Yes, you did read that correctly. Scotland A smashed up England’s second string last night and there is a wee highlights reel below from the folks at Borders Rugby TV who caught the action.

From the sound of things on the radio, everyone had a good game but the names Stuart Hogg, Duncan Weir, Ed Kalman, Matt Scott and Richie Vernon popped up a lot…

There is some frighteningly bad tackling (if you are a Saxons fan) going on but brilliant skill from Weir and Hogg on show too.

It was there that I saw it. The Saxons battling the Wolfhounds. It sounded more like the Syfy Channel’s precursor to Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus rather than an International rugby match but I kept with it…

It seems that the marketing folk in rugby have decided they need to give their different teams identity. Something that can be advertised but also something recognised as unique within a complex rugby organisation. The back-up teams have their own coaches, are valued above the Under20s and the 7s sides and they command crowds of their own. They need to be named, and the players need to know what they are, those thoughts suggest.

Young Simon Zebo has had a breakout season on the wing for Munster, but he is green and has a long way to go before he usurps the likes of Bowe, Earls or McFadden. He is a Wolfhound.

Ugo Monye is struggling to recover his Lions form and needs a boost. He’ll be a Saxon.

In Scotland, though, we do not have this sense of identity. We have our ‘A’ team. They play their games in Gala and they come together after the Scotland team streamline themselves. There is the occasional tour but nothing is regular or set in stone. There is nothing that a PR or marketing department can say “let’s advertise that brand” about.

I have heard Edinburgh Head Coach Michael Bradley use the word ‘brand’ a lot when talking about his club. He is someone who knows about cultivating an identity, having punched in the mud with Connacht for several seasons. Now he is the ’A’ coach as well and he and his team have to come together awfully quickly under one banner.

There is no pressing need to call the team anything else. It is the way it has always been, say the diehards.  Monikers are both garish and irrelevant, others intone.

However, with the game set to be played in Gala it is those same diehards that also suggest any rugby will draw a crowd down there. No one dare suggest that in the Borders fans only go if one of their own is playing in the game. If there are any suggested tribal schisms this may play a part in crowd size even if some English stars are playing a Scotland team, especially if it is raining.

Would a new identity for the ‘A’’s fix this? It is almost impossible to say. Some fans and some in the media suggest that it would not make a lick of difference. If people weren’t willing to go see Scotland ‘A’ why would they pop out for the Scotland Lions Rampant?

Perhaps we will never know unless we try. I watched twenty minutes of Dinocroc versus Sharktopus and, although it was dreadful, I gave it a chance to draw me in. We have a CEO who says he is willing to consider selling naming rights for Murrayfield. Why not publicly proclaim a new ‘A’ team, on TV and in the papers? It might just draw a bigger crowd, it might not. It may be a disaster.

What would they be called, anyway?

The Bravehearts? The Claymores? The Gael Force? The Kelpies? The Banshees? The Bay City Rollers?

Inspired by large Borders crowds, Scotland A have won their last four fixtures at the venue, beating Tonga in November 2009 and securing a 100% return from games against USA Eagles, Ireland Wolfhounds and Italy A last season.

Another big gathering is expected for the Saxons clash, with admission to the match again free to everyone.

Flush from European success with Edinburgh, the former Ireland, Ireland A and Ireland under-21 coach Michael Bradley will be assisted by Scotsmen Stevie Scott (Sale Sharks) and Craig Chalmers (Melrose), both of whom are well acquainted with the passion that the Borders public bring to such occasions.

Bradley today named an initial squad of 15 players who will convene for training at Murrayfield on Monday 30 January. The group will be supplemented by members of the Scotland squad for the opening two rounds of the RBS 6 Nations Championship as the two teams are fine tuned.

The initial selection features eight players from Glasgow Warriors, four from Edinburgh Rugby, and three exiles, Jack Cuthbert (Bath), Alex Grove (Worcester Warriors) and Grant Shiells (Newcastle Falcons).

Prop Shiells, who learned his trade at Kelso, is one of four players now in line for his first taste of A team action. Edinburgh Rugby backs Tom Brown and Matthew Scott and Glasgow Warriors hooker Pat MacArthur are the others.

Bradley told scotlandrugbyteam.org: “The game against England Saxons is shaping up to be a fantastic occasion. There’s a great opportunity for our players to come together and prove they have what it takes to win on the international stage for Scotland, benefiting from the support of what I’m sure will be a terrific crowd.”

