XV-a-Side column: Doubts growing over the Scottish rugby structure

ANSWERS ON A POSTCARD

There are growing doubts over the current structures in Scottish Rugby. There was no surprise to hear that Perthshire Seconds had withdrawn from the Caledonian Midlands Three league. Several issues are obvious to those who are trying to improve matters. The geography of Scotland and the demographic shows that national leagues might not be the answer in terms of growing the game and keeping clubs financially viable. Several clubs have withdrawn from the leagues and far too many fixtures are left unfulfilled due to lack of available players. Travel costs are significant in an amateur sport, and there are reports of some major clubs having to crowd fund to meet obligations. Might the answer be a split of the top two tiers to form a Premiership and Championship structure. The remaining clubs could be formed into areas focussed on Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dumfries, Dundee, Aberdeen, and Inverness? The Borders League structure is already there. There are other issues around clubs that rely on student participation and whose results vary enormously depending on term times. The support for Island clubs needs more examination and the need to look at club mergers seems essential.

3G FAMILY QUIZ

Last week’s answers:

First generation: Tony Ward.

Second generation: Scotland

Third generation: Ali Price, Finn Russell, Chris Harris, Duhan van der Merwe and Stuart Hogg.

Mastermind: Matt Williams,

This week’s questions:

First generation (1970-1999): Who captained the 1984 Grand Slam winning Scotland team?

Second generation ( 2000-2020): Which Irishman was voted Player of the Tournament in the 2010 Six Nations tournament?

Third generation ( 2020-2025): Which Welshman was the top points scorer with forty-seven points on the 2021 British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa?

Mastermind: In which year did Stirling County win the top division of the National Leagues?

MURRAYFIELD - A HUNDRED UP

It is doubtful if Scotland’s home of rugby has ever seen a poorer game than that seen on March 5th, 1988. Some were heading for exits after a boring eighty minutes and the omens had not been good after a scoreless first half. England won 9-6 but many questioned the “gamesmanship” of the victors. Scotland opened the scoring with a Gavin Hastings penalty and a drop goal by Rob Andrew tied the scores. Jonathan Webb put England ahead with a penalty which Gavin Hastings countered. Webb added a second penalty which was to the prove the winning score. Scotland’s retiring coach Derrick Grant was critical of the style of play on offer by England and used the term “streetwise” when others might have been stronger in their criticism. It was not pretty to watch, and England seemed intent on killing the ball at every opportunity. There was little running rugby and the vast majority of those who were there would have agreed that Rugby was the loser in a game of forward dominance, collapsed scrums and boring tactical play. One to forget.

MYSTERY PLAYER

Who is this Scotland lock?

TRUE OR FALSE?

Our Mystery Player was a qualified doctor.