The Team Is Glasgow Warriors - Not Glasgow Celtic, Or Partick Thistle Nil (apologies to Jags fans)

I HAVE nothing against Ian Keatley. He is a veteran player, in the twilight of his career, who has just been let go by his club. I do not know how well he has looked after the money he has earned during his 13 season professional career. But, he clearly feels he needs a job – Glasgow has kindly helped him. I do know, Glasgow signing him is a panic measure.

 

 

Keatley, (pictured above),  didn't cut the mustard at Leinster. He did break through at Connacht, before moving to Munster, where again he did well. He has also played for London Irish, before Benetton. His career is definitely on the downward slope of the hill and, while he has caused Glasgow pain in the past, that is no good reason for thinking a player, past his peak, can continue to do this.

His signing, now, is the rugby equivalent of a panic football signing, as the January transfer window closes. Such signings – of over-the-hill talent – is usually the preserve of a team flirting with relegation, and a coach looking to keep his job, because he knows, if the team goes down – he's toast.

Warriors are not going to be relegated – because there is no relegation in the PRO14. I don't know about Danny Wilson's job security. But, let's just say, if it was my call at BT Murrayfield, he'd never have got the job in the first case.

Keatley might have kicked a lot of points over the years, over 2000, but, this equates to an average of 7.4 points per game. So he is not the rugby equivalent of the 20 goals per season in the top flight striker who could command big money as a January buy in football.

Neither is there evidence that he could be the defensive stalwart or brilliant goalkeeper who could tighten-up a leaky defence and mean the difference between relegation and survival.

The signing, to me, makes no sense and, I repeat, smacks of panic.

OK, Peter Horne's concussion worries are a concern. Compound that by Brandon Thomson's current crisis of confidence and Adam Hastings' long-term injury and it might well be – somebody high up in the arguably not-fit-for-purpose (under)Performance Department at BTM has decided, they needed to recruit an additional 10 on a short-term contract.

Why not allow Ross Thompson to grow into the role of being the Glasgow stand-off? Part of the SRU's remit is to: “grow the game and inspire Scotland through rugby.” Well, what could be more-inspiring than to allow a young, talented stand-off to try to establish himself with one of the pro teams.

Glasgow are unlikely to qualify for the knock-out stages of the PRO14 this season. They may even struggle to play any more European games, and, with there unlikely to be any fans admitted for their remaining games, they have a free season to give their young players their heads and allow them to show what they can do.

But no, some clown at Murrayfield has sanctioned the needless recruitment of a journeyman veteran as the answer to the team's problems – almost the least of which is the absence of a proven, first-rate 10.

The curretn Junta at BTM – for my money: “they couldnae run a minoge,” as the recruitment of Keatley demonstrates.

Listening To That Rubbish was Simply Not Justified

I GOT into sport at an indecently-early age. I can remember watching “The Matthews Cup Final” aged six. The following year's Scotland v England game is the first international I can remember, and, before I was at secondary school, I could rattle off the results, and the Scotland team, for every Scotland v England game since the original 'Wembley Wizards' of 1928.

I can (just about) remember us being tonked 44-0 by the Springboks, but have a better memory of the 1953-54 All Blacks, mainly thanks to the tales of full back Bob Scott being able to kick the ball the length of the park, bare-footed. So, I have had a long and enduring love affair with the two most-popular forms of football in Scotland.

But, last night – I gave up on the Glasgow v Edinburgh game. I prefer to listen to such games on BBC Radio Shortbread. Particularly when Peter Wright is on-song, the pictures are better than via TV.

Last night, however, even with an on-form Wrightie, and some sparkling asides from Fraser Brown, I gave up and went back to binge-watching the marvellous 'Justified' - and the delectable Joelle Carter (pictures below) on Amazon Prime.

 

 

Murrayfield – you have a problem. With so-few full-time professional teams and players available at the moment, I fear over-familiarity is breeding, if not contempt, then certainly boredom.

