Aha, I thought, here’s a chance to plug the blog as the season gets under way and get some more lovely readers for our ramblings. So I duly texted in, mentioning said blog, shed and bed. Sure enough, the bed in the shed gets on air straight away but no mention of the blog. Later it transpired Peter Wright was unable to grasp the concept of a bed in a shed – I suppose I forgot that most folks’ sheds are small garden jobs not some ramshackle old cowshed with space for a double (plus cows if required, I suppose). So I followed up, only for the saga to continue – I thought the tractor in the coal mine was a lot more interesting, how did he get reception? – but still without any pluggage and me looking more and more like a weirdo. So here, for the benefit of them (and possibly no-one else) is a picture of Friday’s work and also the partially complete bed possibly to illustrate what exactly I was up to.

And now, since the bed was finished on Friday night and can now be moved indoors, and the season is upon us: back to rugby.

So when I arrived in Canada to play rugby I did so without expectations. A good thing I did, too.  Within my first two days I received cultural shocks; shocks that highlighted the differences, both rugby-related and social in nature, between New World rugby nations, and ‘established’ ones.

In terms of culture there are some glaring differences. My home town, Dundee, has roughly half the population of London, ON., the city I am currently in. So it is bizarre to me to come from a place with, maybe, 5 McDonalds max to one with easily 30. That and there are no nightclubs. They just have bars open until 3 a.m. As a front-rower with a rubber arm, temptation is a killer.

I am here to play rugby, though, and there is more to Canada than Big Mac’s and Tequila… unless you have just had training. In Scotland as Premier 1 has become, let’s face it, semi-professional, for many guys the idea of a pint after every session would be frowned upon. Protein shakes, power bars and cars straight home are more likely for players back in Scotland. Not here. There is almost a duty to have at least one pint with your teammates after practice.

At that practice, though, there are few differences in terms of rugby. Players here have had less time to work on their skills, with most of them picking up rugby at a much later date than we do back home. Many guys haven’t ever played before. Yet a lot of the drills are the same and with input from a Scottish coach, and some help from other guys from recognised rugby strongholds like Wales and New Zealand there are the same concepts and buzz words you would hear the world over.

This doesn’t mean that rugby in Scotland is superior. Far from it. It is just different.

I will admit it is a total surprise to see Canadians opting not to train when it rains heavily: conditions we in Scotland often train in, and conditions necessary for acclimatising oneself.  Apart from this there are actually some interesting rugby initiatives from the Canadians. For example every team in the top division, by law, must have a third XV. In short, teams are obligated to develop players and increase numbers.  So when this is twinned with their law controlling how many non-Canadian citizens are allowed per-team, they are actually ensuring Canadians play rugby.

The top division here in Ontario is, if we are honest, of a similar standard to Premier 2, sometimes 3, but there are many talented players here. For example, last Saturday I played in the front row with a prop that had, the week before, played in the Churchill Cup final for Canada. Outside of us, at 13, we had a man who had played in a few World Cups for Canada. Two good players. Unlike back home, though, these men received no special treatment and had to train in order to play.

There is no pro rugby here, only district sides picked from the best players in that region. The best players from these sides do trials for Canada along with the pros in Europe. Scotland may feel more advanced than this, with every player a pro, but at least the lesser players here get a chance to play with Internationals, prove their worth and advance. If a player trains with the Ontario Blues (the District team, here) and is better than a national team player, they start ahead of them. Where would you ever see something like that back home?!

Resurrecting the District Championship would make many Scots happy. Seeing more pro involvement in club rugby would also make many people happy, if only because a good few club players would show up certain professionals.  Development happens this way. Competition happens this way, too. How often, last season, did academy players play badly for their club, but start for that club the next time they were allowed to slink out of the gym? I spoke to someone from a rival club, last season, who said they played an experienced Scotland International in a Premier 1 game and that that player played so badly that they were partly responsible for them losing. I imagine that performance never even got spoken about with the head coach of that players pro team.

Canadian rugby is improving. Their victory against France ‘A’ in the Churchill Cup was a big one, and there is a generation of players coming through. That generation regularly plays against its peers, be it in their district matches, or wider trials. While Scotland is up to our highest ever in the world rankings- 7^th- our club rugby needs a shot in the arm as we lose major sponsors. Are there some lessons we could learn from the New World? Pondering over my bucket of KFC and my Starbucks lard latte, I think there might be.

