We All Know: "Too-Many Cooks Etc....." But, How Many Are Too-Many?

I AM I admit, somewhat addicted to the BTL (Below The Line) comments on The Offside Line. There are a few regulars who comment on just about everything big David Barnes puts up; unfortunately some of them have clearly never heard the old chestnut about better to appear a fool than to open your mouth and demonstrate you are one.

Take one of this week's major stories on TOL, the appointment of Peter Horne as a full-time member of Gregor Townsend's Scotland management team. This appointment has got the anti-Townsend, TCD-haters coming out of the woodwork, and coming up with some real pish.

Now, I am a Horne fan, I liked what the Wee Man did in his short spell with Ayrshire Bulls, and his coach education has clearly grown under Franco Smith at Glasgow Warriors.

Pete may yet prove to be Toony's long-term replacement, although, we did think for a time, that job would go to Mike Blair. But, that's for the future.

Just one thing, while preparing the national team for a Guinness Six Nations or Rugby World Cup campaign is obviously too-much for one man, Toony needs the help off Assistant Coaches – are we maybe going down the American Football road of having too-many coaches?

The SRU claims there are 10,556 adult male players in Scotland. Th national squad is some 40 strong – which means they are the top 0.4% of the eligible players. Do we really need a specialist attack/contact coach for that small and elite a band of players?

Yes, I can justify a battalion of specialist coaches at club level, but, at international level? I blame it all on Sir Clive Woodward. “The Mouth of the South” never claimed to be a great coach, he saw himself as a manager, an enabler, who relied on the likes of Andy Robinson to do the heavy lifting of team preparation, adding the extra bits of finesse, while he (Woodward) oversaw the bigger picture.

This, however, led to the ultimate rugby case of too-many cooks, in the 2005 Lions Tour. One might have hoped, following that fiasco, the game's High Heid Yins would have taken a stand and dispensed with many of the Staff Officers posted to High Command, but no, their numbers appear to grow annually.

OK, I am going into Grumpy Old Git mode here, but, the two most-successful international teams to leave these islands were the British & Irish Lions squads of 1971 and 1974. In '71 the Tour Manager was oor ain Dr Doug Smith – he did the glad-handing and politics; the Coach was Carwyn James – he was hands-on with the players.

Except, James could call on the expertise of players such as Ray McLaughlin, Willie John McBride and Ian McLauchlan, all of whom were bloody good coaches in their own right. For instance, I remember McLauchlan saying: “If Ray McLaughlin, with all his experience, suggested it would be a good move to punch so-and-so in the face, well you had to accept his knowledge.”

In '74 Wales's Alun Thomas was the Manager, Ireland's Syd Millar the Coach, but again, they had experienced players such as McBride, McLauchlan, Fran Cotton, Garth Edwards and a young man with a bright coaching future named Ian McGeechan to help them.

The Wikipedia entry for the last Lions' Tour, to South Africa in 2021 lists 23 ancillary staff members and 43 players. In that tour, the Lions played 9 games.

In 1971, the tour party comprised: The Manager, The Coach, 33 players, a baggage master, a physiotherapist and liaison officers in New Zealand and Australia. They played 26 games.

In 1974, the tour party comprised: The Manager, The Coach, 34 players, a baggage master, a physiotherapist and a liaison officer. They played 22 games.

Going even-further back, in South Africa in 1955, Jeff Butterfield, the England centre, selected as a player, was in charge of team fitness, on account of his degree in Physical Education from Loughborough College.

OK, the game's gone professional today, the Unions definitely take better care of the players, but, can we justify the rise in numbers of support staff?

If you have too-many coaches, you get cases where each specialist coach wants to get his individual message across; so, there is a risk sessions become too-long, too-much information is expected to be ingested and you end up with over-trained, stale players – it has happened.

The Scotland international squad represents 0.4% of the rugby talent in this country, they truly are the cream of the crop, the best of the best – do they really need five specialist coaches? Surely by the time they have reached international level, they should know how to play the game. Short, sharp sessions, to get the team patterns sorted-out, that ought to suffice in my book.

