Rugby Politics And Yet Again Scotland Suffers

POLITICS is a dirty game, sporting politics, particularly in a rough game such as Rugby Union, can be even rougher. That is a fact Zander Fagerson has just discovered.

 

 

Zander Fagerson - stitched-up by a poor referee

and Rugby's Dublin Mafia

He has just copped a four-week ban, following his red card against Wales, while Ireland's Peter O'Mahony got three weeks for his red card, also against Wales.

Now, POM is a known thug, he'd been getting away with that sort of illegal challenge for years, before finally being nailed. I get the impression, Fagerson would like to be known as a hard man – he certainly is heavily into the posturing which passes for aggression between forwards these days. But, a hard man – please, he's just too-nice for that role.

Then you look at the two incidents, the POM assault was a red card every day of the week, there were no mitigating factors. Fagerson, on the other hand elicited a degree of sympathy, with the TMO certainly trying to get Matthew Carley to downgrade the card to a yellow – something which didn't happen with POM. However, Carley, being an over-promoted half-wit, full of his own importance, was having none of it.

This is where rugby politics comes into it. World Rugby, The Six Nations, PRO14 and the British and Irish Lions all have their headquarters in Dublin. POM might be a Munsterman, but, he's still Irish – just saying.

In our frequent conversations, when we were putting the world of rugby to rights, wee Ron Evans, who graduated to the great press box in the sky the other week, devised this theory – from which neither of us could be moved. This was that Scotland would never get a fair crack of the whip in the matter of rugby refereeing, until we had at least two referees at the elite level.

Our reasoning was, a referee, having charge of a Scotland match, could quite safely yellow or red card a Scotland player for something, in the certain knowledge, there wasn't a Scottish referee on the roster who could send off one of the first referee's countrymen for the same offence. So, in terms of referee influence, Scotland was playing with one hand tied behind their backs.

Well, now we have an elite level referee, in Mikey Adamson. The Wee Man, however, is another too-nice Scotsman; as he demonstrated on Saturday when he missed the chance of eternal free drinks in Scotland's rugby clubhouses (when they re-open), by not yellow carding You Know Who of England.

Zander Fagerson, another reminder to us Scots – we're little people in the world of rugby, and rugby politics.

TCD and The Junta this week, with as much razzle-dazzle as they could be bothered to muster, announced the completion of Legoland, as I like to call their new mini-Murrayfield; the new home of Edinburgh Rugby.

OK, it's been a long time coming. Of course a separate smaller stadium as a home for Edinburgh makes sense. Credit to the SRU, they got it built in difficult times. But, and it's a pity there has to be a but, to my mind this new stadium shows a lack of ambition.

They may be slim, but, there are upright roof supports in front of the seats – very early 20^th century. It's all pre-fabricated, it won't last. It's too-wee: be adventurous and audacious – build it and they will come. The corporate facilities are, to me, inadequate. It's a chance missed.

For not much more cash, they could have built a more-permanent structure, with proper facilities. OK, Edinburgh will continue to use some of the facilities in the adjacent national stadium, but, they could have built a bigger (say 15,000 capacity) ground, for not much more than Legoland cost them.

IF Edinburgh progresses and attracts bigger crowds, in perhaps as few as five years time, they will probably need to spend more money on an extension and upgrade. Not getting it right first time will by then be an obvious missed opportunity.

REGULAR inbibbers of the pish that is posted on here are well-aware, I don't have a high opinion of the rugby-writing skills of The Guardian's Robert Kitson.

However, credit where credit is due, his book 'The Exe Men', the story of the rise of Exeter Chiefs, is a cracking read. Thoroughly researched, full of interesting facts, and some hilarious stories, it is a great piece of work.

Newspaper writing is a difficult craft to master; it involves imparting the maximum amount of information in the minimum number of words. Kitson, for me, isn't good at this.

However, magazine or book-writing is a different art, here, the writer can let his imagination flow (within reason), and, freed from the constraints of a tight word count, and even-tighter deadline, in this book, Kitson comes up with some very-readable purple prose.

It's a great story, well told, I commend it to the house.

I have finished Exe Men. I am now well into another rugby book: 'What A Flanker', the autobiography of former England back rower James Haskell.

