Politics Coming Into Play

I CAN ENVISAGE an international power struggle breaking out at the top of the game of Rugby Union, following the success of part one of the inaugural Nations Championship, which concluded over the weekend.

This first half of the first version of this new competition has been good for Scotland; “away” wins over Argentina and Fiji – albeit the win over the Pacific Islanders was achieved at Murrayfield and an encouraging loss to South Africa in Pretoria has left us second, behind France, in the Northern Hemisphere pool.

In Part two of the event, in November, we will entertain New Zealand, Australia and Japan, before all 12 participating nations come together for Finals Weekend in London at the end of that month.

Over the three weeks of games which have just concluded, there have been some terrific games: The All Blacks v France on the first weekend; our clash with South Africa in Pretoria in week two and our clash with Fiji on Saturday, all these games stood out, but, there were other crackers as well.

My reason for contemplating a power struggle is this: the Nations Chamionship is NOT a World Rugby event; certainly World Rugby has sanctioned it, but, it is run by a combination of the Northern Hemisphere's Six Nations and the Southern Hemisphere's Rugby Championship.

However, should part two, In November, be as successful as part one has been and should it attract big crowds then, you can bet your bottom dollar, World Rugby will want to be more involved moving ahead.

That could be a problem. If they do stick their noses in, it will perhaps be to down-play the tournament, since, they will still want their World Cup – only held every four years remember – to be bigger than this annual event. That could cause friction.

THE NEW COMPETITION also brings new problems for the Scottish Rugby Union, principally that of player burn-out. Received wisdom in the game today has it that asking a player to play more than 30 games in a season is asking a bit much. 

Take Sione Tuipulotu as a test case. He is Scotland Captain so he is likely to be, if fit, involved in every international. If the Summer Tour games and the Autumn Tests were still “friendlies” then he could, in theory, be stood down for a couple; however, with the introduction of the Nations Championship, these are now significant games. Therefore, the likes of Sione will be involved in all 12 internationals in a year: the 5 Six Nations games, the 6 normal Nations Championship games, plus the final placement game on Finals Weekend.

That level of involvement leaves him only available to his club for 18 fixtures. Glasgow's regular United Rugby Championship season consists of 18 fixtures. However, if, as has become their want, Warriors qualify for the knock-out phase of the league, that means an additional 2 or 3 games. Then there are the European games to factor-in – a minimum of 4, a maximum of 8 additional games.

So, should Warriors have a dream season and reach both the Champions Cup and the URC finals, their top players such as Sione would be facing, in-theory, a 29 game season, before they have played a single international.

The SRU is consciously working towards a system whereby Edinburgh and Glasgow have squads which are almost entirely Scottish – the players from these two squads will form the basis and bulk of the international squad. The Murrayfield Junta as I like to refer to them, are well aware, the SRU cannot afford to compete with the big French clubs and the financially-stupid English clubs for the top talent.

A future Finn Russell will be unlikely to persuade the SRU to pay him £1 million per year – I would not like to be the CEO or Treasurer attempting to justify the Union paying that much to a player – so, the Union will always be likely to need to accept, the SRU will lose control over some of our top talents. The pressure is now on the Union to be able to keep most of their top talents and provide a package which might persuade these players to forego big money in England or France, because they are better looked after in Scotland than there.

The Fiji game showed, we have not yet got the balance right in how we handle and integrate into the international team, our journeymen or second line players. If we are to get this right, so we can see-off the lower tier one and upper tier two international sides, we need to review our selection and player development policies. We have to think smarter.

I was not surprised that we struggled in the first half on Saturday. However, I always felt we would pull clear in the fourth quarter. We canot leave players idle, training yes, but not playing, for weeks on end, then expect a top-class performance when they are fielded.

Again, we have to be a lot smarter than we have been.

Still, while we are only at half-time in this inaugural National Championship, being ranked second in the Northern Hemisphere is a nice place to be. The difficult part will be maintaining, or even getting to Number One, via the three November tests. That is the challenge facing us, I'd like to think we were up to it.

