You Win Nothing With Kids, But, You Still Have To Play Them

I HAVE consistently said – any problems around the FOSROC Super6 competition have been caused by The Junta inside BT Murrayfield. As the lowest tier of Scottish Rugby's High Performance Department, it fills the gap between the club game and the full-time professional one – we need such a level of the game.

But, the way it was set-up, the manner in which it was “sold” to the clubs, this was flawed and caused unnecessary strife. With the first (nearly) full season over, some of the critics have shut-up. Sure, the forces of Aye Beenism will always find something about S6 with which to complain, but, they cannot try to say S6 has not been a step-up from the old Premiership and has provided a higher level of rugby.

What Murrayfield never told us, and I don't suppose they ever will is this – going down the route of franchising Super 6, rather than setting it up as a quasi-Districts tier, actually saved the SRU money. Certainly, the governing body is subsidising some of the costs of running S6, but, the major risk is being borne by the six clubs, who stand to benefit from any profits which accrue.

But, here's a question for the naysayers – who would have paid for the greater costs had we gone down the route of six District teams? These teams would all have required off-field management teams; full coaching staffs; kit, facilities; not to mention players, even if they were semi-professional and only paid by the District for the time they were there.

I warrant, if you costed these six teams out, the drain on the SRU would have been greater than that for their subsidising of the six franchise. With the franchises, they have the benefit of already established club set-ups.

Then there are the match day costs – programmes, stewarding, corporate hospitality. That would all have to come out of the central SRU budget, whereas, with the six franchises, these costs come out of the regular club budget.

Of course S6 isn't perfect. Certainly both the six franchises and the wider game will, when looking at the season just ended, find areas on which they can improve. But, for all the carping and moaning, nobody could argue against this fact. The standard of play was higher than we had in the old Premiership – and is far-higher than what we are seeing in the present Premiership. But, remember, it is a work in progress – let it develop over another few seasons.

ONE OF the repeated sticks with which Super6 is beaten is how it works in developing young players. Last week, one of the blog's regular readers asked me bluntly – how many games did the young players play?

One of the selling points of S6 was that the 30 Stage III Scottish Rugby Academy “students” would be drafted to one of the six franchises – five players to each franchise. So, how many games did they play? Here is the answer:

• Angus Fraser (SC) – 11 games – 1 start – 10 off the bench

• Robbie McCallum, Rhys Tait, Euan Ferrie (BB) – 9 games – 8 (1)

• Roan Frostwick (w) – 9 games – 3 (6)

• Cameron Scott (SK) – 8 games – 4 (4)

• Euan Cunningham (SC) – 8 games – 3 (5)

• Christian Townsend, Jamie Drummone (AB) – 6 games - 2 (4)

• Rory Jackson (AB) 6 games – 1 (5)

• Dan Gamble (H) – 5 games – 0 (5)

• Jacob Henry (SK) – 4 games – 4 (0)

• Max Williamson (SC) – 4 games – 3 (1)

• Murphy Walker (SC), Ben Evans, Michael Jones (H) – 4 games – 2 (2)

• Ross McKnight (SC), Matt Russell (H) – 4 games 0 (4)

• Finlay Callaghan (AB) – 3 games – 2 (1)

• Michael Gray (BB), Harri Morris (SK) – 2 games – 2 (0)

• Matt Currie (W) – 1 game - 1 (0)

• Cole Lamberton (W) 1 game – 0 (1)

• Alex Samuel (AB), Gregor Brown (BB), Jamie Campbell (H), Nathan Sweeney, Patrick Harrison (SK), Harry Paterson and Rudi Brown (W) did not even make the bench for any of the games.

• In addition, Jamie Drummond (AB) played 3 games on-loan, Michael Jones (H) and Cole Lamberton (W) played 2 games on-loan and Rory Jackson (AB) played 1 game on-loan.

In total the 23 young players who got game time started 60 games and came off the bench in a further 69, giving them a median average of 5.6 game involvements each – which doesn't look too-bad, on paper.

When to blood young players is not an exact science. Some coaches might want to give their youngsters every chance, but, they still have matches to win so, in certain situations – a tight match in which his team is under pressure for instance, a coach will be less willing to throw on the kids than when the game is well won with 20 minutes to play.

