When The Going Gets Tough - The Jocks Get Going

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.

 

Toonie Tombola Time Again

TOONIE HAS SPOKEN and we now know the 37-man Scotland squad for the November Nations Cup games. We now have one of the more-settled international squads, with just one newcomer: Newcastle Red Bulls' Ollie Leatherbarrow, named in the squad – which is:

 

These Nations Cup games are the start of the race towards next year's World Cup, and it will be interesting to see who comes in and goes out over the next 12 months.

The breakdown of the squad is also interesting, with Glasgow Warriors providing the bulk of the party, with 19 representatives; 8 players are with clubs in the Gallagher Prem, 5 ply their trade at Murrayfield with Edinburgh; 4 joué in France's Top 14, while chasing the yen has not meant international exile for Jack Dempsey.

Ollie Leatherbarrow's selection is the interesting one. The Macclesfield-born flanker has, courtesy of a grandmother from Perth, aligned himself to Scotland from his days in the Knutsford RFC U-16s, through his time in the Sales Shark Academy and playing for Exeter University and Exeter Chiefs. He won Scotland Under-16 and Under-20 honours and his move to Newcastle has seen him gain more game time and experience, leading to this call-up.

Of course, this being a Scotland squad – thanks to our unique ability to fight amongst ourselves the named squad has not been met with universal approval. The cries of “Foul!” coming mainly from the capital, where the lieges have taken exception to the fact only 5 of the 37 – 13.5% of the squad has come from the team currently topping the BKT United Rugby Championship table.

On current form, I could make a case for one or two overlooked Edinburgh players: back rowers Freddie Douglas and Magnus Bradbury, second row Glen Young and young tight-head Ollie Blyth-Lafferty have all shone in the early games this season. For Douglas and Blyth-Lafferty, their time will come, Young has lost out in a very-crowded area of strength for us while we have to perhaps finally accept – Toonie doesn't like Big Maggie; some players suffer from this when you put selection in the hands of a single Coach.

Townsend's problem too is this, we have perhaps never had the strength-in-depth of players we have at the moment. Off the top of my head I came up with this XV of already capped players who for various reasons didn't make the 37-man squad:

Stuart Hogg; Harry Paterson, Matt Currie, Cammy Redpath, Aaron Reed; Adam Hastings, Gus Warr; Alec Hepburn, George Turner, D'Arcy Rae' Grant Gilchrist, Glen Young, Dylan Richardson, Fredddie Douglas, Magnus Bradbury.

Now I accept the chances of Stuart Hogg adding to his century and more of caps are best summed-up by reference to The Eagles' Hell Freezes Over tour, but, he is playing regularly in the top league in the world. I could also name a further XV of already-capped players who have missed out, despite regular game time in one of the top three leagues, although, one or two would have to play out of position – so, to summarise, Toonie does not lack options selections-wise and Scotland has probably never had the depth of talent we have now.

I am sure, between now and the final week of the Nations Cup, we will see players go out and come into the squad, but, our current depth means Scotland will not be greatly inconvenienced by changes.

At this stage, I would again suggest, difficult though it might be to get opposition, the SRU should be looking at playing more Scotland A games, to keep the already-capped fringe players involved and better integrate the uncapped youngsters emerging from the Under-20 team into the full team's systems.

What A Great Referee

I RECALL – back when yellow and red cards were introduced into Rugby Union, the late Alan Hosie fearing some referees would use yellow cards in circumstances where a red was the better punishment. I fear, as he so often was, Mr Hosie was correct.

I think too, at elite club and international level, where the “Bunker” or to give it its full title: “The Fair Play Review System” comes into play, referees have become over-willing to forget that old chestnut: “The Referee is the sole judge of fact” and pass the parcel of making a crucial decision to the somewhat anonymous official sitting in a television outside broadcast truck.

Thus, too often of late, challenges, particularly illegal tackles, which probably deserved a full red card were graded down to a 20-minute red.

So kudos must go, for not opting out of the big decision and trusting her own judgement, to wee Hollie Davidson, who, just 15 minutes into the Toulouse v Exeter Investec Champions Cup match on Sunday, red carded Toulouse prop Rodrigue Neti just 15 minutes into the game. Generally, such an early loss of a player would cripple the team suffering the red card, it says much about the quality and depth of the Toulouse squad that they went on to win the game.

