Here We Go, Here We Go, Here We Go

IT'S THAT time again, the competitive rugby season kicks-off this afternoon, with the opening round of matches in the BT Premiership. The Pro12 begins next weekend, but, in spite of the best efforts of the SRU to wean us off the club game and onto the delights of professional club rugby, to the body of the Scottish rugby kirk, the club game is where it is at.

I can maybe see a slight change to the pecking order this season. Heriot's were the luckiest team in the world to win the championship trophy last season. They finished the regular season so far behind Ayr it was embarrassing. Then they profited from a total brain fart by Currie to reach the Play-Off final, in which dark forces emerged to gift the Edinburgh side the trophy after quite the worst and most-biased display of refereeing I have ever seen at a Scottish game.

Ayr were playing against 16-men that day back in the spring at Millbrae. The outcome was a disgrace.

Any way, since then, Jack Turley and Jason Hill have left Goldenacre. The effect of this on Heriot's will be extreme. Maybe not as bad as if the Milne brothers and Andy Irvine had all walked out together, but, getting that way. If there were two men Phil Smith didn't want to lose, it was Jack and Jason; without them, Heriot's will struggle.

Ayr are having to factor-in promoting one or two youngsters, which may tell against them. Their excellent back row of Blair Macpherson, Will Bordill and new skipper Pete McCallum are back, but, they lack depth in the front row, which may be telling. However, with Frazier Climo pulling the strings, their backs will again be very dangerous and they will be in the mix.

So too will Currie, who travel to Millbrae this afternoon. Fergus Scott is back, after an injury-wrecked spell at Warriors and he will be a key player.

However, Melrose, even without the iconic John Dalziel coaching, will be most people's favourites for the title, particularly since Austin Lockington is back in harness. A couple of seasons ago, when Edinburgh seemed to be calling the line-outs in Afrikaans, it was said that Lockington, the only one not on an Edinburgh contract, was the best South African player in the East of Scotland and the Borders. That tag now rests with Wilem Nel, but, Austin is barely less-important to his club. The 'Rose will bloom this season.

Elsewhere, it will be interesting to see how Watsonians go on their return to the top flight. They have a young and exciting coaching duo in Marcus di Rollo and big Simon Taylor, while they have recruited well. If their new squad can gel quickly, things could get exciting around Myreside. A win over Heriot's today, could kick-start something big for the newcomers.

Peter Wright is now coaching Boroughmuir, which means they will be well-organised and, as ever, stuffy up front. 'Muir were a bit inconsistent last season, if Peter can sort this out, they could get into the mix. As too could Glasgow Hawks, they have a youthful coaching pairing in Fin Gillies and Colin Gregor, and some promising youngsters. As ever, Hawks will be the “par” team in the league. If you can beat them, you will be in the title mix; if not, you will struggle.

It is difficult to forecast a title challenge coming from Mansfield Park and Netherdale. Gala have a lot of re-building to do, but, their coaching team of Chris Dalgleish and Opeta Palepoi bleed maroon and will surely get everything out of their charges.

Hawick too have a charismatic coaching pairing in Nikki Walker and Scott MacLeod, but, while the old saw: “Scottish rugby needs a strong Hawick” still holds good, the depth of talent just is not there. However, if the wannabees are at less than their best when they travel to Hawick, it will get painful. And, bad news for Scottish referees, but good news for opposition fans in search of a pantomime villain to boo – Bruce McNeil is still playing. I just love Bruce, as an old Ayrshire junior football friend of mine used to say: “He'd be in my side at Kilbirnie”. There is no higher praise.

Finally, we come to Stirling County. The Bridgehaugh production line of exciting young talent is still churning out good, young players. However, it is a lack of experience which will, if anything, derail County this season. If they can keep their squad together for two or three seasons, they will be genuine contenders, but, for the moment, the rule laid down by that man from nearby Sauchie holds good.

As Alan Hansen said: “You win nothing with kids”.

Earlier Then We Thought, But, Toonie Was Always Going To Get The Top Job At Some Point

WHEN it comes to Gregor Townsend and the job of Scotland Head Coach, it was always a case of when, rather than if. However, the speed with which his elevation to the top job was announced last week caught everyone, even Toonie, by surprise.

