

• Why slip what I presume will be a sizeable wedge into Gerard Butler's back pooch, to read from a bad script, then underplay the real news?

• But, as I have been saying for years, Buddy the Elf couldnae run a gird, a bath or a minauge.

BACK on my favourite subject – the FOSROC Super Series: I finally caught-up with the highlights clip on You Tube on Wednesday. I am convinced, the commentary A team does the live match; the B team, does the Saturday game closest to the Borders and the C team does the last game – except, the B team are barely capable, while the C team, both commentators and cameramen, must be on work experience.

Their coverage of Heriot's v Stirling Wolves missed one or two scores, lost commentary in the second half and simply wasn't up to scratch – and they had a whole day on Sunday to sort-out the errors and omissions. Not good enough.

By the way – I do like the new Heriot's change strip.

THE AYRSHIRE POST has a big online story this week, about Ayr Rugby Club's £11,5 million Millbrae redevelopment. In fact, the story was the “Splash” in the paper's print edition – a rare case of that particular rag putting the correct story in the prime spot.

Phase One will see the long-awaited new access road, from the Robert Burns Centre side of the ground, built. This will be accompanied by new car-parking, for 126 cars, plus parking for two coaches (the buses which bring the visiting team to the ground, not preferential treatment for Pat McArthur's car)..

A new clubhouse, with enhanced facilities, a new stand, uprated floodlights and a synthetic pitch will follow as the re-development is rolled out. Clearly, things are going to be hectic around Alloway over the next two or three years.

YOU HAVE to be patient, and to know where to look, but, a forensic examination of the SRU website throws up some belters.

My interest piqued by what happened to The Liability I decided to have a look at what a club player, from youth rugby up to Super Rugby is liable to cop if he sees red or yellow for a high tackle.

The SRU website lists 241 disciplinary decisions over last season. Of these just 29 were listed as “high tackles”; 3 of the offenders got their “crimes” expunged, leaving 26, who copped a total of 86 games in suspensions, with the time varying from 0 games up to 6. That's an average of just over 3 games per sanction.

The tallies were:

• card expunged – 3 players

• 0 games – 1 player

• 1 game – 1 player

• 3 games – 16 players

• 4 games – 4 players

• 5 games – 3 players

• 6 games – 1 player

The biggest sentence handed out was a 30 week ban, to a club spectator, for “referee abuse”. Second-biggest shock was that a High School of Glasgow pupil copped a ban for referee abuse. Cad deserves a severe caning,

But the biggest shock was that one of Scottish Rugby's best-known refereeing characters was warned as to his future conduct and ordered to undergo diversity and inclusiveness training, following some remarks he made at a Referee Society Dinner.

It's what I've always said, some referees do not have a sense of humour – to dob-in one of their own.

I also noticed, while the sentences for high tackles accounted for some 12% of the offences dealt with over last season, the same 12% of the offenders dealt with concerned youth players. Which makes me wonder at the quality of coaching we are giving our young players – some, it appears, are struggling with the spirit of the game.

I SAID I would not mention The Liability again. That was before World Rugby stuck their oar in. So, we might yet see the fly-half with no arms suspended out of some if not all of the World Cup.

Just a thought or two: has anyone checked how much the members of The Supreme Court, or since this is an international incident, perhaps the Court of Arbitration in Sport knows about Rugby Union. This one could run and run.

And, does Sir Bill Beaumont have the power to grant a Presidential Pardon?

 

The Squad's Oot And No Surprises

THERE IT IS, hot off the presses so to speak – the list of the 33 players who will carry a nation's hopes into the Rugby World Cup. Toony has gone for a 19/14 forwards/backs split, and, to be frank, there are no surprises in the party.

We appear to be coming nicely to the boil and while, with holders South Africa and world rankings leaders Ireland in our group, not to mention a potential Tongan banana skin, we are travelling with hope rather than great expectations. However, we have the talent to do well. So, let's get behind the boys – after all, Gerard Butler is our new cheer-leader, wonder how much he cost for his wee bit of voice-over work?

IN THIS daft trade of sports writing, you don't often get to enjoy those great: “I did that” moments which befall those we write about. But, and I make no excuses for banging my own drum here, I had such a moment on Tuesday, when the SRU announced that 56 players who had worn the thistle in war-time and non-cap internationals were to be retrospectively capped.

