NOW WE'RE TOURING
'Blair's Babes' announced for summer tour, Glasgow douse Dragons' flames, and Six Nations remains on Free-to-Air
WELCOME BACK: after a week’s hiatus we have left ourselves with plenty to cover this week from the world of Scottish rugby, including yesterday’s announcement of the Scotland squad for the summer tour and a return to Rainbow Cup action. There is also the treat of our in-house media strategist Alan’s take on the news that the Six Nations will remain on free-to-air telly - if you didn’t want controversy, you’re in the wrong place. As ever, if you like what you are reading each week, please subscribe and share with your friends.
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NOW WE’RE TOURING: Scotland interim head coach Mike Blair has confirmed his 37-man squad for this summer’s fixtures against England A, Romania and Georgia, and there are a load of big talking points.
The absence of the Scottish Lions and the decision to rest a number of senior players - most notably Jonny Gray, Stuart McInally and Fraser Brown - means the squad has a youthful look to it, with only 6 players boasting more than 20 international caps and even new captain Jamie Ritchie just 25 years young. And once again, there are a few selections that would have even the most die hard Scottish rugby fans asking, “and who he?” Here is the full squad below:
IN YOUTH WE TRUST: the selection of Rory Darge, Jamie Hodgson, Rufus McLean, Jack Blain, Cole Forbes, Jamie Dobie and Ross Thompson, all fairly recent graduates of the Scotland U-20 set up, is one of the more interesting talking points. Although boasting only a handful of professional appearances between them, all have shone in the past year, and deserve their shot. It will be particularly interesting to see whether Thompson - who has recently pushed Hastings to the fullback slot for Glasgow - can cement the 3rd standoff role, while Forbes and McLean have a chance to show they are the long-term heirs to the fullback position.
MYSTERY MEN: while Ashman and Bayliss have long been on the Scotland radar, the selections of fellow front row forwards Nick Auterac and Javan Sebastian are more out of the blue.
Loosehead prop Nick Auterac has done the rounds in the English Premiership, featuring at various points for Saracens, Bath and Harlequins before settling at current club Northampton Saints (with a brief spell at London Scottish thrown in for good measure). While injuries have stalled his progress of late, he is highly rated down south and was recently on England’s radar. He adds a very nice option to Scotland’s loosehead stocks.
Scarlets tighthead Javan Sebastian may be better known to some Scotland fans in the west, after a brief stint at Scotstoun in 2015-2016, where he mainly turned out for Ayr in the Scottish Premiership. Returning to Llanelli the following year, he made his Pro 14 debut in 2019 and has recently earned a contract extension. At just 26 years old, he has plenty of time to reach his prime prop years, and adds much needed depth to the tighthead ranks.
CENTRES OF INTEREST: the squad also sees a welcome return for Matt Scott, whose last cap came in the summer of 2017. Rewarded for recent good form at Leicester Tigers, where he has formed a nice combination with George Ford inside him, Scott also offers experience to a relatively callow backline. Winger-cum-centre Kyle Steyn has been going great guns for Glasgow since his return from injury, while the selection of Sione Tuipulotu prior to arriving on Scottish shores shows how highly he is rated. That Rory Hutchinson cannot break into a second string touring squad shows how strong the talent is that Blair has at his disposal.
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DRAGONS FLAME DOUSED: Glasgow took down the Dragons away from home last Saturday with a convincing 27-16 scoreline which included (we think) a full four disallowed tries for Glasgow. An opening try from Grigg was brought back for what looked like a forearm to the head against Zander Fagerson but thankfully the ref judged it to be chest contact…cue a collective sigh of relief from all Scotland fans looking ahead to the Lions.
Somehow the Dragons (mainly via poor Glasgow defence in the centres) managed to build a 10 point lead but then the mother of all tries brought Glasgow back into the match just before HT. Thistle HQ has had the video on repeat for days - see link here
Second half tries from Turner and McDonald delivered the bonus point win and it was great to see the youngsters at Glasgow continue to excel. Thompson and Forbes continued their run of good form, and most impressively, Darge took down MOM in only his second start for Glasgow. Performances such as Darge’s on Saturday highlight the need to get the Super 6 back up and running to give younger players game time given the constraints of only two pro teams - if you want to read more about this see our old blog on the merits of a 3rd pro team here.
Suddenly the Rainbow Cup has gone from ‘total fucking disaster’ to ‘what could have been’. If it hadn’t been for Glasgow’s capitulation in Treviso we would have been top of the league and eyeing up a place in the final. However, with a Munster bonus point against Zebre almost an inevitability it is likely Glasgow will miss out on the big North vs South Rainbow clash. Scotland’s premier stats man Kevin Miller has the lowdown on final weekend permutations…
IS THAT EVEN FAIR? Speaking of Zander, friend of the pod Andrew Forde has made the tribute video we’ve all been waiting for, which includes some clips of the big man on the rampage in his school days - terrifying.
NO CHANGE AT EDINBURGH? Meanwhile at the other end of the M8, Mark Palmer of the Times is reporting that Edinburgh’s assistant coaches ( Duncan Hodge, Calum MacRae and Stevie Lawrie) are set to be rewarded with contract extensions. We are not 100% sure what exactly they are being rewarded for given the capital side’s form in the last 2 years, and there was faint hope of an impending coaching refresh - Edinburgh’s attack in particular has looked blunt at best of late. Still no confirmation of Cockers’ future though…
GET YOUR RODD OUT: the Telegraph recently had a splash on the back channel battle between Scotland and England for the young Sale front row forwards Ewan Ashman and Bevan Rodd. Whilst Ewan Ashman has seen the light, Rodd has clearly heard the dark whispers of Eddie Jones and former Scotland cap Matt Proudfoot (where’s your loyalty Matty?) and appears to be choosing the white of England. On first glance this looks like a poor deal for Scotland with Rodd a regular starter for Sale vs Ashman, who is certainly a squad player at best. However, as noted on the pod, our depth/age profile at hooker means this is a position of greater needs vs loosehead.