As he himself admitted: “There I was, involved in the new Glasgow kit launch, and one hour later I was to be Scotland coach, amazing”.

I could spend time contemplating how it happened, and how quickly it happened. I might even feel sorry for Stern Vern Cotter – or cogitate on why it happened, but: Le Rio est mort, vive Le Roi and all that.

The recruitment of the Chiefs' Dave Rennie to replace Toonie is another example of the SRU not being as slow as they like to make out. Of course, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, but, he will arrive at Scotstoun with a good track record, and Toonie for one, is delighted to see him coming.

But, Scotland Coach Toonie and Glasgow Coach Rennie are for one year hence. There is still the small matter of season 2016-17 to get through. Our two pro sides had their first pre-season hit-outs at the weekend, and, although neither could call on their senior Scotland caps, there was much to feel good about in their matches with Sale, for Edinburgh, and Harlequins, for Glasgow.

The Scottish youngsters who were thrown in all did well, demonstrating both squads now have a depth they lacked in recent years past. Results at this stage mean nothing, but, both squads are looking good.

THE appointment of Dee Bradbury as Senior Vice President of the SRU at the annual meeting over the weekend was another case of the SRU, in this case mainly the member clubs, showing they are not the neanderthals they like to kid-on they are. What a welcome breath of fresh air, and, in the case of the excellent Magnus Bradbury, given past SRU examples too numerous to mention, a guaranteed cap!!!

One pity from the annual meeting, we still appear to have that daft, fat Aussie, being paid to do whatever it is he does. The Murrayfield blazers keep telling us, he is doing a great job, I am not alone in being thoroughly unconvinced.

Our excellent Premiership, which resumes on Saturday, is still the ignored problem child of Murrayfield. Our clubs are still not being permitted to enter the British & Irish Cup; the promised Italian-Scottish Cup has been down-graded to a match between the two Champions – although, given the way Ayr were refereed out of the Play-Off final last season, I still maintain they, not Heriot's, are the true Champions. The long-trumpeted semi-professional Premiership, don't be silly, it isn't going to happen.

We hear a couple of clubs are none-too-happy at the way access to Stage Three Academy players has been pochled to suit one or two clubs this season, and, can I ask – what has happened to this season's draft of pro players to the Premiership clubs?

I SEE co-captains are the new fashion. First of all, we had Jonny Gray and Henry Pyrgos sharing the job at Glasgow, now, Edinburgh has gone down the same route with Stuart McInally and Grant Gilchrist. Hmm! Ah hae ma doots.

Scottish Have Won A Watch With Dalziel

FORGIVE me for asking, but, what was all that on-off nonsense between the SRU and London Scottish about? It is a no-brainer that two professional clubs cannot possibly meet the recruitment needs of Scottish rugby, for a place to put the graduates from the Academy.

Since the SRU is unwilling/unable to fund and run a third professional side, then a closer union with Scottish is the only option that many people can see. I am not fully in agreement with sending only new Academy graduates to Richmond, there are one or two fringe players at Scotstoun and Murrayfield who would, I believe, benefit from a season in the IA Championship, and who would bring more to the Richmond Athletic Ground table than some of the kids – good players though these youngsters threaten to be.

I still feel, Pro12 sponsors Guinness, whose UK headquarters are in London, should maybe leaning on the three Celtic unions, to in their turn, lean on the three London “Exiles” clubs.

All three clubs are currently languishing in the second level of English rugby. If they get promoted, they would have to recruit heavily, and at higher cost – but, once upstairs in the English Premiership, they would need to work to the RFU protocol which demands, 70% of each match-day squad would need to be: “England-qualified”.

They might be able to live with this, however, it would, as happened with London Irish and London Welsh when in the English top-flight, a dilution of the three clubs' Irishness, Scottishness and Welshness. In the Pro12, this would not be a problem, and, I am sure, they would be competitive and thus, be better-able to get into Europe.