OK, huge credit to SRU President Colin Rigby and the guys who telt TCD and The Junta: “Aye, yer cappin' them”. They looked at my proposal that these guys deserved to be recognised, and they acted.

This one has been a long time coming. Wee Ed Crozier was President when I first suggested these guys should be capped. Ed took it onboard, but, for years nothing happened, before the 150^th anniversary gave the Union good reason to finally act – and, to their credit, they have done so.

It's great for all the recipients, more-so for guys like my friend Derrick McClure, whose Dad “Stiffy” was one of the now-departed war-time caps. I feel particularly pleased for those players with an Ayrshrie connection. Injury surely denied Ian Murchie a cap back in the 1970s, he's got one now. Dave Ashton is another to benefit, as has that great man of Stranraer, Hugh Parker, while, I can now say: “I told you so” to former Ayr and Marr Coach Craig Redpath, who didn't believe me when I said a campaign was under way to have him capped. They and the other 51 recipients all deserve their retrospective honours.

WARNING!!! - TCD, for my next trick, I might start pushing for this long-promised museum – don't say you weren't warned.

I DEFY any Scot to not be indulging in schadenfreude as we relished the self-proclaimed 'Master Race's' unhappiness in the face of upcoming World Cup pain for their captain. Some of the comments on social media were a joy to read. I particularly liked the suggestion that 'The Liability' as I shall henceforth call their captain, could well be the first man ever to receive a Masters or a PhD from World Rugby's Tackle School.

This suggestion overlooks the obvious – on Saturday, he failed the practical part of the examination schedule.

But, just to reinforce the feeling: there is one rule for the Captain of England and a different rule for lesser beings – after all, remember what happened to Alan Shearer after he kicked Neil Lennon on the head. Or the way we found out, Michael Vaughan was the only Yorkshireman who wasn't a racist The Farrell red card was overturned. What the Fuck!!! Surely the definitive case of England waiving the rules.

On second thoughts – all the disciplinary committee members were Australian. Maybe Eddie Jones had a word, along the lines of: “Look lads, he's shite; England play better without him, so, keep him available for every game.” Cynical – Moi?,

On third thoughts, the Summer Series internationals were being overseen by the Six Nations – headquarters Ballsbridge, Dublin. Farrell's Dad is based in Dublin, he could well have nipped-in and persuaded the guys there to go easy on his son.

IN MY capacity as one of the cheer-leading team for FOSROC Super Rugby, I enjoy reading some of the uninformed comments in the below the line comments section of The Offside Line. “It's aye been and aye will be” writ large.

We already know, from various sports, that on any random day, a supposedly inferior side can catch supposedly superior opponents “having a collective 'mare” and win – otherwise we wouldn't see results such as Berwick Rangers v Rangers, or Darvel v Aberdeen in football.

Super Rugby is flawed, and the flaws have all been caused by the gret brains within Scottish Gas Murrayfield. However, the case for a “bridging” tier between the amateur club game and the professional game has been made and cannot be disputed.

I understand the review into Super Rugby has started, we can only hope, unlike at the start, this time round they get things right. Since this is the SRU we are talking about – this is a worry, and far from a given.

THE GUARDIAN'S obituary on Welsh Rugby Legend Clive Rowlands generated an interesting letter, from former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock.

The man Fleet Street dubbed: “The Welsh Windbag” mentioned sitting next to 'Top Cat' in the posh seats at Twickenham in 1990. England were putting the Welsh team to the sword and Rowlands, then president of the WRU lamented: “there goes my knighthood”; only to be assured by Kinnock that, when Labour got back into power, he would have his visit to the Palace.

The Labour Party, breaking promises to supporters for over 100 years.

FINALLY – and you can thank O'Malley, my ginger tom cat, who wakened me, demanding to be let out at 4am today, for this one coming into my head. Kismet, Karma, Justice – call it what you like, but, wouldn't it be great if Peter O'Mahony nailed The Liability this weekend, and knocked him completely out of the RWC?