With the Six Nations sure to be as committed as ever, players like Beattie, Scott or Roddy Grant will be looking to show they have been overlooked and would be worth a call-up should there be an injury problem. In particular, Beattie – who has already proven he has what it takes to win on the international stage – finding the form that smashed Ireland in Dublin would be a welcome answer to the question as to who Scotland’s first choice Number 8 is.

“We’ve named a group of guys today who deserve recognition for the form they’ve shown with their clubs in the first part of the season. I’m hugely looking forward to working with them and the other players who will join us from the Scotland squad in the week of the game” Bradley continued.

“It’s about fronting up to what is sure to be massively physical challenge from England Saxons, and bringing together all the positive things we’ve seen from these players so far this season in one passionate, committed and ultimately winning performance for Scotland.”

Fans can get in the mood for a terrific weekend of international rugby by watching the Scotland A captain’s run, the last training session before the Saxons clash, in the flesh.

The session will take place from 3.15pm at Netherdale on the eve of the game, Thursday 2 February. All are welcome; admission free.

Scotland  A Squad to play England Saxons at Netherdale, Galashiels on Friday 3rd February (Kick Off 7.30pm, Admission Free)

Backs: Tom Brown (Edinburgh Rugby), Jack Cuthbert (Bath Rugby), Alex Grove (Worcester Warriors), Peter Murchie (Glasgow Warriors), Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors), Matthew Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors)
Forwards: Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors), Roddy Grant (Edinburgh Rugby), Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors), Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby), Grant Shiells (Newcastle Falcons), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors)

It is taken for granted that the financial state of our teams is perilous and money seems to be leaking out of Murrayfield. Funding for the 7s, B&I Cup and Club International are continually questioned by those only interested in our two pro teams and full international sides doing well. In my opinion the 7s and club endeavours are actually the best way to bring on talented youth so the answer must come from somewhere else.

Blame can go both ways. The SRU has no investors of note but they also need more from the fans. With no money the output is poorer. With poorer output less fans want to part with their wonga and attendances drop. If attendances drop and shirts aren’t selling there is less money. Scotland laments.

In short Scottish rugby needs to become sexy again.

Sexiness (and trust me, as a prop I know) is a state of mind. The more people talking about you the sexier you appear. For the SRU this is tough because they have a marketing department but no Head of Marketing. They are trying to market their brands but can they have a direction?

This is where the fans come in. In a previous piece I talked about David Smart’s open petition to the SRU. I would like to propose an open ‘suggestion box’ of sorts where real fans propose ways of getting more people interested in our games. The best ones can be sent to the SRU marketing department (addressed to ‘Brian’ because if there was a Head of Marketing he would definitely be called Brian).

I have a suggestion myself:

With our country we need to get more youths interested in playing as well as buying into ‘Scottish Rugby’. This is where the most attention should be paid. The problem with this is that it is marketed at children in a way which shows superhuman figures, like Jacobsen and Paterson, which kids can’t really relate to. More 14-year-olds will be fans of Justin Bieber than they will be of Bruce Springsteen. You have to give them something to identify with.

If I was working in the marketing office in the bowels of Murrayfield I would be trying, right now, to knock up posters and campaigns for youth teams heralding the Scotland U18s and their recent victory over England. “Stick in with your SRU accredited training sessions and YOU TOO could beat England one day!” “Look at former Currie youth section player Tom Brown: he’s just signed for Edinburgh! Who will be signing from YOUR youth team?!”

If more people are playing and investment comes into youth clubs and schools I like to think those youth clubs and schools could be encouraged to give back?

Sending two players for a Q and A session at a school in Eyemouth isn’t going to get kids pouring through the gates of Murrayfield and Firhill but if you get them into the junior District Championship or the under age national sides you could probably get them to buy some kit at the very least (as a proud Caley player I would certainly buy my kid a limited edition Canterbury Caley reds top. “What’s that? The Caley reds club select are playing the Baa-Baas?! I’ll buy a top!” Wishful thinking, maybe, but with the South regularly playing the SRU could try and make some money from it…).

How do we get Scotland selling again? We have seen how well Scotland, with our limited resources, can play when they are confident. Surely bigger crowds would give back that confidence and it could all move on from there. We do also need some support for our rising stars because those in the Under 18s or on the McPhail scholarship have to kick on and if there is less academy investment or the pro teams can’t look after younger guys then we fall down, again.

So give some suggestions and help out the SRU’s marketing department. Sexiness needs your help. The youth need your help. I need some help…

Has your football team made that sensational transfer? Have you won a monumental Grand Slam? Are you still in charge of a whole nation?