The players see so-much of each other, at Scotland training sessions, in PRO14 games and so-forth; every player almost knows what his opponents are going to do, before they do it. I fear, going forward, we can look for more and more-frequent bore-fests like the last two. The players in the SRU's employ may not all be possessed of the ability to provide “Wow” moments, but, I fear such moments may become fewer and fewer in the years to come.

I don't have the answer to this problem, but, the high heid yins at HQ need to come up with one, if they want to keep the fixture vibrant and meaningful, once the fans are allowed back in.

One other wee point I might make to the PRO14 refereeing administration team. Please, keep Mike Adamson away from this fixture. I fear, because he is a former Glasgow player, Mike, almost certainly sub-consciously, bends over backwards to avoid accusations of bias. This means, he cannot do his normally first-class job in this fixture.

So, take him out of the firing line and don't ask him to do this game again. Let the next tier of referees down have the experience.

Another referee, of an earlier vintage, Kelso's George Murray, heard the final whistle last week, aged 85. In an excellent obituary, on the official SRU website, Graham Law paid fulsome and eloquent tribute to a man who was more than just a match official, and who was a weel-kent face and a well-regarded man, right across the game up here.

Legend has it, George's final act – short of blowing the final whistle, in his final game in the middle – a Border League clash between Jed-forest and Langholm, was to penalise Langholm's Cyril Johnstone right in front of the home posts – to give Jed a match-tying penalty.

“What was that for George?” the bold Cyril enquired.

“For 20 years of bother from you,” was the legendary answer. Nobody could dislike a referee who could come up with that one. Nigel Owens, eat your heart out.

I COULD never be mistaken for someone who gives a shit, so I don't know, but think it unlikely that English Rugby is still run by the successors to dear Will Carling's “57 Old Farts,” but, if the Heinz Boys are still in-charge, they are allowing a great opportunity to pass them bye.

In the world of rugby governance there are two outliers – the RFU and the FFR, who in turn govern the game in England and France. There, the big clubs rule the roost, everywhere else, the governing bodies, to a greater or lesser degree, control the star players.

Certainly, in some parts of France, while there may be a titular “Monsieur Grand” making the big decisions at the various clubs, you will find Monsieur Le Mayor and the local authority have a say, perhaps owning the ground, or ensuring Monsieur Grand sees his fiefdom as including a bit of upholding local rather than personal prestige, while in England, since owning a Premier League football team is now too-expensive for all but the most well-heeled patriots, owning a Gallagher Premiership rugby team is now how they piss their fortunes as far up the wall as possible.

The current Covid restrictions, to my mind, give the RFU a perhaps last and unique chance to curb the power of the big club bosses.

We know below Premiership level, all rugby is off for the forseeable future. Why doesn't the R|FU place similar restrictions on the top flight. We know all the top clubs except Exeter Chiefs posted losses the last time they published their accounts. Therefore, it is doubtful if they could hold out over a lengthy shut down.

Rugby will recover once the restrictions are lifted and we get back to grass-roots playing, and, higher-up the food chain, we see spectators once again allowed in.

Maybe if the RFU could find a way of stopping the big teams from playing and force them out of business, they could take the top players into centrally-controlled contracts, get together with the PRO14 and maybe even the Top 14, to a sort of European NFL, under the umbrella of the Unions.

Such a scheme is surely not beyond the wit of the game's rulers – it could be the game's salvation.

IN MY last post, I made a definite left-field proposal for rugby. In the below the line readers' comments, nobody accused me of talking pish. Hell, I might be on to something.

Here's A Left-field Notion For You To Chew On

ON FACEBOOK over the weekend, I came across an old film clip of a spot of handbags between Harlequins, back in the good old amateur days – in a Pilkington Cup Final.

The referee, it might even have been oor ain Dave Pearson, pulled two of the combatants to one side, issued a stern lecture and on we went.

Today, of course, we see a lot of shirt-pulling, lower class “sledging” and macho posturing – but, never a punch worthy of the name. So, suddenly, I had a “Eureka” moment.

Why doesn't rugby take a notion from another very-physical professional sport – North American ice hockey? Let's allow designated “Enforcers,” guys who are mainly paid to protect the talented player on their own side, by dealing with the law-breakers on the other side?

