That was the month that was: February 2023

9 Comments

1. 13 Scottish Rugby Clubs receive nearly £400,000 in funding

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2. Let’s hope that Hollie Davidson’s upwards trajectory continues, has always looked capable and authoritative.
   I wonder why the sudden cheerio to Fiji from Stern Vern I hope the personal reasons are not family ones, if you get my drift. With his ‘sidekick’ also handing in his Jotters: they couldn’t be heading to Edinburgh, could they!
   A bit of information about, the way Ealing have been treated in the Championship is a disgrace and shows very clearly the RFU and EPL are in all but name ring fencing the Premiership.
   The Ealing ground has a capacity just over 5,000, the RFU insist on 10,001 however Ealing’s capacity is about the same as Bristol Bears who are in the Premiership but not allowed to improve their council owned ground and Ealing are in the same supporter catchment area as Harlequins, London Irish, Saracens, all former senior clubs with a significantly greater traditional support than Ealing. No doubt that’s why Ealing are reluctant to throw good money after bad upgrading their ground to join a league that has had two financial failures with a possible two more on the way and no guarantee that they will be able to maintain their promotion, they are not in debt at the moment and that’s they way they wish to remain.
   Is there any point in questioning the governance or ‘Mission Statement’ of Super6? We have just witnessed the level of opposition they have to face with a good proportion of their opposition coming from top Top14 or URC club players some of them even regular starters. There has to be a better way, the question is how many SQ players have emerged from S6 to play regular first choice or regular bench places in either Warriors or Edinburgh. Surely somebody at Roseburn Street can grasp that the gulf for the U20’s is massive and there needs to be a rethink.

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   • Bristol’s ground is not council owned. And its capacity is 27,000, more than 5 times Ealing’s.
     What is there better way that there must be? Revert to 12 teams who were not developing to a high enough standard?
     I lost count of the number of younger players who featured last season. We do have a problem with a couple of franchises, especially Watsonians, so maybe a minimum should apply

     • Yes a bit of a Brain fade, the Club I should have mentioned was Bath not Bristol [well both begin with a B] and the ground was owned by the Council till 2015 which means the capacity they had owing to some restrictions is now being increased to 14,000, however it was much limited before and it was an older than I thought article that I referred to.
       But I am grateful to you for taking an interest in my ‘Jottings’ thanks for the correction but the way Ealing are being treated remains the same.
       All the best.

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3. Soooo with a record of only one win since adopting S6 and the majority of our young players getting little or no game time….we are trying to recruit even more players from NZ instead of developing our own. What an utter farce. Can’t be too long before we just ban Scottish kids from playing rugby!! No wonder so many young players give up on the sport.

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   • There was a Cape Town based Agent running a similar campaign 18 months ago.

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   • It’s an advert. Doesn’t mean any of the Super 6 clubs will react. I know last year the Super 6 clubs had a self imposed max of 4 players who were not qualified to play for Scotland playing for them. It’s not a farce, the Super 6 is playing it’s part in a very successful time for rugby.
     The U20’s and their equivalent on past years have struggled for consistency but their real role is to produce players that can play at the very top. Given we have our strongest national squad in history of the game something is working.
     Super 6 already giving aspiring coaches a chance to show their skills.

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     • Whatever part Super6 is playing, it is stretching it a bit to say it is playing its part with a ‘very successful time’, a single victory marvelous for the lads as it is, surely ‘the successful time’ can’t refer to them.
       Could it be you are including the excellent National squad and their recent performances, the S6 has little to do with their success, how can it, it hasn’t been there long enough.
       The questioning of the Super6 and its efficacy is similar to recent questioning as to the teams/squads that were being selected in the not so distant past, we have arrived, eventually with a good squad with a bit of depth excellent, however lets not be complacent, where is the follow up?
       The primary question that is pertinent, is there a better format for the development of our National side the Scottish U20’s in view of the standard of opposition they have to face in comparison to the competition they are getting, even the most ardent proponent of S6 can’t be myopic to our U20’s turning out on occasion for Ayrshire Bulls or Southern Knights when they are on the field up against players from Racing, Treviso, Leinster, Stade Francais or Montpelier.
       If people are asking the question it suggests to me there is a reason for it, and if they question ‘an advert’ it’s because it has a relevance to the Grassroots game in Scotland, even though there are no doubt many SQ players in New Zealand, surely it is more gratifying to be viewing a home grown product in 5 or 10 years time.

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   • The reliance on Scots Qualified players from the Southern Hemisphere is like many aspects a diminishing source. Once there was an exodus of Scots to predominately NZ and to a lesser degree SA and Oz, that is no longer the case, they will soon be Great Grandparents by the nature of things.
     Can the SQ’s from other parts of the UK fill the requirement if we don’t manufacture a method of improving our own Internationals from within, I am not sure, however self dependency of producing surely has to be the ‘Goal’ albeit with a supplement of SQ’s and in this day and age the residency 5 year rule no doubt.
     SQ is a diminishing prospect and residency could be scrapped any time World Rugby deem it to be in their interest.

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