Club Players: Fancy A Different Rugby Experience?
Are you a creative centre or a combative number 8? Alan’s former club in Canada, London Rugby, are looking for exciting players to come over this summer…
Category: Club Rugby
Club Select Warm Up Against U20s
The finest Scottish Club rugby talent (and Alan Dymock) have been selected for a warm up tonight at Murrayfield against Peter Wright’s Under 20s squad, ahead of a series of matches shadowing the Six Nations, including matches against similar sides from France and Ireland.
Remedy for Disenchanted Pros
Guest blogger Neil takes a look at a possible way to get more of our less-experienced pros playing regular rugby.
Club Rugby Is Back
The RBS Leagues return with Premiers A, B and C. Alan Dymock tells you why you should get to a game this Saturday between Heienken Cup fixtures.
Scottish Rugby; Tolerant Rugby?
A few short weeks ago football saw a blunder from their figurehead, Sepp Blatter.
The sporting world is thankfully trying to engender discussion about racism. Perhaps it has no choice as impossibly famous figures like Tiger Woods come into the spotlight with stories of his former caddy, Steve Williams, making racist remarks at a dinner. In England Premiership footballer Patrice Evra had accused Liverpool’s Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez of racist language. QPR defender Anton Ferdinand quickly followed suit, indicting England captain John Terry for using similar terms.
It therefore made sense for some journalists to try and see what major names in World sport
The (Very) Long and Winding Road
The corner is long. Very long. But could it be that last weekend gave Scottish rugby the first true glimpse of a better road ahead?
British and Irish Cup Roundup
Melrose, Currie and Ayr all opened their British & Irish Cup campaign this weekend, taking on professional or semi-professional opposition in Bedford Blues, Leeds Carnegie and Plymouth Albion respectively.
As if the pro-team wins weren’t enough to give us a little fillip here in the world of Scottish rugby, Melrose and Ayr both fought back to secure last-gasp victories as they edged past their respective opponents 19-17 and 18-17.
Ayr were boosted by the addition of Johnnie Beattie and Jon Welsh with the former grabbing a try in the closing minutes after the Scots were down 17-5 at half time, while Melrose were down 17-0 at halftime and fought back for the win at the Greenyards.
It wasn’t all cheery though, as Currie were defeated 16-31 at Headingley. London Scottish were in action too, going down 63-0 to Llanelli who must be building a fair bit of depth, the Scarlets having also been in Heineken Cup action this weekend winning 31-23 (Sean Lamont dotted down for a try).
Big Richie Sets Sale
It has been confirmed today that Scotland and Glasgow lock Richie Gray will move south next year to take up duties with Premiership side Sale Sharks. The new poster boy of Scottish rugby has quickly risen to be a key player for both Scotland and Glasgow over the last 18 months and it is probably no surprise that he has chosen to continue his career south of the border. Hopefully Richie will be able to continue his development in the week in, week out dogfight that is the English top flight which can only benefit the national team in the long run. Whilst Glasgow will undoubtedly miss his whole-hearted, hard-hitting displays it will create an opportunity for someone else to step into his (what must be!) huge shoes – hopefully a young Scot!
Surprising though is the timing of the announcement, given the Heineken Cup and the need to be one big happy family in the coming weeks. Sale could be forgiven for their excitement though, as for them it is a major signing of one of rugby’s fast rising stars and he should slot into the squad alongside old Glasgow mucker Richie Vernon and fellow Scots Ali Dickinson and Fraser Mackenzie. Who would you cheer for in a Sale vs Gloucester match now?
Splits, Schisms, Shuffles and Switches
So it’s decided. We know who will officially enter into Premiers A, B and C. For some this split is a chance for glory. For others the split represents a dirty dog fight for survival.
Rekindling An Old Fire
In the Borders rugby is a significant part of the region’s rural makeup. In almost all rugby clubs down there you will spot a wall with a framed mural on it, commemorating glorious years gone by. There is a rich heritage of match-ups between boroughs and towns bursting with civic pride. For many years these small towns have defied logic as they continually produce teams of rugby players from small groups. This ‘Us against Everyone’ feeling that all the clubs have is one that perpetually regenerated their own league, the oldest in rugby history, the Borders League.