When the bother erupts, let the other players stand aside while the designated fighters/enforcers get on with it. Then the referee can step in – give each fighter a yellow card, and we get on with the game. It might work.

By the way, on a similar topic – did anyone else notice, after Karl Dickson sent off the two props who had been messing-up the scrums in the Exeter v Bristol game, very few later scrums went down. Dickson's

action was the first such move I can remember, since Nigel Owens binned Adam Jones and Ryan Grant, which was a few years back and under the old rules of scrum engagement. Maybe that is something more referees should be doing.

JUST a random thought, but, if like me, your rugby viewing at the moment is provided by BT Sport, it seems mandatory that Eddie Jones is at every game.

In these days of Covid travel restrictions, “stay at home,” “stay safe,” and so-forth – might it just be that wee Eddie is a one-man spreader of the pandemic?

After all, we never see shots of Gareth Southgate attending top-flight football matches when they are televised, or Gregor Townsend looking on when Edinburgh or Glasgow play.

Is there a special dispensation for Wee Eddie?

OF COURSE, the biggest danger to continued top-flight rugby for what remains of this theoretic season just might be the French Government calling a halt.

I don't blame them for instructing their clubs not to get involved with teams from Great Britain. Just about the only certainty around the UK Government's response to Covid is: if they can get it badly wrong – they will.

Brexit from start to finish – a disaster. Covid response – ditto. Baw Jaws couldnae run a bath, and everyone knows this – even those Tories who voted for him.

I would, completely reluctantly, agree to calling off the rest of the European season, the Six Nations, and even the professional game – if it helped us get on top of Covid.

This week, in his 'Talking-Up Scotland' blog, retired Professor John Robertson published some interesting figures on how ice rinks, during an ice hockey game, appear to be near-perfect spreading grounds for Covid. The same argument just might hold for scrums on a really cold day – so, why take chances?

We will only get on top of Covid at a rate which works with the stupidest citizens – we are in for a long haul.

And, by the way – well done to the Women's Six Nations, for putting the tournament back until April, to give things time to settle down, and the vaccination programme to move further along.

Given the money involved, that might also be a possibility for the Men's Six Nations, again, always assuming the vaccination programme gets going smoothly.

WATCHING Harlequins v London Irish I was impressed by the play of Jedburgh's Glen Young in the Harlequins' boiler-room. He got around the park and carried well; he took some good line-out ball – yet another good player missed by the great brains at BT Murrayfield – until, “Eureka,” he is unveiled this morning as Edinburgh's latest signing.

I know with only two full-time professional teams, who gets a contract with the SRU is down to someone's personal opinion – but, I just wonder at times, if we have the right people in the opinion-forming jobs.

Good to see James Lang coming north. He might be the answer to Edinburgh's supposed weakness at 12.

Still on the subject of players who impressed at the weekend. Has the SRU totally given up on Cameron Redpath? Are we just going to wait until England caps him, or, might there still be a chance we can bring him home? Surely it's worth another try.

QUITE a few rugby men of my acquaintance are beginning to mention Summer Rugby as a possibility. It certainly looks as if we might get it – assuming the Covid vaccination scheme works well – which with the UK civil authorities is a mighty big IF.

It may well be worth an extended try, beyond this year – always again assuming we do get some rugby this season.

We Need An Entertaining Game Tonight

TONIGHT'S second leg of the 1872 Cup, at Scotstoun, just might be the start of something big in Scottish Rugby, when you look at the team selections.

Glasgow Warriors have gone with the following squad, as ever on here, in 1-23 order:

Oli Kebble, George Turner, Zander Fagerson; Richie Gray, Scott Cummings; Ryan Wilson, Tom Gordon, Matt Fagerson; Ali Price, Ross Thompson; Rufus McLean, Robbie Fergusson, Nick Grigg, Lee Jones; Huw Jones. Johnny Matthews, Aki Seiuli, Pieretto Heiland, Lewis Bean, TJ Ioane; Jamie Dobie, Brandon Thomson.

