Edinburgh and Glasgow – Continuing patter version 22 (it used to be a squad size)

First topic message reminder :

With the woes and injuries in the international camp just depressing us, lets look back to the club game.

Possible areas of discussion:
Edinburgh continue to hold the 1872 trophy
Edinburgh are getting a new ground
Edinburgh have a home Euro Champs cup game to look forward to
Edinburgh have a league fixture against the perpetual point givers, Glasgow, to look forward to
BigGee’s proposed Scotland XV for England has 8 Edinburgh players, 4 exiles and 3 Glasgow players so even the International team is starting to look representative of where rugby in Scotland truly exists.
It’s not all bad for Glasgow though as they sit above Munster in the Pro 14 and have Stafford McDowell on their books
Edinburgh have Hamish Watson though

The rumour was he would be WC cover, not a permanent signing.

tigertattie wrote:He is a great player, no doubt, but do Edinburgh need him? Especially from a Scotland point of view!

We have the Mish, Ritchie, Bradders, Barcs and not forgetting ye olde Mata.

If Smith comes as an openside (mind he mostly plays 6 in SA which is openside for some reason) then Smith, Mish and Ritchie are all fighting for the 7 jersey. If he comes as a blindside then Barclay and Maggie are fighting him for it.

Can we really afford players of that calibre to not have much game time?

Does seem like an odd signing if it actually is on the cards. That's the one area Edinburgh definitely aren't short.

Even with the WC absentees you have some young blood coming through, and one of the Scottish backrowers will be left behind at least, and potentially Toolis (though he may be asked to holiday in Osaka). Also there's Nick Haining who was only recently signed. I have a feeling this may be hearsay! Though wouldn't be the first strange signing decision...

Certainly won't complain if he does come for the WC period as he's of a higher calibre than pretty much everyone else he would be playing instead of! Don't think any of our other back rows not involved in the Scotland squad would play for SA against the All Blacks...

If its just world cup cover I could get it. Would it be though? Would someone of that quality really come for two months to then be shipped back to SA?

That's what all the rumours have been, that it's just WC cover.

In terms of why would someone do that, my guess would be cash.  Players of that quality who can cover for a short period are likely to be asking for a substantial fee.

EWT Spoons wrote:That's what all the rumours have been, that it's just WC cover.

In terms of why would someone do that, my guess would be cash.  Players of that quality who can cover for a short period are likely to be asking for a substantial fee.

Plus puts him out there in the European market. Could do his future career good.

Edinburgh don't really need cover. They are losing little in the backs and they have ridiculous depth in the forwards already.

Glasgow on the other hand could do with a hooker, a scrum half and a full back...sounds like the start of a joke by Jimbo or TigerT

Surely Kwagga is going to the World Cup anyway at this rate?

Hazel Sapling wrote:Edinburgh don't really need cover. They are losing little in the backs and they have ridiculous depth in the forwards already.

Glasgow on the other hand could do with a hooker, a scrum half and a full back...sounds like the start of a joke by Jimbo or TigerT

Problem is we're likely to lose Bhattie, McInally, Nel, Berghan, Gilchrist, probably Toolis, Watson, Barclay and potentially one of Ritchie or Bradbury. Plus Mata! So that's the entire pack and in partiuclar most of our top back row resources.

I can completely see why Cockers wants to bring in temporary pack cover!

RDW wrote:

Hazel Sapling wrote:Edinburgh don't really need cover. They are losing little in the backs and they have ridiculous depth in the forwards already.

Glasgow on the other hand could do with a hooker, a scrum half and a full back...sounds like the start of a joke by Jimbo or TigerT

Problem is we're likely to lose Bhattie, McInally, Nel, Berghan, Gilchrist, probably Toolis, Watson, Barclay  and potentially one of Ritchie or Bradbury. Plus Mata! So that's the entire pack and in partiuclar most of our top back row resources.

I can completely see why Cockers wants to bring in temporary pack cover!

Who's left after that then?

Ritchie, Crosbie, Haining(sp)? Have we signed another couple of fijians too?

Yeah there's a Fijian bloke. Ally Millar too and that's it.

Hasn't Miller left to join up with the 7s? Might have just been a temporary thing, but I thought he was away.