I dare say, supporters being biased beings, had the French side lost, the post-match reaction might have been different, but, on social media, there are numerous posts, in French, from French Rugby fans, praising Hollie's control of the match – they are now realising something some of us in Scotland have known for several years – this wee lassie is a genuine star.

 

Hollie, naturally, grabbed the headlines, but over this European weekend, she was not the only Scottish referee on duty. I can remember, not that long ago, when Scottish match officials were regarded in the game as something akin to rocking horse shit, seen on the international stage with the frequency of Halley's Comet.

Well, no more, in Toulouse, Hollie led a virtually all-Scottish officiating team; she had Rob McDowell and Finlay Brown on the flags, with David Sutherland on TMO duty. Ireland's Peter Ferguson was Citing Commissioner for the game.

The match was Sutherland's second of the weekend, he had also been TMO for the La Rochelle v tenbetLions game, in which McDowell had had one flag, Johnny MacKenzie the other, with Sam Grove-White the man in the middle and England's Chris Catling on Citing Commissioner duties.

Elsewhere, Mike Adamson was in the Bunker for the Australia v New Zealand Bledislow Cup meeting; Beth Dickens was the citing commissioner for the DHL Stormers v Bristol Bears Investec Cup match; Charles Sansom was Citing Commissioner for the meeting of Dragons and Perpignan in the EPCR Challenge Cup, in which competition, Alex Logan was Citing Commissioner for the Harlequins v Vannes game.

Ten Scottish officials in action in big non-Domestic games, from Sydney to London – where not that long ago, unless your surname was Changleng you never got the call (or so it was rumoured). Maybe we should be praising the SRU's Match Officials Department a bit more than we usually do.

FAMILY MATTERS have occupied my time this week, but, I must admit, I was hoping to include the news of the Scotland squad for the upcoming Nations Cup matches in this post. However, with that announcement delayed, I thought I had better get something posted.

It has been a rather interesting week, one thing is clear – last weekend's opening European games were not good for the teams from the over-inflated Prem. Being a tight bar steward, I refuse to pay for online newspaper comment, which leaves me with only the free Guardian pages to peruse.

Even the jammiest English win in Europe will usually have that paper's Chief Rugby Writer – Robert Kitson waxing lyrical about the superiority of the Prem and the English teams. This week – zilch, indeed, he does a convincing impression of Basil Fawlty faced with a coach-load of German tourists: he doesn't mention the war.

FINALLY – with 18 Ayr and 4 Marr players involved in the upcoming Inter-District games, you might have thought the SRU might have given a Glasgow home game to Millbrae – if only to pull in a half-decent attendance of locals. However, that sort of thinking requires a working brain cell and I don't think the current Junta in EH12 has discovered where Dom McKay left that brain cell when he departed.

Good to see Bobby Beattie getting the Glasgow captaincy – proof that, for all wee Bobby's undoubted talent, it still helps to be from one of Scottish Rugby's noble families.

 

Let's Talk About Elephants

THE ELEPHANT in the room, the one Rugby Union is loath to discuss is the fact, it is only at elite international level that the game makes money. The French Top 14 – courtesy of a wonderfully lucrative television deal and, to a degree, the way local authorities help fund their local teams – makes good money for the clubs, but, the other two major leagues rely on the deep pockets of millionaire club backers (England's Prem) and the fact the clubs are de facto arms of the relevant national union (the United Rugby Championship).

I have long wondered: how much longer will the sugar daddies of the Prem continue to subsidise a financially failing league, before they cry enough and we see the only professional club league which makes sense – a club version of the Guinness Six Nations.

That said, Ah hae ma doots about the ability of Twickenham's 57 Old Farts to get a sensible English presence in any such super league, in the face of the determination of England's big club owners – with the certain assistance of the Welsh Rugby Union – who want cross-border games so badly they would sell their souls to guarantee it – to run the show to suit themselves.

The Irish would be ok – they have perhaps the closest thing to a system that works: four provincial unions with their own histories and an indulgent national union. We Scots, we would probably be cast as the honest brokers, trying to get the others to see sense; except, can you recognise much common sense coming out of Murrayfield of late?

I see the mice, having finally rid themselves of that big fat Mancunian cat, still cavorting and enjoying life without thinking too deeply of the future.

