The Older I Get The More The Good Old Days Appeal

LIFE WAS simpler in the sepia-tinted 1950s and 1960s in which I grew up. Emerging as we were from the mental turmoil of 17 straight losses for the national side, the Scotland teams of the time were never under preessure to win Five Nations titles, with or without a Grand Slam. We didn't have World Cups to worry about and whether your club was in the National League or not wasn't down to results as much as keeping the likes of Jock Wemyss, Norman Mair, John Downie and a young Bill McLaren on-side. What writers such as David Barnes, Rob Robertson, Mark Palmer and Alasdair Reid would give for that level of power today.

Scotland, and some say this is still true today, was largely run by a small number of very-influential people. In Scotland at large at that time, the Westminster-based Secretary of State for Scotland had the sort of power once vested in the Viceroy of India. Lord George MacLeod was believed to run the Church of Scotland, regardless of whoever was Moderator of the General Assembly that year. Sir George Graham ran the SFA, and while John Law, like James Aikman-Smith before him was the seemingly all-powerful Secretary of the SRU, in the 1950s, whatever John MacDonald Bannerman, Lord Bannerman of Kildonan said went, the word of that stalwart of Old Anniesland was Law.

You might note, all those name-checked above were Scottish, how unlike the situation today, where our positions of power have generally been colonialised, to be done by England's place-men, and in making that accusation, I include the high heid yins of the Scottish National Party. But, this is a Rugby Union blog, so I want to focus on the current position within the SRU.

We are in the midst of an Interregnum. The Supreme Leader hasn't died, but, he has left the building and we are waiting to see who the courtiers will turn to next to tell them what to do. I honestly don't know where we go from here. I don't think, indeed I am utterly convinced we dare not allow it to happen, we must not see the next CEO operating in the: "My way or the highway" management style of the last incumbent. Mind you, should he or she be single-minded and ruthless in cutting-out the considerable amount of deadwood in the Murrayfield forest, get the finances sorted and attract the first-rate Director of Rugby we desperately require, then a lot of slack will be played out as regards management style.

It will not be easy, but, we really need a total re-think as to how we organise and manage the game up here. Getting this done will be no easy task, particularly since, as was seen by the ridiculous decision to scrap, rather than repair Super Rugby, the forces of Ayebeenism and, Don't Rock the Boat seem to be shouting loudest in the game's corridors of power.

Speaking of which, a wee nugget from Silver Saturday. One of the Silverbacks of the game in his particular part of Scotland was there to see the club he helped found compete in one of the finals. He was so-disgusted at the level of post-match hospitality supplied to the players, so he told his Club Rugby Board member - this isn't good enough. 

The response: "That's the sort of attitude which bankrupted Scottish Rugby." Clad in their SRU-supplied suits, worn over their SRU shirts and ties, and enjoying the plush hospitality which accompanies one of the posh seats - they hover above us, often doing pigeon impressions.

Again harking back to the 1950s, I was once one of 65,000 fans inside Hampden Park for a Scottish Junior Cup Final. You couldn't get that many people into today's Hampden, but, even back then, the old ground was only half full. This year's Junior Cup Final will do well to attract a crowd of 5000 - that's how much interest in this particular fixture has waned. The SRU claimed an attendance of 25,000 at the 2018 Silver Saturday. Surveying the sea of empty seats as I watched the Hawick v Edinburgh Academical game on Saturday, I couldn't tell you the attendance, but, it was well short of 25,000.

Apparently there was a live stream of all the finals. I certainly saw one of the Cumnock game, after the local paper, for which I once worked, but which hasn't covered the club's first XV games for years, ran a link in their Facebook page. Had I known there was a live stream, I would have watched it. Yet another addition to the extremely-lengthy list of failures of Buddy and his Elves in the SRU's useless Communications Department.

I doubt if even recalling "Fireworks Phil" would put bums on seats, but,clearly, while on-paper, Silver Saturday is a good idea, we probably need a rethink, and strategic thinking hasn't been much in evidence in EH12 of late.

Somebody on The Offside Line's BTL comments - where David Barnes' dissection of all that was wrong on Saturday should be required reading inside Murrayfield - suggested cutting the number of finals - by separate Silver Saturdays for the Men's and Women's games. That might be worth looking at. I note too, the way some of the lesser finals have been Hived-off to Edinburgh's home ground. If we are not going to be able to attract enough fans to even fill one-third of the National Stadium, why not play all the finals on the Hive's all-weather pitch?

The players will still get to change in the main dressing rooms. The Alickadoos get to see inside some of the corporate facilities and as for the fans: they wil be inside the Murrayfield campus, with the bonus - they will be closer to the action and a smaller crowd, in a smaller stadium, will provide a better atmosphere. I once did a stadium announcer gig for a Scotland v Ireland Under-16 Basketball international, in the Games Hall at Cumnock Academy. From memory, we crammed-in 500 fans, who nearly took the roof off the building with the atmosphere they created. You don't need big crowds in big stadia to create an atmosphere; and you certainly don't want small crowds scattered around a huge bowl - it doesn't work.

