I POPPED into the Mess on Friday evening, and I told the Adjutant, Carruthers and old Mainwaring: “I'm a tad concerned about tonight, we've had to put up a weakened team and the young lads might not be up to the job”.
Damned fool that I am, The Jocks can always be relied on to rise to a challenge, mind you, it was a close run thing in the end. However, a bonus point win, top of the log and Johan Boer given a bloody nose – what's not to like.
Eleven internationalists sitting in the stand watching, this was a real test of the squad depth at Glasgow Warriors, how well the youngsters rose to the challenge of the Lions.
Fergus Watson bagged the fans' vote for Man of the Match. To be fair, it was a tough call, any one of the four nominated Warriors could have taken it. That big finish, the home team recovering from to some extent losing their way in the third quarter, was uplifting. This really was a very good win.
Watson might not have Duhan van der Merwe's ability to immediately get up to top speed, but, once he gets going, he takes a bit of stopping. Bayley Kuenzle, on the opposite wing, made some good yards and also took a bit of stopping once he got going, while Jack Singleton, in his first game back after his heart scare and a year out, also impressed with a try and some great broken field running.
I usually have a lot of time for Italian referee Andrea Piardi, but, this wasn't his best display – not helped by a TMO who was out of his depth. I also have a lot of time for John Barclay and Ryan Wilson, as hosts of what Premier Sports TV dubs Friday Night Lights. OK, purists might not appreciate their wee tribute to Claudia Winkleman; but, they are still miles ahead of the smug TNT Sports crew.
THIS LIE – MEN CANNOT MULTI-TASK! Rubbish, as I proved on Saturday afternoon, watching Benetton v Edinburgh on TV, while simultaneously following Melrose v Ayr on You Tube on my lap top.
The fact the live-stream from The Greenyards was pictures only, no commentary made things easier, I could concentrate rather more on those pictures, while at the same time listening to the commentary from Italy.
Main reflections on the top of the table Premiership clash:
Ayr's Jamie Picken has probably missed the bus as far as a professional contract goes, which is a pity, he and his equally impressive team mate Robbie Orr made a heck of a lot of metres, with their MAC (that's metres after contact) metric particularly devastating.
Match reports seem to always stress Ayr's pack power – their back division in this game completely over-shadowed the much-vaunted Melrose back division.
Pat McArthur must have been particularly chuffed with Ayr “nilling” their hosts. The Champions' defensive effort was immense all game.
Ayr have Frazier Climo on their coaching staff and John F Brown as a club member – two of the finest kickers of a rugby ball in recent Scottish rugby history. So it is strange that their kicking, both from hand and tee did not match their handling.
The referee, Rob McDowall, I thought was poor.
As for the Edinburgh game – the off-colour capital side were lucky to finish second.
FINALLY – I switched to the League Cup semi-final coverage just after 5pm, by which time BBC Shortbread had all five Premiership results, as had The Offside Line.
However, the official SRU website was still one result short. Unfortunately, the missing one was the Currie result, which, considering the game had had a 2pm kick-off and therefore had clearly finished before 4pm, reflects badly.
I keep hearing it's the clubs' duty to telephone in the result quickly after the final whistle, so, what's going on at Currie – are they in a different time zone?
PS – AM I the only person not surprised to see Tadgh Furlong being exonerated following his alleged Vinnie Jones impression against Munster?
Key Irish player facing possibly missing at least the start of the Nations Cup games. What did you expect a Dublin-based organisation such as the URC to do? OK, the disciplinary panel did consist of a Saffa, a Taffy and a Scotswoman, but, in the URC, The Murphyia runs things, so, he got off.
Almost English levels of corruption when it comes to protecting key players. Given a South African player was banned after a similar incident, the lieges south of the Limpopo are not happy.
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