Any way, enough of this stream of consciousness, let's consider the reality of the present day. The BKT United Rugby Championship table makes excellent reading this morning: Edinburgh – played 3 won 3, topping the table on 14 points. Glasgow – played 3 won 2, drawn 1, on point behind, on 13 points. Our two clubs currently enjoy a three-point gap on their pursuers, that pack led ominously by a trio of South African sides.

The URC is a marathon, not a sprint, but, our two sides have started well. This week, however, their early season impetus could be stymied somewhat, since they have to remove their league heads and put on their European ones – with Edinburgh opening their European Challenge Cup campaign by entertaining Toulon on Friday night, while Glasgow get their Investec Champions Cup expedition underway in Manchester, against Sale Sharks on Saturday.

While a number of Scotland's few world class players: Blair Kinghorn, Huw Jones, Finn Russell, Ben White to name but a few, earn bigger money in England and France, the bulk of the national squad are with Edinburgh and Glasgow. This means, Scottish calls will impact on when they can turn out for the two clubs and in the past, when the home-based big names have been missing, the clubs have struggled.

This season both clubs have, in the early games, managed to achieve good results with teams containing as many journeymen as stars, and this bodes well for the rest of the season. Trips to Parma have proved difficult in the past for Edinburgh, but, on Saturday, a squad bereft of a few big names managed to emerge with a bonus point win and while the performance wasn't a symphony of soaring, running rugby, a win is a win is a win, with some of the lesser lights playing a big role in delivering it.

Coming, as it did, on the back of a good Glasgow win over Connacht, it completed a good weekend for the two clubs. The Glasgow win included no less than four tries off mauls for the Warriors' pack – a sign that the piano shifters are again finding their feet at the right time.

Like Edinburgh, Glasgow's cause this season has not been harmed by an early reliance on lesser lights – long may the wins continue.

OK, THE WEANS at TNT Sport will be all orgasmic about Northampton v Bath, but, for me the match of the weekend was the Bledisloe Cup clash in Auckland in which the All Blacks put Australia to the sword.

If you missed the live transmission, at seven o' clock on Saturday morning, do try to catch a look somewhere. This was a real Test Match, enhanced by a wonderful exhibition of centre play from Jordie Barrett – the one currently-active centre who is better than oor ain Sione Tuipulotu.

The All Blacks didn't always get the quick ruck ball which Attack Coach Mike Blair wants to see; however, half-back Cam Riogarde is brilliant at making good ball out of bad, and, when they did get quick ruck ball, you could see the squad flourishing on Blair's attacking ideas.

Victory also handed the ABs possession of, as well as the Bledisloe Cup, The Raeburn Shield, that under-rated trophy which goes to the lineal World Champions. It might not be “Bill” - The William Webb Ellis Trophy, awarded to the World Cup winners, but, it's still a bit of bling which is worth having.

 

Sometimes Haund-Knitted Beats Mass-Produced

TNT SPORTS' coverage of England's “Prem” attempts to convince us, this is the gold standard for professional club rugby: the biggest, brightest and best, the supreme example of club rugby play. This, of course is pure pish – the reality is: France's Top 14 is the best league in the world while, at its highest level, the BKT United Rugby Championship offers more attacking rugby than the still sometimes boring forward-dominated English brand. The URC also has more-rounded talking heads than the Prem.

Any way, on Saturday afternoon I started watching Bristol Bears v Northampton Saints on TNT Sports. Half an hour in, however, the game began to lose me and I nodded off. At half time, I woke up and fired-up my lap top to catch-up with the varioous twitter feeds in the Arnold Clark Premiership – and, by the way, the big Scottish clubs are not doing themselves any favours via this platform.

I discovered, however, that the Watsonians v Heriot's match was being broadcast on You Tube, so, off went the TV and I switched. Now, I am not going to lie and say the game at Myreside was played at the same pace and with the same precision in all aspects of the one at Ashton Gate; but, it was an awful lot more entertaining. It was a cracker of a game, with Watsons holding on to win an 11-try thriller: 42-35.

There were some stand-out individual performances. The Offside Line's man at the game gave his Man of the Match vote to Watsonians' centre Gus Godwin. He got that one right, but quite how he failed to acknowledge the contributions to the home team's win from Cammy's boys – the Mather Brothers – remains a mystery. Good too, to see Struan Cessford, who I think is almost as old as I am, still able to come on and propel a scrum forward in a bright cameo.