I actually think we have maybe too-many layers in the club game: Bowl, Shield, League Cup, Scottish Cup. To my mind that's perhaps two too-many. Let the Regional League teams compete for one trophy and have a separate trophy for the National League sides. If a club thinks it is good enough to have National League status, then, in cup ties, they can face other National League sides.

We should also look at seeding cup competitions. to give more opportunities for giant-killing acts and the added interest these cause.

I fear the result at the close of the current interregnum might well be, rather than a new broom sweeping clean, a shuffling of the deckchairs as the SRU Titanic continues to head for its collision with the iceberg. I hope I am wrong and we see the changes we need, but, Ah hae ma doots if these will come any time soon.

 

 

THIS SECOND segment of this post is, to an extent, tied to Part One, above. There is a feeling abroad that one of the most-significant problems at the top of the new CEO's "To Do" pile will be the refurbishment of Murrayfield. The word on the streets is that the big stadium needs an awful lot of cash spent on it to bring it back up to scratch. However, with that £10.5 million loss hanging over their heads, funding the necessary refurbishment work will be a huge problem.

A wee aside in all this, is the fact Leinster has managed to sell-out the 82,000 capacity Croke Park, Dublin, for this weekend's Investec Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton Saints. Taking this game to the GAA-owned Croke Park rather than to The Aviva Stadium  has got people talking.

The question is: do the big national sports governing bodies reall need to each have their own stadium - would it not be better if we had one truly National Stadium? After all, if Wales can manage to play both their big Football and Rugby Union internationals at the Principality Stadium, so, why cannot we in Scotland have a single truly NATIONAL STADIUM?

Why not? There is no rational reason why we should have the 51,866 capacity Hampden Park for Football and the 67,144 capacity Murrayfield for Rugby Union. Common sense suggests we have one truly national stadium. However, this cuts across the curse of Scotland in politics, in sport and indeed in so much of civic life - clannishness and self-interest.

The thought process appears to be: "We are a big, important, national institution, we MUST have our own ground." In addition, the power source in Rugby Union is in Edinburgh, while in Football, is is Glasgow, so, neither party appears willing to demolish their stadium - both of which could bring in a massive sum if the site was sold for housing or commercial use - take the profit then downsize their HQ, but, at a cost of having to be beholden to another sporting body for their home game for internationals.

Ideally, we might see a government-owned or funded truly National stadium built on a greenfield site. That might happen in an Independent Scotland, but, let's be honest:

. Independence is a long way off

. It would be costly

. Such a stadium would be well down the To Do list for the first Independent Scottish government

. The High Heid Yins of both the SFA and the SRU would surely oppose such a move.

 

 

 

    

    

That Was One Hectic Weekend

I HAD a decision to make on Friday night - did I really want to watch Bath v Saracens, now that fixture no longer featured a head-to-head between Finn Russell and Owen Farrell, or was there any other game which offered a bit more. I then wondered if maybe BBC Teuchter was covering the Super Rugby clash between Ayrshire Bulls and Watsonians - since Buddy and the Elves, as usual, had been unable to multi-task and had put all their energy into selling Super Saturday and had forgotten to preview Super Rugby.

They were five minutes into the game when I switched over, still at 0-0, so I had apparently missed nothing of importance. The first half was fairly even, but, whatever Pat McArthus said to his troops at the break clearly worked, as they proceeded to blow Watson's away in the second half. Pat will surely have been particularly chuffed at the defensive set Bulls had when their visitors staged a big of a mid-half revival, pressing strongly but unable to break through.

My understanding is that the bulk of the Bulls' squad will remain at Millbrae when Super Rugby ends and be available for the 2024-25 Premiership campaign, which is good news for the Ayr faithful.

It was an entertaining game and I was particularly impressed by the manner in which Finlay Brown the referee controlled it. Fin has long been seen as the next big thing in Scottish refereeing and, on this form, he is surely due to join Mike Adamson, Sam Grove-White and Hollie Davidson on the regular BKT United Rugby Championship match officiating team next season.

 

 

GLASGOW'S GAME at Zebre, at lunch-time on Saturday, took a wee while to warm-up. Perhaps it was the number of changes, but it took Warriors most of the first half to start gelling. To be fair to the Italian side, they defended brilliantly and, to a degree, they brought Glasgow down to their level. However, Warriors' two maul tries late in the first half settled them down.

They then proceeded to rip Zebre apart in the second half for an extremely-satisfying victory which took them to the top of the table - just the boost they needed prior to what will be a testing trip to South Africa. 

Kyle Steyn led from the front and was a deserving Man of the Match. Interestingly we saw Tom Jordan come on for the last seven and a bit minutes - the first time this season that Stafford McDowall, the man he replaced, has failed to complete a match. 

Referee Eoghan Cross was a disappointment to me. He came across as yet another Blind Irish Referee who has been over-promoted. He was inconsistent, to the extent of consistently penalising the visitors for offences which, when committed by the Italians, brought no censure; did Glasgow no favours while his lack of knowledge of what was going on in the scrums was embarrassing.