Mind you, we should maybe grateful. Out of interest I had a look on the Dallas Cowboys' website. The Cowboys - “America's Team” are currently on a bit of a downer, which makes Celtic's Champions League record look good. Their site lists 54 active players, 10 injured players and a 16-strong practice squad – 80 players. They are looked after by (and these are just the Chiefs – never mind the Indians) 28 coaches plus 10 ancillary “Football Staff”.

At the top of the house there is Owner Jerry Jones, his three children as “Executives” - five “Football Operations Executives and 18 “Playing Personnel Executives”

[Maybe I shouldn't have published that list – it might give TCD ideas as to how he could further expand his empire.]

Compared to that lot, the SRU is running on a skeleton staff. The Cowboys, for instance, employ 12 Attack Coaches and 10 Defense Coaches (Yes, I used the American spelling there). Although to be fair, the SRU are not making the money the Cowboys are.

THERE ARE some people in this game, from whom a period of silence would be welcomed by all. For instance, perma-silence from Clive Woodward or Laurence Dallaglio might get them accepted outside their Sudentenland home. Since he does occasionally make valid points, perhaps a lowering of the volume would suffice for Austin Healy and maybe Nigel Owens should confine his shafts of wisdom to his Welsh TV programmes.

However, with his recent opinions, Exeter Chiefs' Rob Baxter is starting to maybe say too much. Or, is it, he realises, the higher his media profile, the less his chances of inheriting the poisoned chalice of matching English expectations with the quality of player available to their Head Coach.

Baxter's latest public utterance is his warning to football, to be careful with their installation of a sin bin into the elite game – pure bollocks in my view. What “the Beautiful Game” needs is a period of “zero tolernce officiating” to rid it of jersey-tugging, cynical body-checking and fouling, stealing yards at every set piece, diving and the other nefarious activities which make it so-ugly at the top end; and then sees their crimes against football spreading down to the grass roots. Mind you, I have long felt Rugby Union needs the same crack down if it is to rediscover its soul.

Or am I just a disillusioned old romantic?

 

The World Is Not Your Lobster To The SRU Junta

I HAVE mentioned this before, but make no apologies for doing so again here; any way, some 30 or more year ago, I interviewed Richie Dixon on a recent trip he had made to Sweden, on behalf of the SRU, acting at the behest of what was then the International Rugby Board – now World Rugby. Apparently the bigger nations, in a rare moment of not staring up their own jacksies, had decided the lesser rugby countries needed some development help. So, each was given a needy nation to nurture and Scotland got Sweden.

Richie duly went to Stockholm, he had high hopes for the initiative, but, as we now know, not a lot happened and the Swedes are still limping along on the outer fringes of Dom Mckay's European Rugby empire.

I mention this failed expansion in the wake of the news this week that the Irish Club XV is to play Portugal A next year. This follows the recent news that England Saxons are to play the full Portuguese side during the 2024 Six Nations.

So, the question is: When the fuck are TCD and The Junta going to get their fingers out of their fat erses and do something for our players other than the Six Nations squad?

The Club XV hasn't played since BC – that's Before Covid. Cross-Border games for Super Rugby – pass. We haven't played a Scotland A international for 18 months, and that followed a gap of seven or eight years. There used to be a Scottish Universities XV, but I fear that has gone by the way, with the universities now tied into the British Universities and Colleges Sports Association, BUCS.

Get our promising young players playing more representative rugby, and they might improve. Get the Club XV back up and running and playing against the truly-amateur European nations such as Sweden; get the A team playing the Tier 2 and 3 European nations – if nothing else, it's a stepping stone between age group and full internationals – and, if you're going to be in any way serious about Super Rugby, get some form of cross-border rugby going. Oh! And another thing – why not get The Churchill Cup, or something similar, going again.

IN A MOMENT of weakness, I checked out the contenders for the United Rugby Championship's Moment of Round Six. I was actually hoping I could vote for Johnny Matthews' amazing first try, however, it didn't make the cut – so I went for a similar score, that typically cheeky try from big Eben Etzebeth.

However, I swithered long and hard before not voting for that wonderful running catch of a Tom Jordan penalty to touch by a Warriors' ball boy. When I voted, the Etzebeth try had collected 52% of the votes, with the ball boy in second place.

IN A RECENT post I had a wee go at Scotland Captain Jamie Ritchie for his Ungentlemanly Conduct towards referee Aimee Barrett-Theron during the Edinburgh v Benetton game.