That is by the by, the main focus of this post is, to congratulate John Dalziel on his new role as London Scottish forwards' coach, the latest step in the on-off-back on relationship between the SRU and the Exiles.

Scottish have won a watch with the arrival of Dalziel, who will, I am certain, quickly have their pack firing on all eight cylinders.

STILL with one eye on the second tier in England. I notice former Scotland Under-20 back-rower and one-time Glasgow Warrior Tommy Spinks is back with Glasgow Hawks, the team he played for when at Scotstoun.

Tommy was with Jersey last season and he will be a good addition to the Old Anniesland forward ranks. By the way, I am convinced, the gap between the English second tier and the top tier of Scottish club rugby is not that great, and easily bridgeable with a bit of work on the part of the Scottish clubs.

Another guy back from the pro ranks is hooker Fergus Scott, whose Scotstoun career was fatally derailed by injury, even before it had got going. Big brother Matt may have gone south to Gloucester, but Fergus has gone east, back to Currie. I wish him well at Malleny Park.

CHAMPIONS Heriot's have suffered a double blow, with the loss of Jason Hill and skipper Jack Turley, arguably the two most-important players in last season's title-winning squad. Replacing two such-curcial components will be a major headache for head coach Phil Smith.

Jason has secured a professional contract with Bedford Blues, in England's second tier, while Jack will be seen in Fylde's colours this season.

Regular season champions Ayr will have most of their squad back, but, Graham Fisken has followed fellow back rower Andy Dunlop into retirement, while Haddon Macpherson has gone to America and Javan Sebastian has gone home to Wales. They have signed Scotland Under-18 cap Stafford McDowall, who has now left Merchiston Castle School. In joining Ayr, Stafford is following in the footsteps of his father, Fergus, who played for Ayr and Glasgow in the 1980s.

Premiership Player of the Year, Ayr's Peter McCallum, along with a number of other Premiership players, found a good way to put something new into pre-season, with the invitation Waterboys squad, which won a Tens tournament in Stockholm at the weekend. You might say they saw the whole of the moon!!!

New Season, But, Murrayfield Is Slow To Get Its Act Together

SLOWLY, like an old, rotund prop getting up from the foot of a ruck, rugby is readying itself for the new season. Of course, the professionals seldom get off the year-round treadmill. I accept, the Scotland squad players who were in Japan are coming to the end of the time off they were given on their return home, but, the majority of their team mates have been involved in the pre-season fitness slog for some time now, while the would-be Olympians such as Mark Bennett and Lee Jones, have never stopped.

At the top end of the still supposedly-amateur club game, the squads are already back in training, why, even the clubs who still play rugby as a means of building-up a Saturday thirst are now getting down to pre-season training.

I just wish we were getting a positive lead from Murrayfield. It was ever thus; you come into rugby-writing mostly because of a love for the game and all it stands for. But, after a wee while, you discover, there is a mind-set, a thought process inside Murrayfield best described as: It is our job to frustrate you, to make you question your sanity and to be a bloody-minded and obstructive as we can be.

Murrayfield moves in mysterious ways, and at its own speed. Homo Sapiens evolved faster than Alickadoo Murrayfieldus has.

Take the domestic fixtures, for instance. I understand, the clubs, certainly those in the Premiership, got theirs in early May. The fixture list did not appear on th SRU website until 1 July. Even then, there was no official announcement, not even an email to those of us journalists who are on the SRU list – they were simply posted. And, they went up in dribs and drabs, for instance, the West District fixtures did not appear until a week after everyone else's.

Here was a chance to get some media exposure, at a fallow time for the game. The rugby writers were crying out for something to write about, they got no help from Murrayfield.

Compare that with how the Pro12 did things this week – a proper announcement, fixtures ready, with a”steer” for the sports desks on what to write about. It is not good enough.

THE Team GB sevens squad for the Rio Olympics will be announced on Tuesday. The players who will form the final 12 to travel to Brazil already know who they are, but, the announcement is being delayed until after this week-end's European Rugby Sevens Grand Prix event in Poland, in which the 25-strong “long squad” will be participating in their normal guise of “GB Royals” and “GB Lions”.