The great Sir Bobby Robson always maintained, nothing beat what he called: "time on the grass" for developing young players, for instance.

Interesting too, was the differing approaches of the two full-time URC clubs to Super6.

Edinburgh seemed quite happy to release players to play for Watsonians. Leaving aside Angus Williams, who is on a partnership deal between Watsonians and Edinburgh and who played in 9 S6 games for 'Sonians – 7 starts, 2 off the bench; Edinburgh players Sam Grahamslaw – 6 games – 4 (2), Jordan Venter – 4 games – 3 (1), Connor Boyle – 2 games – 2 (0) and Ben Muncaster – 2 games - 2 (0), were involved in a total of 14 games for the Myreside club. Watsonians' five allocated Stage III players featured in a total of 11 games – 7 (4).

No Glasgow players were released to play in Super6.

These figures certainly make for interesting reading and are a great conversation starter.

Controversial - Moi?

I HAVE BEEN drawn this week to that old, familiar French saying, first coined by John-Baptiste Alphonse Karr: “plus ça change plus c'est la meme chose.” Because indeed, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Old John-Baptiste's statement of the obvious came to mind as I addressed the thorny subject of whether or not Super6 players should be allowed to play for their core clubs – all of which are in Tennent's National League 1, now their S6 season is over.

I can see the reasons for NOT allowing them to play in NL1, but, by the same token I could ask – why not? And here are the reasons why not:

Rugby Union is an OPEN game. If clubs choose to pay players, the SRU may disapprove all they like, they may bring in SRU bye-laws designed to prevent S6 players playing in NL1, but, if push came to shove, I don't think they could prevent it.

It would need just one player to do a Jean-Marc Bosman and take the SRU, of indeed any of the Unions who tried to stop him, to court for restraint of trade.

As I said above, Rugby Union is an Open sport, there is no difference between professional and amateur players. If Wullie MacGlumpher, a flanker with one of our S6 franchises, is offered an extension to his semi-professional contract to play for the franchise's core club, and the SRU tried to stop him – he simply sues them for “restraint of trade,” and he would win – thereby freeing-up all the other S6 players to play as well.

At the moment, some of the S6 players are free to play for a club side. I notice, for instance that Southern Knights' Andrew Mitchell has been named at centre for Hawick, for their Tennent's Premiership clash with Musselburgh. Mitchell's last game was a ten-minute cameo off the bench in Sunday's Super6 Final. Finlay Scott and Callum Young are apparently back with Jed-forest after their S6 exertions.

Gavin Lowe, who had a 17-minute cameo, also off the bench, for the victorious Ayrshire Bulls, is listed on the bench for Ayr's Club XV against Dundee High School FP, at Mayfield. If those four players can play, why not the other 190 S6 players? This one needs sorting out quickly, although, it might be an indication they have opted out of S6 when it returns.

Of course, one thing which has been perhaps overlooked in all this is the problem caused by the different length of the S6 season.

Back in the amateur days, when I was a lad, when you had to buy your own boots and kit, and pay into the beer kitty post-match, the SRU ruled with a firm hand. You could not play before 1 September in any year and that season (for 15-a-side play) ended on 30 April.

That's a 36-week season out of the 52 weeks in a year. Well, the S6 campaign began on the weekend of 30/31 July/1 August. It ended on the weekend of 15/16/17 October, 11 weeks later.

My understanding is that S6 is now closed down until after the 2022 Six Nations, which finish on Saturday, 19 March, 2022. That's a 22-week shut-down. S6 then resumes, with a domestic warm-up series of games, before the cross-border games against the Welsh Premiership clubs – a 14-week season finishing with Finals weekend.

The competition then shuts down again for July, resuming again on 1 August. This means, they will be playing in 25 of the 52 weeks between the end of July, start of August 2021 and the same period in 2022.

In the good old amateur days of heavy pitches, real winters etc. you could guarantee a lot of games would be called-off due to bad pitches, snow, rain etc. Also, a lot of the clubs didn't play on international weekends, so, your average club player would be lucky to play more than 25 games in a season – the same number as the S6 guys can look forward to this year.

