David Ferguson: Urgent need to develop talent

Published on Thursday 22 October 2009 23:35

THE NEED for debate over how Scottish rugby develops talent such as Alex Blair, Matthew Scott and Rory Hutton was underlined on Wednesday in bold red pen by Andy Robinson when he named just one stand-off in his first autumn Test squad as Scotland coach.

There are 32 players in there, but just one recognised stand-off. Why? Simply, because we have not produced any others that Robinson and his assistants, Gregor Townsend and Graham Steadman, rate worthy of the Scotland jersey at this moment in time. Embarrassed? We should be.

Dan Parks is a good player with many skills, and has suffered like all stand-offs with error-strewn displays either side of him on occasions. Scotland's recent ills are not down to one player. But he has had his time as an international in 47 Tests and while he remains an injury away from being back in, Parks is not what the new coaches want nor need from their back-line leader.

They do rate Chris Paterson highly, but his inclusion as back-up fly-half, with little recent experience in an ever-evolving position, is a risk and highlights the problems of talent development that exist from the international apex right down to the youth and schools game.

The stand-off role may be the most glaring deficiency right now, but the whole system is under the microscope. Ian McGeechan tried to make changes as director of rugby in 2004-05, but had ideas binned, or agreed upon, but told there was no finance to implement them.

McGeechan knows more than anyone what it takes to mould high-quality internationals to win Test matches, and how difficult it is to achieve in a country of 24,000 teenage and adult male players against one such as England with over 265,000. Stark facts. The key, he emphasises, lies in maximising Scotland's development system, so no talent is missed nor poorly developed.

Currently, it is riddled with conflicts, chiefly because the rugby season is now far too long. Scotland's best under-20 players started pre-season training in July and will play their final game, in the IRB Junior World Championships in the middle of June, 2010, when they will compete with Super 14 and Guinness Premiership youngsters in Argentina.

Graham Shiel, the former Scotland stand-off and centre, is one of three coaches now working within the SRU's academy system. He explains: "The game has changed out of all recognition from what I played in, particularly in the needs of players.

"To get players who are amateur into the professional game is now a very scientific process. Our players tend to be later-developing and we are well behind the numbers in other countries, so don't have the athletes to pick off the shelf; we have to create them. Financially, we don't have the same resources to invest in programmes either.

"We are working very hard with a small pool of players to best develop a model that provides Edinburgh, Glasgow and Scotland with home-bred, well-developed and complete players. Youth and club rugby provided me with the development programme to be a Scotland player, but we now need the youth and club game, and then add 40 maybe 50 per cent extra on top of that to get these boys there and able to compete, and manage many through college and university, which brings other pressures."

There are 28 full-time academy players, and another 27 linked to area institutes, but every player is on a unique programme tailored around them, moving between clubs, specialist and back-up coaches such as nutrition, physio, strength and conditioning and skills, and the pro teams.

"What you have to be very careful with then is the intensity of all this training and potential for over-loading. I remember when Marcus Di Rollo started at Edinburgh, for example. He was punch-drunk for the first six months because he couldn't cope with the work-load of a professional; his body just wasn't up to that and needed time.

"We have to be so careful turning schoolboys into professionals because the volume of the loading, if too great, can make them break down, and the potential for injury increases."

This is why the academy coaches and manager Stevie Gemmell have built up to ten weeks of rest into each youngster's 11-month programme. That has brought conflict with clubs, angry at losing their top youngsters in December and for most of the second half of the season, as the players prepare for their Six Nations and World Cup.

There are a lot more games now. Some academy players may play 18 of 22 club and 13 under-20 matches by June.

There are no easy solutions, but there are possibilities. Scottish clubs could play a key role by reducing the leagues to eight teams, starting with Premier 1, so reducing league games from 22 to 14, and look at a different cup or inter-district competitions.

The impact a reduced programme of matches could have on club funds would be a problem, however, which is why it is being furiously resisted. But how much worse than having one stand-off in the Scotland team does it have to get before the bullet is bit?