Edinburgh's squad lines up:

Rory Sutherland, Stuart McInally, Simon Berghan; Andrew Davidson, Grant Gilchrist; Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Viliame Vata; Nic Groom, Jaco van der Walt; Jack Blain, Chris Dean, Mark Bennett, Eroni Sau; Blair Kinghorn. Dave Cherry, Pierre Schoeman, WP Nel, Jamie Hodgson, Magnus Bradbury; Henry Pyrgos, Nathan Chamberlain, James Johnstone.

Neither coach has gone overboard in selection, but, Glasgow's Danny Wilson, in throwing in Ross Thompson and Rufus McLean, (pictured below), has finally decided to give the kids a go.

 

 

I have seen enough of Ross Thompson, to be confident he will take to the PRO14 like a duck to water. I have seen less of young Rufus, but, rather like Darcy Graham before him, he has been talked up as having the X-factor about him, by some who have watched his development.

I was first told of him, when he was in his first year in the Merchiston Castle XV, I hope he gets into the action tonight and does not suffer hypothermia on the frozen wastes of the wings.

Richard Cockerill has been less-willing to throw in youthful promise, but, if we get to the position where Thompson is facing Nathan Chamberlain, it could get interesting.

With the Six Nations galloping towards our horizon, the journeymen and young wannabees will see their work-load upped in the coming weeks, let's hope, starting tonight, some of them really demonstrate, we have strength-in-depth and a brighter future to look forward to.

Also, after the bore-fest of round one, the fans, watching on TV and listening on BBC Radio Shortbread need a lift from a cracking game. No pressure then.

I KNOW, I should not be guiding you towards gratuitous “click-bait” videos on Facebook, but, this one is too-good not to share. Unfortunately,m being auld and done, not to mention daft, I have forgotten exactly what site it was on; however, on Facebook, this morning, I came across a posting which would bring a smile to even the most torn-faced Scot.

It is a compilation, in part one, of some of Owen Farrell's most-excessive high and late tackles, followed, in part two, by some classic examples of Scotland's currently least-favourite Englishman being dumped on his erse by a series of charges from Pacific Islanders. Well, it made me smile.

I HAVE just finished reading Ben Ryan's brilliant book about his term as coach to the Flying Fijians Sevens squad, in the lead-up to their wonderful win at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

 

 

Ben Ryan and the Fiji squad savour their gold medal moment in Rio

It's a fascinating book, about how he had to navigate his way through the murky world of Fijian actual and rugby politics, keep the easily-distracted players focussed and bring home the gold medal all the islanders craved.

A terrific read and, you know what – if he could get all the Fijians pulling in one direction, he just might be the man we need to get Scotland going, should Toony depart.

I commend his book: “Sevens Heaven” to the house.

WELL DONE to wee Hollie Davidson, (pictured below), who has been appointed to referee the Newcastle Falcons v Castre European Challenge Cup clash, on Saturday week. It's a thoroughly-deserved venture into Men's Rugby for a brilliant referee.

 

 

And with Ben Blain and Sam Grove-White also getting refereeing appointments in the same competition, hard on the heels of Mike Adamson's Six Nations appointment, the hard work of the guys in the Murrayfield match officials team, people like Andy Macpherson, who put in the hard hours, encouraging and mentoring our often-criticised referees (guilty as charged M'Lud), is finally starting to pay-off.

I Hope Andy Gets It Right This Time

WHEN, as teenagers, they locked the Glasgow Hawks and Scotland Under-20 scrum together, I rather fancied Andrew Davidson would break through faster than Scott Cummings – I got that one wrong then. Today, big Scott is a Scotland regular, while Andy's restless nature has taken him off to Gloucester.

 

 

Andy has been messed about a lot by Murrayfield. While in the Academy, he was sent down to London Scottish, and they couldn't even supply a bed long enough for his six foot eight frame. Some, such as George Horne and Robbie Fergusson thrived at Richmond Athletic Ground, Andy didn't. He came back up the road, was made a derisory offer to play for Glasgow – by the Lesser-spotted Johnson, (remember him) and opted for a better offer from Newcastle Falcons' Academy – where he thrived and broke into their first-team squad.

