Scotland need a long term plan

John Beattie | 17:10 UK time, Sunday, 11 March 2012
We are beginning to share a problem with our football colleagues which is that a lack of team sports for youngsters is having an impact on the number of wins in both codes of football.

Frank Hadden copped it, Matt Williams copped it, Andy Robinson is copping it.

If they'd coached the All Blacks their records would have been different.


The game first: Ireland's players and simple structure were better than ours.
I had hoped Scotland would start with the same plan which got them across the gain line against Wales and France - namely more one pass rugby.

Instead, early possession was spun through Greig Laidlaw and Mike Blair as interchangeable half-backs to wider channels.

It didn't work. And our scrum was under pressure, and it's time to give Jon Welsh a run.

Right that's enough about the game as it is upsetting me.

Apart from the fact that the last three games had been winnable - which showed extraordinary application and effort from our players - some of whom, like Richie Gray and David Denton are world class.

Where the heck are we? It's a bigger picture.

I actually don't see the problem as an international coaching puzzle.

Oh it will exercise the bloggers and the writers, but does a creaky scrum or a squint throw or a missed tackle at the Aviva stadium actually reflect on any in-situ coaching team?

What we see in blue jerseys are products of our country. Well, apart from Hamilton, Denton, Evans and Lamont who were nurtured abroad.

Our players learn their skills in the mud, they come from a tiny pool of talent, they realise early on that they can get in a top team without trying hard.

They play for generally mid-table rugby teams, and then they play for us.

Occasionally there are magnificent wins, but we are where we are.

To cure this we need to sort three areas. Let's go top-down.

You have to ensure that your coaching and backroom talent at international level are first class.

And I reckon that coaching at that level is little more than a game plan. Coaches at the top level get sacked because they all lose a key game eventually.

Beneath that your coaches at professional level need to be up to date, innovative, motivating, and have at their disposal techniques and knowledge that is at least as good as that of their rivals.

I will comment on any movement at Glasgow when it's official. But there should be a constant turnover of coaching staff and a spread of knowledge.

And young Scottish coaches need a chance.

Lastly, you have to have an amateur and school game that's bustling with talent and teams and drive and passion and ambition and feedback - and all the words you and I know we could write down to describe a perfect grassroots environment.

And do we have that? No.

So the fix is a ten-year one. Pay PE teachers to take school rugby teams from as wide a player base as possible.

Sorry but the quick fix isn't a fix.

I would suggest that we set a long term target of winning the 2027 world cup, I believe we could achieve this by setting a time frame:

2012- Bring in the quality youngsters get rid of the average players ie. Morrison, Jacobsen, Lawson etc.

2014- Start focusing on football's demise, start paying teams to bring Rugby into the curriculum, bring in regional coordinators and a league system for schools, which will be scouted and then players will start on a ladder from Schools/clubs - District academies - regional academies - national academies

2015-2018- Restart the Borders team, at the same time privatise the existing teams or partly privatise them. Bring in top quality southern hemisphere players to elevate our pro teams and also provide competition for our top players as well as increasing fan interest. We should aim to have 1-2 teams regularly in the second stage of the Heineken cup

2021- Restart the Caledonia reds, (based in Aberdeen) use them initially as a development side. Play top quality youngsters. Bring in rules that each pro club should have at least 20 Scottish players of which 15 come from the surrounding area at least 8 must be under 21. This will increase regional identity and thus rivalry will increase between fans.

2023- Depending on the success of the new regions, they could elevate the Caledonia reds to a full side not just development then create a side based in a city where rugby isn't regularly being played, this team would be nearly completely Scottish and would not have a set region, this team would take in players from the academies and clubs who had not made it to the highest level reducing the chance of talent slipping through the net. By this time this side would be the only SRU run team. By this time we should aim to have 1-2 teams reaching the knockout stages of the Heineken cup, 2/3 teams in the top half of the Rabodirect as well as one or two competing for the challenge cup.

2025- By this time we set a target of having won 2 six nations, 2 Heineken cups, 3 challenge cups, the Rabodirect 4-5 times with our teams regularly making the play-offs. Our national side regularly beating tier 1 teams. Spread rugby around the nation as well, play "minor nations" such as Eastern european teams and pacific island teams in other cities

2027- Compete fully and have a realistic chance of winning


This might seem a little unrealistic and not 100% financially viable as well as that Ireland and Wales have had 4 teams for a while and haven't won the world cup so it may not work but if you look at Ireland they have a relatively similar size population and it is a similar size country; before 2000 Scotland regularly beat them so if handled properly Rugby could become a major sport. It will probably never be as big as football however it should be made a decent alternative, accessible to all. The way to target this is to target young people who are impressionable. Promote rugby's image of fair play to their parents. Then use this to build up the sport, if you give them the chance to regularly play against local schools they will become interested, a league system would enable the state schools to play the fee-paying schools more often and it will give the chance to win things. Have local leagues lower down the structure and have the in the younger ages 11-15 then from sixteen put the top 20 sides into two national leagues if you win the top regional leagues you go into a playoff the winner goes into the national.