It speaks volume about the thinking within the bounds of EH12 that these You Tube broadcasts are not better publicised. In the last two Saturdays I have enjoyed two domestic games – the Under-18 Ayrshire Derby between Marr and Ayr and the Myreside encounter. The coverage wasn't perfect in both cases, but with a wee bit of effort, we could better sell our vibrant domestic game. What's not to like about that?

A final thought on the Myreside match, a couple of lovely spin pass ball deliveries from the ball boys demonstrated, they are being taught proper rugby at George Watson's College.

EDINBURGH v SHARKS was a kind of tough watch, with defences very much to the fore all game. In the end, however, Edinburgh found a way to win, with their bench seeing them home – a genuine case of Finishers really finishing.

South African sides have always been known for scrum excellence, their lines-out play, less so; and in this game they had problems at the touchlines all evening, which rather stymied their game plans.

To be fair, it wasn't as much a case of the Sharks getting it wrong at the touchlines, Edinburgh attacked just about every throw, with Glen Young and Liam McConnell particularly prominent in messing things up for the visitors.

The home youngsters again impressed and, after two games, Sean Everitt's men find themselves above Glasgow Warriors in the league table – this could be a very interesting season.

GLASGOW WARRIORS huffed and puffed, but, like with both sides across the water on the Garvachy Road, Saturday night in Scotstoun, neither party would yield.

Ulster. Like Warriors, still have one or two long-serving big names to bring in, but, on the night, I felt the visitors were just a tad sharper. It thus speaks volumes for Warriors' defence that they managed to scrape a draw.

This was a bit of a bad night at the office, but, they managed to avoid defeat and will be better for having got some gremlins out of the system.

Most critics reckoned the crucial moment in the match came when Stafford McDowall apparently butchered a two-man overlap after a terrific solo break. It's easy to be wise after the event, but, I felt, the way the last Ulster defender held-off tackling him, forcing uncertainty within big Staff as to when to pass, allowed the other defender who got back and made the actual tackle which stopped the big Warrior. Terrific work in not committing by the Ulsterman.

FINALLY – I hear there has been an outbreak of unexpected nose bleeds in Melrose, since Saturday night; from the realisation the 'Rose are top of the Arnold Clark Premiership table. This season is shaping-up to be a good one, rather than the procession of recent years.

 

Two Out Of Two Aint Bad

THE BKT United Rugby Championship is back, and what a great start for the Scottish clubs via Edinburgh's narrow win over Ulster in Belfast. Ravenhill has never been an easy ground to go to and with both clubs minus some big names for this season opener, I must admit, I wasn't all that confident about Edinburgh's chances.

However, the capital crew built up enough of a lead in the first hour to withstand the usual big finish from the Ulstermen and, while it was maybe a wee bit frenetic at the end, they got the job done and a five point win first time out has to be savoured.

My late and much-missed big pal: Big Gordon Strachan, (so called to differentiate between him and Football's Wee Gordon Strachan), always spoke for the need for a good team to have a strong Pivot Five – the back row and half-backs. Edinburgh certainly had that in spades, with all five playing crucial roles in the victory.

James Grayson looked like the quality ten Edinburgh has been searching for, combining well with young Hector Patterson inside him, however, it was the Edinburgh back row of Liam McConnell, Freddie Douglas and Skipper Magnus Bradbury who led the charge as Edinburgh surged into a 34-5 lead.

The expected Ulster fightback, when it came in the second half, tested Edinburgh's defensive resilience; they creaked, but they didn't crack and were perhaps pushing for another try at the end, before good sense intervened and they got the ball off the park to clinch the win.

Given the club's lengthy injury list, which does include a lot of first picks, this was a good win from a difficult match. OK, you might say: “Edinburgh won ugly” but that is a big step forward from too many recent results which have been more a case of Edinburgh “losing ugly”.

MUNSTER v GLASGOW is traditionally a tousey affair; these two clubs clearly don't like each other. However, for whatever reason – I'm in the fact O'Mahony has now retired department – Saturday's clash in Limerick didn't quite fit the normal pattern, to the point where both Simon Zebo and Ryan Wilson, on commentary duty for Premier Sport, were disappointed that it took fully half an hour before the handbags were swinging.