 

I'm Bothered - Things Appear To Be Going Well For Scotland

I'M STARTING to worry Carruthers; we appear to be in good form going into the big show. That's the trouble with out of town try-outs, if they go too-well, there is always the chance of a complete pratt fall when the gun goes for RWC'23 and it becomes real.

So, 'twas maybe no bad thing that we fell just short in France on Saturday night, it leaves us with more to find when we return there, for real, next month.

Time was when to lose by three points to France, to a very-late penalty, would have had the Old Farts on the SRU committee ordering double G&Ts, in some quarters Saturday night's result was being added to the long list of Scottish moral victories.

But, ca' canny say I, this was a warm-up game, I don't think Gregor Townsend will be reading too much into it, as he finalises his 33-man World Cup squad for release this week. When it comes to selection issues, I don't go in for the Alex Cameron sealed envelope approach. I prefer to wait and see what the guy who is being paid to make the big calls decides, then I will comment.

I reckon Toony now has a very-good idea of who the four unlucky players to be cut from the current squad will be, we will find out for real on Wednesday. One thing I will say, and I am delighted to do so is, Javan Sebastian has surely played himself into the squad by his displays off the bench in the two games against France. I am delighted for the wee man.

Saturday night was a hugely-entertaining game, between two teams who wanted, to borrow a phrase from another form of football: “To be Brazil.” It has long been said in the round ball code, Brazil – well, when Brazil are good - come with the approach: “You score three goals, we'll score four.” That was how it looked on Saturday night, from both teams.

That approach is so-much better for the game than the clueless clunking play we saw from England, earlier. The Orcs in shorts really have problems going into the big show, not least, what do do about Rugby Union's answer to Venus de Milo.

Tackle School's most-distinguished alumnus again showed, while good habits can be coached, some bad habits cannot be coached out of a player. If there was a third international-class ten somewhere in English rugby, there might well be a case for leaving The Liability at home. As it is, the RFU will be hoping he only cops a four-game ban and can remain in the RWC squad.

 

 

MEANWHILE – back at the ranch, the FOSROC Super Series rumbles on. If you haven't already checked-out The Offside Line or BBC Shortbread's website, I can tell you, in Saturday's games, Ayrshire Bulls beat Southern Knights 38-24 at The Greenyards; while at Goldenacre, it finished 34-31 to Heriot's against Stirling Wolves.

Don't bother looking on the SRU website, I write this paragraph at breakfast time on Sunday morning and, as usual, Buddy and the Elves are more than 12 hours behind the independent media outlets in getting news out. To be fair, just after 5pm, when I did my final pre-posting check, they had caught-up – better late than never I suppose.

FORGIVE ME please, while I indulge in a wee personal gripe – after all, it is my blog. But, as a sports writer with a lengthy pedigree, I do worry about the desk jockeys making the big calls in our mainstream media today.

In particular, I am more and more convinced, somebody at a dinner party involving high heid yins at the BBC, representatives of The Establishment and The Conservative Party has originated what I call: Operation The Year of the Sex Olympics.

I have mentioned that ground-breaking 1968 television play before, but, when I observe the state of the media today – I honestly think the social order it forecast: an elite doing as they please, while the lower orders are kept quiet by a diet of mind-numbing TV output, is already upon us.

One of the key production jobs back in the day, when newspapers printed news, was The Copy Taster – a senior journalist who decided which of the many stories being punted was worthy of a place in the finished paper, and how prominent a show it should get.

Well, on Saturday night, I was left wondering: if the BBC has a copy taster, if if so, how bad is his or her taste. I honestly feel, if mainstream news people are going to treat sport with the degree of respect it deserves, then they really should have some knowledge of their subject.

On Saturday afternoon, in Scotland, Tom Pidcock, one of the current outstanding talents in British sport, added the World Mountain Bike Cross-Country title to the Olympic and European titles he already holds in this discipline. He did it style too, winning off the fifth row of the grid.

OK, the BBC has flung vast resources at covering the two-wheeled jamporee which is the UCI World Championships, but, on Saturday night, Pidcock's triumph had to come behind a breathless report from Australia on the absurdly-named 'Lionesses' beating Columbia to reach the semi-final of the Women's Football World Cup.