Maybe I was too-hard on big Jamie, a lack of respect towards referees appears to be part of the job description for today's international captain. At the weekend we had further evidence of what a true prat Owen Farrell is, when he spat the dummy at Luke Pearce during Saracen's weekend game with Bristol. And who can forget the Captain who sets the standard for less than zero respect to whistlers – the now-retired Johnny Sexton.

The relationship between match officials and captains has always been fraught with problems, I still chuckle at the late Gordon Brown asking Ian McLauchlan, after the referee in a tousy Calcutta Cup match had asked the two skippers to calm down their troops: “What did he say Fudd?”

“Get into these English bar stewards,” was the Wee Man's response.

They didn't come any harder than McLauchlan, but, unlike some of today's Captains, including Ritchie – he knew where the line was.

I once recall that great Glasgow High School FP whistler Gordon McInnes, marching a team back 40 metres, because their captain – then a member of the Edinburgh District Committee – would not shut-up. That's the sort of treatment Farrell and maybe Ritchie, deserves.

SO, WEE PETER HORNE is the new Scotland Attack Coach – further proof, if you need it – Fifers are blessed.

 I'm delighted for the Wee Man, he's clearly been doing something right. Also, his well-merited promotion creates an opening in Franco Smith's team – let's hope The Junta can help Al Kellock and his team get the right SCOTSMAN into the breech.

Glasgow, 42 minutes to get a horribly overpriced burger and chips £18.50 and not that good. Better than the pizza queue 2 people complained they'd ordered paid but it was taking so long they’d given up… I had no time to get drinks and missed the first 12 minutes of the game.

Queues for drinks at half time even worse, I gave up. I realise there is less space but the Glasgow experience has steadily deteriorated over the years and if Glasgow want to continue to attract the crowds and new watchers they have to create a better all round experience, the Edinburgh pre-game and half-time experience is so much better, just wish they could get their act together on the pitch.”

The above quote was copied and pasted from The Offside Line's BTL (below the line) comments. Given the recent comments by new Chairman John McGuigan about the need to grow the Union's income, hopefully Al Kellock and his team will take the criticism onboard and make the necessary changes.

Mind you, as tenants of Glasgow Life, who own and operate Scotstoun, Warriors might have a problem getting the necessary changes implemented – Council's, even arm's length entities such as Glasgow Life, are never the best at keeping the customer happy.

FINALLY – David Barnes of The Offside Line's always excellent Letter From The Editor got me thinking when it dropped into my inbox last night. He had a story about the Whiteecraigs 2^nd XV captain, already trailing by 100 points to a ruthless Ayr XV, on being offered an early finish by the referee, turned the offer down, as his team was still in the game, which eventually finished 166-0 to the Millbrae Men.

It reminded me of a Cumnock team, winning 72-0, conceding a last-minute try and, as they awaited the conversion, being berated by their Captain – by a lang Scots mile the most miserable bar steward to ever step of to a rugby field: “Aye, see where yer fannying aboot's goat us, that's the rot set in no richt enough.”

 

Frozen Pitches Or Not, There Were Some Hot Matches In Clubland

APOLOGIES for the delay in posting my weekly round-up of the club games, I am definitely at the coo's tail today. However, I am still, in some respects ahead of the dullards in the SRU's media department. To be fair, this morning, they finally posted the correct result for the Selkirk v Marr Premiership game on Saturday, but, that incorrect result for Moffat v GUM is still up there for all to see, ass I start writing this post. Mind you, that game was only in West Division 3, and that's far too-far away for Buddy the Elf, obviously getting into Christmas mode, to bother about, far less his little helpers.

IN THE Premiership, Hawick's title defence remains on-track, following their 26-16 win over Edinburgh Academicals. They now have a four point cushion, with Marr continuing to lead the chase, after hoisting a half century of points, in beating Selkirk 50-17 at Philiphaugh.

Jed-forest's season in Hell continued, with a 27-51 loss at Musselburgh, who not only held onto the Bill McLaren Shield, but moved into the final play-off place. For Jed, however, the spectre of relegation before Christmas is now looming.

WHEN THE busiest man in Scottish Rugby turned up at Balgray on Saturday to discover Hawks v Kelso was off, I suggested he get onto the M77, head for Millbrae and Ayr v Melrose, before returning to Glasgow for Warriors v Ulster. However, the flesh pots of the West End of the Dear Green Place proved too-tempting.