Free entry, a free programme, minimal queues to grab a beer and a sunny evening.  The perfect recipe then to see a strong Scotland side warm up with a convincing victory over a Japan select?  Well not really, as despite all the potential it was really a bit boring. Scotland played well enough in spells, Grove in particular made some really good breaks but the ability to transform this into anything substantial was limited.  Scotland appeared to have a policy of keeping the ball in hand and spend some game time attacking the Japanese.  I can only think of one occasion when the Scots put foot to ball.  It was fairly evident that the Scots have been working on the lines they run with lots of cut-arounds being run and some fairly clever lines but as always the final pass to the wide men was far too slow coming or of such a poor quality that it might as well have not come at all.

Worryingly the forward unit appeared to struggle, losing a lineout to the smallest side I’ve ever seen is alarming (considering the strength against the Irish).  The scrum never really dominated as much as it should, other than a spell before half time where they drew several penalties at the scrum 5 meters out, and you feel on another, more competitive day the ref may have been moved to award a penalty try.  Scotland also appeared to lose the ball several times when going into contact and will need to improve substantially in the games against Argentina.

All in all a Scotland performance with some of the usual problems.  No one other than Grove really stood out and I doubt Robinson will be using this to inform the team for the first test in Argentina in a couple of weeks.

On a final note well done to the SRU for making this a free entry – looked about 8-10,000 folk attended.  Could have been better advertised though.

Wandering the streets of Dublin on sunny Saturday afternoon amidst a sea of green shirts, hats and scarves and a pleasing number of kilts there did not seem to be much that would disrupt the confidence evident in the Irish Press. The consensus was (to paraphrase): without wishing to do a disservice to Scotland, we should win the Triple Crown pretty easily ‘cos they are okay but lets face it we’re better (insert bejesus here for comic effect). Some of the fans we spoke to were a little more uncertain, wishing us luck (but not too much) but wary Scotland could still upset the party.

And upset it they did, with the latest in a long line of improving performances in this tournament. Although sadly England got closer score-wise to France on Saturday night, thereby denying us a Grand Slam of moral victories (something we Scots have plenty of), let’s face it this was probably Scotland’s best ever second from last finish. With a bit more concentration against Wales in those agonising final minutes I feel the dominoes would have fallen into place for us in the matches following – the knock-on effect from just that single point against England, magnified – and it could have been a Triple Crown decider in both directions at the weekend.

Although a massive stadium, Croke Park is very steep (the tickets come with vertigo warnings) and it is pretty easy to see what is going on far away, despite a large screen dangling in front of you. So for just about everything apart from the scrums (where you can’t see what is going on even if you are standing in front of them with a whistle in one hand and a yellow card in the other) it was obvious early on that Ireland were looking dangerous with ball at pace, and the carefree way they threw the ball about looked initially like it might be Scotland’s undoing. Then they dropped a few passes, Sexton started bottling his kicks and Best his lineouts and it turned out it might actually be Ireland’s undoing.

Once, a try from a blatantly forward pass might have collapsed Scottish morale, but no, instead they did what you are supposed to – strike back with a well-worked try. After Ireland realised the folly of going in at half time 14-7 down as Parks kept them under the kosh, they tightened the game up. O’ Gara came on to calm things down after a jittery Sexton performance with the boot. Another try by Bowe (which might have liked to go to the TMO), and it was getting back to a case of the St Etiennes as O’ Gara and O’ Connell started moving the Irish forward with more purpose. But still Kaplan (worryingly also the ref in St Etienne) seemed to give us the nod at scrum and lineout time. Scotland still had enough ball, and territory, to win this. But the small pocket of Scots I sat with had seen this before, and were looking with every passing minute for the little fluke, the error, the bad substitution that would screw us out of another deserved victory.

There are some games that you want badly enough, even a little noise is forgiven when you as a fan are so desperate for victory. Against Australia the Scotland fans smelt history and made enough noise to at least intimidate Giteau on his last pressure kick. And so it was here, the Ireland fans so determined that their last chance to see Ireland play rugby at Croker would not end in disappointment that the unthinkable happened: they broke the eerie Thomond Park-style silence that usually greets kickers in Ireland. The amount of time Parks took for his kick probably didn’t help matters.

