Now Rory has gone…
August 3, 2011 in Adventures in Rugby, Magners League, Player Interviews, Player Watch, Rugby on TV, Rugby World Cup, Scotland National Team, World of Rugby
By Alan Dymock
With the EMC tests looming and the daily press releases telling us how our players are “harder, faster, stronger” than ever before whilst the players assure us the group has never been so tight-knit, I must ask: how will the warm up games pan out?
The reason I ask this is that everything in training, we have been told, is geared towards rugby specifics.
So there it is: McKie is gone.
The rallied voices finally got what they were asking for, and the huddled masses at Murrayfield are looking at ‘Damage Limitation’. “More rugby!” comes the cry from McLauchlan and Allan Munro.
Recently a lot of Scottish rugby fans have been getting things off their chest. Unrest can happen when you lose assets. People want to know what is being done to recoup the loss of players, what the pro team plans are and how Scottish teams overcome their dramatic loss in Magners League status.
Answers are being drip fed into the public domain. Some don’t like it, and there is concern that a few more experienced players may do a runner.
So when I put it to former Scotland captain and British and Irish Lion Colin Deans that there must be a reason why players are leaving Scotland his answer was simple: “they need to.”
There is a fine line between realism and negativity. I know this myself, having been described as a wee bit *just a wee bit* negative.
In Scottish rugby we are often accused of dwelling on the negatives. Results, finances and the press almost ensure this. The outlook is usually grey.
What does a player need to develop?
For some it is competition, for others it is hard work they are not used to. Freedom comes into it but restriction and focus can be the answer for many more. Success is a something attainable but the recipe is different for every individual and establishment. The legendary Pele once said “Everything is practice”. Many people have said that what made the late Seve Ballesteros so great was his flair and tenacity: personal qualities he had freedom to express.
I’m afraid that neither of these make Graham Lowe’s life any easier.
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