It is a laugh-out-loud joy ride through his career. I have been helpless with laughter at some points as he reveals incidents from life with Wasps, England and The Lions. Get it and read it, it will brighten-up your day.

The SRU Should Drop Flower Of Scotland - I Did It My Way Is Now Their Anthem

PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL in Scotland had bounced along for the best part of 100 years with a management model which worked for Scotland.

For most of that period would-be professionals learned the game on the streets and at school. The best then progressed via junior football to the senior ranks, there, via playing for their local club, their ranks were further thinned-out; the very-best progressing via the Scottish League team to the full Scotland side. Some, at this stage, went south to the greater riches of England, others went to the Old Firm, the only two clubs in Scotland able to compete financially with the big English sides.

As time passed, our brightest schoolboy players went, aged 15, to England, where, if they survived the first two years as virtual slave labour on the English clubs' grouhnd staff, they either got full professional contracts, or came back up the road, where, via the juniors, they had a second chance. If they didn't take that chance, they could enjoy long careers, success and, if with the right team, make good money staying in the juniors and playing part-time.

Then, for various reasons, including the rise of the boys clubs and the teachers' strike of the 1980s, things changed. The real game-changer, however, was Rangers appointing Graeme Souness manager in 1986. Helped by the UEFA ban on English clubs, following the Heysel Stadium riot, which allowed Souness to recruit top English players, the Scottish clubs suddenly began to bring-in players from England and abroad.

However, as money poured into English football, Scottish clubs, even the Old Firm, were priced out of recruiting top-grade talent, and they were shopping in the football equivalent of 'Poundstretcher,' or in the Old Firm's case Aldi and Lidl.

The national governing body (NGB) – the Scottish Football Association, didn't help matters. National team managers, directors of football, heads of youth development came and went. Joined-up thinking wasn't encouraged along Hampden Park's sixth floor corridor and Scottish football sank down the world rankings.

Scotland may have qualified for its first big international championship finals in almost a quarter of a century, but, in medical terms, the national game is still on life-support – and it's an outdated system they are using.

The Scottish Rugby Union was 100 years behind their round-ball cousins in embracing professionalism. To be honest, they didn't handle the change-over well and it can reasonably be argued, they are still playing catch-up with some bigger, and a couple of comparable-sized unions.

However, in one aspect of professionalism, the SRU has shot past the SFA, like Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes F1 car overtaking a road roller. This is in the speed with which they have embraced buying-in big name non-Scottish players.

To repeat myself from past posts. I have nothing against importing X-factor players such as Leone Nakarawa and Bill Mata – the star quality they bring is worth the investment; what simply training and playing with them can give young Scottish players is worth the investment.

The SRU is operating around a small gene pool. I have nothing against us importing a youthful son or grandson from the great Caledonian Diaspora. We cannot afford to not try to recruit Scottish-qualified players who have been schooled in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa.

I would, however, put an upper age limit on the recruitment of such players, say 23 or certainly no higher than 25, at the time of recruitment – given they have the three-year residency rule to overcome. That I can live with.

However, recent recruitment moves have seen non Scottish-qualified players, older than this, being brought-in – to me, THIS IS SIMPLY NOT ON.

Sadly, as can be seen by a quick visit to the social media pages of the club, Glasgow Warriors' acquisition of Australian back rower Jack Dempsey has been greeted with approval by the club's supporters. I feel these supporters must be some of the newbies who have been attracted to the club from football or some other sport– I can think of several clubs in the west who have sent young back rowers up to Warriors in recent years and seen them discarded after a mere handful of appearances.

Their club members, I feel, would rather see Warriors fielding home-grown rather than imported talent. When I was a boy, if your club got someone into the Glasgow squad – you went and supported him, unless the Glasgow game clashed with one of your club's games.

In my own club's case, our goal for our players was the Glasgow District XV, the junior side. They generally played in midweek, under the Hughenden lights mostly, so, up we went from Ayrshire to support our guys.

Today, Warriors play their home games, mainly on a Friday night. I reckon if their match-day squad had closer ties to the local clubs, Warriors might (once crowds return) be able, with better marketing, to pull in even more fans than they currently do.

