WE'RE BACK BABY!
URC action returns, Women's World Cup nears, Super 6 and Scots Abroad
WELCOME: thank God! Summer is over at last and we can finally, finally welcome back the return of the URC. This is the moment Scottish rugby fans (and Jay-Z, amongst others) have waited months for, and in suitable fashion, they were treated to an emotional whirlwind of a weekend, the soaring hope of being an Edinburgh fan right now contrasted with the abject misery of being a Glasgow follower. In this week’s newsletter we look back at a mixed opening round of fixtures for the pro sides, look forward to the upcoming Womens’ World Cup, run our eye over the Super 6 and keep you up to date with a raft of Scots abroad. As ever, there will be memes.
DRAGONS DOUSED: Edinburgh kicked off the new season in emphatic style, defeating the hapless Dragons for a 44-6 victory and ending the opening weekend sitting at the top of the URC table.
Despite a slow start, where Mike Blair’s men struggled to deal with their stubborn visitors, Edinburgh’s superior quality told in the end, with the DAM Health crowd treated to just the seven tries on the night.
The home side led just 15-6 at the break, Vellacott darting over from close range for the only try of the first half. Yet the second half saw the floodgates open, with Young (fresh off touring with Scotland in the summer), Hoyland, Graham (x2), Kinghorn and Dean all crossing the whitewash. Darcy Graham - sporting a Cheslin Kolbe-style scrumcap - looked sharp as a tack, his first score a tidy finish and his second the definition of creating something out of nothing. And our very own Sweet Prince Chris Dean, whose skill set appears to have expanded hugely under the watch of Blair, was purring in the midfield (whilst also doing a decent turn in the back row at one point).
So a bonus point victory, no tries conceded, the return to action of Bill Mata and a debut for Sam Skinner - this was a pretty ideal way to start the season. But baby steps, as tougher test await the capital side, with a two match tour of South Africa next on the cards.
Full highlights below:
GLASGOW GUBBED: Glasgow started life under new head coach Franco Smith in underwhelming fashion, going down 33-11 away to Benetton. Despite trailing just 6-11 at the break, the home side were comfortable winners in the end, and secured the bonus point victory with the last play of the game.
The visitors had two George Horne penalties to show for their efforts in the first 40, yet had conceded two tries by the time the scrum half slotted his second just before the break. Benetton then quickly added a third after the half time oranges, and took their lead past two scores with two more penalty goals. Glasgow threatened an unlikely come back when Zander Fagerson crossed for a try, but it was all too little too late, with Benetton again scoring to put the result to bed.
Benetton are a tidy side these days, and Smith has barely got his feet under the desk at Scotstoun, yet Glasgow fans would have expected more from their side on the day. Absent a purple patch in the second half - where Zander powered over - Glasgow rarely troubled the home side defence, struggling to put together any meaningful phases amidst a raft of basic errors. The starting XV will improve with the return of its internationals, but it looks like Glasgow’s summer recruitment has added little. Full highlights (for the brave amongst you) below:
PANIC STATIONS? Despite Friday’s disappointing result, it is far too early to judge the reign of Franco (that sounds wrong, doesn’t it?). Glasgow’s build up to this season has been hamstrung by both poor preparation and a dose of bad luck. Smith’s appointment seems to have been confirmed at the final hour, meaning he has had to inherit a playing squad and coaching ticket that were ultimately assembled by his predecessor Danny Wilson. And Glasgow were bound to look undercooked given both their pre season matches were cancelled for various reasons. The new man needs time to properly assess his squad and impose his style of play.
However, unless things turn around reasonably quickly, there is the risk that years of good work down Scotstoun way will become entirely undone. As recently documented in Alasdair Reid’s excellent piece in the Times (link below), it feels like an age ago that Glasgow were consistently sat at the top table of both domestic and European competition. Following Townsend’s triumph in 2015, Dave Rennie’s sides were always competitive, reaching the Pro 14 final in 2019 and consistently making the Champions Cup knock out stages, despite the steady loss of stars such as Hogg, Russell, Gray etc. Yet the drop off since has been a rapid one, with player recruitment and coaching appointments in recent years simply not up to scratch, as shown by results on the pitch. The contrast with a resurgent Edinburgh side could not be greater.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: Bryan Easson has named his 32-person squad ahead of October’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Scotland’s first appearance in the tournament since 2010. Scotland have been drawn in a tough pool alongside hosts New Zealand, Australia and Wales, although they will be firmly targeting a win over the Welsh (who they narrowly lost to in the last Six Nations) whilst aiming to be competitive against the Antipodeans.