I MUST admit I was worried about Edinburgh's visit to Cardiff. I had visions of Edinburgh being more caught out by the Welshmen than Glasgow were the other week. They might not be winning many games, but, results show, Cardiff are a tough team to overcome.

In the end, the game was something of an arm wrestle, but, Edinburgh defended better, made fewer mistakes and were generally in command.

They didn't get a bonus point, which would have been handy; but I don't think many 'Burgh regulars were confident of that outcome. Still, a win is a win and this one lifted Edinburgh to seventh in the table and still very-much at the heart of that frenetic battle for the knock-out places.

Jamie Ritchie had a storming game to be a deserved Man of the Match, while there were other big games from Pierre Schoeman, Wes Goosen and a collective great effort from the bench, which proved crucial.

Duhan van der Merwe got the crowd going once or twice, once for the wrong reasons when he collected a yellow card. It wasn't a great game, but, a superb result for Edinburgh.

 

 THE WALLS of Cumnock Rugby Club's Broomfield House are some three feet thick in places, which has proved a Godsend over its 45 years or so of use as the clubhouse. When the old-fashioned internal wooden shutters are closed, you can - and this club frequently does - hold all sorts of Bacchanallian rammies in there, and passers-by are none the wiser.

 

I am reliably informed the informal soiree they put-on in there on Saturday night was the best yet, and why not, after the 'Nock beat Moray 34-32 to win the National Shield, at The Hive, earlier in the day.

I wasn't there. I do not go to cup finals where I have a dog in the fight; the result of many long years of seeing my teams beaten in the big games, so Cumnock did better without my backing. Nae doot, if I had been there, they would not have overturned Moray's one time 27-5 lead to claim the prize in injury time.

Cumnock's win was the second part of an Ayrshire Double, with Irvine beating Blairgowrie 35-32 to lift the National Bowl. The Marress Men have had their troubles in recent years so this success is hopefully the start of a new era for the club which gave us the McHargs, and one or two lesser legends.

Congratulations too to the other clubs who tasted success on Silver Saturday.

 

My Computer Troubles Are Nothing Compared to The State Of Scottish Rugby

 APOLOGIES for the silence, but I have just come out of five days in Computer Hell. My own trusty lap top went "phut!" and the replacement, kindly provided by Big Angel's Bidie-on, stopped working in protest at the work load I inflicted on it. Suddenly, this morning, it came out of the sulk it had gone into and as a result, nearly-normal service is (fingers crossed) resumed.

 Where to start then; the obvious taling point, given the amount of vitriol it has attracted on The Offside Line's BTL comments is Richard Cockerill's blast at the SRU's Performance Pathway.

'Cockers' strikes me as being, like Newcastle's Steve Diamond, a dinosaur who, had he been even half as good as he thinks he is, would by now be popping-up regularly in the media to remind us how much  better things would be, had he been given longer as the Rugby Football Union's Honcho.

He's a sort of Sir Clive Woodward, without the track record. Woodward isn't everyone's cup of tea, but:

One Rugby World Cup

One Six Nations Grand Slam

Two further Six Nations Wins

Not forgetting his work in the overseeing the in-competition sucesses of the 2012 Olympic Games; so if Woodward opines on some matters, his opinion is worth listening to - even if you are a Scotsman who perhaps "kent his faither".

Cockerill's opinions don't carry that level of gravitas and, while he does make some valid points about a system which, anyone in Scottish Rugby Union with at least one working brain cell knows to be deeply-flawed, you cannot take too-seriously the opinions of someone pissing into the tent, who did nothing to prevent pish penetration while he himself was inside it.

The system now is the same system as was operating when Cockers was running Edinburgh, he had nothing to say about its failings then, so, why should we listen to him now?

We all know there are more than a few numpties picking-up very-nice salaries inside the EH12 bubble

We all know several of these same numpties are mis-managing over-staffed, under-performing departments

We all know these departments are not fit for purpose

But - TCD - The Great Leader has left the building, and he is now proving to be a handy scapegoat for all that has gone wrong, from the £10 million loss down. But, it is now up to whoever picks-up the extremely-soiled baton which TCD dropped, to come in, evaluate matters and start to put things right.

This will be no easy task, it will not be accomplished overnight, and in the case of the overgrown, uneven and somewhat meandering Player Pathway - that will fall under the remit of the as yet unappointed Performance Director, who will have to come in, working under the new Honcho, to sort things out.

Frustrating though it will be, this will be no easy task, indeed, I have serious doubts if the new brooms will have swept the place clean and have us where we want to be before the next Rugby World Cup. The Scottish Rugby Union and indeed Scottish Rugby as a whole is in a very bad place, a dark hole out of which it will be difficult to crawl, even if it didn't have to deal with the people inside Scottish Rugby - who from the bottom of the lowest club right to he very top inside Murrayfield's corridors of power are generally Scottish - a people truly deserving of the thrawn put-down of perhaps the best-known Scot alive today: Groundskeeper Willie - who said:

“Brothers And Sisters Are Natural Enemies. Like Englishmen And Scots. Or Welshmen And Scots. Or Japanese And Scots. Or Scots And Other Scots. Damn Scots They Ruined Scotland!” 