His loss, the game was a cracker – at least that's how it sounded as – fast by an ingle, bleezin' finely, I listened to the live Borders Rugby Radio transmission. Ayr won 69-34 to stretch their lead at the top of National 1 to 21 points. The question now appears to be, when will the Millbrae Men clinch promotion, not if they will.

There was just one other fixture in this division, Watsonians beating Dundee 37-27.

NATIONAL 2 was playing catch-up on Saturday, as four rescheduled games were got out of the way. Falkirk beat Stwart's-Melville 52-10 to maintain their one-point lead over Peebles, who trounced bottom team Aberdeen Grammar 46-13. Third-placed Lasswade ha a day off, which allowed Newton Stewart to close to just three points behind them, after a very-good 25-12 win at fifth-placed Gordonians. It would be remiss of me not to mention the only other game in the division, Kirkcaldy beating Berwick 30-31.

NATIONAL 3 remains the Preston Lodge and Orkney show, heading into this Saturday's top-of-the-table clash at Pennypit Park. PL held onto top spot, by a point, after their 28-6 win over West of Scotland at Burnbrae, while the Islanders maintained their unbeaten record, beating Howe of Fife 24-19 at Duffus Park.

NATIONAL 4 leaders Garnock were idle on Saturday as the freezing North Ayrshire micro-climate did for their fixture against North Berwick. Their lead at the top is now down to eight points over Strathmore, who beat Perthshire 31-13. In the only other game in the division, third-placed Whitecraigs beat Dunfermline 46-37.

CARNOUSTIE was the epicentre of Caledonian rugby on Saturday, with a local derby, in which Carnoustie HSFP again demonstrated, in local derbies, league places mean nothing. They may be second-bottom of the Milands Conference table, but they forced table-topping Panmure to dig deep in snatching a 21-17 win to hold onto top spot.

In the second v third clash of Dundee 2 and Grangemouth Stags, league positions told as Dundee won 50-40.

North Conference leaders Aberdeenshire had a comfortable 62-19 home win over Ellon, but Moray, who would go top If they win their game-in-hand, continued to chase hard with a 60-21 win over Mackie.

In MIDLANDS 2, Blairgowrie won 34-19 at Madras, to maintain their one-point lead from Alloa, who had a 52-10 home win over Aberfeldy.

NORTH POLICE SCOTLAND continue to hold a comfortable 16-point lead at the top of North Division 2. On Saturday they had a narrow 22-18 win at third-placed Garioch. Second-placed Shetland's home match with Dyce was postponed.

MIDLANDS 3 is still led by Crieff and Strathearn, who have a sic-point advantage over Bannockburn. Both continued on their winning way on Saturday, the lague leartrs beating Waid FC 57-5 at home, while 'Burn travelled to Bo'ness and won 40-14.

NORTH 3's two fixtures on Saturday saw unbeaten league leaders Aberdeen University Medics thrash Huntly 84-0, while second-placed Turriff had a harder game, winning 18-12 at Fraserburgh. The Medics are six points clear at the top.

LINLITHGOW posted a perfect ten our of ten games record in thumping basement boys Royal High 53-3 to stretch their lead at the top of EAST REGION 1. They now hold an 11 point advantage over Haddington, who lost 10-15 at Langholm on Saturday.

Haddington are, in their turn, ten points ahead of third-placed Broughton, who won something of a local derby on Saturday, beating Leith 43-34.

Division 2 is still headed by Penicuik, whose home game with Livingston on Saturday fell foul of a frozen pitch. This allowed Dunbar, 60-3 winners at Duns, to cut th gap at the top to five points. In the only other game in this division on Saturday, Corstorphine won 15-13 at Hawick Linden.

Division 3 saw Trinity Academicals take advantage of Earlston being idle to oust them from top spot, courtesy of a 26-22 win over Lismore. Both sides have 38 points, with Trinity ahead by a mere four points in points difference, +155 to +151.

WEST REGION 1 leaders Ardrosan had no game on Saturday, with Kilmarnock's pitch at Bellsland frozen. Second-placed Wigtownshire were also idle, the same frost had spread up the River Irvine Valley and A71 as far as Strathaven. Can somebody please waken-up one of the elves in the SRU media department, they are apparently still awaiting the result from this game at Whiteshawgate.