Easson has been able to name a settled and vastly experienced squad, with Helen Nelson, Emma Wassell, Jade Konkel-Roberts, Sarah Law, Chloe Rollie and Lana Skeldon all boasting 50 caps plus. They are joined by other seasoned campaigners such as Megan Gaffney, Rhona Lloyd, Lisa Thomson, Hannah Smith, and some new comers such as one-cappers Elliann Clarke and Coreen Grant.
Although the build-up has been marred - to say the least - by the ongoing Siobhan Cattigan situation, the squad has put up a united front in recent weeks, led by captain Rachel Malcolm. The squad took part in an open training session at the Oriam on Saturday and were given a send off by the DAM Health crowd at half time of Edinburgh’s match against the Dragons.
Sticking with the women's game, it is nice to see the SRU start to show highlights of Premiership and National 1 on their YouTube page, as seen below:
SUPER 6: It is easy to lose track of the Super 6 given there has been a seemingly endless combination of ‘sprint’ tournaments, all played at different times in the season, since the concept began. How many times have we seen Ayrshire Bulls play the Stirling Wolves now? But nevertheless the tournament in its current guise continued a pace at the weekend, with a series of high scoring fixtures played out.
Firstly on Friday night Heriots defeated a battling Southern Knights 31-21 at the Greenyards. The Knights have not had their troubles to seek this season, and have had to dip heavily into their amateur Melrose side throughout the tournament, but in recent weeks have shown that a Borders team is always hard to beat. They were buoyed by the presence of Edinburgh pros Charlie Shiel, Luan de Bruin and (new signing) Jamie Jack, all of whom played a large role in the match being evenly poised in the last ten minutes. However, the Nails - fielding three emergency loanees from Glasgow Hawks - did enough to secure the bonus point win.
Then on Saturday a stacked Watsonians side - fielding pros Matt Currie, Ben Muncaster, Patrick Harrison and Pierce Phillips - overcame the Boroughmuir Bears (ironically ‘pro-less) 31-10. However, an enticing local derby was in the end a scrappy affair, with both coaches admitting their charges were off the pace. Although the pro allocation did not overwhelmingly affect the result on the day, it does seem bonkers that the Bears were not able to call upon a single Glasgow or Edinburgh player.
The Ayrshire Bulls heaped more misery on the winless Stirling Wolves, with the visitors racking up a comfortable 64-22 win at Bridgehaugh. It is quite the reverse for the Wolves, who last year were close to claiming the tournament as a whole. Although the Bears will have something to say about it, it looks like this time around the Bulls and Watsonians will be battling it out for top place.
Highlights below:
SCOTS ABROAD
Gallagher Premiership
Northampton v London Irish: Rory Hutchinson (12) v Ben White (9) - Hutchinson once again impressing, while White appears to be first choice at Irish now following the departure of Nick Phipps. Interesting to note that Logan Trotter, the Stirling County winger who has been training with Glasgow, has moved down south to Irish - hopefully he can replicate the recent exploits of Kyle Rowe, who sadly continues to be sidelined with injury.
Harlequins v Saracens: v Andy Christie (19) and Duncan Taylor (23) - odd to see a Saracens teamsheet without Tim Swinson on it…
Leicester v Newcastle: Matt Scott (13) v
Wasps v Bristol: Robin Hislop (1) v Magnus Bradbury (8) - Bradbury getting on the score sheet in consecutive weeks, as part of what no one is calling the ‘Magnaissance’ (Thistle HQ™)
Bath v Sale: Josh Bayliss (6) and Cam Redpath (12) v Gus Warr (9), Tom Roebuck (14) and Ewan Ashman (16) - brilliant to see Redpath string together a couple of matches at the start of the season, while Gus Warr has stepped up nicely for Sale in the absence of Faf de Klerk.
Worcester v Exeter: Murray McCallum (3), Tom Dodd (8) and Rory Sutherland (17) v Jonny Gray (5) - Hogg has been absent this season so far with a (not too serious) knee injury.
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