Given the ferocity of the collisions and the pace of the games at S6, I dare say a lot of the players, particularly the forwards, will be glad of the rest – but, some of the fringe players, who only got game time off the bench, well there's a case for allowing them to play down. If we could allow Edinburgh and Glasgow fringe players to play down in the Premiership and in S6 – and they are full-time professionals, why are we so-intent on stopping part-timers with the S6 franchises for doing the same?

We really need a civilised debate on this subject – without some of the pish we've had to endure on the matter this far. I ask those NL1 clubs who don't fancy facing S6 players: what are you scared off? I reckon it's as much, if not more, a case of – “we might lose players, who realise they're just as good as the S6 guys and want to have a go,” as it is: “we're scared our players get hurt.”

Lego Sets Are Never Meant To Be Permanent

I HAVE never been a fan of “Legoland,” as I prefer to call the DAM Health Edinburgh Stadium. I can accept the need for a “mini-Murrayfield” for Edinburgh and other games, leaving the main ground for internationals and really big games, but, I still believe, what they built showed a lack of ambition.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, I was covering football and had a regular gig at Rugby Park for Kilmarnock home games. My press box seat was four or five rows back from one of the vertical pillars holding-up the stand roof – and you have no idea how many free kicks were awarded behind that pillar.

Eventually, I got an assurance from the Club Chairman, when Killie were able to modernise and upgrade the main stand, and that pillar had to come down, I could have a go at the cutting gun.

Forty years on, the Main Stand is The Frank Beattie Stand, the pillar is still there and, although the press box has moved, some Killie fans are still getting their viewing of the action blocked by that pillar.

Legoland's stand roofs are held up by (admittedly narrower) pillars, but, I have heard complaints from some of the fans who watched Sunday's S6 final, about how annoying these pillars are.

Legoland, which is largely constructed of temporary stands, will become a permanent feature of the greater Murrayfield “footprint.” I may be wrong, but, I can never see Edinburgh's crowds growing to the extent whereby they need to play in the National Stadium, to accommodate their 60,000-plus crowds for home games against Benetton etc.

Since the smaller ground is going to be a permanent fixture – why didn't they build it as such? Proper, modern stands, with no pillars getting in the way. Sure, it might have been costlier in the short term, but, in 10 or 15 years time, when Legoland has to be pulled down and upgraded, the costs will be greater still.

And, if I am still around, heading for my 90^th birthday – don't think I will not remind the SRU of the small thinking and short-termism of the by then reputation-trashed TCD.

Another complaint from Sunday concerned the potential for injury from that in-goal race between Ayrshire Bulls' Bobby Beattie and Southern Knights' Jacob Henry, which saw Beattie thump into some temporary barriers and end up lying on a bed of what Dougie Vipond so-eloquently called “large chuckies.”

The SRU really needs to have a look at that particular part of the ground. Methinks there should have been a wider run-off area behind the in-goal area, which seems a tad short to me.

Beattie, fortunately, didn't appear to suffer injury, but, given his lineage it would probably take a far-harder thump to hurt him. But, surely the lesson from Sunday is, a softer landing and a bit more padding is required.

But, as I say, if they'd built a proper stadium in the first place, we wouldn't be having to raise these issues.

I WAS born and raised and have lived most of my life in villages in the East Ayrshire coalfield. Your average male citizen of this part of the world is about five foot seven tall, almost as broad and has a flat top to his head, for use as an emergency pit prop while hewing coal.

Like most of Scotland, we are a race of wee men, angry wee men. The occasional big man we produce, who makes an impact in sport is usually held back by being a really nice guy – think the Brown or Gray brothers. We don't produce big, rough bar stewards who would kick their grannies, like several Saffers and All Blacks I could name.

Right now, Scottish Rugby is suffering from a shortage of big men, as witness the national squad which Gregor Townsend named this week. Jonny Gray, Scott Cummings, Alex Craig, Ben Toolis, Glen Young and Cameron Henderson are all injured, Richie Gray and Tim Swinson are apparently now too-old to be considered, which has been good news for young guns Marshall Sykes and Jamie Hodgson.

By my reckoning, this leaves Andy Davidson and Callum Hunter-Hill as the only unused taxis on the rank.