In fact, only two fixtures were completed in this division: Dalziel beating Annan 54-0 and Oban Lorne beating Cumnock 52-17.

WEST 2 is a case of a you were with the leading pair, Cambusland and Bishopton powering on at the top of the table. Both scored 50 points on Saturday, Cambuslang winning 53-5 at Cumbernauld while Bishopton posted a 53-12 home win over Lomond and Helensburgh.

Only two games were played in West 3. Birkmyre had most to celebrate, their 76-12 win at Hyndland took them above the idle Irvine, to top the table, while in the other game, Mid-Argyll beat Shawlands 49-19.

In this division too, a special word to my friends in the SRU media department, it might have taken them until past mid-day on Monday to sort it out, but, they finally took down that false 189-0 win for Moffat over GUM and correctly identify the match as having been postponed. Better late than never.

 

Readers' Thoughts On Rugby Fatigue - And A Legend Weighs-In

THIS BLOG has, over the years, attracted a discerning following, including some of the finest rugby brains in Scotland – not to mention the entire resources of the SRU's legal department. Every now and then, I like to give those readers who take the time to interact with the blog a chance to have their thoughts seen by a wider audience and this post is such an occasion, since recent posts have got people thinking.

 

My recent post on “Rugby Fatigue” - which was itself inspired by a blog regular, brought the following response, on my Facebook page, from no-less a figure than Iain “The Bear” Milne, who had this to say:

“As you know I have looked into this subject at adult level in quite a bit of depth. One concern I do have, but have no evidence to back it up, is the poor take-up of senior rugby after the boys: ( girls rugby is different) leave school.

Is there too much parental pressure or club pressure on these young boys at too young an age, to focus on rugby? A lot of my peers including myself played several sports as youngsters before concentrating on rugby at 18+.

Sport was fun. As you say elite rugby is different but are these young boys so fed up of rugby having had it spoon-fed to them from the age of five, to bother continuing when they leave the control of their club/ parents?

Moving on to adult rugby. We are simply as clubs not doing enough to make the game attractive to the young man; he has a lot more than rugby in his life.

Though clubs refuse to accept the fact, travel and time away has a major impact on the availability of players. You only have to look at team selections for a home game and compare it to an away game involving significant travel to see player unavailability. Of course the First XV of that club will fulfil its league fixture, the damage is done at Second XV matches.

It is time for more regional rugby; five National leagues is nonsense. I would also cut the replacements for ALL club games to two to try and make sure as many matches as possible take place.

Also important in making the game attractive to players is good coaching and fun. The Third XV player is just as important as the First XV player when it comes to coaching, physiotherapy and game time, every effort must be given to make sure these players get games. When they get regular rugby they will increase their commitment to the club.

Of course it varies from region to region but the same principles apply. I’ve said if before and I will say it again, the most important players in your club are the Second and Third XV players; how many clubs can honestly say all their players are treated the same. I’ve said for 30 years, we need more bad players playing the game.”

In the Facebook comments around the same post, another reader – Alistair Munro – had this to say:

“As a Greenock boy from The Academy I remember our school fielded three teams for each year, teachers taught rugby in PE, and after school and we had a circuit of rugby academy or grammar schools to play. Ayr/Marr/Kelvinside/Keil/Paisley/St. Aloysius and more I don't recall.

Eveyone played, there was no opt out. If you were good enough you played at the Wanderers and if not you were sent to the windy cold Battery Park. You played school and club and no one complained.

I moved to Edinburgh and my sons played for Watsons School and Boroughmuir club. Lifelong friendships were made and the youngest (30) was a wing and is now a prop for Costorphine and the eldest (35) is playing for JA Dragons in Dubai.

As “The Bear” Iain Milne, says local leagues, friendship and after play social environment is key to growing numbers. As for the elite sport that is a different matter. If there is no fun and friendship there is no sport.”

Another reader, Ian McCallum, offered this nugget from a New Zealand perspective:

"Iain Milne, wise words my friend. Over here in Southland NZ club rugby is on its knees. Aside from all that rugby kids have endured through the grades the other issues during this is those kids of a higher ability go off and play age group provincial rugby.