I have no problem with the BBC mentioning this win, it was news after all, however, the coverage they gave it, including the “insights” from fans watching back home was ridiculously over the top. Also over the top was their coverage of the over-rated Harry Kane making his debut for Bayern Munich.

BBC London's ludicrously unbalanced coverage of sport is mirrored by the work of BBC Shortbread in Glasgow, for whom The Bigot Brothers appear to be the only sports show on TV. I despair for the future of my craft.

FINALLY – if I was Bill Beaumont, I would already be in hiding today, and not likely to surface until I had to go to France for the Rugby World Cup.

I can see big Bill being inundated by calls from Old Farts and The Establishment, to try to get him to lean on his World Rugby minions, and ensure that The Liability gets the absolute minimum sentence – assuming a complete whitewash and no further action is out of the question – and is thus available ASAP for England's World Cup campaign.

After all, as we all know, Britannia/England waives the rules.

Good Things Come In Threes

SCOTTISH SUCCESSES – few and far between though they may be in the sporting sphere – are always that bit more welcome when they are entirely-unexpected. Therefore, our gold medal-winning performance in the Commonwealth Youth Games Sevens, in Trinidad and Tobago, has to go right up there among the best.

The Commonwealth Games at adult level is as high a level as a Scottish Sevens squad plays these days, so, this success at youth level can hopefully lead to better results going forward in the future. The win, beating Fiji in the final, will surely be seized upon by the under-fire SRU to deflect the justified criticism they have had to endure over our youth development system.

OK, the Fijian captain apparently suffered two rushes of shite to the brain in the final, to be red carded – perhaps indicative of the pressure of expectation placed on that team in this particular sporting discipline. Against that, the young Scots kept the heid and won the game in extra time – so kudos to everyone in the squad, the players, support staff and Head Coach Craig Dods and Assistant Coach Sean Kennedy.

The Offside Line has put up a you tube clip of the final, which is a great watch, with a commentator who could definitely get a job covering fitba for BBC Shortbread – he had a pro-Fiji bias which could readily transfer to coverage of the Bigot Brothers.

Who knows, dare we dream that in the near future, our politicians get their act together, we get out of this God-forsaken Union with that lot south of the Solway and we give these kids a chance to add an Olympic Gold Medal to this one from Trinidad and Tobago. Failing which, an adult Commonwealth Games one would do – should The Friendly Games survive the current threat to its future.

MY DEAR FRIEND TCD should maybe buy a Euromillions ticket this week. After all, that result from the Caribbean came in on the back of Zander Fagerson getting off with a slap on the wrist for his stupid red card against France. No question, big Zander is a very-lucky boy, now, it's up to him to screw the bobbin and make sure it doesn't ever happen again.

BACK WHEN I was a boy in the sepia-tinted, haund-knitted days of the 1950s, before Me and my fellow Baby Boomers brought sex, drink and rock 'n' roll to dour Presbyterian Scotland in the 1960s, the height of sophistication in God's Country was the Five Past 8 show in Glasgow's Alhambra Theatre.

The Alhambra, long ago, became an office block, but, can perhaps, Jamie Ritchie and his boys summon-up the glitz and glamour of those days, when they call “Overture and Beginners” for their own five past 8 show, in St Etienne on Saturday night?

It will not be easy, the French have brought back the big guns for this one, a dress rehearsal for their own World Cup, they clearly mean business, but, we do not travel merely in hope. This could be another classic.

The Scotland squad is:

Scottish Rugby's Field Marshal's Baton

Picture courtesy of Bryan Robertson

 

THE PICTURES of a happy Finn Russell leading Scotland off the bus and into Scottish Gas Murrayfield on Saturday got me thinking. Just what was the significance of that old leather rugby ball he was carrying? I had noticed previous Scottish captains such as Greig Laidlaw and Jamie Ritchie carrying that ball, but, it wasn't until Saturday that I wondered about its significance.

I do know, back in the day, when the Scottish Rugby Union more closely followed the hallowed Queen's Park tradition of “Luderi Causa Ludendi” “The Game for the Game's sake” rather than today's attitude of What's in it for me and it's my wee empire anyway” the Union kept every match ball – and even had them on display at HQ.