Pity old Bill Baillie is not around, when he was Head of PE at Cumnock Academy he managed to grow a succession of giants, schoolboys who were taller than six foot five, maybe he had a secret growth plan. In fact, there was one family of basketball-playing brothers, of whom two were six foot eight inches tall, another was six foot six and the shortest was six foot four. We should be actively monitoring such families for the good of Scottish rugby.

The best lock Scottish Rugby never had was Bobby Archibald Senior, six foot six, could leap tall buildings, a great ball handler and as mean a Paisley Buddie as ever walked up New Street. He captained Scotland and played for Great Britain, while his even-taller son Robert is considered the greatest-ever British player. But, Bobby would have been one helluva lock forward.

I SEE heads are rolling at BT Murrayfield, with Jim Mallinder overhauling the High Performance Department. We already know that Tapee Henning is leaving his post as head of referees. No harm to the Saffer, but, I don't think his waygoing will lead to a flood of tears and it may create an opening for the likes of Andy Macpherson, who has gained a lot of kudos with his work in promoting the likes of Mike Adamson, Ben Blain, Hollie Davidson and Sam Grove-White.

With regard to Henning, maybe he can go back home and help the South African clubs come to terms with northern hemisphere law interpretations, They'd have been better-off perhaps consulting him rather than John Lacey on differing interpretations.

Less certain is the status of Sean Lineen. As one of the 1990 Grand Slam Heroes, “The Kilted Kiwi' has a guaranteed place in our hearts. However, in sport, the hardest thing to do is time your departure. Sean turns 60 on Christmas Day, he's a full generation away from even today's most-senior players, so maybe it's time for him to step back, perhaps into an advisory role. But, one thing is sure, if he is going, he's made a hugely-significant contribution to Scottish rugby and he will be sorely missed.

I have seen other names mentioned, for promotion and advancement. Most them can be filed under” “rose without trace,” in my view. Oh! And strangely, one or two others appear to have somehow survived.

Murrayfield moves in mysterious ways.

Scotland - We Could Have Been Contenders

IN MY WEE East Ayrshire village, fitba is King. The wee boys all want to grow-up and wear the village team's colours, perhaps be in the team which wins us another Scottish Junior Cup.

Over the years the village and the club have produced several full Scotland caps, but, the guy who won the most – today he's a weel-kent club manager – and was awarded the SFA silver medal for winning more than 25 caps, well, his is a strange story.

As a schoolboy, he seldom got past the bench, no Scottish schools honours came his way. Indeed, the villager who ran the local secondary school team for many years, producing a number of Scotland caps and a good few senior players along the way later confessed: “I simply never got him – I didn't think he'd ever make it in the Juniors, far less play for Scotland, but, I was wrong.”

The school janitor, who had played in the old English First Division back in the day saw something, however. He encouraged the kid to keep trying and takes great pleasure in his success.

The man himself, you ask him,he will tell you: “There are far-better players than I was still living in the village.”

Another village boy Big Andy, former Scotland manager George Burley, who played in the same school team, said of him: “Andy is the most naturally-talented player I ever played with, he could do things with the ball nobody else could.”

But, the closest Andy got to the big time was playing in the Juniors with a good Auchinleck Talbot team, where he alternated long periods of hardly seeming interested with occasional, match-winning, spells of magic.

However, Andy realised he had missed the boat, but, some years down the line he had a chance to stop others making the same mistake. He goaded and encouraged our 25-caps-plus man, and another local boy – who had married a village girl, to work on their talent. The other guy went on to captain Scotland. They listened, learned, put the work in and got the pay-off.

Another wee story. During one of his spells as manager of St Mirren, current Love Street Chief Executive Tony Fitzpatrick covered the dressing room area at Love Street with printed homilies:

• Fail to prepare – prepare to fail

• The harder I train – the luckier I get

• Success is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration

• There is no substitute for hard work

• Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy

I don't know how much attention his young Buddies paid to these, but, when Ajax came to play Rangers in a European game, and trained at Love Street, their coaching staff took plenty of pictures of the homilies, which may well have appeared on the walls back in Amsterdam.