In looking ahead to the game, I was a wee bit afraid that maybe, by mainly fielding his fringe youngsters in their pre-season games, Franco Smith had perhaps left the regulars he did field on Saturday a wee bit under-cooked. I still think, to a degree they were, but, they still, in typical Glasgow fashion, found a way to win without fully hitting their straps.

Warriors left it late, but, in the end, their bench, particularly via the arrival of a completely new front row, wrestled command back from the fired-up Munster side to clinch a bonus point win.

Now it isn't news that we Scots have a low regard for South African referees and Morne Ferrera, the man in the middle here, was a trypically poor example of the genre, allowing Munster to indulge in far too much of the shithousery which POM and Company have made their normal pattern over so many years.

The under-cooking I mentioned earlier was clear in some poor Glasgow handling and decision-making, but, as they built-up a head of steam in the final quarter, we saw some typical Warriors work which carried them past Munster to victory.

WHEN I saw The Offside Line's preview of the weekend's Arnold Clark Premiership matches, I had two thoughts. The first was, what twat wrote this, surely the game of the weekend was Heriot's v Ayr at Goldenacre? That was the one to lead on. Then, reading their preview, and seeing how weak the Ayr selection was, I immediately thought: “They're in bother here.”

So, straight away and this will probably shock Neil Meikle to his bones: well done The Nails, you can only beat what is put in front of you and they did well to beat even a weakened Ayr team. I ought also to recognise, they too were missing one or two key men, so doubly well done.

Heriots' win has burst the bubble of Ayr invincibility, it will encourage les autres and the likes of Currie, Watsonians and Melrose will now be saying: “If those bar stewards from Goldenacre can beat them, so too can we.”

Against this, Gruntz Anderson and his back-room crew will be determined to make this a one-of, the Ayr squad are in for a tough time until they are back on top. It will add additional spice to an already keenly-fought campaign.

What worries me, from a Millbrae perspective, is this: several long-term off-field drivers of the club's rise have stepped back of late. The guys who have come in now have to show that they are capable of maintaining standards. If not, there could be troubles ahead.

BATH'S SANTI CARRERAS scored what is already a Try of the Season contender in his club's win over Harlequins in The Prem on Friday night. If you missed it live, it's on You Tube, get it watched.

After he ran virtually the length of the park and touched down, the Argentinian rather milked the moment in front of the 'Quins fans, and received a petulant little shove from a disgruntled Harlequins' player who had chased back in vain.

Now, you see this quite a lot in the game, a player touches down and is immediately shoved by an opponent – yet, we seldom see these childish actions punished. That's another thing World Rugby should be clamping down on, if, after scoring, a player is late tackled or shoved by an opponent, then the referees should restart play with a penalty to the scoring side – with the majority of today's professional place kickers well able to knock a penalty over from half-way, thereby scoring a ten-point try, I think the petulant shoving would soon vanish from the game.

 

Job Done - Just

I MUST ADMIT, when I saw the two squads for Friday night's Old Anniesland clash between Glasgow Warriors and Bath, I reckoned, if Glasgow could keep Bath's margin of victory down to under 50 points, they might be able to claim a morale victory. So, given the final result, job done - just.

Received wisdom has Rassie Erasmus down as De Man when it comes to active coaches, yes, he's good, but, given he is working with slightly inferior goods, Warriors' Franco Smith has to be in the conversation. In using his fringe players so much in the build-up to the new 2026-27 season, Franco just might leave his big guns somewhat under-cooked for the start of the real games, however, against this, he is giving his fringe men experience and a trust which money cannot buy.

Warriors provide the core of the national Scotland side; at least 9 of any starting 15 (60%) would be Warriors, with another two or three on the bench. Indeed, it is not outwith the bounds of possibility to see, should disaster befall some of the France-based shoo-ins, Gregor Townsend selecting a starting XV composed entirely of Glasgow Warriors' players.

This means, Franco has to carefully consider which BKT United Rugby Championship matches he can go into fully-loaded. There is a limit as to how many matches a first-choice internationalist can play, so, he has to select his team with this constriction in mind – hence the good sense is throwing-in the kids against Bath.

If they can survive that one, and in the main they did, they will be ready, should they be needed for URC games, or games in Europe.

I have long thought, if Toony and his staff are failing in any part of their international duties, it might be in that they are leaving the fringe members of the international squad somewhat under-cooked. That can not be said of Smith with his squad.