He seems to float between 7s and Edinburgh - the 7s team is currently split between Edinburgh and Glasgow for pre-season and the start of the season so he'll be available for Edinburgh.

it does leave our back row stocks depleted, unless townsend surprises us all and ditches most of the edinburgh stock for inferior/inspirational weegie backrowers like Wilson

Hazel Sapling wrote:Edinburgh don't really need cover. They are losing little in the backs and they have ridiculous depth in the forwards already.

Glasgow on the other hand could do with a hooker, a scrum half and a full back...sounds like the start of a joke by Jimbo or TigerT

A hooker a scrum half and a full back walk into a bar

The barman says "why the long face?"

The Full back and scrum half say "We thought the hooker was going to be of the loose lady variety"

The Hooker says "yeah, well its worse for me I'm having to play in Glasgow's "pack" for the next three months"

tigertattie wrote:

Hazel Sapling wrote:Edinburgh don't really need cover. They are losing little in the backs and they have ridiculous depth in the forwards already.

Glasgow on the other hand could do with a hooker, a scrum half and a full back...sounds like the start of a joke by Jimbo or TigerT

A hooker a scrum half and a full back walk into a bar just by Central Station

The full back says, "My round lads: what'll it be?"

The scrum half and the hooker both order white wine spritzers, "With diet soda , mind!". As the barman turns to hand the full back his change the scrum half picks up the hookers glass and box kicks it into the space just above the heads of a crowd of drinkers at the far end of the bar. The hooker races after the glass, and flattens the bemused drinker who had caught it.

The full back turns to the barman to apologise.

"Don't worry, pal." says the barman, "the last train to Waverley leaves in ten. Things'll settle down then."

Diet soda

tigertattie wrote:Diet soda

Everyone's a critic.

As Mel Brooks once said, "You want funny and original? Funny is easy. Original is easy. Funny AND original? Not so."

Sean Kennedy, according to Mark Palmer is training with Glasgow and in line to get a contract for this season.

Can't say I am to excited about that, but I guess we will be desperately short of SHs for a good bit of the season and need some cover. There would be no point in bringing a better player in, as they won't get a sniff once everyone is back.

It would however be quite amusing if he turned out to be a half decent player for Glasgow! He actually looked alright when he was here previously before going back and getting spoilt by Edinburgh.

A Frisby-Kennedy 1-2 sounds incredibly uninspiring. Better hope thomson doesn't get injured at FH otherwise it could be a long October...

Fisby is a decent enough player and will probably relish getting a few stsrts.

Dobie will be around as well, though you would imagine they will mainly be conditilning him this season and I fancy Barletto could bd filling in from the sevens, he looks like s decrnt bench option, with a good turn of pace.

I don't see SK as anything other than a squad filler really, but we will jeed a few of those to get us up and running this season!

NeilyBroon wrote:A Frisby-Kennedy 1-2 sounds incredibly uninspiring. Better hope thomson doesn't get injured at FH otherwise it could be a long October...

Oh ye of little faith. Rhuaridh to 10 and the Lord Stafford to 15. Or Robbie Nairn to 15. Both are excellent prospects.

jimbopip wrote:

tigertattie wrote:Diet soda

Everyone's a critic.

As Mel Brooks once said, "You want funny and original? Funny is easy. Original is easy. Funny AND original? Not so."

Mel Brooks is immensely funny.

He should have won an oscar for his portrayal of "The Guv" in Blazing Saddles!

In Super 6 news (yep, I know how much we all care about that!) Melrose have renamed themselves Southern Knights.

Can't see that going down very well in the Greenyards. Why not just call themselves the Melrose Knights? Do they really think they're going to attract crowds from other parts of the borders??

RDW wrote:In Super 6 news (yep, I know how much we all care about that!) Melrose have renamed themselves Southern Knights.

Can't see that going down very well in the Greenyards. Why not just call themselves the Melrose Knights? Do they really think they're going to attract crowds from other parts of the borders??

Oh dear. I think they must surely have been heavily influenced by the SRU to try and bring Hawick/Gala and all the other tribes into the fold. Doing this though will likely put off three melrose supporters for every one other tribesman that this gets!

We could however be entirely wrong and this move becomes a stroke of genious with the tribes learning from their mistakes of thier tribalistic past behaviour and they embrace this fully. The Southern Knights go on to dominate the Super 6 for the next 5 years leading to the SRU moving them up into the Pro 15 in 2025

I know a guy who's brother is in the southern knights squad and apparently a lot of the local borders lads aren't fussed about playing for them as they all want to play for their local borders team.