Lee Jones (above) and Mark Bennett (below) two of Scotland's Rio hopefuls

 

We will have to wait until Tuesday for confirmation, but, the indications from the warm-up events in Moscow, Exeter and now in Poland are that there will be one or two Scots in the final squad.

The Team GB preparations have attracted virtually no media attention. One “Fleet Street” title has given-over acres of newsprint to one American Footballer's failure to make the Fijian squad for Rio, but, couldn't even send a reporter the 180 miles down the M4/M5 to Exeter to cover last week-end's Grand Prix, which was won by GB Royals.

As for those Scottish titles which bother with rugby, no, no interest in Sevens – in the land which invented it. Shakes head in disbelief and disgust.

EVEN more head-shaking and disbelief, as Edinburgh, having off-loaded Hugh Blake to Glasgow last season, signs a Tongan flanker nobody has heard off, while Glasgow loans the afore-mentioned Blake to Bay of Plenty, to play in the Ranfurly Shield.

Now, it could be Master Blake was over-hyped when he arrived here and was put straight into the national squad and quickly capped. But, in the 12-months since, he has been switched to Glasgow, vanished to the Scotland Sevens squad and now sent back, perhaps only temporarily to New Zealand.

 Hugh Blake - back to Bay of Plenty

Either, someone bought a pup, or, Scotland has not agreed with him. But, it strikes me as odd that a young Scottish international is being allowed to wither on the vine, while one of our two professional clubs signs a South Sea islander who is not even a household name in his own household.

I have been increasingly frustrated at the recruitment policies of Murrayfield and our two professional clubs. One of the core principles of the SRU is to guide, nurture and expand Scottish rugby. Maybe promoting Scottish players should be paramount in this, but, right now, I don't see this happening.

AND, still wondering what is going on. The British &Irish Cup pools were announced this week, again without Scottish involvement. I don't get this; I am utterly convinced Ayr, Currie, Heriot's and Melrose, the four Scottish clubs who would have been involved, had Scotland participated, could, with the proper support from Murrayfield, have made a good impression in this competition.

There is still no word from Murrayfield about the proposed Italian-Scottish Cup competition, which was supposed to be the consolation prize for our top four clubs. Might this, as I fear, be another case of the SRU quietly not doing their job.

Normally, even if only to say: “The news is, there is no news”, we accredited hacks receive, at around 6pm every Friday, the SRU's week ahead media schedule, telling us what is, or quite often is not happening around Murrayfield. We haven't had such a schedule on either of the last two Fridays, although we did get one release trumpeting the appointment of Scotland's first official gin partner – I bet that raised a cheer or three among the “blazers”.

Rugby has long been a bad second to football for media coverage, these days, our home-grown media pays more attention to a pair of extremely-talented brothers from Dunblane than it does to Scottish Rugby. Come on SRU, get your act together better.

We Got Our Selection Wrong And Paid The Price Against England

THE FACT England beat Scotland in the World Rugby Under-20 Championships in Manchester does not surprise me. Given the sheer weight of numbers, plus the difference in the resources which the two Unions are able to put into age group rugby, England really should beat us every time.

OK, we beat them during the Six Nations, however, we had home advantage then, while several of England's brightest Under-20 players did not feature then, being required to fill-in at their clubs for players who were on Six Nations duty. We might, therefore, have expected things to be closer in Manchester on Saturday, when England had their bigger boys back. But, a 62-point turnaround in four months – from an 18-points Scotland win to a 44-points defeat, is frankly unacceptable.

Certainly, Scotland paid a heavy price for beating Australia in their opening match, a mere four days before they were due to face England. I worried when I saw the number of changes the Scots' management team made. Certainly, some were necessary, but, to choose to rest Zander Fagerson at this stage, when we would be facing an England team which tends to play by firstly gaining the upper hand up front; that one defied logic. In the event, we conceded 13 scrum penalties – I wager, with Fagerson at tight-head, we would have won a few of our own.

Zander Fagerson - resting him for England was a mistake

However, the big lesson is hardly a new one. Compared to England, we lack depth, but, we are not “hot-housing” our talent well-enough. Our youth talent identification programme needs tweaking, as does our development programme. To take the Avis example – we are not the biggest, so, we must try harder, and work smarter than we are doing.