If the answers to your bleary Monday morning questions are ‘Yes’ then congratulations: you are either a Russian Billionaire, a skilful Serb or a delusional Egyptian. You are most likely not a Scotsman.

Do not despair, though!

(now with update)

If you were part of a crack ‘A team’ that built a sizeable victory out of only Blair and Laidlaw’s boots, Fraser McKenzie’s hands and a handful of senior players then you have a lot to smile about. This result, in fact, will hold a lot more significance than you would first think. Indeed those at Murrayfield will have enjoyed this 32-12 victory with great relish.

Firstly, this result has huge significance for the full Scotland side. Andy ‘I love it when a plan comes together’ Robinson now knows that Beattie is capable of playing at least a half of international rugby without breaking down. He now knows that Low is a viable option to replace Jacobsen or Murray. He now also knows that, if the second row options in his squad break down, he could call on MacLeod first as well as maybe bringing Laidlaw into the fold after the first game. Laidlaw showed he is a good leader and can kick crucial points, from distance, at the right time.

Secondly, the head honchos at HQ now know who they should replace Moffat with if he is shown the door. Nick Scrivener is only an assistant at Edinburgh but is the head coach of the ‘A’ squad. After such a good result it is looking increasingly like this role was both a test for Scrivener and a form of preparation for him. Edinburgh’s season has been stop/start and there is increasing disquiet regarding the role performed by the Head Coach. Scrivener looks to have been a contingency plan all along, with his experience as Head Coach of Australia ‘A’s’ as a given, and he would be the cheapest viable option for the SRU.

Would this be a good appointment? He certainly has high level playing experience, with the Brumbies, and as a specialist in Defence he should surely have a grittier personality than Moffat.

It remains to be seen if this happens or not, but it will surely be in the minds of those holding the chequebook at Murrayfield. If Moffat goes amidst the reported player cull at Edinburgh, quick transition of staff would be a must. The move makes sense. Change without too much actual change (as stupid as that sounds!).

Whatever happens on the coaching side, we will have to wait and see. With regards to the possible selection of players that turned out for the ‘A’s’ on Friday, we only have to wait ‘til tomorrow. It comes up quick, doesn’t it?!

UPDATE: About an hour after A.D posted this, it was announced that Rob Moffat has been asked to stand down from his role as Edinburgh Coach, with Nick Scrivener filling in as interim head coach, pretty much as he predicts above. His kung-fu is strong indeed. You can hear Gordon Mckie’s thoughts on the matter here. It is almost certain that Rob’s poor results were the catalyst, but his somewhat bizarre views on player selection voiced in recent weeks cannot have helped… now to see if Scrivener can engineer a change half way through the season the same as the one he did halfway through the Scotland A game. Rory

Can Scotland win in France?

If we look at the record books then the odds are against us. I was at the game last time we played in Paris. France were scrappy that day but one Ouedraogo singlehandedly destroyed our game.

There is no Szarzewski, Barcella, Baby or Heymans this time round and, significantly, no Beauxis. Ouedraogo will be there. There will be no Bastareaud (who scored two tries last year while man-handling our backline). There will be a Jauzion and a Medard, though. Paris is indeed a tough place to play.

That day, however, Scotland played pretty well and were (erm…possibly?) sunk by a forward pass from Medard to Ouedraogo for the telling try early in the second half. Unbelievably SCOTLAND SCORED that day! Evans was the one who burst in from relatively close range after a clever pass. We can actually score tries. In France…

So if we have our captain and one half of the second row pairing set in stone how will the rest of the pack set out?

With it confirmed that Beattie is playing at 8 on Friday night for the Scottish Bravehearts (A’s) the rumour doing the rounds right now is that the back row against France would be Barclay at 7, Brown at 8 and, wait for it… Nathan Hines at 6. Wow. I, for one, hope we don’t do this. Surely Vernon or even Harley, players that have been in a back row all season, would be better options?

Chances are it will be a case of ‘wait and see’ with Beattie. He could still start in France.

Yesterday, however, during a training game for the Scotland squad versus a scratch team –a collection of pros who are not involved with the A’s or the full squad, academy lads and a few club boys- the combinations attempted by Andy ‘How Do I Tease Some Tries Outta This Lot?’ Robinson were rather telling. Low was tested at loose-head. Harley was tried at second row. The back row looked like Barclay, Brown and Vernon.

Does this mean that Robbo wants Vernon at 8, or even 6? Will he have Beattie as a starter, or have Beattie and Harley on the bench as the cavalry? Who the hell partners Kellock in the boiler house?!