As to Friday night's game itself. The Finnster pretty much played at half throttle, however, when the chance to do something special afforded itself, he did, with a handful of wonderful wee individual flourishes, to prove, he's one very special talent and we should enjoy him while we have him.

AYRSHIRE – GOD'S COUNTY – has produced Scotland's immortal, greatest poet, great novelists such as Willie McIllvanney and two great sports writer's: Willie's brother Hughie, and another Hughie who could bring sport alive – Taylor. Now in my 80^th year, I fear I may never ascend to their heights, but, who knows, when I am no longer here, perhaps my genius will be finally recognised.

The two Hughies, having been raised in the world of County rivalries, knew well, some fixtures didn't have to be won with flair and elan – Auchinleck (or indeed anyone else) v Cumnock, any other Ayrshire Junior side v Irvine Meadow or even Kilmarnock v Ayr United, these were games where it didn't matter how, all you had to do was win.

My great mentor: Ian “Dan” Archer, with the benefit of his Classical Education at Rugby School, was something of a romantic when it came to his craft, but, he always cautioned we underlings: “Remember gentlemen, as sports writers, you are there to provide light relief at the back of the newspaper, don't take yourselves too seriously.”

Dan could understand where he was going, when the great Grantland Rice - “The Dean of American Sports Writers” penned the lines: “For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes – not that you won or lost – but how you played the game.” However, he also understood: that almost Corinthian attitude never did transfer well to the world of Scottish Fitba.

It also doesn't work in Scottish Rugby. It certainly doesn't apply to Ayr Rugby Club, who have copped a bit of flak in the BTL (below the lines) readers comments in The Offside Line since they scraped home at Poynder Park on Saturday.

Gruntz Anderson's troops bagged their customary five points, extended their lengthy unbeaten run and went four points clear at the top of the Arnold Clark Premiership. However, they had to overcome a fired-up Kelso side, who pushed them all the way, to the extent, some Millbrae regulars were forced to admit, they had “won ugly”.

The Premiership is a league, yes, score four or more tries and you bank a bonus point, but, at the end of the day, the challenge is to win – you don't get bonus point for playing Champagne Rugby.

Ayr are now under the sort of weekly pressure which the likes of The Old Firm and Auchinleck Talbot have to cope with week after week. This pressure probably hasn't been seen in Scottish Rugby since the glory days of Hawick's Green Machine. It certainly keeps Gruntz and his squad on their toes.

The Ayr Under-18 team is not under the same pressure in the new Open Competition; but they certainly were on Saturday, when, following a major disaster the previous week, they had to make the short trip to Fullarton Park, to face near-neighbours Marr.

I watched the game on You Tube. Jings, there are some big laddies playing at this level, was my first thought. Ayr won and won well, taking control in the first half and holding off a brave second half comeback from their hosts.

Mind you, it was a bit tame for an Ayrshire Derby – absolutely no “handbags”. My favourite Ayr/Marr story concerns the weel-kent Ayr forward who, after a comfortable win at Fullarton, told a comely Marr lady in the bar: “I've just spent 80-odd minutes fucking your husband, if you ever want the same, here's my number”. The pair did enjoy a short-lived but mutually-enjoyable dalliance thereafter.

I came in for some Facebook flak after Saturday's Under-18 game, because some Marr members attempted to annexe the moral high ground with the claim that the Marr XV were all home-grown Marr College boys, whereas Ayr's squad has been recruited from beyond the ranks of strictly Honest Boys.

Marr have, of late, not been averse to recruiting talent from other Ayrshire clubs, indeed, I have had to chastise my own Cumnock club officials for allowing the club, to some extent, becoming a feeder club to Marr.

The system used to be, we had County selections at both schools and club level, so that, in theory, a talented kid from a school which wasn't one of the elite or Establishment places still had the chance of advancement.

That boy today, either has to go to one of the handful of top club sides in the Under-18 competition, or, more-likely, be offered a scholarship at one of the Public Schools – not quite as democratic a system as in my day.

When Will World rugby Waken-Up?

BALL GAMES are an ancient British tradition, still practised in places such as Ashbourne and Atherstone in England, in Jedburgh, in Orkney and in the Wall Game at Eton College. However, at the height of Victorian gentrification, in the glory days of muscular Christianity, the emerging middle classes, initially via the great public schools began to codify these wild mass participation games into smaller, more-organised games.