We don't need the likes of Cockers telling us home truths, we know we're in bother.

 

 ANOTHER story to emerge this week has been that Jonny Gray has left Exeter Chiefs, effectively immediately. This means Gray Minor and his agent will be phoning around to attempt to get him back into harness ASAP. This will not be an easy task.

To be honest, Jonny, like elder brother Richie has never quite "trained-on" to become the player he promised to be when first breaking through. Richie was a Test Lion aged 23, but, between what were, with hindsight, perhaps poor choices of clubs to move to, unfortunate injuries and selectorial choices, although his tally of 79 Scotland caps is impressive, he might well already be a centurion, had he remained in Glasgow.

Jonny was, when he first broke through, a sort of Gordon Brown for the 21st century - a younger sibling tipped to outshine even an outstanding older one. His phenomenal early takcling statistics in the Scotland side had him tipped to become a Lion, and a Test one at that, but, while he has now accumulated 77 Scotland caps, he was not selected for either of the last two Lions' Tours. He is now 30 and where once he was tipped as "the next big thing", these days, even assuming he c an put his recent injury troubles behind him, he must now be seen as a "Yesterday's Man". 

In the wake of the announcement of his departure from Exeter, there were the usual calls for him to be returned to Glasgow. After all, with what amounts to a straight swap at the other end of the M8 - Bill Mata moving from Edinburgh to Bristol, with Magnus Bradbury making the reverse move, some were calling for Jonny to be united with his big brother in the Warriors' boiler-house.

The trouble is, Glasgow are well-off for locks, particularly with young guns Max Williamson and Alex Samuel learning from the likes of Richie and Scott Cummings, there doesn't appear to be a vacancy for Jonny.

It is even worse in Edinburgh, where their roster includes five capped Scottish locks - the establshed Grant Gilchrist and Sam Skinner, plus younger guns Glen Young, Jamie Hodgson and Marshall Sykes.

Everybody - and their dogs, knows choices have to be made when you have more players of roughly similar standard than spots for them all on the team roster, so, until we get that third professional team, some guys, such as the unfortunate Jonny Gray, are going to have to fend for themselves outside the warm embrace of the SRU.

 

 THE STORY which really tickled me this week was the return of Grant Stewart to the Glasgow Warriors' ranks - he has been resigned and will be on the bench in Italy tomorrow.

I always thought releasing Grant was a mistake. He is one of those players who suffered when the guy making the selection decisions didn't fancy him. Stafford McDowall, for instance, wasn't fancied by both Dave Rennie and Danny Wilson, but, he survived and has flourished under Franco Smith. Perhaps Stewart too will make the most of this second chance. Certainly, with George Turner seemingly off to Japan, Stewart's ability in the loose could see him becoming a key player for Warriors, his attributes certainly fit into the pattern of play Smith expouses.

His return to the pro ranks is another excample of Super Rugby working - but, those of us who support this tier of the game will not be thanked for pointing this out.

FINALLY - good luck to Cumnock Rugby Club, or, as some say here in God's Orange County of East Ayrshire: "Away the 'Nock". They face Moray in the Scottish Shield Final, at The Hive, 1.45pm kick-off. 

The timing of Silver Saturday has not been kind to the Broomfield Boys. Last Saturday, with at least 15 players unavailable through injury, they slumped to a 0-92 loss to Lenzie. That result just might have given Moray the wrong idea about the strength of their opponents tomorrow, but, everyone at Cumnock is confident of a much-more-typical team taking the field tomorrow, andf of that team giving it a real go.   

   

Top-Flight Rugby Union Is Not As Boring As Top-Flight Football

HAVING A family connection to Wullie Shankly, and getting into football when the Busby Babes did their supernova impression, the only English football teams I can watch are Liverpool and Manchester United.

It helps that both clubs have their flaws at the moment – there is still an element of uncertainty about watching these clubs play, so unlike the metronomic efficiency expoused by Manchester City and Arsenal. Watching these two clubs playing possession football, passing their opponents to boredom and death is not for me.

And that, in essence, is the difference between Professional Football and Professional Rugby Union, I would say, not even the All Blacks at their very-best could simply move downfield to score by dominating possession. At some point, some opponent is going to get in there and either jackal or force a turnover.

With this in mind, I was not expecting Glasgow Warriors to stroll to a bonus-point win over Hollywoodbets Sharks at Scotstoun. I was confident in a Warriors' win, but, I never thought the bonus point was a given.

Warriors duly won, but, I am not joining-in in the “an ugly win” verdict. Sharks may have under-performed this season, but, they have strength-in-depth and are nobody's fools when it come to playing rugby.

With awaydays to Loftus Versfeldt, Ellis Park and Parma still to come next month, not getting a bonus point on Friday night might prove problematic, but, given the season they have had, I still expect Glasgow to secure home advantage for the knock-out rounds of this season's BKT United Rugby Championship.