 

Great Expectations Versus Self-Knowledge

LET'S GET THE ELEPHANT in the room out of the way immediately. On 15 June, 1996, England beat Scotland 2-0 at Wembley, in a group game at UEFA's Euro '96 Championships. This victory reinforced the narrative of the England fans, that football was coming home.

While the England fans celebrated, The Tartan Army, held back in the stadium by the Metropolitan Police's crowd control plans, once released, “celebrated” as only they could, marching out of the stadium singing: “We're shite – but we know we are.”

Thirty years on, they were still singing that song as they departed Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, after Brazil had ended another Scottish championships dream. The Tartan Army might be Football's ultimate party animals, but, unlike the England fans, they don't have delusions of adequacy on the global stage.

Euro '96 was supposed to be about ending 30 years of hurt for the English, of in some cases, a failure to even qualify for the big show. Instead, it was another failure. A further 30 years on and nothing has changed.

Egged-on by a Football press corps from Fleet Street, BBC and ITV, England expects, only to see those expectations dashed once more. The post-mortem will be brutal, although, they do have a handy scapegoat lined up – by the time the English media has finished its review, poor old Thomas Tuchel might well be looking for his next gig.

The difference between Scotland's Tartan Army and England's Barmy one is quite simple: We Scots are following a shite team, but we know and accept this; England are also following a shite team, arguably providing a higher quality of shite, but the essential fact – they're not as good as they think they are - hasn't hit home yet.

To us, every tournament, be it the latest Euros or the World Cup, is an adventure, an excuse to party; to the English, it's an expedition to demonstrate that England is still a force in the Football World.

To be fair to our southern neighbours – England's average final position in the 15 World Cups since 1966 is Ninth. They have managed to qualify for 12 of the 15 tournaments since they won the thing, and in those 12 tournaments their finishing position has been:

• 5 – 7 – 8 – 4 – 9 – 7 – 8 – 15 – 26 – 4 – 7 – 3 or 4.

So, they have been genuine contenders (quarter-finals or further) in 9 of the 12 tournaments since 1966, but, no finals and only three semi-finals over those 60 years is hardly consistent evidence that, perhaps it might be coming home.

Over those 15 tournaments, the ten most-regular qualifiers are:

1. Brazil

2. Germany

3. Argentina

4. England

5. Spain

6. Italy

7. France

8. Netherlands

9. Sweden

10. Uruguay and Belgium

If you take their actual record – each nation's final finishing place at the World Cup over these 15 tournaments, the pecking order is:

1. Germany

2. Brazil

3. Argentina

4. Italy

5. France

6. Spain

7. England

8. Netherlands

9. Croatia

10. Poland

I compiled this table by awarding 100 points for each World Cup win, 90 for reaching the final, 80 and 70 for the third and fourth place finishers, down to 10 points for finishing tenth.

So, while England are ranked fourth when it comes to consistency of qualifying for the World Cup Finals, once they get there, they fail to justify their regular qualifying spot.

The English may hype their top division as: “Europe's Premier League”, but,the fact is: a single Spanish club – Real Madrid – has, since the formation of the Premier League, won the European Cup more times than all the Premier Lerague clubs combined. Over the years since the Premier League was formed in 1992-93 the European Cup has been won by the following nations:

• Spain – 13 times: (Real Madrid 9 – Barcelona 4)

• England – 7 times: (Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea 2 each – Manchester City 1)

• Italy – 5 times: (AC Milan 3 – Juventus and Inter Milan 1 each)

• Germany – 4 times: Bayern Munich 3 – Borussia Dortmund 1)

• France – 3 times: (Paris St Germain 2 – Marseilles 1)

• Netherlands – 1 win (Ajax)

• Portugal – 1 win (FC Porto)

Therefore, whether we go on the national team's achievements or those of their clubs – who have multi-national playing staffs and very-few English managers – it has to be admitted – in the big competitions, England are eternal contenders, but relatively poor at converting that contenders status to that of winners.

One final point, of the England team which won in 1966, four players: goalkeeper Gordon Banks, left back Ray Wilson, left half Bobby Moore and centre forward Bobby Charlton were arguably the best in the world in their positions. Jimmy Greaves, who missed the final, also came into the conversation around the best finisher in the world at that time.