When Glasgow and Edinburgh met on 2 January, of the 46 players involved, only five of the Edinburgh squad: Stuart McInally, Jamie Hodgson, Chris Dean, Blair Kinghorn and James Johnstone were home-grown – i.e. products of the Edinburgh clubs/schools system. Of the Glasgow squad, only four starters: Richie Gray, Scott Cummings and the Fagerson brothers (who are from Dundee) had played club rugby in the city and its environs, while only Ross Thompson had come through the Glasgow club ranks – with Glasgow Hawks and Ayr.

If you count the other home Scottish-developed players on duty that night: Hawick's Rory Sutherland and Darcy Graham, Dundonian Jamie Ritchie, Magnus Bradbury, from Oban and Mark Bennett from Cumnock, in the Edinburgh line-up; and Invernessian Jamie Dobie, Selkirk's Lee Jones and Alloa's Glenn Bryce (whose Stirling County connection qualifies him as a local club boy) you find that only 18 of the 46 players had come through the SRU's schools and clubs development system.

That's 39% of the players on-duty – such a low figure is unacceptable, it is a disgrace and we wonder – what will it take for the current SRU hierarchy to start doing their job properly and develop Scottish rugby and encourage Scottish rugby players.

HIRING IN NON-SCOTTISH MERCENARIES HAS DONE NOTHING FOR SCOTTISH FOOTBALL – IT IS DOING NOTHING FOR SCOTTISH RUGBY:

GET IT SORTED – NOW.

Disaster For Scotland - Again

LIKE EVERYONE else in Scottish Rugby, I am as sick as the proverbial parrot at how events unfolded at Murrayfield yesterday.

But, I've had longer experience of Scotland marching us to the top of the hill and straight back down again, our sporting history is littered with instances where we have risen to the heights in one game, then bombed badly in the next. They never tell us it will go thus, as we first sign-up for the Tartan Army, but, we learn quickly.

We may speak of: “The Luck of the Irish,” but, as the Guinness Six Nations 2021 unfolds, that old cliché is starting to look more and more like: “The Luck of the Welsh.”

Wayne Pivac's side is a limited one; they fall a long way short of the great entertaining sides of the past. Sure, they have one or two special players, but, in all honesty, they are not that good. Yet, there they sit two wins from two starts, both victories aided by playing a good portion of either match against 14-men.

I was convinced in Week One, had Peter O'Mahony stayed on the park, Ireland would have won. I am even more convinced, had Zander Fagerson stayed on the park yesterday, we too would have won.

Of course, what POM and Zander failed to do in the games was, obey Jock Stein's First Law of Game Management - “Don't give the referee a chance to intervene and hurt you.”

Basically – keep the heid, don't make daft choices, and have individual and collective TEAM DISCIPLINE. For all the good things Scotland did yesterday – they didn't do this basic at all well.

However, increasingly, in rugby today, we are seeing referees and referees' interpretations of the Laws, coming into play. Look at the two red card incidents: even at normal speed, POM's foul was – under the instructions to referees, to cut-out blows to the head – was a straight red card, every time.

The Zander incident was less clear-cut. In 'real time' it didn't look that bad, and, received wisdom among the commentators was of a sympathy for Fagerson, which was absolutely absent from O'Mahony.

There is a wide-spread belief that referees are loathe to brandish their red card and will generally bend over backwards to avoid so-doing. Look at the other contentious issue yesterday – the one when Leigh Halfpenny took out an airborne Darcy Graham – and escaped without even a yellow card.

I can hark back to a previous Scotland v Wales clash, when in a near-identical incident Geoff Cross was red carded while flat on his back on a stretcher, following what I still maintain was a Mai Tobi Geri (a flying front kick in karate) from Lee Byrne.

We want consistent refereeing – and we are not getting this - Chairman Jeffrey – wearing your World Rugby hat, please note.

One suggestion, which I have seen put forward widely on social media is – that after the standard ten minutes in the sin bin following a card, a red-carded player can be replaced. I could live with this, certainly at the top end of the game, where what should be spectacles of good rugby are being ruined by red cards.

Forty per cent of this season's 6N games have already been ruined by cards, this is bad for the game. I still maintain too, the quicker we get back to old-style rucking, where the ball has to first be played by a foot, then the quicker we will stamp out both these red-card incidents and also, as happened to England's Jack Willia at Twickenham yesterday, instances where a player in the vulnerable “Jackal position” is badly hurt.