That much is obvious – but, what we do and how we do it, to get to where we want to be – difficult one.

WELL DONE Ireland, whose win over the South Africans on Saturday was undoubtedly the pick of the three results involving Six Nations teams against the best of the Southern Hemisphere. It is never easy to win in Cape Town, or indeed, anywhere in South Africa, but, to win when playing virtually an hour of the match with only 14 men, well, that was fantastic.

CJ Stander in action v Scotland in the Six Nations 

I honestly felt a red card for Stander was over-reaction from a referee who did not impress me. A yellow card would, I am certain, have been the appropriate penalty. Stander's was, firstly, attempting to charge-down Pat Lambie's clearance. No way could he have avoided contact. The challenge was never a red card.

Still, Ireland buckled down an deservedly won. That final, try-saving tackle at the death, with some four Irish defenders involved, summed-up the commitment of the men in green. We now must wait and see what sort of backlash this produces from the injured Saffers.

FOR Wales, it was the usual story, since 1953. They didn't lost to the All Blacks, the World Champions merely scored more points than did the red dragons!! I always fancied this recast AB

s team would take an hour or so to gel and find their feet; they have lost a phenomenal amount of class and experience since the World Cup final, but, as I expected it would – class told in the final quarter. No surprise that the ABs won.

ENGLAND beat Australia, no real surprise here either. Given Australia only got as far as they did in the World Cup thanks to the uselessness of Craig Joubert, the Scottish line-out and more-particularly an out of his depth TMO, it was hardly a surprise that, next time out, they should fall to an England team which continues to grow in confidence and stature under Eddie Jones. The next two tests in this summer series promise to be very interesting indeed.

Ned Haig Will Never Believe It, But, Sevens' Day Is Dawning

THIRTY years ago I sat in a bar in Seattle and listened as one of the then leading officials in the USA Rugby Union spoke of the travails the game faced in that great country. A Scotland party were billeted, two to a room, in the Edgewater Inn in that city in Washington State. The Pacific Coast Grizzlies squad they would face in a tour match were squeezing in, four to a room, in the lesser rooms in the same hotel. Back then, nobody had heard of Starbucks, or Bill Gates; hardly anyone visited Seattle, the city was known only for Boeing. It was beautiful, but, distant.

This American administrator, I cannot even recall his name prophesied: “Rugby will never take off in this country, until it gets Olympic Games recognition, that will be the catalyst. Once rugby is in the Games, America will start to pay attention, and the cash we need will start to come our way”.

This, remember, was in the far-off amateur days and these Grizzlies really did play for love. Well, later this year, rugby will become, once again, for the first time in over 90-years, an Olympic sport, but, already, money is flowing towards American rugby.

But, it will not be 15-a-side, “real” rugby which will be seen in Rio at the Olympic Games, it will be seven-a-side, that “fun”, summery, short form of the game, devised and nurtured at Melrose and in the Borders. We hope that, in time, the USA, Kenya and the other nations beginning to make their way in the abbreviated form of the game will, in time, also embrace the full game, but, wade must face the possibility that, just as twenty-20 has become the most-popular form of cricket, sevens may become the more-popular form of rugby, globally. Only time will tell.

Any way, one of the drawbacks which the Olympic Games rugby programme is facing in this country is the age-old one: we in the British Isles are used to supporting four separate teams, or in the case of football, five. We find it hard to even come together once every four to six years for a British & Irish Lions tour. Certainly, particularly in recent years, the Lions attract a good following, but, while they all wear the red shirt, sit down with any group of Lions supporters and you will find, they still argue that their own national favourites should be playing rather than representatives of the other nations. Only the O'Driscolls, O'Connells and Wilkinsons of this world are accepted across all four contries.

The Team GB Olympic Games Sevens squad will have to overcome this problem. At least, in their favour is the fact, of the preliminary 25-strong squad, only one, Scotland's Mark Bennett, has any kind of half-decent international profile in 15-a-side. The rest, no matter how good their pedigree on the World Rugby HSBC Sevens circuit, are barely household names in their own households.