The training game hasn’t really answered any questions… but it is looking increasingly likely that De Luca will be at 12 for the French game. Perhaps it is a blessing that he has not played much rugby for Edinburgh this season because, as we know, he is a guy who carries one little mistake with him for an entire game. If he does something wrong early in an encounter he sometimes tries too hard for the rest of match.

Do we, then, need experience on either side of NDL? Ideally I would have Ansbro outside him and Evans on the wing, but the complexion of the team could well be different from anything we have seen before. Is this a good thing? If you are going to take risks France is the place to do it. We lost the first three games last campaign, only to come back with a draw and a win.

Let’s throw the dice early on, eh? The length of time managers in sport get is not long, so maybe we will see some devil-may-care from Robbo in Paris…

With Fergus Thomson bumped to the A Team, we should hope (politely) for Dougie Hall to train well. The four locks picked here may well be the four for the World Cup squad barring a miracled from Mackenzie, a recovery from Hamilton or an injury so competition for places should be intense from here until Hogmanay.

It looks like the choice at 12 is narrowed down to De Luca, Ansbro or Grove. Form is sketchy on all three, with Ansbro often playing out of position (and targeted by Edinburgh in defence last weekend) and De Luca just back from injury. Who would you play against Jauzion (or possibly some other Frenchman you have never heard of)?

Scotland squad for training camp at St Andrews beginning Monday 24 January:

Backs – Joe Ansbro (Northampton Saints), Mike Blair (Edinburgh), Jack Cuthbert (Bath), Simon Danielli (Ulster), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh), Max Evans (Glasgow Warriors), Alex Grove (Worcester Warriors), Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Rory Lamont (Toulon), Sean Lamont (Scarlets), Rory Lawson (Gloucester),  Dan Parks (Cardiff Blues), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh), Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais) and Nikki Walker (Ospreys).

Forwards – John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie (both Glasgow Warriors), Kelly Brown (Saracens), Geoff Cross, Ross Ford (both Edinburgh), Richie Gray, Dougie Hall, Robert Harley (all Glasgow Warriors), Nathan Hines (Leinster), Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Lawson (Gloucester), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors), Scott MacLeod (Edinburgh), Euan Murray (Newcastle Falcons), Ross Rennie (Edinburgh) and Richie Vernon and Jon Welsh (both Glasgow Warriors).

Not considered due to injury: Chris Cusiter and Graeme Morrison (both Glasgow Warriors), Alasdair Dickinson and Jim Hamilton (both Gloucester) and Phil Godman (Edinburgh).

But that is not all, there is also the matter of the A Squad to contend with, which will be augmented with players from the senior squad as the Six Nations draws nearer.

Additional players for the Scotland A squad to prepare for game v Irish Wolfhounds, Netherdale, Galashiels, Friday 28 January, kick-off 7.30pm.  Admission to this game will be FREE.

Backs – David Blair, Ben Cairns (both Edinburgh), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), John Houston, Lee Jones (both Edinburgh), Peter Murchie and Hefin O’Hare (both Glasgow Warriors) and Jim Thompson (Edinburgh).

Forwards – Roddy Grant (Edinburgh), Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Alan MacDonald, Stuart McInally and Fraser McKenzie (all Edinburgh), Alastair Muldowney, Fergus Thomson and Ryan Wilson (all Glasgow Warriors).

http://www.scottishrugbytv.com/

(Video requires Quicktime)

JOE ANSBRO (Northampton Saints)
Centre. Born 29.10.1985 in Glasgow. Height 6ft (1.83m). Weight 14st 7lbs (92kg).
Joe Ansbro played for Cambridge in two University match wins against Oxford. His debut for Northampton Saints was as a replacement against Moseley in 2007, and that was followed with a try-scoring first start against Rotherham at Franklin’s Gardens. The Glasgow-born centre opted for the country of his birth when he accepted selection in the Scotland A team for the IRB Nations Cup tournament in Romania in June 2009. Scotland A won that tournament, with Joe making his debut as outside centre in the win against Uruguay
Joe was educated at Gatehouse Primary School (Dumfries and Galloway) and Stonyhurst College (Lancashire), and he went on to take a natural sciences degree at Cambridge. While living near Gatehouse-of-Fleet, he played youth rugby with Stewartry, the Castle Douglas club.  He has now played more than 50 games for Northampton Saints.  Joe becomes the first black player to play international rugby for Scotland.

International record:  uncapped.

Several of these guys should be worth a run against Samoa if they step up and put the USA Eagles away at Netherdale on Friday 19th, 7.30pm, FREE admission. Yes, free. The captain’s run tomorrow (Thurs) is also open to the public.