But Dan Parks knows all about booing, having even suffered it at the hands of his own support before now. So he calmly slotted it over, as for some reason you sensed he might, turning away with a fist pump before the ball had even made it over the bar, and in the little Scottish corners of Croke Park, wild cheering broke out. There was, undoubtedly dancing on the streets of Dublin.

Fans get to question international legends in free event Former Scotland scrum half Andy Nicol heads up a list of rugby legends speaking at the Arlington Hotel, Dublin, ahead of Scotland’s game with Ireland at Croke Park on March 20th. Scotland fans will get the chance to question three rugby legends about their experiences and predictions for the game at a free event held in the heart of Dublin before the RBS Six Nations fixture. The Arlington Hotel on O’Connell Bridge will turn into the Scots fans headquarters during the build up to the game at the event which will also include Irish and British Lions legends Mick Galway and Ciaran Fitzgerald. As well as serious questions, the legends will join in with the banter and discuss some of their other memorable moments on the pitch. The forum kick’s off from 11:00am on match day, allowing fans enough time to take part in the event well in advance of the kick off time. Louis Fitzgerald, Owner of the hotel, says: “The Arlington O’Connell is normally a hive of activity before the big Six Nation’s games and we wanted to give something back to the fans who visit us year on year by creating this event. “Although I’ll be supporting the green jersey, it’s always a fantastic atmosphere in Dublin on match days with both sets of fans enjoying the craic.”  The Arlington Hotel is centrally located; a minute’s walk from the famous Temple Bar district where many Irish fans without tickets to the match will be watching the game. The three star hotel offers traditional Irish hospitality to its guests and visitors to its bar and restaurant.

Scotsman Article

Friday 5th Feb at 7.30, free entry. Wrap up warm. Very warm.

Also, the IRB have announced the ticket prices for RWC New Zealand 2011. More on this at a later date, but don’t worry they are not on sale until April.

UPDATE: And one last little snippet: Scotland have lost their opening IRB Sevens pool matches in Dubai against Fiji and Samoa, but did manage to get a draw against Zimbabwe.

• Being able to move along three sections, thereby getting a decent West stand seat for a tenner and with no-one behind us, standing up for the whole match to get the flavour of a (deserted) terrace / keep warm.
• Al barking in derision as Scotland’s play grew more inept and their loss grew more inevitable, scaring a young girl so that she jumped out of her seat several rows away. Apologies to you and your family, he did look scary with his moustache though didn’t he?
• Not having to queue for a beer, due to the overall attendance being only slightly more than turn out to watch Edinburgh every week.

Disappointing, but well done to Andy Robinson for restoring a little bit of hope at one point there. Well done too to Ireland who look like just about the finished article scrapping to a win over the Boks, and also to Australia and New Zealand for nicely finishing off the autumn test period with a bit of, well, rugby. Onwards and upwards to the Six Nations for us, we hope. I reckon we can beat Italy and Wales this year at least, if Gregor can sort our backs out. Robbo seems to know how to get the forwards working, and there’s a solid defence to build around. D-fence wins Super Bowls, but you get the feeling it won’t win you a Six Nations. Would you want it to?

Congrats are also due to Ayr for getting a 28-13 victory over Rotherham in the British and Irish Cup at the weekend. Unfortunately Gael Force and Heriots lost again but just competing in that level of competition should be good for the players and if the surrounding supporters get behind them, maybe increase some revenue for the clubs as well.

On Friday night it’s back to the Magners League for Edinburgh and Glasgow, no word yet on whether Sean Lamont (who had a pretty good Autumn) will be appearing for the Scarlets. It being in Wales and on a Friday it is of course on BBC Wales. A few interesting names on the bench including youngster Ross Samson and back row man Dave Callam (remember him?) back from a long term him injury. Glasgow are fielding a decent strength team including both Evans brothers beside newcomer Alex Dunbar, while they all face fellow Scotland winger Simon Danielli in the Ulster backline.

Edinburgh Team to face Scarlets: C Paterson (captain), M Robertson, B Cairns, N De Luca, T Visser, D Blair, G Laidlaw, A Jacobsen, A Kelly, G Cross, S Turnbull, S MacLeod, A MacDonald, R Grant, S Newlands.
Replacements: Ross Ford, Kyle Traynor, Craig Hamilton, David Callam, Ross Samson, John Houston, Jim Thompson.