This can have a bad effect on them as some return with an air of superiority and start disrespecting their lesser teammates. This can cause the lesser kids to drop out. Then those kids that have any promise are put in academics and begin weight and nutritional programs and so it goes on.

What we are missing here is true club rugby as we knew it. A hard game followed by a beer with your mates and some other antics. The fun has gone out the game. We need kids to be playing for enjoyment in an atmosphere of inclusion where all shapes sizes and abilities are welcome.”

Another rugby friend, who offers great feed-back on the blog and on rugby matters in general had this to say on the subject:

“Playing numbers must be a concern for every Union. In addition to Aristotle’s convincing explanations for the steady decline, one can add the fact that there are many more sporting options available to today’s teenagers than when we laced and dubbined our boots. For example with many schools and colleges having a sports hall, basketball becomes a popular sport whereas it was hitherto largely out of reach

And rugby undergoes something of a metamorphosis in the teenage years. Mini or tag rugby is popular with families - I remember a few years ago doing a quick estimate of the number of cars parked at a Sunday morning tournament and was amazed to count to near 500……..

These boys and girls are introduced to a running and handling, non-tackling game and then in the teen years the emphasis suddenly shifts to a contact sport with a premium on size and weight and where running into contact is the coaching norm……

So is it any wonder why the broad appeal of rugby fades? Is there another sport that changes so fundamentally between different age groups?

It would be interesting to have stats on the drop off rate when that evolution occurs. Rugby is the poorer for becoming one dimensional in terms of playing physique but I do not see how that trend can be reversed without a fundamental revision of the Laws.”

There we have it then, four different, but similar, takes on the problem – and clearly Rugby Union has a problem. I was particularly struck by the final view – on how the game suddenly changes when it “gets serious.”

Maybe we should allow the highly-paid, deep thinkers on the game have their biff, bang, bosh game of physicality, played by honed, highly-trained freaks, willing to go out there and knock seven bells out of each other, risking serious injury and maybe life-altering ones at that.

The question is I feel already if not being asked, becoming obvious – if they are going to do so-much damage to the players, when will the supply of young men willing to be put through that wringer dry up?

Unless there is change, it could be sooner rather than later.

But, the bigger issue – for the men and women on the SRU Club Rugby Board – because player numbers in the club game is their baby – is: what are you going to do about it?

So, right now, for the future of our game, the most-important people are not the likes of John McGuigan, or TCD; Gregor Townsnd or The Missing Mallinder, the folk with the biggest headache are:

President: Colin Rigby – president@sru.org.uk

Vice-President: Keith Wallace – vice.president@sru.org.uk

Premier Division Representative: Kevin Quinn – kevin.quinn@btinternet.com

National Division 1 Representative: Gerry Tosh – gerry@ppinvest.co.uk

National Division 2 Representative: Neil Sutherland – mrnmsutherland@gmail.com

National Division 3 Representative: Ian Carse – iangarntc@gmail.com

Edinburgh Regional Representative: Murdo Gillanders – murdo.gillanders@gmail.com

Glasgow North Regional Representative: David Jamieson – david.jamieson7@btopenworld.com

Scottish Borders Regional Representative: – Alistair Forsyth – ajforsyth@btinternet.com

Midlands Regional Representative: Hazel Swankie – HazelatJHS@aol.com

North Regional Representative: Bob Richmond – bob@3bcsl.co.uk

Glasgow South Regional Representative: Jim O’Neill – jimtoggle@sky.com

Schools Representative: Gib McMillan – g.mcmillan@midlothian.education

Referees Representative: Mhairi Hay – mhairihay@hotmail.co.uk

Women’s Representative: Mike Bruce – mike.bruce@sru.org.uk

Director of Rugby Development: Gav Scott – gav.scott@sru.org.uk

There are very-good people on that list, who I am sure would not mind being handed suggestions as to how we eliminate Rugby Fatigue and keep more people playing. Just noticed by the way – where is the National Division 4 representative on the Board?

 

In Praise Of Excellence And Nearly Famous

IN MY current position as one of the Elder Statesmen of Scottish Rugby Union writers, I am obliged to praise excellence in our craft. My admiration for the work of David Barnes and The Offside Line is already well-known, today, however, I wish to praise another media outlet – Borders Rugby Radio Live.