It was good to see Max Williamson picking-up the Man of the Match award on Friday night, after another terrific try-scoring display. At the start of the season I thought Alex Samuel was the more-likely of Warriors's two young locks to break through. But, kudos to Williamson, he has overtaken Samuel in the pecking order and well done to him.

Good too to see Argentinian Facundo Cordero putting his injury Hell behind him with a classy display.

AT HALF TIME in Saturday night's Hive match between Edinburgh and Scarlets I was thinking I had seen this movie before, Edinburgh firmly in-charge but failing to press home their advantage.

I don't know what Sean Everitt said at half time, but, whatever it was, it worked. Bringing on Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman and WP Nel en masse for the second half certainly shored up the pack, and the terrible lines out work of the opening 40 definitely moved up a couple of steps in the second.

So, Edinburgh back into the top eight and with their confidence bolstered. However, it was “only Scarlets” they beat, so we ought not be getting carried away.

Edinburgh are right in the heart of a tremendous battle for the final places in the knock-out matches in the URC. Of the top four at the moment: Leinster and Glasgow have probably done enough to clinch a top four place and home advantage in the quarter-finals. Munster, particularly if they can produce another win on Souith African soil this weekend, and the Bulls are firm favourites for the other top four slots.

Benettons are also nearly there and how they fair in their home clash with Ulster and their visit to Edinburgh will be crucial matches for their hopes of a home quarter-final.

After that, it's looking like tree from Stormers, Ospreys, Edinburgh, Connacht, Ulster and the Lions making up the last eight. The way the final fixtures have come out means there are only two “eight pointers” - head-to-head clashes between contenders. These are in the last two rounds of games: Stormers v Connacht and Stormers v Lions; so Cape Town looks like being the place to be at the end of the season.

Three of the six contenders: Edinburgh, Lions and Ulster have three home games and only one match on the road in the run-in. Anything could happen, these last four games look like being exciting fixtures. This URC is some league.

ACCORDING TO the jungle drums, TCD has left the building and will not be returning. We have not, however, been informed whether or not the front door hit him on his considerable rear end as he departed. Still, you cannot have it all.

One might have hoped that his departure would have emboldened one or two of the hitherto downtrodden “Indians” - to perhaps cast-off the negativity and fear of working under the previous regime and stop some of the practices which has had those of us in the body of the kirk wondering from whence we recruited such a bunch of no-users as the apparatchiks who marched to the former Supreme Leader's drum.

The belief: “They couldnae run a minauge” is abroad in Scotland, but, as we learn at our tame media's knee – the belief that “Scotland is too wee, too poor and too stupid” to have any facet of Scottish life run by Scots, for the betterment of Scots, will take a guid few years to wipe out, and the Scottish Rugby Union, as with many other areas of national life, is seemingly afflicted by this “Scottish Cringe”.

Take this weekend, for instance. Now, as far as the desk jockeys who set the agendas for our increasingly marginalised and out of touch sporting media, the only shows in town this weekend are the two semi-finals in Scottish Football's Scottish Cup – Aberdeen v Celtic on Saturday and Hearts v Rangers this afternoon. There is perhaps more interest in the latter game, and I understand the Daily Record's Head of Sport has already ordered-up the cracked Rangers crest graphic for tomorrow morning's edition – just in case.

You would think therefore, that with the round ball game set to dominate media matters even more than normal, and not forgetting the rival attraction of The Scottish Grand National, at Ayr, or, looking at the wider picture the FA Cup semi-finals and The London Marathon, Scottish Rugby might have organised things a wee bit better to try to get some traction.

For instance, while I realise it really is a dead competition walking, perhaps a wee bit of thought might have gone into scheduling the start of the FOSROC Super Sprint. But no, not only do they have it clashing with those two big football matches, thereby guaranteeing the admittedly dying mainstream media would ignore it, they schedule it against home games for both Edinburgh and Glasgow. Madness.

OK, making Edinburgh A play on Friday night, with the big team playing on Saturday night allowed Sean Everitt to take-in both games, but, putting on Ayrshire Bulls v Stirling Wolves in direct opposition to a Warriors home game at Scotstoun, that's border-line insanity, in diluting crowd interest.

In the end, reading the match reports on the two games in The Offside Line, I note more of those rugby writers, previously doubtful of the benefits of Super Rugby, are joining me in the: shutting down Super rugby is a mistake camp.

To continue the Super Series theme, I note, in a nice wee interview with Iain Morrison in The Offside Line, Stirling Wolves' Eddie Pollock reckons, four or five years down the line, the SRU will be regretting pulling the plug on this level of rugby. That's at least two of us in that camp Eddie, I reckon we will be an army by the time Eddie's forecast comes to fruition.

All those influential blazers who killed it off, will be queuing up, like old-time Welsh selectors, to assure us: “Well, I never voted for it, I was dead against pulling the plug, but, I was out-voted.”