I agree with the general thrust that we need to focus on grass roots and build upwards from there. I actually think that is being improved already, and the production line of talent is as good as it's even been for the last 20 years. Whilst the 1st XV perhaps hasn't shown the signs of improvement yet, I certainly feel that there's some depth creeping into Scottish rugby.

My criticism of the current regime (and I disagree with Beattie here) is that Robinson and his coaches do not seem to me to be the right group to maximise that talent. The demise of the Scottish scrum against Ireland was directly on their watch, and the extremely odd selections and subsitution policy have plagued Robinson throughout his career, not just with Scotland. The old saying was that Robinson was a great forwards coach but a poor selector. Scotland's previously limited resources played into his hands. He couldn't get it much wrong. Sadly, with the upsurge in depth, he has struggled to find the right combinations to maximise talent, and for that reason Beattie is wrong, we do need a changing of the guard.

I like the aim of having more teams, but my first priority would be to maximise the potential of the existing pro sides. That means making them truly professional. Getting the best coaches available, expanding the depth in the squads so that competition for places drives up performance and marketing the sides properly so that crowds regularly top 10,000. If you do that those teams can become self-sustaining and then it will become easier to subsidise new regional professional sides. The appointment of Townsend to the Glasgow position is a bad start. It is an amateur piece of administration and we need to aspire to better. The top players will not stick around if Scotland is run like an old boys club. We need to be more professional in this regard.

But surely if there were more clubs then they could spread out Scottish players and replacing them with top quality foreigners therefore our best will reach the knockout stages of the HC more often so our best will play their best the rise in support will come from signing big names and playing the best.

Well I hope Scotland do make changes necessary at grass roots level to pay dividends.

Welsh rugby has had a massive shake down over the last 20 years only now are we seeing the rel dividends start to come through.

1..9 - not sure why you'd want to restart the Borders before Caledonia. On the last 2 occasions there has been a team in the borders, they haven't been well supported; the population isn't that big and perhaps club ties are too strong? Also, wherever the 3rd team is based it needs to be able to attract sponsorship from local industry/ business and there is far more chance of that happening in the North East. Make Caledonia the 3rd team & suck it and see whether a Borders development side is viable after that.

do scotland care enough about rugby to make this work?

sorry to sound abit offish - buuuuut..

I like his line about Scottish PE teachers, theres one in charge of England now

My idea is that we lock Richie Gray in a room with 20 or so amazon-esque women and not let them out until ... well you, know. Then we will target the 2035 RWC with 23 (yup, there will be two prop subs by then) Richie Gray juniors

donkeyprop wrote:1..9 - not sure why you'd want to restart the Borders before Caledonia. On the last 2 occasions there has been a team in the borders, they haven't been well supported; the population isn't that big and perhaps club ties are too strong? Also, wherever the 3rd team is based it needs to be able to attract sponsorship from local industry/ business and there is far more chance of that happening in the North East. Make Caledonia the 3rd team & suck it and see whether a Borders development side is viable after that.

donkey, don't forget that Cranston and co claim to have a business plan with private backing that would support a team in the Borders - might be hot air, but I'd like to know more before choosing between North&Midlands or the Borders

ASBO's idea if it came to fruition makes me wish I had worked harder to become a Pro Rugby player.

The jist of the idea is ok, I'm in agreement though that the Borders team didn't work and I don't think it will. Too many loyalties to the liks of Melrose, Gala et al.

The Caly Reds is the way forward playing half of their games at Pittodrie and the other half at Cally Thistle's ground in Inverness. Same idea as what Glasgow and Edinburgh are doing get interest at Aberdeen Uni and try to secure funding from some of the oil Giants in the Area to raise the profile. This model is an achievable target in the next few Years IMO.

It's all about the coaching though. I would argue we do have decent players right now, players who are probably better than the current crop who are not getting a chance. Untill we have a coach willing to take risks, close the book.

A long term plan ? They need a plan full bleedin stop !

i dont think they need to go that long term, well in terms of getting better international results, get rid of townsend or all our good young players will become one dimensional and just another sheep, get rid of the oldies there is no legands they are just hanging about causing problem, with the new managent squad and hopefully more new caps i am giving andy robinson until the end of next years six nations to impress me as i sometimes see good in him, just needs to improve selections.

as for finding scottish youth talent, i grew up in the north east of scotland away from borders and ceneral belt rugby, but despite this the squad we created often came down south and got results, we beat stirling county at home in the u18 cup knocking them out, and were not the only competitive team up here, there is no scouting of young players up here and would have to move away and try and work your way up down south, a big ask at that age with no help. from the U18 squad only one of us moved away and is now playing for gala firsts, the north needs recognising in my opinion, and help bring depth to the scotland player pool

From what I've heard the general consensus from those involved with the reivers the reason that it didn't work was that there weren't enough Borders players, the uncertainty about it's future and the constant interfering from the SRU was seen as patronising. I say let them start, fund and run the team without any input from the SRU. Make sure no other senior games happen on the same day and get involvement from the clubs
To be honest I'm bot bothered about the third teams whereabouts just its existence, I think it would be healthy if there was a team outside of SRU control