With old-fashioned rucking, those front five players, loitering as road blocks in midfield, would need to get into the rucks, which would create space in midfield. This, with the faster ball provided by over the ball and heel back rucking, would speed up the game, and hopefully provide more running rugby and tries.

However, for some reason, the game's high heid yins, such as Jeffrey, seem reluctant to do the obvious and BRING BACK RUCKING.

OKAY – that's the greetin' done with. I have played the poor old Scotland card. This, however, cannot cover the facts, our Red Zone Conversion Rate in our first two games has not been good enough. |We are dominating possession, but failing to convert pressure into points.

I am confident Gregor Townsend is well aware of this failing. We have the best attacking fly half in world rugby, and the best attacking full back. We have two wingers who are as good as any when it comes to knowing where the try line, and how to get over it. But, we are just not getting pay-off for this talent.

Up front, we do not seem to have either the bulky ball carriers who can smash through defensive walls from close range, or the split second decision-making to get us over when pressing. Hard work on the training field might sort this out, but, sort it out we must.

We are not far away from going from a good team to a very-good one, but, it's those last, crucial tiny steps of progress which are the hardest to do.

I am not going into Private Fraser mode just yet.

FINALLY, while I have seen him have better games, I thought Mikey Adamson had a reasonably good game at Twickenham on Saturday. I marked him down for not marching that twat Farrell back ten metres, after England's golden child rushed up to get involved in a spot of hand-bags, then spat the dummy when Mikey pulled him up for it.

England must be a nightmare to referee. Spoiled children, used to dealing with poor referees like Matthew Carley on a weekly basis, and with the English bug of entitlement.

Mikey did ok overall, if there is any justice, Saturday will not be his last 6N match.

Mind you, my dream 6N officiating team would be Sara Cox, Hollie Davidson and Joy Neville – that trio of ladies would quickly sort out the boys when they threatened to get out of hand.

Don't Get Our Hopes Up For Today - It Will Not Be Easy

IF I HAVE learned anything in my seventy-plus years on this lump of rock, it is that in life, there are three ways of doing anything:

1. The easy way

2. The hard way

3. The Scottish way.

The Scottish way of doing things is basically, the hard way – plus. If ever a nation specialised in making things difficult for themselves, it is us. Given this jaundiced view of the pitfalls of being Scottish, I am not as confident about this afternoon's clash with Wales at BT Murrayfield, as I perhaps should be.

Last weekend, we reduced the reigning Guinness Six Nations Champions to poor also-rans. We got a bloody big, 38-year old monkey off our backs in the process. Reasonably, we might be expected to kick-on from beating Engalnd and, with home advantage, thrash Wales this afternoon.

Well yes, a fair interpretation of what might happen. But, and of course, there has to be a but, this is Scotland we are talking about. We have a long and shameful record of following-up a big win with an equally big loss. Given the problems in selection Welsh coach Wayne Pivac is struggling with, why should we not be confident about winning today? Because, we are Scotland, that's why.

PLEASE – Toony and the lads, for once – get it right, give us another performance to be proud of and keep winning. Is that too-much to ask for.

I like the team Toony has selected. Shame about the need for changes, but, I can see why he went with the squad he has chosen. I think we have the better-balanced and stronger squad. So, come on lads, let's, for once, get it right.

HOLLIE DAVIDSON is my favourite current Scottish referee. Like the majority of the old geezers in Scottish rugby, I'd love to have her as my grand-daughter. I was delighted when she was named to take the whistle in the Glasgow v Benetton game. Just a pity the weather has postponed her PRO14 debut.

Good luck too, to Mikey Adamson, who will be the first Scottish referee in 19 years to control a Six Nations game, when he takes charge of England v Italy. Onwards and upwards Mikey.

SPEAKING of referees, we lost another one this week, with the sudden death of Phil Reid.

Phil played hooker for Ayr, then switched to refereeing, where he was a popular figure on Ayrshire and Glasgow pitches. A popular figure in the clubhouse and a guy with the good of the game at heart, Phil will be missed.

JUST A thought, but, what if, like the Irish team – the SRU was to list a Scotland player's original club team with his professional team.