The heritage is in the melrose strip, not the southern knights brand so nobody is going to grow up wanting to play for them.

The borders is too tribal to try and unify - abandon ship and get another glasgow team involved in the super 6! thats where the future of scottish rugby resides!

tigertattie wrote:

RDW wrote:In Super 6 news (yep, I know how much we all care about that!) Melrose have renamed themselves Southern Knights.

Can't see that going down very well in the Greenyards. Why not just call themselves the Melrose Knights? Do they really think they're going to attract crowds from other parts of the borders??

Oh dear. I think they must surely have been heavily influenced by the SRU to try and bring Hawick/Gala and all the other tribes into the fold. Doing this though will likely put off three melrose supporters for every one other tribesman that this gets!

We could however be entirely wrong and this move becomes a stroke of genious with the tribes learning from their mistakes of thier tribalistic past behaviour and they embrace this fully. The Southern Knights go on to dominate the Super 6 for the next 5 years leading to the SRU moving them up into the Pro 15 in 2025

Southern Knights is a totally stupid name as most people north of the wall consider the words southern and English to be interchangeable. Does Sassenach not actually mean southerner? And knights on horseback marauding across the border were usually English.
The best name for a team from the borders is, and always will be Borders Reivers. However, if you speak to any exiles living in the saarf of Ingerland they will eventually admit that much as they miss living in Scotland, it is just a teeny wee bit parochial in the jings crivvens Sunday Post mindset.

The locals in Hawick, Selkirk, Jedburgh all love their rugby. They just hate the idea of supporting a team in Melrose more.

Seems like an attempt to overcome the difficulties faced by the Reivers. In fact if they still existed today, I'm sure they would be subjected to an SRU re-branding comparable to Glasgow and Edinburgh's and the Southern Knights logo and name would probably be close to what was produced. What seems beyond the SRU's comprehension is that if the people of the borders weren't fussed on seeing a Borders team play European powerhouses like Leinster, Munster and the Celtic Warriors it is hardly likely that after ten years of veritable neglect (aside from the odd u20 or 'A' fixture) they will turn out to see them play the clubs their own teams used to face before the SRU changed the system.

This is where the shoe is on the feet of all the Borderers. Either get behind the Southern Kings Knights or reject the idea. Get behind your own club and make them grow so they can get into this semi pro setup.

moaning about it will not get anyone anywhere. And this "The borders is the traditional hotbed of rugby in scotland" nonsense wont wash. If you were a hotbed then you'd be supplying teams and players all the time. As you arent, then you arent a hotbed and you can't get passed your own tribalistic nonsense to change things!

speaking of tribalistic nonsense.....the Luvvies are still mince. mincing mince, in fact. Mincing mince minceurs, in fact.

Sean Kennedy signs on with Glasgow for a year with a partnership agreement with Stirling County Super 6.

Gordon Reid just posted on Twitter "big news coming soon" standing next to a glasgow warriors sign.

Now I know Scotland are training at Scotston today (I think it's today) so that might mean nothing, or it could mean he's rejoined Glasgow.

Ah, thank you Mr Spoons. I posted something similar, although not so articulate on the international page.

EWT Spoons wrote:Gordon Reid just posted on Twitter "big news coming soon" standing next to a glasgow warriors sign.

Now I know Scotland are training at Scotston today (I think it's today) so that might mean nothing, or it could mean he's rejoined Glasgow.

Folk are getting carried away I think.

All this will be is Shrek is ready to tweet about the size of the fry up that he had for breakfast.

Well the big announcement from Gordie Reid, was actually him signing, not for Glasgow, but for Ayr!

They will also be known forthwith as the Ayrshire Bulls!

A little bit surprising that GR not picking up a full time contract with Glasgow, but I guess that DR feels that the future lies with the young guns.

If Gordie is happy to plod on as a semi pro, then good luck to him with that. He seems to be a local boy at heart and did not seem to get on with the move away from home. He will hopefully have earned some decent wedge down with London Irish and might be useful in setting him up for life after rugby.

As we know, Turner and Brown are almost certain to be in Japan. Worst case scenario is Brown misses out due to injury and Grant Stewart travels leaving our cupboard as barren as Jeremy Corbyn's Hanukah guest list.