Seven or eight of the 1966 England squad, it could be argued, were the best player in their position in England's top league. At the 2026 World Cup, the best player in each position in the Premier League was playing for a nation other than England.

Maybe, if the English clubs, used more English players, they would have more players of international class available to the English national side.

That is their problem – England expects; but, their Great Expectations always crumble in the reality of elite international competition. Oh well! How sad! Never mind! There's always the next tournament.

 

Heid Bangers And Mind Games

 

I HAD MY DOUBTS about this new Nations Cup, but, if the remaining games, both this month and in the Autumn maintain the standards of the first two games – I'm all for it. There have been some terrific games, in particular the All Blacks v France match-up in week one, and that fantastic try-fest from Loftus Versfeld, between Us and South Africa at the weekend. That was entertainment.

I had to laugh at the view our Imperial Overlords south of the Solway and Tweed took of the game: “South African C Team” appeared to be the view from London and the Home Counties. This overlooks the fact, South Africa has such strength in depth, yes, they probably could field three international-class sides.

I honestly thought we had a chance in this one, but, while we gave it a real go and caused them far-more bother than England had the previous week, we fell short. But, better to have given the World Champions a stiff work-out and fallen short, than to have done a Flat Track Bully act on arguably the weakest team in Tier One – a team reduced to 14 men for most of the game.

There was much to admire about our performance in Pretoria, and for all the talk about the men not playing in green – we were short one or two arguable first-choices too; perhaps not as many as our hosts, but, we still had a fair amount of talent in the stands.

I was brought up in the days when Scotland's front five was feared across the globe – the virtual all-Ayrshire Mean Machine. Before them, the likes of McLeod, Bruce and Rollo was as good a front row as you could wish for. Tom Smith and David Sole were also props to be feared, but, I feel, right now, we have nobody of that standard and until we do find such men again – we will continue to struggle in the big games.

Rassie Erasmus had some nice things to say about us post-match. Hopefully Gregor Townsend isn't paying too-much heed, I think he is well aware that Dr Rassie is almost at the Sir Alex Ferguson level when it comes to playing mind games with opposition coaches.

I HAVE BEEN, for years now, calling for a total overhaul of the Laws of the Game and how these laws are policed on the field. Saturday's games offered I feel, further proof of how much-needed this has become. However, there is absolutely no sign of World Rugby being ready to act.

There were several controversial incidents in the games, which had the keyboard warriors somewhat disturbed. First, the most-significant decision – the fact wee Hollie Davidson used the ultimate sanction and correctly red-carded the Fijian scrum-half for his kick on the chest of England's Ellis Genge.

Can I say, immediately, I have no doubt – Genge was pinning his opponent in the ruck, however, he was fly enough to let go and have his arms out in a gesture of innocence, before he was booted in the chest. Therefore, since there was no clear TV evidence of Genge infringing, Hollie had no option but to penalise the one clear offence shown – the Fijian's kick.

Now, there is a fashion, in modern Rugby, for referees to flourish a yellow card, then use the crossed arms signal to indicate, the yellow card has been passed up the line to the bunker, leaving the FPRO – Fair Play Review Officer – to make the final decision.

To me, this is a clear dereliction of duty, Law 6.5 states quite clearly:

• Within the playing enclosure:

a. The referee, alongside the other appointed match officials, is the sole judge of fact and of law during a match. Match officials must apply the laws of the game fairly in every match.

That, to me, means, it's the Match Referee's call, not the TMO's – not the FPRO's, they are there to assist the referee, not make decisions for him. In going with the straight red card and not taking the soft option of the deferred yellow, Hollie struck a blow for the Laws.

I also had no problems with the yellow card shown to the South African replacement lock after his head made contact with Scott Cummings' nose. I didn't see it as a deliberate butt, but, it was contact, so in that instance, a yellow sufficed, I felt.

Pierre Brousset, to be honest, didn't have the best of games. His failure to penalise that moment when the Saffa lock was carried downfield after catching a kick-off was a poor mistake – one of several.