Putting up inspirational messages may work, but, at the end of the day, if the players choose to ignore the inspiration, or not listen to the older guys telling them they can still make it, then put in the effort – well, 20 or 30 years down the line, they'll be sitting in the corner of the pub giving their own version of Marlon Brando's “Ah could have bin a contenda,” speech.

It also happens in rugby. We had a flanker at our wee club who was a potential world-beater, but for one small defect – he would not train. He was a stick-out every Saturday, but, we never saw him at training. He even got picked-up by the local Premiership club and went, via one game in the Seconds to the Firsts, but, here his aversion to training meant he was soon back with us. A functioning brain cell and a modicum of dedication – I'm certain he would have played for Scotland.

We had another guy, a big lock, who could never find favour with the coach and the guys picking the first team, so, he quit rugby during that brief flurry of American Football in Scotland.

He got picked for the Scotland American Football team, where he met a guy from the local Premiership rugby club, who was having a bit of fun dabbling in grid iron. When the Scottish grid iron bubble burst, this guy persuaded our former lock to give rugby another try – he ended up playing for Glasgow.

If you've come this far, over 700 words into this post, you may be wondering where the old fool is going. If so, you have reached the kernel of this story.

Professional rugby is going the way of professional football. The big clubs have guys watching the top schools sides in action, picking-out, in their late teens, the young players they think will make it. These guys go into academies and get picked for age group teams – they are contenders, for professional contracts.

There are approximately 80 schools and clubs in Scotland playing rugby within the SRU system, at U-18 level. At roughly 20 players per squad, that's a pool of 1600 potential adult players every year. I don't know the exact figure, it may well be a QI answer (nobody knows), but, anecdotal evidence suggests 50% drop out on leaving school or youth rugby – which cuts the pool to 800 players.

Of these, maybe 25 tops, will get an Academy contract – that's 3%. This leaves the other 97% - 775 players, who have a hard road to travel. First of all, they've got to get past the established players into their club's first XV. Once there, they have to play well enough, consistently enough, to attract the attention of one of the six S6 clubs.

If they can pick-up an S6 contract, they still have a chance of an eventual professional contract, however, their old team mate – who got the age group recognition and the Academy contract – he's already half-way down the home straight ahead of them.

Say only 3% get their chance in S6 – that's another 23 players each season, call it 24, 4 per club, you see how difficult it is. And they will not all make it. Some will be unable to give the necessary time, due to work or other commitments; some will be injured; others will simply not enjoy the mental grind of a semi-professional league but will happily drop down to ordinary club rugby and play with their mates.

Making it via our admittedly crooked young player pathway is hard. When the route of travel is via S6, or the traveller is a late developer, the road is even tougher. But, put the work in and success may follow.

You see Scotland's problem. We're a small nation, with a limited gene pool. In rugby, we have consistently punched above our weight, but, with newer countries coming in to challenge the Establishment – of which we are a part, we have to work harder, work smarter, and work together, if we are not to suffer the same fate as our football team and drop down the pecking order.

That's the challenge – now, how are we gong to meet it?

Or, 20 or 30 years down the line, is TCD's successor's successor's successor going to be sitting in the cheap seats at a World Rugby Congress moaning: “We're Scotland, we used to be contenders.”

 

 

Them Scots - The Most Greetin'-Faced People On Earth

ON SUNDAY I posted a blog about the final week-end of the FOSROC Super6 competition. On Monday, the carping started – weel-kent supporters of Premiership clubs casually mentioning: “Didn't appear to be many people at the final;” Fully-paid-up members of the “Super6 is the Devil's work and must be stopped – NOW” club and of course, the forces of Aye-Beenism in full anti-S6 flight, with: “I played in front of bigger crowds in the old Premiership.”

The official attendance was given as 1500, which I don't think is too bad for a game, played on a dreich October day on a neutral venue. This is Scotland, the land of the clans. Unless it's the national side, or they have a dog in the fight, Scots don't tend to turn-up to big games. I know of a couple of rugby men, affiliated to other Ayrshire clubs, who live within a long clearing kick of Millbrae, but will not cross the street to watch Ayr – and that situation applies to every other Scottish club.

It's in our nature as a people, you could not, even at bayonet point, drive Scots to go and watch something they didn't want to. I can see a few years passing before, if ever, S6 has the crowds which the quality of the rugby merits.

