Monthly Archives: May 2009

Review and Preview

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This week has seen Geech face the possibility of a 3 man reshuffle to his Lions squad, with Tom Shanklin now joining Tomas O’ Leary on the injury list and Munster’s Alan Quinlan facing the possibility of a ban for gouging Leo Cullen in the Heineken Cup Semi Final. While there are a couple of Scots in the running to fill the spare 9 shirt in Cusiter and Blair, it is less likely there will be any chance of them filling the other shirts. If Quinlan is banned out of contention, Tom Croft and Ryan Jones (or Dennis Leamy) would be considered the front runners – perhaps Strokosch if he had been fit would have been in with a shout. In the backs, there is no real direct replacement for Shanks (if fit I suppose Tindall has the same amount of hair) but they might look to bring in the likes of D’Arcy or Hook as a different sort of centre. Max Evans is probably an outside bet at this stage I would say, but a demolition derby of the Ospreys at the weekend on his part would certainly help his cause… see below.

No news on when any announcements would be made, but it will probably be after this weekend’s Premiership semi-finals and round of Magners League matches.

Transfer update: Sean Lamont’s move to Llanelli has also been confirmed.

Edinburgh, still chasing an improvement on last season’s fourth place finish – they are currently on course to match that – are at home to the Dragons on Saturday. This match is not being televised. Assuming Edinburgh can beat the Dragons, on Sunday Glasgow could do them a favour by beating the Ospreys away, a result that would take the battle for the last few places down to the final weekend of the season. Ospreys vs Glasgow is on S4C at 2.30 on Sunday. These games offer the second to last opportunity for Scottish players to keep their heads bobbing above water in the Lions standby pool.

SRU Making Sense In The Autumn

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Well this is a bit of welcome news in my inbox. Opponents and ticket prices for the autumn internationals – our first under the new head coach whoever that may be – have been announced. The SRU are finally pitching at the right level, and while the teams may not be such big box office draws, I think they may prove far more useful to our team development in the long term. The Test opponents are Fiji (14th Nov), Australia (21st) and Argentina (28th), and we should have a decent (but not easy) chance to beat all three if we are on form (and the Aussies are not!) despite the sides sitting at 8th, 3rd and 5th in the IRB rankings respectively. Scotland currently sit in 10th, so we get points if we beat any of them. So far, so sensible, and not an All Black whipping in sight.

Furthermore, ticket prices for all three start from £10 for adults. There’s not even a price hike for the Aussie game, and if you buy a £20 or above seat you will also get a free ticket for the Edinburgh leg of the pro-team derby, in a repeat of last year’s deal. So there’s no reason for us all not to get along and try and get decent crowds for all three – at £30 the lot, that’s the same as a cheap Six Nations ticket.

Is the SRU finally helping Scottish Rugby fans to beat those credit crunch blues?

Young Props Up Edinburgh Forwards

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In other transfer news, Scotland A Tighthead (and recently released from Gloucester) prop David Young has signed for Edinburgh, who lost Gavin Kerr to Sale for next season. Good to see young talent coming home, Young should add to the mix nicely with Geoff Cross, Kyle Traynor and of course Chunk when he returns from injury. Although part of a decent contingent of Scots at Gloucester such as wee Rory, big Stroker and medium Ali Dickinson, Young was the only one of them released during the recent cull that saw some higher profile talent (Ryan Lamb, Anthony Allen) let go.

BBC Story

Dai Was Monty’s Double

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It seems that Sean Lamont may be bound not for Brive, but for Parc Y Scarlets with a move to Llanelli. Injury hit Sean (but who is currently out of the Saints team on form) may yet be playing Magners League rugby next year. There’s nothing official on the Scarlets website yet so it may be another one of those rumours, in which case apologies for spreading it further.

Scotsman | Beeb

Would there have been room for him at either Edinburgh or Glasgow? Unlikely at Glasgow with the Evans boys, Fa-atau and Rob Dewey’s rumoured impending transformation into a winger. While at Edinburgh you have Malkovich Webster and Mossy who immediately spring to mind -  so there is an argument he could fit in there  – but not forgetting the likes of Turnbull, Reid, Houston and Thompson all pushing through and competing for back three spots. Still it means we’ll see more of Sean on BBC Wales’ coverage…

SRU Pulls London Scottish Academy Funding

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Just got this in, seems like the SRU are no longer willing to fund London Scottish’s academy system which means they can’t afford to emply a coach any more. Given they have pulled the plug after only two years with limited (but not negligible) success, the irony given their failure to pull the plug so quickly on more spectacular failures north of the Border would be delicious, were it not so annoying. One suspects they will still provide a valuable proving ground for semi-Scottish youngsters despite the SRU’s best efforts.

London Scottish today announced that Rowly Williams will be leaving the Academy as it’s Director/Coach.

The decision is linked directly to the decision by Scottish Rugby to withdraw all funding for the academy programme at the club.

In the post since November 2007, Williams has overseen the establishing of the player development programme of young Anglo-Scots at the club. In conjunction with the Scottish Exiles, The Academy has hosted Development Group evenings during this period which have identified players, along with others by direct selection. These young players at the club have received rugby training, conditioning, game understanding and position specific skills coaching.

Steady progress was being seen – eligible players have gone on to represent the Scottish Exiles in trial matches, several have made various performance (high potential) group camps with Scottish Rugby, player Matt Heeks represented Scotland at U19 and U20 in the past two seasons and Ryan Wilson was recently selected for the Scotland U20 World Cup squad. The eight senior academy players have all represented London Scottish at 1st, 2nd and Development XV level.

Despite the decision being made, the club intends that a Player Development Programme will continue. Williams is confident that, where possible, the club will continue to develop and promote those deemed good enough onto the Scottish pathway route.

“The idea and concept of an academy here is a sound one and whilst it produced what some might see as a modest return in the 2 full years of operation, I always felt there was much more to come as the club continued its rise up the leagues. The support of Scottish Rugby was invaluable, as was that of The Friends of Scottish Rugby.”

“I’m sure some common ground will be found again soon and young Anglo-Scots will make London Scottish their team of choice and Scotland the Country they choose to represent.”