 

Super Rugby - The Final Sprint

THE SQUADS for the FOSROC Super Series Sprint, the last hurrah of a good idea, badly mishandled by The Junta, were announced on Tuesday. I am indebted to one of the unsung heroes of Rugby Union coverage in Scotland – David McAdam, for doing the heavy lifting in making some sense of the information released.

I find myself in agreement with David, who concluded that, just as the notion of Super Rugby gets ditched, the format finally has a semblance of what was meant to happen, but, through various reasons, didn't.

The basic figures:

• 204 players named

• an average of 34 per team

• 52 players are Scottish-Qualified Under-20s

• 65 are Scottish-Qualified aged 23 and over

• 29 players are NSQ *Not Scotland-Qualified (although some of the new recruits, particularly from Ulster, may well be)

• David was unable to ascertain the ages of 8 of the Scottish
  players

• The average34-man squad is comprised of:

• 9 Under-20 SQ players

• 8 SQ players who are Under-23

• 11 SQ players who are Over-23

• 5 NSQ players

• 1 SQ player of unknown age

• 15 of the 204 players have appeared in every season of Super Rugby

• 14 of these are one-club men, the other Ruaridh Knott has appeared for two clubs, while when he makes his Heriot's debut, Christian Townsend will also join the two-club men

The six teams have named a total of 25 coaches – an average of just over 4 per team; Stirling Wolves have named a six-strong coaching team, while Ayrshire Bulls have named only Pat McArthur and Frazer Climo as their coaching team.

Super Rugby has also been a starting-off point for coaching careers, with the likes of Peter Horne (Scotland), Peter Murchie (Glasgow Warriors) and Stevie Lawrie (Edinburgh) beeing promoted to the coaching ranks at a higher level.

Eleven of the named coaches are former Scotland internationals, with current international squad member Grant Gilchrist named in the Watsonians' coaching squad.

Two former internationalists – Grant Stewart (Ayrshire Bulls) and Glenn Bryce (Stirling Wolves) are named in the squads, although a fair sprinkling of the players named have donned the shirts of Edinburgh and Glasgow in the past.

A total of 26 Academy players, in a 14/12 Glasgow/Edinburgh split are named across the six squads, while David McAdam has identified five young players as “bolters” - named in the Super Rugby squads without being in either of the Academies.

Another facet of Super Rugby which is seldom mentioned is how so-many of the younger referees, given their chance at this level, have gone on to feature regularly in the BKT United Rugby Championship.

I still reckon, perhaps four or five years down the line, we will again be hearing that the Premiership is not fit for purpose and we ought to bring back Super Rugby. Time will tell.

THE OFFSIDE LINE did a “No more Mr Nice Guy” story this week about Edinburgh Coach Sean Everitt, who has clearly had enough of the ill-discipline which has blighted several recent games involving his side.

About time too, I have long held that guys who keep giving away the same penalty game after game and simply will not mend their ways, deserve to be dropped. Mind you, Rugby Union has long had a blind spot about this. Some forty-plus years ago, my Editor of the time received a severe letter from the local club IO covered on a weekly basis, objecting to the fact that I had highlighted how one apparently untouchable player had – not for the first time that season – conceded the penalties which were, at the end of the day, the difference between a game being lost and won.

Dropping him was a No-No, but, stopping the journalist who had spotted how much this player was costing his team, this was a Yes-Yes.

Mind you, one of the areas Everitt highlighted, in his critique of the defeat in Durban in his side's last match, was that of players being penalised for not rolling away from the ruck.

I spotted a couple of rucks in that Sharks' game where Edinburgh players were pinned into rucks, the referee noticed, then told the Sharks' player his wee fly move had been spotted and no penalty would follow.

I know there is a presumption in the game today that players be warned, rather than penalised. However, I feel nothing would clean-up this mess sooner and better than for the referees to quit warning and simply penalise.

Yes, there would be carnage for a week or two, but, I think the message would soon get across, to even the likes of Joe Marler.

THE BOMBSHELL NEWS that Finn Russell and Cameron Redpath will miss the remainder of the season is a crushing blow to Bath, since the two Scots are by far the most-inventive players in their squad. Without them, Bath will struggle to make an impact on what is a hugely-competitive Gallagher Premiership this season.

The news is not so serious for Scotland, since certainly Finn, and perhaps both, were due to be allowed leave of absence from this summer's tour of the Americas. Without them Gregor Townsend will be able to fully assess his midfield options, and in particular the succession planning for the day we don't have “MacMessi” pulling the strings on the field.

I DO NOT need at this juncture to reaffirm my lack of interest in Sevens. I recognise the qualities of the best short-game exponents, but, the World Rugby/HSBC circuit has surely proved, they are now largely different games.

If the Scottish Rugby Union is going to take Sevens seriously, to the extent of being involved in the Team GB Sevens programme, then I can only hope the Three Musketeers who are being recruited to replace the departing members of The Junta will take the short game seriously.

Clearly the forces of “Aye Beenism” down there in banjo-strumming land are losing the battle; when only one Borders club side can reach the quarter-finals at Melrose. And the only other Scottish club side to get there was a youthful Currie squad, pulled together because the club's first team had a more-important 14-a-side game just down the road at Hawick.