In that case the Scottish team would read (as far as I can work out):

1. Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh and Hawick)

2. George Turner (Glasgow and Stewart's-Melville)

3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow and Glasgow Hawks)

4. Jonny Gray (Exeter and Cambuslang)

5. Scott Cummings (Glasgow and Glasgow Hawks)

6. Blade Thomson (Scarlets and Taranaki)

7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh and Leicester Tigers)

8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow and Glasgow Hawks)

9. Ali Price (Glasgow and Bedford Blues)

10. Finn Russell (Racing '92 and Falkirk)

11. Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh and University of Pretoria)

12. James Lang (Harlequins)

13. Chris Harris (Gloucester and Tynedale)

14. Darcy Graham (Edinburgh and Hawick)

15. Stuart Hogg (Exeter and Hawick)

16. Dave Cherry (Edinburgh and Currie)

17. Oli Kebble (Glasgow and University of Cape Town)

18. WP Nel (Edinburgh and Western Province)

19. Richie Gray (Glasgow and Glasgow Hawks)

20. Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons and Carlisle)

21. Scott Steele (Harlequins and Dumfries Saints)

22. Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh and University of Johannesburg)

23. Huw Jones (Glasgow and University of Cape Town)

Mind you, not a good look when only eight domestic Scottish clubs are mentioned in a 23 man squad. Also, the University of Cape Town is third in the list of clubs providing more than one player. And, I went with the player's first adult team, which is why Finn Russell is listed as Falkirk, rather than Stirling County, his first club, or Ayr, from whom he joined Warriors.

Maybe that's why Scotland does not follow the Irish pattern.

THE NEWS that there will be no relegation from The Gallagher Premiership this season, and perhaps for the next four years, just might be the game-changer the game needs.

Loathe them or merely dislike them, there is no doubt, England is the cash driver for sport in these islands, and, if they do away with relegation, it just might offer the English clubs the freedom to stop playing a brand of rugby geared towards not being relegated, and to start playing an attractive, free-flowing game. This in turn could generate more fans and more income.

I could also see, looking some way down the road, an amalgamation between the English Premiership and the PRO14 to give us the NFL-style set-up which could really see rugby take-off as a rival to football.

Well, a man can dream.

You Can Push a PIss-Take Too Far TCD

I CANNOT really blame The Junta at Murrayfield. After all, the way the Scottish Government has been going on, failing to cover-up the Alex Salmond stitch-up was really starting to compromise The Junta's hard-won place as the biggest bunch of tossers in the world of corporate governance – that really demanded a pointless gesture to re-establish the SRU's rightful place at the top of the incompetence management heap.

So, as if to prove the old adage: “Madness is repeatedly making the same mistakes, in the hope of a different outcome,” what do TCD and The Tossers come up with – well: they play musical chairs with a couple of positions, then sign another third-rate South African.

Maybe they think, with almost no rugby being played and the mainstream Scottish media treating rugby like a true minority sport – they might get away with it.

WRONG we have noticed, and, the troops are not happy.

I must admit, whoever is in-charge of Elite Player Development at Murrayfield at the moment, appears to be playing a protracted game of Find the Lady (only it's find the man) with the registrations of several Scottish players – as players are shuttled either straight along the M8 between Murrayfield and Scotstoun – or they make the same trip via a short detour elsewhere.

When it comes to player placement, the order of preference appears to be:

1. Is he a South African?

2. Is he a New Zealander or Australian?

3. Is he a Pacific Islander?

4. Is he Scotland-qualified

5. Is he Scottish, who has come through a Scottish club?

Nobody appears to be asking: “What the fuck is going on here?” Nobody is pointing-out to The Junta, they are supposed to be promoting and growing the game in Scotland. How does favouring foreign talent ahead of native promise promote and grow the game? Do they think our heads button-up the back, the way they treat Scots as second-class players in Scotland?

However, individual members of The Junta, did not always think this way, as a copy of a cutting from The Herald, which I was sent this week, demonstrates.

The following was taken from a piece, co-written by Neil Drysdale and Kevin Ferrie, for The Herald, in November, 2003, reads:

 

“John Jeffrey, (pictured above), the Grand Slam-winning Scottish flanker, has launched a scathing indictment of the SRU's alleged mismanagement and demanded an independent review of the sport as soon as the World Cup squad returns from Australia.