Then there is the simple fact of rugby life – the only tier of the game where we are guaranteed decent crowds is the full-fat international level. Look at our full-time professional sides: Edinburgh and Glasgow, even when playing the top European sides – Racing92, Toulouse, Leinster, whoever, they struggle to fill the 9708 capacity Scostoun, or the 7800 capacity DAM Health Edinburgh Stadium. Even when the two teams collide in the much-hyped 1872 Cup, BT Murrayfield, the national stadium, is never more than one-third full.

The likes of Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs or Dundee United, none of whom has a stadium holding much over 20,000, play in front of larger crowds when being dumped out of Europe by foreign clubs we have never heard of. The fact is, there isn't a big audience for club rugby in Scotland.

Sure, maybe the SRU could put the work in and throw money at building audiences. But, from what I see here, and on reading The Offside Line, the call from the body of the kirk is for money to be spent on getting more players actually playing, than getting people to watch club rugby.

Maybe it's time the SRU sat back and had a real think about a few issues.

Let's start with Super6, where the following questions require quick answers:

• OK, I can accept the August to October short season was partly a response to Covid and a desire to get people playing again, but, what will be the parameters of the S6 season?

• Will we be seeing the mooted March to October season, with a mid-term break in July, in 2022?

• What happens regarding the cross-border games – is it still intended that these be played?

• If so, any chance of Irish involvement?

• Jim Mallinder, speaking on TV after Sunday's final, appeared to suggest the expansion to Super8 might be a year or two away – is there a time-scale for this?

• And, the most-contentious issue – what about players playing down?

That's a big issue at the moment, and one which reeks of hypocrisy. On one hand, you have club officials earnestly proclaiming: “We need to get more players playing,” but not, apparently, if these players have S6 experience and would be playing, perhaps against the complaining club official's club, in National League 1.

Simple question – simple answer required:

• If it's ok for a full All Black to play for his home club in New Zealand club rugby, why isn't it ok for a Super6 player to play in National League 1 for his franchise's core club?

I will wait for an answer, maybe one of the S6 critics can give me it. In fact, I would love to see the six franchise-holding clubs deciding:

• Our S6 squad members are members of our club, the S6 season is now over so we don't see why they cannot play for our Club XV – then play them and see what the other clubs did about it.

But, as I see it, what we really need is LEADERSHIP from BT Murrayfield. Leadership and an Action Plan.

1. Get the Governance Review finished

2. Get it debated at an SGM

3. Either pass it as submitted, or amend it and agree it.

4. Once we know who has the big shout – put an Action Plan in place

5. Decide where we want the national team to be in five, seven or ten years

6. Decide where we want the full-time professional sides to be in the same time-scale

7. Decide how many full-time professional sides we will have by the end of that time-scale

8. Decide how many “Super teams” we want to have by then as well

9. Decide if, with that many super teams, we still need a national club competition, or should the club game be regionalised

10. Decide how much financial support the club game is to get, ring fence that money and let the clubs get on with it.

Of course, this being Scotland, we will struggle to get any kind of consensus on these issues, and, even if we think we have, the usual suspects will be working to undermine any agreement – even before the delegates' cars have left the car park. That's Scotland – the country of the stair-heid rammy, the stramash, the stooshie, bree or carfuffle, not forgetting “the greetin' meetin'.”.

Now there's a thought – what if the SRU was to incorporate an annual “greetin' meetin' into the AGM. I fancy it would become an equestrian meeting – a three-day event.

Aristotle Lets Rip And Says What He Was Thinking

WHEN commenting and pontificating on the game, I occasionally see things which are maybe worth a short paragraph of comment, but cannot run to a full blog. So, here is the first of what I intend becoming a regular series, of me just saying what I think.

Watching my recording of the Sale Sharks v Harlequins game on Friday, I thought:

• If Manu Tuilagi wasn't English, he'd never be mentioned. I thought he was the least-impressive three-quarter on the park. But, he's a “big-name” England player who the BT commentators seem contractually-obliged to hype-up.