Loosehead - Sutherland (28), Kebble (28), Schoeman (27), Lambert (20), Bhatti (27), Dell (29), Allan (29), Thornton (24), Grahamslaw (22), Auterac (28)
Hooker - Brown (31), McInally (30), Cherry (30), Turner (28), Matthews (27), Miller (26), Stewart (26), Kerr (25)
SIX NATIONS REMAINS ON COUNCIL TELLY: It is great news for the broader game as BBC and ITV have supposedly “agreed in principle” for an enhanced four year deal, which will end after the 2025 tournament. As per the last deal, all Scotland home matches will be shown on BBC - four more years of Moore, Guscott and Davies it is…
Whilst the majority of fans will be ecstatic at the news, we have a sneaking suspicion there will be a few money men unhappy with the decision. The Telegraph reported that the new contract will be an uplift on the previous deal but not as high as the reported target of £150m per year even with Sky and BT sniffing around for rights. In addition, the Womens and under-20s Six Nations will be broadcast on the BBC, while it appears Amazon is in pole position for the Autumn Internationals.
The SRU mission statement is “we work hard to grow the game and inspire Scotland through rugby” and it is great to see the SRU and wider Six Nations unions live and breath this mantra by ensuring Scottish rugby’s greatest marketing asset (The Six Nations) retains as broad coverage as possible. However, we must remember that the Six Nations is in bed with private equity now and whether we like it or not CVC is not a non profit, it is a private company with a responsibility to its shareholders and filled with incredibly smart/ruthless people. Back in March the Six Nations CEO Ben Moral correctly said that “Any decision over free-to-air, moving to pay, those decisions will remain in the power of the unions.” Now while Morel is correct that any future decisions regarding TV will sit with the unions, at the same time he (and the respective unions) are leaving out a very important piece of info - c£60m of the £365m is dependent on achieving performance objectives (translation – revenue targets) between 2025 – 2028. This doesn’t make it inevitable that the Six Nations will go on Pay TV but, as +80% of revenue is driven via TV, it creates a dynamic in which the unions will potentially be incentivised to prioritise revenue over reach as we go further into the 20s.
Just as the SRU have a huge responsibility to ensure the CVC money supports the broader game from Currie under-10s through to Finn Russell, they also have an obligation to ensure that any future decisions regarding broadcast contracts supports their mission to “grow the game”.
England Cricket’s shift from Channel 4 to Sky in 2005 managed to significantly increase how much professional cricketers were paid but as England Cricket themselves have outlined, it had a detrimental impact on both playing numbers and the role of the sport within broader society. This impact on participation has been most felt at a state school level and since 2005 there has been a dramatic decline in the number of state educated players in the England team. The team that won the Ashes in 2005 was predominantly state educated (9 out of 12) vs fifteen years later where the majority of England’s test team are the product of a private school education (2nd test vs Pakistan last summer 2 out of 11 were state educated).
Now, if you believe shifting to sport onto Pay TV has a greater impact on private school participation vs state school (happy to be challenged on this) and the SRU is there to grow the whole game, this leaves you with two potential outcomes
6 Nations stays on FTA indefinitely as Scottish Rugby’s greatest marketing asset
Any decision to move the 6 Nations onto Pay TV needs to be done in conjunction with measures to mitigate any impact on state school involvement
REDPATH ACL: Scottish rugby’s newest wunderkind Cam Redpath will have to wait until at least 2022 to add to his solitary international cap, after rupturing his ACL whilst in action for Bath against the Sale Sharks. That Redpath will miss more up to a year of rugby is tragic, but more concerning is the fact this is his second ACL injury, the first of which in 2018 required reconstruction. As seen with the likes of Ross Rennie, troublesome ACLs can be career ruiners. However, it is easy to forget how young he still is, meaning there is plenty of time for him to return to his best.
DONE-BAR: former Scotland centre Alex Dunbar has announced his retirement from professional rugby at the age of 31, moving onto pastures new (literally) and a new life on the family farm. At his best there was no other contemporary Scottish centre to compare - he had pace and physicality in attack, offloading ability and excellent break down skills. However his career stalled slightly in recent years, due to a combination of injuries and falling out of favour with then Warriors head coach Dave Rennie, resulting in his departure from Scotstoun, followed by some underwhelming stints at Newcastle and then Brive. Just 31 caps for Scotland seems scant reward for his talents. Favourite memories will be his destructive performance in the 2017 victory away to Australia and that trick lineout score versus Ireland in the Six Nations of the same year.
Once again, Andrew Forde has done the lord’s work and come up with the ultimate tribute video:
SCOTS ABROAD: almost too much to keep up with over the last 2 weeks, but here are some highlights:
Return of the King…
We will never get tired of seeing a Finny-Russ highlight from the Top 14:
Although the big man’s fashion choices whilst attending the recent Monaco Grand Prix left a lot to be desired:
Laidlaw was on Japanese TV receiving a giant novelty size car key and giving incorrect predictions for the Top League final - click on the image for the full video
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