Another refereeing mistake, I felt, came in the Scotland v Argentine, Under-20s game; when Scotland's Rory McHaffie was adjudged to have leapt over a tackle at the start of a length of the park breakaway. I felt it was the impetus of a low tackle by the Argentinian boy which flipped Mchaffie. Mind you, the fact he failed to touch down at the end of his run was disappointing, so, maybe the wrong call on the tackle saved his blushes.

The U-20s are cheering us all up in this tournament. Let's hope they can see off the Welsh in the fifth/sixth play-off to keep the feel-good factor high.

Worth The Wait

DAY ONE of the new, all-singing, all-dancing Nations Championship was an exercise in stamina; five back-to-back broadcasts across two ITV Channels, lasting – apart from a short break between the South Africa v England game and the Argentina v Scotland one – some 15 hours of TV watching.

For me, the most-entertaining were the first match – New Zealand v France and the final one, our own win in Cordoba. Some of the best Rugby came in the Wales v Fiji game, when the Fijians had their off-loading game working at maximum efficiency, while perhaps the most-intensity came in the match in Johannesburg, where the mutual dislike offset the fact, England are not nearly as good as their media cheer-leaders would have us believe.

Sure, they can force a better side to dig deep, but, they do not play the sort of Rugby Union which wins top-tier international today. The fact that, by beating Los Pumas, we went above England in the world rankings was a plus any red-blooded Scot would take.

My principal concern was, naturally, the final game of the long day. I had an instant good feeling from the anthems, which I thought Scotland won – pipe band beats string ensemble every day. I was also impressed by our first defensive set, where we repelled 24 phases of intelligent and aggressive Argentinian attack.

Over the piece, Rory Hutchison was outstanding. It seemed for a time as if Tooney didn't fancy the Northampton man, but, as Huw Jones' star has waed, on the back of his club's rise, so too has Rory. He and Sione Tuipulotu were terrific on Saturday.

Kyle Rowe, deputising for the rested Blair Kinghorn, was another who stood out. Wee Kyle really has had a fantastic season, but, he has never been better than he was in Cordoba.

It was good too, to see how well Tom Jordan and later Fergus Burke covered for the injured MacMessi. The Argentinian football team doesn't function half as well when their magician is missing from the number ten shirt – the same fate did not befall Scotland on Saturday, which augers well going forward.

The Argentinians revel in scrummaging, so it was good to see our eight force them into reverse gear. Zander Fagerson, when he replaced the unfortunate Elliot Millar-Mills, looked to have regained his best form, which will be needed next weekend, while Jonny Gray silenced the doubters.

However, I felt we really won the game at the breakdown, where our back row, and in particular Rory Darge .were exceptional, setting-up the quick ruck ball on which our midfield thrives. Also, we now have depth and our game doesn't fall away once we start to empty the bench.

I did like the post-game excuses from the Argentinians – fictional though they probably were: “They were tired after staying up late to watch Messi at the World Cup.” Aye Right!

There were a few individual moments across the games, some terrific finishes but, for me, the highlight was that charge in open veldt from Ox Niche, it's always good to see a prop in full flight. Just behind that was that 50/22 from South Africa, off a very narrow angle, demonstrating the effects of altitude.

Above I mentioned our own depth at ten, but what about New Zealand's? Reuben Lowe had a most-impressive debut, apart from his early yellow card, yet, in the eyes of some Kiwis, he's only their fourth choice, behind Beauden Barrett, Richie Maningua and Damien McKenzie. On debut, he slotted in like a veteran.

I was never a great Dave Rennie fan during his spell at Glasgow. I always thought he approached that job as a staging post towards his real professional goal, the All Blacks job. Now he has that one, I reckon he just might be able to get the ABs back on top. Mind you, he does have some Scottish help – Mike Blair has already got them attacking with more vim than of late.

The Australia v Ireland game was a bit of an arm wrestle; Ireland, a team in transition, just beating an Australian side which is also a work in progress. The Wallabies will, I feel certain, be a tougher test by the time they arrive at Murrayfield in mid-November.

Meanwhile, it's on to South Africa and a really hard Test against the World Champions. In typically Scottish fashion, we travel hopefully.