Speaking at the centenary dinner of Cambuslang RFC on Saturday, Jeffrey castigated the governing body for allowing playing numbers to shrink from 12,000 to under 6000 in a decadeP: said that Ian McGeechan's appointment upstairs at Murrayfield as director of rugby "smacked of nepotism" and "should never have been approved without the job being advertised"; then declared it was time the clubs "got their act together and sorted out the mess".

Last night, elaborating on his theme, the Borders farmer, known as the Great White Shark in his playing days, was even more trenchant in his assessment of the scene, admitting that he had been wrong to call for the creation of districts, at the expense of clubs.

"It hasn't worked and these last couple of weeks have been the lowest point I can remember, with the national team performing dismally against France, the three districts all losing [as they did again this weekend], and then Scotland scraping home by the skin of their teeth against Fiji.

"In straightforward terms, the national side is poor, the districts are a flop, the club circuit is a joke, and the SRU committee needs to be modernised, away from the system where the president gets elected by Buggins' turn. We are trying to solve the problem from the top downward rather than the bottom up, and nowadays the supporters never meet the players who are cocooned away from everybody.

"It also helps nobody bringing in all these foreign sporrans, kilted Kiwis and Australians, and my belief is that the clubs, who are the SRU, have to get together and halt the slide through their own efforts.”

Jeffrey, 40-times-capped, was honest enough to concede the district experiment had failed.

"If our leading players have to go to England to get professional contracts, so be it, because it didn't do our football team any harm in the 1980s," said Jeffrey. "The clubs have been left high and dry, but what they shouldn't forget is they have the power to change things. They could start by demanding an explanation as to why Ian McGeechan's appointment was rubber-stamped, despite the fact his star is on the wane. Why wasn't the post advertised, as it would have been in any other branch of business?

"I have the greatest respect for Ian and Jim Telfer and what they have achieved in the past, but good coaches don't necessarily make good administrators and we are reaping that harvest of that philosophy at the moment."

I wonder if, 17 and a bit years on, the same Mr Jeffrey, now the Chairman of the SRU, still has his doubts about how some top Murrayfield positions are filled by “rubber-stamped appointment of Murrayfield insiders.” Does he still wonder how some jobs are not being advertised and won via interviewing a short list of candidates? Does he also feel: "It also helps nobody bringing in all these foreign sporrans, kilted Kiwis and Australians, and my belief is that the clubs, who are the SRU, have to get together and halt the slide through their own efforts.?”

I don't have a problem with members of the Caledonian Diaspora, such as Cameron Redpath, the French-born, English-educated son of the Galashiels-born, former Scotland captain Bryan Redpath, deciding to play for Scotland. I don't have a problem with the other Anglo-Scots, such as Ali Price, Hamish Watson and Chris Harris in the current international squad.

But, when we see young Scottish players being forced to stand behind South African imports with no Scottish lineage, sorry, enough is enough. This is not acceptable and, to me, and a lot of other people in Scottish Rugby. It is not a position the SRU can defend.

It is an absolute disgrace, and it is time it was stopped.

We Have Some Players In Lions Contention, But, First Things First, We've Got A Six Nations To Win

I HAVE DECIDED to break the habit of a lifetime, and start picking my Lions Test and 'Dirt Trackers' XVs, based on each round of the Six Nations.

After every round I will assess the players, then pick a Test team, and a midweek team. I know, I am on-record as describing such selections as meaningless and annoying – but, since I cannot stop them, I may as well join-in.

My round one line-ups, as always in 1-15 order are:

 

 

Test XV	Midweek XV
Rory Sutherland (S)	Wyn Jones (W)
Ken Owen (W)	George Turner (S)
Tadhg Furlong (I)	Zander Fagerson (S)
Tadhg Beirne (I)	Scott Cummings (S)
Jonny Gray (S)	Maro Itoje (E)
Jamie Ritchie (S)	Mark Wilson (E)
Hamish Watson (S)	Josh van der Flier (I)
CJ Stander (I)	Matt Fagerson (S)
Tomos Williams (W)	Conor Murray (I)
Finn Russell (S)	Johnny Sexton (I)
Duhan van der Merwe (S)	James Lowe (I)
Robbie Henshaw (I)	Cammy Redpath (S)
Garry Ringrose (I)	Chris Harris (S)
Sean Maitland (S)	Louis Rees-Zammit (W)
Stuart Hogg (S) (captain)	Leigh Halfpenny (W)

Of course, there is no way that would be the Lions Test XV, or even that every one of these 30 players gets on the aircraft – assuming the tour goes ahead – it's all a bit of fun.