Team GB are having to gel very quickly, they have a mere four tournaments in which to bring together the talents of the best English, Scottish and Welsh sevens players – the Irish will be doing their own thing. This mission near-impossible began at the weekend, in Moscow, and it has to be said – it began well.

The Moscow tournament was organised by Rugby Europe – FIRA as was – and their rules demand that the two Team GB squads had to operate as separate entities. If a player began in GB 1 “the Royals”, he could not be swapped with a player from GB2 “the Lions” - although, strangely, the coaching staff could, and did, switch around.

The squads did well, GB Lions finished third in the tournament, losing to eventual winners Russia in the semi-final, before beating Germany in the third/fourth-place play-off. GB Royals lost to eventual runners-up France, to a last seconds penalty, in the quarter-finals, before going on to beat Georgia in the Plate Final to finish fifth. Bennett finished as top try scorer in the tournament with seven and, by all accounts, the six Scots who played, all contributed.

Mark Bennett - top try scorer in Moscow

Of course, you will struggle to find much information on the Moscow event in the mainstream media in this country. Even the RFU, who are lead nation in GB Sevens, didn't do a particularly good job of bigging-up a good first outing for the squads in their website, the SRU has still to notice the event passed.

In trying to pull the Rio squad together at the end of the season – the 25-strong extended Men's squad first met-up on 5 June, less than nine weeks before the first game – the management team, led by Scotland's Stevie Gemmell, are clearly working to a Lions schedule. Well, the Lions have done well in the past on even less preparation time, so, we should not rule-out a good show in Brazil, while acknowledging, the competition they faced in Moscow is some way short of that which the southern hemisphere big guns and Fiji will offer in Rio.

The final 12-man squad for the Games will not be known for some time, but, the extended squad has made a good start. It would, however, be good to see them receiving a wee bit more recognition.

LET'S be honest, Sean Lamont has been a great servant to Scotland. Well, you don't win 100 caps by being useless. However, he is hardly going to Japan as a certain starter. I would expect Tommy Seymour and Sean Maitland, who has stayed in the English Premiership by switching from London Irish to European Champions Saracens, to wear the 11 and 14 jerseys in the Tests, if everyone is fit. That said, Sean Lamont will surely add to his already-impressive caps tally, off the bench in Japan.

He is good in press conferences, well, he has done plenty of them, so, from the point of view of the press pack at Murrayfield on Monday, he was a good choice of talking head to put up. But, there are bigger and better close season stories going around than what a veteran fringe player thinks about touring Japan.

ONE such story is the new pitch for Scotstoun, and not before time. Having a top-quality artificial surface to play on next season will, I believe, make a good Glasgow squad even better. The new surface will really suit the type of rugby Toony wants his team to play.

Well done to everyone who helped make it possible. Probably the happiest man in Scottish rugby this week at this news has been Hugh Barrow, that stalwart of Glasgow Hawks. In a previous life, Hugh was a brilliant miler, indeed, he carries membership card Number 1, for the British Milers Club.

 Glasgow Hawks' stalwart Hugh Barrow

Hugh is a life-long Victoria Park AC man, and he is delighted that an upgrade to Scotstoun's athletics facilities will be included in the work being done. This will greatly help Victoria Park.

Hugh in his racing days

FINALLY, good luck to Coach John Dalziel, skipper Scott Cummings and the Scotland Under-20 team, as they begin their Junior World Cup campaign in Manchester. Australia first-up is hardly the start they would have chosen, however.

In The Blue Ridge Mountains Of Murrayfield - On The Trail Of Rugby Success

 Stan and Olly - who wears London Scottish's blazer and who the SRU's

WHICH one is Stan and which is Olly? That's my response to the tiff between London Scottish and the SRU, and the termination, after just four months, of the loudly-trumpeted player development agreement between the two parties. Because, make no mistake, this is another fine mess they've got us into.

I do not presume to know all the details of the deal and how and why it fell apart so-spectacularly and so-quickly, but, I can presume, with a degree of certainty – there were faults on both sides.