Back then to Glasgow where he played more games for Ayr or Stirling County, then along the M8 to Edinburgh, now off to Gloucester, where he could form an exciting boiler house partnership with “Galloway-Irishman Alex Craig.

I have a definite soft spot for big Andy, I hope this time, it works for him. Scotland, as a nation,has never been over-endowed with useful big men, what a shame, Andy is just one of several around these days, whose attributes do not seem to be appreciated by the Murrayfield insiders.

I know, with only two full-time SRU-owned clubs, decisions as to which young players to keep and which to let go are difficult, but, a few they have released have flourished outside the SRU bubble – Andy could well be another.

And, speaking of locks – when, if ever, are we going to see the dream team of Richie Gray and Leone Nakarawa locking a Glasgow scrum? Asking for a friend.

WE ALL know that legendary story of the proud Scottish mother, watching the troops from a Highland regiment marching through the toon, pipes playing, bayonets fixed, flags flying – who suddenly shouts out: “Look, they're awe oot o' step but oor Jock.”

Something definitely Scottish about that old chestnut. However, when it comes to the vexing problem of The British and Irish Lions, I think it is a case of: “I say, everyone's out of step except our Rupert.” (in a Home Counties accent). Because the biggest barrier in the way of getting a tour to South Africa any time soon is the powerful club lobby within the RFU.

I honestly fear we might not see the 2021 Tour happen – because if we are relying on the governments of the UK and South Africa to get a proper vaccination programme in place any time soon – that is surely a triumph of hope over expectation which not even Dorothy Parker, who coined that phrase, could envisage.

We all know Baw Jaws and Co couldnae run a gird, but, I hear from South African friends, the Toerags down at Westminster are paragons of competence compared to the guys running thing in the Rainbow Nation.

Various alternatives have been suggested, all of which have drawbacks:

• Put the Tour back until the Autumn

• The English clubs would kick-up hell, as this would get in the way of their European hopes

• Reverse the fixtures and have the South Africans – the World Champions - tour the British Isles

• Would crowds be allowed?

• Quarantine protocols could be a problem

• Who would play against South Africa, other than the four Home Nations?

• Where would the games be held?

• What would be the division of finances?

• Put the tour back to 2022

• How would this impact on 2023 World Cup preparations?

Could they all agree. Whatever happens England will want to have the biggest say, and that could be bad news for the Celtic fringes.

 

 

I have to an extent fallen out of love with the Lions concept – probably because we Scots have not had a fair crack of the whip around recent squads. Some Scot, I fear, must have given the young Gatland a doing, so little regard does he have for us and our players.

Maybe it's time to reinvent the Lions concept;. Perhaps make the Lions a development side, taking the best of the young talent in the British Isles, mix it with some experienced old heads, who are easing down their international commitments, and perhaps filling a development role among the tier two and three nations.

Such are the physical demands of modern international rugby, the top players I feel, certainly need at least one long summer break over a four-year World Cup cycle. Better to be relaxing on some beach, than off on a Lions Tour, even one of today's ridiculously short ones.

We really need to either rethink the Lions concept, or bin them altogether and concentrate on real international rugby. I know, it's a hard one.

I AM currently helping out an Ayrshire club, trace some old guys for a forthcoming anniversary. Along the way I am touching base with one or two guys I have neither seen, nor thought off, in many a long day.

It's good fun, remembering some of the scrapes we got into back in the carefree amateur days of yore. I think we definitely had more fun. Without leagues back then, sure, it hurt to lose, particularly if, as often happened, you were screwed by a referee named ”Homer,” stupid, and definitely yellow when it came to penalising the home team.

Here in the South West, we barely had to travel more than 50 miles for a game and we had great fun. Hopefully, in the aftermath of Covid, we will get back to a more-localised and enjoyable brand of rugby.

But, it has been great fun reconnecting with some past legends.