And, by the way, on a day when the seemingly ageless Tom Brady struck a blow for the oldies, at Superbowl LV, what a shame that Alun Wyn Jones looked but a shell of the Welsh powerhouse he has been for so long.

It is often said, timing when to quit is the hardest decision in sport, on Sunday's evidence, AWJ has maybe lingered too-long.

WHEN I first got into rugby back in the 1950s, England was not a particularly good team. Of course, back then the word of the “57 Old Farts” was absolute, the team was picked by a selection committee, which meant horse-trading of a high order went on – as it did in the other nations.

England's problem has always been: they have greater choice. For instance, the Irish squad is chosen from the players with the four provincial teams. These guys are, apart from the Belfast Giants ice hockey squad - who are mainly North Americans – the only full-time professional players in a team sport on the entire island of Ireland.

The Wales squad is mainly picked from the four regional teams, while the bulk of the Scotland squad play for either Edinburgh or Glasgow. England, on the other hand, has the pick of 12 clubs (13 if you count Saracens).

So, the coaches of the three Celtic nations, having a more-restricted choice, may be less-inclined to tinker with an under-performing team than Eddie Jones, which leads to greater consistency of selection and better team bonding. There are indeed occasions when small is not only beautiful, but the preferred option.

IN THE post-match madness of Twickenham on Saturday night, we saw the Fagerson brothers pictured holding the Calcutta Cup. Doubtless there is also a picture of the Gray brothers holding it, but, for me, the picture which summed it up, was this one below, of that manly embrace between Stuart Hogg and Rory Sutherland.

 

 

There we have it, two players, who first encountered each other as class-mates at Trinity Primary School, who studied together at Hawick High School and played together through the Hawick youth development programme and then, aged 28, shared in Scotland's first Twickenham win in their lifetimes.

Given the Hawick rugby legacy, I'd like to think, somewhere in the toon, today, there are another two Trinity PS pupils, who could go on and replicate the feat of Hogg and Sutherland.

For the future of Scottish rugby, I certainly hope so. A strong Hawick means a strong Scotland.

ONE OF my favourite British Lions legends is the one about Willie John McBride bringing his 1974 Invincibles to heel, the day after their series-clinching third test win.

To a man, they were still pissed from one almighty Saturday night hooley, when South African TV decided to re-show the previous day's match. Of course, some of the team wanted to sit down and watch the game in which they had played, only for their leader to remind them: “That's history, we move on.”

He was already thinking of the final game, and the chance to remain unbeaten on-tour. Well, I sincerely hope, none of Saturday's victorious Scotland team wants to go back and revisit the Twickenham win. That game is in the past, it cannot be changed.

On Saturday, they are at home, to a not very good Welsh team. That match, and winning it, has to be our focus. Get it win, then park it, and move on to the next game.

Take it one game at a time, keep winning, take the Six Nations and they will have left a far-more-lasting legacy than a first Twickenham win in almost 40 years.

Getting carried away after beating England is an old Scottish habit. Sure, it's great to beat them, but, there are higher peaks facing us.

I SAW over the weekend, Simon Berghan I set to be the latest Scottish player to do the M8 shuttle run – switching from Edimnburgh to Glasgow.

I may be wrong, but, it looks to me as if his arrival at Scotstoun will mean the departure of Darcy Rae, a Scotland internationalist whose face does not seem to fit with Danny Wilson.

Rae, in common with all the Scotland-qualified Warriors tight-heads, is younger than Berghan. He is also, for me, a better prop. It seems daft to jettison a 26-year-old West of Scotland boy, in favour of a 31-year-old brought over from New Zealand.

What message does that send to the many rugby-mad youngsters in the West, whose dream is to play for Glasgow.

I wonder at some of the personnel decisions being made by the Murrayfield apparatchiks these days.