Thus began Harrow Football, Rugby Football and Charterhouse Football, then, as their old boys took their varying forms of the game to the two great English universities – The Cambridge Rules, agreed at that seat of learning formed the foundations of Association Football, while the disciples of the Rugby form of the game preferred the handling code.W

Over the succeeding century and a half and more, the two most-popular forms of Football have spread across the world. Those initial Cambridge Rules of Football have become Laws, while Rugby – or to be more precise Rugby Union has also seen its Laws being regularly refined.

In the past 30 years, since the game of Rugby Union went Open, and the advance of professionalism at the top end, it has become clear – the Laws of the Game have not kept pace with the thinking of innovative coaches such as Rassie Erasmus of South Africa.

A major rewrite of these Laws is now overdue. Unfortunately, the game's overall ruling body – World Rugby, and in particular the representatives of the more-established Unions have shown them unwilling to do more than indulge in token tinkering around the Laws and in some cases turning a blind eye to blatant law-breaking in every game.

OX NCHE – the Springboks' loose-head prop famously insists: “salads don't win scrums” - watching the manner in which the Ox and his chums Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw played such a dominant role in his side's wins over the All Blacks, I might add, having a referee who doesn't know the scrum laws also helps.

All game, but particularly at the crucial scrum which won the Bokke the match clinching penalty try, late in the third game, I felt Nika Amuskeli, in a performance some way below his best, let the Saffa front row away with murder. Particularly at that crucial short metres scrum, the home props were both boring-in. Rather than winning a penalty try, I felt that particular scrum should have brought a penalty to the All Blacks. The less said about Karl Dickson's performance in the game in Baltimore, the better.

World Rugby has, over the past decade, got a lot of things wrong, but, their biggest failing in that time has been the manner in which they have refused to sort out the scrum.

The game's problems around what, lest we forget, is a means of re-starting the game following a minor technical infringement, is that, particularly at the professional level, a failure to overhaul the Laws of the Game, the scrum has become a means of winning penalties – penalties which often appear to be awarded on a referee's whim, rather than any reasoned adjudication of what happened.

But, the scrum's problems often start right from phase one, when the referee allows the scrum-half putting the ball in to blatantly feed his own side; indeed, some nines can bend the ball further than the late Shane Warne ever managed with a cricket ball, to ensure their insertion lands at their number eight's feet, somewhere the opposing hooker has no earthly chance of reaching.

Back in the days when television coverage was in black and white, hookers would live or die by the tight-head count – the number of opposition feeds they could, by a combination of their own skill and with the help of a cunning tight-head, steal. Great hookers of those years, men such as Scotland's Norman Mair, Bob McEwen or Norman Bruce, English legends such as Eric Evans, Wales's Bryn Meredith or Ireland's Ronnie Dawson, they kept a separate score. The newspapers might print a result as 14-8, 9-3 or 20-18, but, to the men in the middle of the front rows, the result would be logged as 4-0, 5-2 or however many tight-heads they had stolen or, on a bad day, lost.

Of course, we still get the occasional strike against the head, although, to be more-accurate, these are normally a case of a well-executed eight-man shove, allowing a superior pack to put an inferior one into reverse gear. If, like the Bokke pack in so-many crucial scrums, they are not pushing straight to begin with, the easier it becomes.

I have long called for technology – such as “Spidercam” to be brought into play around the scrums. Locate that camera immediately above the front rows and the TMO immediately knows which Laws are being broken. Or, bring-in specialist scrum or line-out officials to assist the regular three-man team.

I've been saying for years, American Football needs seven officials to police play; Rugby Union is every bit as complex, so sticking with three plus a TMO is short-, changing the fans.

Mind you, modern referees are taught to ignore squint feeds, so, if World Rugby and the various Unions will not insist on the Laws being properly refereed, well we've got a huge problem.

I would also adopt the American sports system of one hour ball in play time. This would sort out the time-wasting and gamesmanship we see, with specialist time-keepers keeping a check on the various specialist timing issues – time it takes to set-up a line-out or scrum, the five second play the ball rules at rucks, etc.

And I would certainly differentiate between Technical Offences, such as a scrum collapsing, and Foul Play Offences. Penalties for foul play could be kicked at goal, or to retain possession at a line-out, technical offences would only be a free kick.

I offer these suggestions to World Rugby, safe in the knowledge – they will be ignored.