Stewart Kerr – the former Ayr prop and President advised me that BRRL were covering the Ayr v Melrose National Lrague 1 match at Millbrae, so, I tuned-in. It was sage advice and I thought the team at Alloway – Dale Clancy (pictured below) and Robin Purdie played a blinder. The coverage was highly-professional and, to my mind, kicked BBC Shortbread's often embarrassing football coverage into the longest of long grass.

OK, putting together a suitably-talented team might be a problem, but, the way these guys go about promoting rugby deserves a wider audience than simply in the Borders. But, having said that, going national would probably not be possible without input from Murrayfield, and I am alone in thinking, that might be the end of competence, far less excellence – getting HQ involved is seemingly never a good idea when it comes to rugby media.

Stuart Cameron has put together a talented team, who are doing a great job in covering our game – more power to their elbow.

SPEAKING OF taking Rugby Union coverage to the next level, Ryan Wilson is proving to be one of the best recruits to media duties from the ranks of the recently-retired. His pre-game cameo, gatecrashing the Warriors warm-up prior to their game with Ulster and in the process, giving George Turner a chance to knock him over when Ryan was on tackle bag duties was broadcasting gold.

I reckon TNT Sport should pinch the idea from Viaplay and set-up Austin Healy for some pain – the punters would love it.

As to the game, it was a cracker, two well-matched teams going at it hammer and tongs, with Glasgow going to the top of the BKT United Rugby Championships table. Once again, Warriors started slowly, didn't produce a near-faultless performance, but, and Coach Franco Smith has to take most of the credit for this – they found a way to win, with a bonus point.

There were some stand-out performances: Johnny Matthews scored two more tries to go to the top of the URC scoring charts; if he was a footballer with a Scottish club, the Lap Top Loyal would have him joining The Breengers in January.

Sione Tuipulotu bagged the official Man of the Match vote, while his centre partner, skipper Stafford McDowall had another impressive performance, and Sean Kennedy made the most of his rare start. The pack won the grunt battle, even if they made some unexpected errors; this squad deserves to be on top of the table.

It was interesting how Zander Fagerson was rock solid in his solitary scrum against Steven Kitschoff. OK, there appears to be a new law in International Rugby that Zandere gets pinged every first scrum, but he now scrums like a Lion and, with Tadgh Furlong slowing down, Zander could well be the Lions' Test 3 in Australia.

Next up Warriors travel to reigning Champions Munster, who, after losing to Leinster yesterday will be determined to get back to winning ways.

December promises to be a tough month for Warriors, with the trip to Musgrave Park, followed by back-to-back European games, at home to Northampton Saints and a trip to France, to face Aviron Bayonnais. Then, they end 2023 with the two 1872 Cup Derbies, at home, then at Murrayfield. There is a lot to look forward to next month.

EVEN at my advanced age and after more than half a century in this daft trade, I still get excited at a possible record. So, imagine my excitement when, on checking through the results pages on the SRU website, I read, in the West Regional League, Division 3 results:

Moffat Rams 189 – Glasgow University Medics 0

That's a definite Jings, crivvens, help ma Boab moment, so, straight to Google, where I read that Copenhagen club Comet – who have a former Cumnock player on their list of past Captains – hold th world adult record with a 194-0 win over Lindo, in November, 1973.

The United Kingdom record is held by Norwich, who beat Eccles and Attleborough 177-3 in a Norfolk Cup match, in December, 1966. So, with a possible British Record on the line, I checked that result with Colin McRae, Moffat's Press Officer.

He quickly established, somebody at Holm Park had been feeding duff information to Murrayfield, which, given the amount of shite they pile on the clubs, seems fair enough.

What had happened was, GUM arrived, warmed-up, then decided a section of the pitch was still unplayable, so the game was called off at the last possible moment.

Aye well, Moffat were nearly famous, but it would never have happened under Ron Evans.

It's not the first team I've heard of some joker phoning-in a wrong score. I remember one St Mirren pre-season game I covered at Albion Rovers, when the Daily Record telephoned Cliftonhill for the result, to be told, by a local who had left the Buddies under a cloud, that Rovers had won 5-0, while the real result had been a comfortable win for Saints.

