Richie Gray’s sad exit highlights the fact that we’ve failed to make a success of pro rugby

THERE’S not much more to be said about Richie Gray’s decision to leave Glasgow for Sale next summer, except perhaps this: would Paul O’Connell have ever departed Munster for an English Premier club?

I’ve no doubt he has had many offers, and I daresay some of them would have been financially very rewarding. I don’t offer this reflection as a criticism of Richie Gray. He has decided the move to Sale is best for his future career. Making the comparison with O’Connell merely emphasises yet again how we have failed to make a success of professional rugby here. It’s depressing. You could, it was remarked to me when the news about Gray came through, select a XV made up of Scottish internationals playing for clubs elsewhere which would probably be stronger than any team that either Edinburgh or Glasgow could field in this season’s Heineken. For instance: Hugo Southwell (or Rory Lamont); Nikki Walker, Max Evans, Sean Lamont, Simon Danielli; Dan Parks, Rory Lawson; Alastair Dickinson, Scott Lawson, Euan Murray, Nathan Hines, Jim Hamilton, Kelly Brown, Simon Taylor (or Richie Vernon), Alasdair Strokosch. Admittedly, half of those named are not products of the Scottish system, in the sense that they went to school here, or came up through our club or youth systems. So, while nobody doubts their commitment to the national team, it’s not surprising if many are less committed to Scottish rugby itself, even though all have, at one time or another, played for one of our pro teams.

In a sense, Gray’s departure is more depressing because he is home-grown and home-developed; also because he is, as they say, marketable, and one cause of the failure of the pro game here has been the inability of those who run it to market the teams in such a way as to arouse popular enthusiasm. That is more easily done if you have stars who capture the public imagination, players like O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara and Brian O’Driscoll – or Richie Gray.

Nevertheless, both Edinburgh and Glasgow should approach the start of the Heineken campaign in fairly good heart. Glasgow have had the better season so far and come into the cup on the back of a run of victories. It goes without saying that their pool, dominated by the cup-holders Leinster, is a tough one. There are no easy pools in the Heineken now. Hitherto, the weakness of the Italian clubs has meant that clubs fortunate to be in the same pool as them have had a better chance of reaching the knock-out stages than those in other pools, if only as one of the two second-placed teams with most points. This is no longer the case. Away wins against Treviso and Aironi can’t be taken for granted.

The other teams in Glasgow’s group are Bath and Montpellier. Neither club is having a great season. Bath are sitting in the middle of the English Premiership table, with four wins and four defeats. Montpellier are third from the bottom of the Top 14, having won only two of their nine matches. Glasgow will surely treat them with respect, but have no reason to feel overawed. Even Leinster, without O’Driscoll, may be beatable, at least at Firhill. Leinster have, of course, many other top-class players, but time and again over the years it is O’Driscoll who has made the difference between victory and defeat in close matches. Glasgow did indeed beat Leinster in Dublin in mid-September, 23-19. World Cup players were missing then. So that match is an inadequate form guide. Nevertheless, that result should give Glasgow confidence. In short they have a better chance than ever before of making progress.

On the face of it, Edinburgh’s pool is stiffer. London Irish, Cardiff Blues and Racing Metro are none of them as good as Leinster at full strength, but on this season’s form all are more formidable opponents than Bath and Montpellier. Moreover, Edinburgh’s own start to the season has been disappointing. They lost heavily to Cardiff (whom Glasgow have beaten) and until their good win in Treviso last week, their only victory was against an under-strength Munster. Since this was before the return of World Cup players, Edinburgh were under-strength themselves. Then their forwards, without their international front-row, were taken to the cleaners by the Scarlets, and they lost to Leinster, despite scoring three tries to two, because they conceded 21 points from penalties.

Yet some performances have been better than the results and Michael Bradley has been giving opportunities to young players, some of which have been seized. He has picked an attractive team for Saturday’s game away to London Irish. Even in the absence of Chris Paterson there is a back division capable of scoring tries against any but the very best defences. The international front-row is in place. Young forwards Grant Gilchrist, David Denton and Stuart McInally have all been very impressive, and, in a fully fit Ross Rennie, Edinburgh have one of the half-dozen best genuine No 7s in the Six Nations. Given the bounce of the ball, this Edinburgh side is capable of making a real impact in the Heineken if – and it is a big if – they can cure themselves of the habit of conceding silly penalties.