1. Were the two sides totally honest in what they wanted, during the preliminary discussions?
2. Was their an agreed common goal at the end of it?
3. Was the pathway towards that goal set out and understood?
4. Was a properly worked out management structure in place?
5. Was it costed properly?

These are just a few of the questions which the wider Scottish rugby public will want answered. This tie-in between Scottish and the Scottish Exiles community and the SRU was an opportunity to provide professional rugby for a greater number of Scottish players. With its failure, the immediate question for the SRU is: Is there a Plan B, and, what is it?

Will we see these questions answered any time soon? Hopefully, barring some sort of response before then, I would hope someone will raise it, if not before, under 'Any Other Business' at the SRU annual general meeting.

For my part, I can see one big problem, for London Scottish. That is, what, in the 21^st century, does this grand old club seek to be? Does it still wish to be a Caledonian enclave in the heart of English rugby, or, does it seek to become a leading English club, because, under RFU rules, these roles are incompatible.

For most of its long history, Scottish was one of the leading clubs within the RFU, regularly fielding XVs comprising mainly top English-based Scottish internationalists or Scottish-qualified players. The current first XV still contains some Scottish-qualified players, but, they are now in the minority.

If Scottish strives to get back to where it was, in the top flight of the English club game, then, its unique selling point – its Scottishness, will by necessity have to be diluted. Because, quite simply, if Scottish is to win promotion out of the Championship into the English Premiership, once in there, they will be required to have 70% of their match-day 23. “England-qualified”. In numbers, this means they will require to strip 17 Englishmen, or England-qualified men, for every game, leaving a maximum of just six Scots able to pull on the famous navy blue shirt each game.

Whaur's yer Scottish noo, is surely the response to that. 'London Scottish', playing in the Aviva Premiership with a token handful of Scottish players, well, it simply would not be London Scottish. Also, Scottish, in the top-flight in England, could not, because of the eligibility rules, be part of any Scottish player development project.

So, if the joint development project with the SRU was to work, the Scottish management would have to forget all about promotion and playing at the highest level. What, therefore, would be in it for the club and the guys running it? Some would surely want to get back to hosting and visiting Harlequins, Leicester, Wasps, Bath, Gloucester and so on on a regular basis. They would want to play at the highest level possible. How would they take to being told: “No you have to settle for the second tier”.

Mind you, in club statements, London Scottish have stressed, they see the Championship as being the perfect vehicle for proper development of young Scottish players. OK, but, even while they accept this, they would also, it seems to me, want to have the best young Scottish players seconded to them.

There were problems with the youngsters who were sent to Richmond during the four-month agreement period. Andy Davidson's dad had to buy a bed long enough to accommodate his six foot eight inch son – who has now joined Newcastle Falcons, perhaps unimpressed by the SRU/Scottish set-up. Davidson certainly did not linger long in Richmond, before returning to play the second half of the season, mostly in the Glasgow Hawks 2^nd XV!!

 Andy Davidson - a short stay in London, in more ways than one

We hear rumours that the Scottish coach had: “Lost the dressing room” during the season. Certainly a good few players have left the club. Was there a difference of opinion, or of how things should progress between the established guys at Richmond and Messrs Lineen and Grant, both of whom are now back at Murrayfield?

Of the others sent south - Robbie Fergusson has now signed-on permanently with Scottish, he was the only one sent down to Richmond to get a regular game, although Jack Cosgrove and George Horne were squad regulars, used mainly as impact subs.

I am still trying to work-out what happened with Rory Hughes. He is already a full cap, he scored five tries in four games for Scottish, before returning to either sit in the stand or on the bench for Warriors – he should surely have made a greater impact at Richmond.

I still believe, the answer is – London Scottish, as a full-time, London-based professional rugby team, playing as a Scottish side, in the Pro12. To me, no other scenario makes sense.

FINALLY, good luck to the Scottish players in the GB Royals and GB Lions Sevens squads who will be warming-up for Rio. Now that Lee Jones has been added to the mix, I can see us having a few guys in Rio in August.

Lee Jones scoring for Glasgow, now he's in the GB Sevens squad