In my last post, I floated the idea of turning Melrose Sevens into something akin to a Rugby Union version of Golf's US Masters. Given how this year's tournament was dominated by specialist Sevens squads, maybe it is already going that way.

Perhaps asking the game's great invitation sides: Barbarians, Co-optimists, Craywhaw's Welsh, The Irish Wolfhounds, the various more-national “Barbarians” clubs etc to enter teams into Melrose could be the tournament's salvation.

Then, if the SRU felt the interest was there, we could expand the Kings of the Sevens series to allow the clubs to, should they wish, keep the Sevens flame alive.

 

It Was A Long Weekend

WE NOW know the Final Four in the Investec Champions Cup; it's situation normal, with the Scots largely on the outside looking-in. While taking nothing away from Harlequins, who played a collective blinder in Bordeaux, it must be galling for Glasgow Warriors, to see a side who only beat them because of Warriors' poor decision-making and some iffy refereeing, now in the semi-final.

The cast list for the two semi-finals: Harlequins, Leinster, Northampton Saints and Toulouse gives the TNT Sport team to continue their: “Isn't the Gallagher Premiership wonderful” act, mind you I will be amazed if they do get their longed-for all-English final; everyone else will fancy a Leinster v Toulouse show-down.

I spent the weekend almost glued to the television, My assessment of the matches was, in a series of crackers, the opener – the EPCR Challenge Cup clash between Gloucester and Ospreys and the Sharks v Edinburgh game were the two which failed to inspire. The one game I missed in full was the Clermont Auvergne v Ulster clash – I always thought that was a home banker.

So, now we know, it's Toulouse v Harlequins, where the question is, can lightning strike twice and 'Quins pull-off a surprise win in South West France, and Leinster v Northampton Saints. In front of a full-house 82,000 in Croke Park, against English visitors, I honestly cannot see Leinster losing.

In the Challenge Cup, it's Sharks v Clermont, at The Stoop and Gloucester v Benneton, at Kingsholm. The first game rests on which Sharks' team travels. If they come fully-loaded, backed by many of the large expatriate South African community in London, they could provide more European hurt for Clermont.

At Gloucester, many will see their semi-final as a home banker. However, after the way the Italians overcame Connacht on Sunday, while Glos will start as favourites, a home win is by no means certain.

I thought the Scottish officiating team, led by Mike Adamson, had a good game in Italy on Sunday. I loved the way wee Mikey channelled his many years as a scrum half into the difficult task of keeping the front rows legal, and succeeding, in the end.

The refereeing was generally good and I am now coming round to the view, England's Karl Dickson just might now be the world's best whistler, while Matthew Carley seems to get better, every time I see him in action.

I did feel for young Chris Busby, who had a bad day at the office in Toulouse. But, he has been the most-impressive of the younger officials of late and I am sure he will put it behind him.

One of the big talking points over the weekend was the way The Bulls sent a weakened team to Northampton, preferring to keep their big guns at home and ready for the run-in in the BKT United Rugby Championship.

OK, the way the schedules worked out did them no favours, but, I am sure Dominik McKay and his team will fine-tune the competition format to improve things further in the years ahead. Certainly, the quality of the games this weekend demand we take this competiton really seriously going forward.

GAME or at least result of the weekend was surely Cumnock beating Broughton FP at Wardie in the National Shield semi-final. The 'Nock's one-point win – 29-28 - gave me a chance to send a “Your team took one hell of a beating” to Broughton's most-famous FP, big David Barnes of The Offside Line.

I had to admit, I didn't fancy Cumnock's chances of going to Edinburgh and winning, but, the lads rose brilliantly to the occasion, and with Cumnock Juniors in melt-down (again); they've had more duff managers than Rangers recently; and Auchinleck Talbot already two goals down to Darvel after the first leg of their Scottish Junior Cup semi-final, it looks as if it will be down to the Rugby Club to lift local sporting spirits this season.

In the final they will face Moray, who really are hot this season. They were the first club to beat Ardrossan Academicals this season, before following-up that quarter-final win by beating Linlithgow in their semi-final – 39-37. The men from Elgin are “hot” right now, so it ought to be a good final.

ELSEWHERE, Hawick put their off-field storms behind them to beat Currie and keep their double hopes alive. They now await the result of the Edinburgh Academical v Marr semi-final to find out who they will face in the big game of “Super Saturday”.

For once, I find myself in the Marr camp, hoping they can complete a hat-trick of Ayrshire teams appearing on Super Saturday. In addition to Cumnock making the Shield final, Irvine will face Blairgowrie in the Bowl Final. Is EH12 ready for a mass invasion of wild men from the West?

FINALLY – I spotted a comment in the BTL section of the Guardian's website, below their piece on the Toulouse v Exeter game, which tickled me somewhat.

Thanks to auto-correct one commenter's mention of Blair Kinghorn saw his name altered to “Longhorn” - that's a very-good nickname for the big man.