But according to the Glasgow Wariors' fan forum this laddie has been added to the training roster;

Pat O'Toole who I think is a former Connacht hooker

Yes, an Irish hooker called Pat O'Tool

I shall say no more.

jimbopip wrote:As we know, Turner and Brown are almost certain to be in Japan. Worst case scenario is Brown misses out due to injury and Grant Stewart travels leaving our cupboard as barren as Jeremy Corbyn's Hanukah guest list.

But according to the Glasgow Wariors' fan forum this laddie has been added to the training roster;

Pat O'Toole who I think is a former Connacht hooker

Yes, an Irish hooker called Pat O'Tool

I shall say no more.

Ahhh, didnt he go to School with Phil McAvity?

In other news, BBC Scotland will show one super six game a week.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On one had it gives them exposure, on the other it could stop spectators rocking up to the ground.

I suppose what they need to do is grow a fan base and following first and tv coverage will help immensely.

Especially on sat afternoons when the tv has such choices as homes under the hammer, Repeats of tipping point or columbo

Madmad Mata and Dolokoto both named in Fiji's World Cup squad.

It means that the Once And Future Champions will lose THREE hookers for the stat of the season; Brown and Turner will definitely travel with Scotland and I'm convinced that brown's sticky tape and string will snap at some point requiring Grant Stewart to join the squad too.

I think we have enough wings to cover Madmad Mata's absence but the place will seem really quiet without him.

Opportunity will knock for someone. Could try to loan Malcolm back from London Scots or find a late bloomer in the leagues a la Bhatti

Hazel Sapling wrote:Opportunity will knock for someone. Could try to loan Malcolm back from London Scots or find a late bloomer in the leagues a la Bhatti

Might see somone playing well in the Super 6 on BBC Scotland

Edinburgh's new saffer hooker has posted a picture of himself in a knee brace. Looks like it's not just Glasgow (or Jimbo) that has a hooker problem!

Tell Fordy to cancel his holidays!

I see Edinburgh are bringing the Scotland U20s hooker, Ewan Ashman up on loan.

A decent move for both parties, as the new South African hooker seems crooked and he is likely to get a bit of game time whilst the internationals are away.

One to watch for the future.

So as I posted a while ago I've joined a rugby club in London - turns out their alumni includes Kyle Sinckler and.............. Daryl Marfo!

Was chatting to one of the old boys last night who speaks to Marfo occasionally - I was wearing an Edinburgh training top so he mentioned that he knew him. Apparently his non-selection stems from a falling out he had with Cockers a while ago which Cockers hasn't forgotten. I tried mentioning a potential attitude problem but given the guy knew him I didn't want to push it too far!

RDW wrote:So as I posted a while ago I've joined a rugby club in London - turns out their alumni includes Kyle Sinckler and.............. Daryl Marfo!

Was chatting to one of the old boys last night who speaks to Marfo occasionally - I was wearing an Edinburgh training top so he mentioned that he knew him. Apparently his non-selection stems from a falling out he had with Cockers a while ago which Cockers hasn't forgotten. I tried mentioning a potential attitude problem but given the guy knew him I didn't want to push it too far!

You do get the feeling that Cockers is someone who would happily bear a grudge!

It is a shame if he is just going to let him run down his contract there and never play him again, he did seem to have something about him as a player and we may now never know if he genuinely had any potential or not.

This is why central SRU contracts are a good thing. Surely there is someone in the SRU asking why Marfo isn't getting a look in and if Cockers says he doesnt fit the mold then the SRU should be looking at moving Marfo to the Weedge or looking to get him to a club somewhere that will play him.

tigertattie wrote:This is why central SRU contracts are a good thing. Surely there is someone in the SRU asking why Marfo isn't getting a look in and if Cockers says he doesnt fit the mold then the SRU should be looking at moving Marfo to the Weedge or looking to get him to a club somewhere that will play him.

No-one likely to go out on a limb over a fringe player unfortunately, there are always a few squad players who hardly ever play and it seems like DM is destined to become one of them

That's the European fixture list announced - Mrs RDW and I have just booked flights to Bordeaux for the game in January. Flights were cheap from London so got in there quickly!

Yes, i can hear the sound of Edinburgh fans stampeding towards the airport form by coffee stop at Westherby!

Don't imagine any of them will struggle to find a decent flight!

Bordeaux is actually a great city to visit, my dsughter did her French Uni placement there

Current and ex inhabitants of Edinburgh will appreciate the excellent and extensive tram system, which cost a fraction of what theirs did!

The red wine is good as well!