• We now have professional scrum-halves skilled at feeding the ball into their own second row. We also have professional hookers skilled at throwing-in down their own line, so their jumpers merely have to jump vertically – and, they mostly get away with it. Time the referees smartened-up on this.

• Was their ever a softer try than that one Harlequins scored, seven seconds into the second half. I felt for Sale's Cobus Weise when he missed that gift of a kick-off.

• I agreed with one of Austin Healy's comments during the game. Should I seek treatment?

On Saturday afternoon, I watched the Exeter v Wasps game, again, the BT commentators were obsessed with the English players – well, understandable. I thought Robin 'Bomber” Hislop put in another cracking shift for Wasps – he really looks at home at that level – makes me wonder why the SRU had to import so-many Saffer props when they didn't play fair with that level of home-grown talent?

Good to see Sam Hidalgo-Clyne coming off the bench for the Chiefs, his star had dimmed somewhat at the back end of last season, but, where is Jonny Gray? Is he injured? If so I must have missed it.

I probably spend too-much time on Facebook. One of the things I have noticed in the various rugby pages thereon which I follow, is the shrieks of outrage from Saffer fans, at the way their poor wee players are being refereed out of games in the URC by those biased northern hemisphere referees.

We now have a new rugby saying, to go alongside: “You never beat the Welsh, you only score more points than them.”

This new saying is: “You never beat the South Africans, you only appoint biased referees to undermine them.”

Or, might it be: “van der Merwe is too-thick to learn from being repeatedly pinged for the same offence.”

This stooshie, I think, reinforces something I have been saying for a while:

• The fault doesn't necessarily lie with the officials, but, with the Laws themselves – and the guys at the top who are enforcing how the match officials operate.

• Sort-out the Laws, then agree a universal interpretation of these laws and the problem will vanish.

• But, for as long as we have match official supervisors in the URC telling their officials to do one thing; their contemporaries in the Gallagher Premiership telling their referees to do something else; the French officials being given different guidance, ditto the Australian, Argentinian, New Zealand and South African officials being told something else – chaos will ensue.

• Sort this out World Rugby.

WHILE WAITING for the Watsonians v Stirling County match to start on the BBC iplayer on Friday night, I watched the intro to that night's URC game at the Kingspan. This got me thinking:

• How come BBC Ulster can show Ulster's home games LIVE and also have a weekly programme focussed on the game in the province?

Well, BBC Northern Ireland has signed a three-year deal which means they will show six live Ulster home games per season. This will consist of two derby matches, two matches versus South African teams, one versus a Welsh region and one versus an Italian team. Should Ulster reach the URC Grand Final during the agreement, BBC Northern Ireland will broadcast the game. (No mention of the two Scottish teams you may note).

BBC Northern Ireland, to my mind, gives more coverage to sport in the Province than BBC Scotland does up here. OK, perhaps we cannot make BBC Scotland cover Scottish Rugby, but, I think we deserve better from our supposed national broadcaster than coverage of the Women's team on the Gaelic service BBC Alba (welcome though this is).

On Sunday night, on the BBC Scotland channel, BBC Shortbread put out a very-good programme covering the final week of the Super6. If they can do this once – why not EVERY week? Why is the incentive not there?

Well, we know the Old Firm cabal who seem to run BBC Scotland's sports output would be most put-out. But, I am sure there is a market for a weekly rugby programme on BBC Shortbread. So, why are we in the Scottish Rugby family not shouting from the roof tops for such a programme?

I have said before, if BBC Scotland will not cover Scottish Rugby, then the SRU should maybe say: “Fuck them,” and become their own rugby media. I am sure they could afford to set-up their own Scottish Rugby Television Service and give the game the coverage it deserves. We are certainly not getting this at the moment.

Mind you, while Chris Paterson has developed into a polished TV performer, for such a service to really work, they would need to have at least one maverick prepared to do something the great Graham Spiers has long accused me of doing – indulging in hermeneutics – that is: questioning the veracity of what is considered “gospel truth.”

IF the SRU was ever to take-up my suggestion and launch their own TV channel, they would need to avoid suggestions of being a Union mouthpiece, so, prepared to say the unsayable.

I'm probably too old, and definitely not acceptable to The Murrayfield Junta, but, I can think of one young rugby writer who could fill the bill.