 

In Bits On The Way To Ikea

YESTERDAY was a real up and down day. A family trip to ikea at Braehead was arranged and with quite a lot of stuff to purchase, it was a two-car trip. All went well until, negotiating the U-turn at Kinning Park off the M77 and onto the M8, we heard a loud noise, which seemed to be coming from youngest daughter's car – I was in oldest daughter's in front.

That is just about the worst place on Scotland's motorway network for something untoward to happen – no hard shoulder. She did manage to keep driving for about a quarter of a mile to the first bit of hard shoulder, where she could stop. Long story shortened – we haven't had our tame mechanic look at the engine yet, but, it's either a thrown piston or the big end has gone. Expensive.

Any way, by the time we got the recovery sorted out, the trip to ikea had to be shortened somewhat and, by the time I finally got home, it wa almost half time in the Edinburgh v Benetton game. At least, I saw Blair Kinghorn's second try live, but, I had missed play up until then.

I suppose, in retrospect, Edinburgh were doing ok until I switched-on, after that, it was downhill all the way. For my part, from the just over half a game I saw I thought it was the same old, same old, from Edinburgh losing a game they ought to have won.

I have said it before, and will probably say so again, however, I believe, until the SRU and Edinburgh get in a first-class sports psychologist to get inside the squad's heads, their fans will have to suffer Groundhog Day in terms of poor results.

They've tried a hard coach before – Richard Cockerill – it didn't work, so I suppose science is the next-best thing.

Referee Aimee Barrett-Theron is no Hollie Davidson, but she is officiating in the BKT United Rugby Championship on merit, That said, she clearly didn't have the respect of some of the Edinburgh team, from the amount of back chat you could hear on the referee's mike, across the broadcast.

Sadly, Scotland Captain Jamie Ritchie's recent reputation as being a non-stop moaner at the referee was given further credence in this game. He may be ultra-competitive, but, he does himself no favours with the petty dissent and carping which he demonstrated in this game. In addition, somebody high up at HQ needs to have a word with him as well.

Any way, to sum up – this was another in the growing list of bad nights at the office for a squad which repeatedly seems to find new ways to under-achieve.

BUT, it wasn't an entirely bad day for the capital side. Apparently, their A Team beat Glasgow A 27-26 in a closed doors game at Scotstoun earlier in the day. I ay apparently, because we only have brief press releases from the rival media teams to go on.

When I was a boy, one of the perks of reading The Eagle – thee best boys newspaper ever was that during the cricket season, Eagle Club members got free admission to English County Cricket's Reserve games. OK, you didn't often see Peter May, Freddie Trueman or the other stars of the times, but, you (well if you lived in England), got to see live cricket, perhaps a future star just starting out and it got the youngsters interested in cricket.

Fast forward to today, when Rugby Union is struggling somewhat to kerep the kids involved and ask yourself – why was this game not sold better?

They didn't even allow The Offside Line, the main media outlet for rugby in Scotland today, in to cover the game. Could they not have offered admission to rugby-playing schools, to encourage the next generation of players? Who knows, they might have attracted a few more regular supporters further down the line.

I recall being at a previous A team game, indeed, it might well be the last time there was such a fixture, at Bridgehaugh, around a decade ago. It was, I think, the young Allan Dell's first outing for Edinburgh. I wasn't impressed as he struggled against club props, but, boy was I wrong in thinking he might not make it.

We need to grasp every opportunity to sell Rugby Union in Scotland, not treat the game at any level as a secret or a private pleasure – Friday's game was another own goal by a Junta that looks increasingly out of touch.

TONIGHT'S game at Scotstoun, between Glasgow and Ulster needs no hard sell. Second in the table versus third, an element of local derby around it, yep, it's a big game. It will also be fiercely-contested.

There are some juicy head-to-heads in prospect, two teams who like to run the ball – this will be one of the better Scotstoun games of the season. The two top-scoring hookers in the league could both feature, with Tom Stewart starting of the visitors and Johnny Matthews on the bench for Warriors. There is also the prospect of an interesting debut, with young Ben Ashfar named on the bench for Glagow, while on the Ulster bench there is the mighty World Cup winner, Steven Kitshoff.

The impressive Ben Whitehouse is the man in the middle and the action gets underway at 7.35pm.

At least we know this game will go ahead, already I have heard of one or two club games called off due to frozen pitches.