Another comment mentioned the absence of Stuart Hogg from the talking heads covering the game. Strange, given it was his former club in action; the feeling is that, since his on-screen performances were as wooden as that of an American cigar store Indian, he has been quitely dropped.

In which case, more petrol poured on the troubled waters of the make-up of the Hawick team next season, provided he is ever allowed back into his home town!!

 

An' Forrit Tho' Canna See - Ah Guess And Fear

HIGH-UP on the list of Scottish Rugby clichés are the following:

• “The clubs ARE the Union”

• “A strong Hawick means a strong Scotland”

Among the less-frequently-quoted saying we have loved over the decades are:

• “All clubs are equal, but some are more-equal than others”

• “The Border clubs might have a meeting, and agree on something, but, before the last car has left the car park afterwards, Hawick will have decided to do something else”.

(Before the massed ranks of the Moss Troopers - or more-frighteningly, the Bright-Eyed Daughters - are mobilised to come up here to God's Orange County to sort me out, I should add, in mitigation, that second one was told me by a Teri).

Pulling these particular quotes together was, of course, a case of selective memory at work, but, tolerate me please while I expand on this theme.

Today is Melrose Sevens Day, and there may be an element of the third quote in play in as much as this is the only one of the traditonal Spring Sports for which the remainder of the calendar is cleared. Matters are arranged so that the largest-possible attendance can be attracted to The Greenyards.

Hell, Melrose even get BBC Shortbread to tone down their coverage of The Bigot Brothers for the day and send an outside broadcast team to Melrose to cover the event.

I have never been to the Melrose event, and, in any case I am not a big fan of sevens, although I can admire the skill and stamina of the great exponents of the short game. But clearly, Melrose Sevens, while it has not perhaps been down-graded to the same extent as the other “Sports”, is not what it once was.

The various squads are no longer awash with World-Class international talent, players who, by simply appearing at the event, could add considerably to the crowds. Indeed, over the recent years, and again this year, the prelude has been marked by moans about the paucity of talent likely to be on display.

And this year, the position not helped by the fact The Murrayfield Junta could not run a bath, we have the ridiculous position of a Scottish Cup Semi-Final being staged less than 20 miles away – with Hawick entertaining Currie Chieftains at Mansfield Park.

I suspect this rival attraction will have a detrimental affect on the attendance at The Greenyards – although, I suspect too, some gluttons for Rugby Union punishment will find a way to take-in both events – the cup clash being the meat in the sandwich between the early rounds and the final of the Sevens.

Mind you, a googly was tossed into all the pre-tournament chat, which has been at times toxic, when the opening tie of the day was announced as Hawick v Currie Chieftains.

What to do, do the clubs send a weakened Septet to The Greenyards, and concentrate on the cup, or do they perhaps use the tie as a warm-up for the afternoon?

I reckon, with judicious use of their squad, one or other of the two clubs COULD attempt a Melrose/Scottish Cup double on the day. The first tie is scheduled to begin at 11.04. Win that and the next tie is due at 12.20, with the quarter-final at 14.10.

Theoretically, a club could play these three ties using their nominated subs for the cup tie, then whisk them down to Mansfield, get the cup tie out of the way, and be back in time to play in the semi-final and final.

Winning both events would be some achievement – but, the clubs bottled it, both naming youthful squads, most of whom are not even household names in their own households, for the Sevens.

It will have been sad if Hawick, with 28 wins, the most-successful club in the history of the Melrose event, had opted out. But, they have sent a shadow squad this season. Mind you, they haven't won the event since 1967, when they racked-up their tenth straight success over what was then the very-important Borders Sevens circuit.

That victorious team was master-minded by their half-back pairing of Harry Whittaker and Colin Telfer and they beat Watsonians in the final. It's maybe long past time for another Hawick seven to win.

How the event has changed, however. There have been only three wins by genuine Scottish amateur club sides this century – Boroughmuir in 2002, Melrose themselves in 2011 and Watsonians in 2018.

Certainly both Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors have won in the last decade, as have Saracens and Harlequins, but, these days the presumption seems to be against inviting professional sides, which has diluted the quality.

Here's a bit of left field thinking: how about making the Melrose Sevens a sort of Masters Championship of the short game? Ideally, Melrose should be part of the World Rugby Sevens circuit, but, poliically, I don't see that happening.

But, it would be terrific to see the top 16 nations going head-to-head on the ground where it all started – a man can dream.

MAYBE it's because he's no Finn Russell, and yes, he was coming back from injury, but, Adam Hastings didn't stand-out in Friday night's televised Gloucester v Ospreys match.

OK for all the efforts of wee Austin, The Italian Gelding and Haggred to big-up the Gloucester performance, fact was, these were two bang average sides having an arm wrestle. Sure sell it as a return to the glory days of Anglo-Welsh clashes, but, quality, top-flight European rugby it was not.

Give some of the younger Welshmen on show two or three years and they could well develop into good players, but,the more-likely scenario is English money will lure them away to become journeymen in their over-priced league and they will never reach full potential.

Our game is going to the dogs and I don't see the intelligence within World Rugby or the corridors of present-day power in the big unions to sort it out.