I thought maybe they didn't have room for that ball when they packed them away to await the establishment of the long-promised museum and maybe some captain had picked it up, carried it into a game and begun a tradition.

So, I contacted one of the guys inside the 'Murrayfield Borg' – one of the Good guys, who still speaks to me. He told me it's the match ball from the 1925 Grand Slam win over England, the first game at Murrayfield.

Actually – here's what I suggest might be a good idea. Take that venerable 1925 leather ball, or if the old one is now too fragile, ask Gilbert to make a new one – they do do a range of “heritage” balls; then get a skilled leathersmith to carve the names of each Scotland captain since 1871 onto it and let that ball be a sort of “Field Marshal's Baton” - passed down the line to each succeeding skipper.

Each captain, when he finishes with international rugby, could be presented with his own heritage Captain's ball, so his kids and grand-kids would know he had once led his country. And don't tell me the SRU couldn't afford these gestures.

WORLD CUP hysteria ratcheted up a notch on Monday, with the announcement of the England squad for France.

Given this blog's well-publicised stance of ABE, I am not going to comment on their selection, other than to say – that lot aint gonna win it; and they might well be looking for a new coach for Christmas as a result of this failure.

GUS McKAY passed away at the weekend. Gus was a rugby man to his toes, he gave over half a century of service to Ayr Rugby Club, becoming one of the most-familiar faces around Millbrae.

He was a bang average player, he had a few games in the First XV, but was mostly a Second XV player, regularly captaining that side. This was no reflection on his ability, but, when you're competing for a first team spot against club legends such as Jock Craig and Johnny Burston, you have to enjoy the few first team games you get.

Gus was, however, one of a very-sociable bunch around Millbrae in the early 1970s. He was one of the original “McEwan's Marauders” the touring group which established Ayr's still flourishing friendship with Welsh club Llanishen – and initiated his legendary party piece: “Delilah”.

His value to Ayr was really demonstrated when he retired and joined the committee, where he served for many years as House Convener, running the bars and social events – a job which he did with distinction. He was also in-charge of distributing the international tickets for over 20 years, while he also served as Ground Convener and was Assistant to the official SRU time-keeper for Ayrshire Bulls' home games.

“We will definitely miss Gus, around the club, he was a major player in keeping the club going,” said Billy McHarg – aka Mr Ayr Rugby.”

Right up to last year, he was a regular on the bus to away games for both Ayr and the Bulls, giving his support to the team.

My favourite Gus story concerns his first team debut which was against one of the Edinburgh clubs, in the capital. Reg Prophett was covering the game for the Edinburgh Evening News. Reg was old school – he dealt in initials: it was always KJF Scotland, never Ken or AR Irvine rather than Andy.

So when he came round pre-game for player initials and Gus said: “AKC McKay” Ayr veteran Alastair McClelland immediately quipped: “That's it Gus, you'll be the first Ayr player capped, since you're the only one with the necessary three initials.”

Ayr has lost a bulwark of the club.

Speaking of Ayr and Ayrshire Bulls. Stand-off Richie Simpson, who missed the Scotland Under-20 team's recent trip to Zimbabwe due to concussion protocols has been stood down from Rugby for six months.

This means, he will miss the ongoing FOSROC Super Series and will not be back until the Sprint Series in the Spring. However, given his history of concussions, there is already some concern around Millbrae that this exciting young talent might not be seen again at this level of the game.

AND THAT reminds me, Super Rugby. The original remit for this form of rugby still has some 18 months to run. At the end of that time, the decision will need to be made:

1. Scrap it and get back to having a massive gap between the club game and the professional one.

2. Make the necessary changes to the current concept.

3. Guddle along some way and hope something comes up.

It is no secret that I think, given the difference in physicality between the professional and amateur game, we need a bridging tier, such as Super Rugby.

It is again no secret, I think the problems with Super Rugby are down to the mess the SRU made of setting it up.

The set-up was rushed, it was as a result, flawed. We need to change things. So, hopefully, by the time of the AGM – which I understand has been pushed back to October/November rather than the usual – this month of August, some of the great brains within The Junta can come up with a process whereby we look closely at Super Rugby, decide how we can tweak the model to one which works better for our young players and the game.

But, can we trust the Junta to do the right thing?