Glasgow Team to face Ulster: Bernardo Stortoni, Alex Dunbar, Max Evans, Graeme Morrison, Thom Evans, Dan Parks, Mark McMillan, Jon Welsh, Dougie Hall, Moray Low, Tim Barker, Richie Gray, Kelly Brown, John Barclay (capt), Richie Vernon.
Replacements: Fergus Thomson, Kevin Tkachuk, Dan Turner, Calum Forrester, Chris Cusiter, Colin Gregor, Peter Murchie

Okay, that’s April 1st out of the way.

Congratulations are due to all who played, but after pretty much leading from the front in week 1, legendary Scottish Rugby Blog reader Jenny actually emerged victorious with a final 328 points. May her skill, beauty, taste, genius, wondrousness etc never diminish.

A storming final round from the official blog XV (mostly courtesy of Maxime Medard’s sideburns) saw yours truly face-savingly boosted into second place. Thanks to all who played and we’ll probably run a similar thing next season. Commiserations to Al and Mark who had proper jobs to do (rugby-related or otherwise) which left them with an unchanged team for the whole tournament. A finest piece of tree-based cutlery for my blog partner. Perhaps we should impose a no transfers rule next year, injuries be damned?!

Hope you enjoyed it.

I ain’t no Las Vegas crooner, able to sweet talk the ladies and the local Mob in equal measure, but just like Ol’ Blue Eyes even I can see that the end is near for Frank Hadden.  After another frustrating afternoon at “Fortress” (more like a soggy cardboard box crumbling under the elements) Murrayfield the pressure on Frank Hadden has risen to such a level that even Frank himself has noted that his time may well be up.

Saturday was the typical game of two halves.  Scotland dominated the first half, should have been a lot further in front and gave hope that we had an idea of what we were actually trying to do.  The second half…..aaaaargh!  What a stinker.  Lineout fell to pieces, holes large enough to drive a fleet of tanks through appeared in the defence (the fact it was the bastard love child of Mini-Me and an Oompa Loompa that capitalised, made it look even worse) and we had all the penetration of Pele before he started advertising Viagra.  We were never more than a converted try behind, yet never looked like getting anything out the game and that makes me want to weep for Scottish Rugby.  Whatever was said at half time should never, ever, be uttered again because it had the effect of killing all the momentum and enthusiasm that had been built up in a good first half display.  I could go on and on about different aspects of the game but others elsewhere have written far more erudite and accurate analysis than I can…and it just makes me angry!

As for Ireland, well fair play on keeping on track for the much elusive Grand Slam.  They came to a ground they traditionally struggle on and got the win they needed.  If they do win in Wales and get the Grand Slam I ask only one favour… that no bugger buys me the commemorative DVD for Xmas – it’ll be a horror show.  The game against England made my eyes bleed and to be honest the BBC should be given a kicking for putting that game on before the watershed… the children, for the love of God would someone please think of the children!  The Scotland game was only a fraction better.  Fair play the France game was good.  If, and it’s still a big IF, they do win the Grand Slam Ireland deserve all the plaudits but it still doesn’t take away from the fact that they will have been one of the poorest Grand Slam winning teams in living memory.

As for Scotland, well we look towards trying to get a first win in 26 years on English soil.  Of course, life being what it is, the toffs across the Border have seemingly stopped trying to play with 14 or 13 men and as a result find the 15 man game a damn site easier!  Beyond that who knows.  I think Hadden will go, he may even do the decent thing and fall upon his own sword.  Cast your mind back 4 years and think of the walking Satan in charge of Scotland at that time… he that shalt not be named (but is the coach of  Ulster) and should be burned the next time he places his over-inflated sense of worth back on Scottish soil… and you’ll remember just how bad Scotland were at that time.  Hadden at least came in, settled the ship and looking at the squad at least there appears to be some talent within the ranks.  However, he (Hadden) has taken this team as far as he can and the challenge of taking the raw ability and turning it into a polished end product should be passed on to a new head coach.  Just who that new head coach should be is the big unknown, but maybe the SRU should show some ambition for once… this is a Scotland side with the raw talents to be a winning side, maybe a coach with ambition and steel will be able to actually get the end product right?