Iain Morrison: Club v country threat to Scotland's young talent

Published on Saturday 5 December 2009 20:51

THE BRITISH and Irish Cup has highlighted the numbers of exiled Scots who have set up home in England's second division. In line with football the marketeers have named this league the "Championship" and it has been reduced to 12 teams this season in an attempt to foster a fully professional back-up.

The lack of opportunities in their homeland has forced any number of promising players to take the road south, with 19 Scots at the last count turning out in the Championship, including six at the Doncaster Knights and five at league leaders Exeter. Sadly there is a very real chance that some of them will be lost to Scottish rugby for ever and it all boils down to finance.

The RFU currently funds the 12 Championship teams to the tune of approximately 275,000 per annum, a sum that is expected to be boosted by another 100,000 next season when Sky will televise their matches. The cash-rich RFU's contribution is expected to increase to about 300,000 in the coming years.

However, Twickenham is not handing this money out for nothing. About a third of Premiership players are not eligible to play for England and so for season 2011/12 the RFU is expected to penalise Championship clubs who hire foreign players – including Scots. The details have not yet been finalised but the Union is expected to require every club to ensure that 17 players of the matchday 22 are eligible for England. Clubs are already preparing for the day, as Lynn Howells of the Doncaster Knights explains.

"We have to be mindful of the new changes that are coming in," said the one-time Edinburgh coach. "But we have a few Welsh and Scottish boys who have been here for a few years and they will be eligible for England (on residency grounds] very soon. I think the problem will come with fetching in overseas players."

In other words young Scots in the Championship will come under pressure to make themselves eligible for England to ensure that their club maximises the RFU funding. In some cases this would be no great loss to Scotland's national squad and others such as Stevie Swindall and Gordon Ross are already tied to Scotland with appearances for the national side or A-team. But occasionally a player develops a little later than his peers and Howells picks out one such.

"I think moving down here has been the making of Stephen McColl. Scots are just like the Welsh in that they mother the boys too much. We have moved Stephen from centre to fullback and he is doing really well. I don't think it will be long before one of the pro-teams comes in for him.

"He has the pace to hit the line but, because he used to play centre, he is able to exploit the gap wherever it appears. Not only that but he has a huge boot when kicking from hand and he kicks goals from 60 metres. He has huge potential."

The Dunfermline player won the U20 Player of the Year award two seasons ago and is now in his second year at Doncaster. Only recently he dropped a 50-metre goal to help beat Bristol and he has a lot going for him. It is far too early in his career to consign McColl to the scrapheap but unless he is picked up by one of the pro teams soon the fullback may have to throw his hat into the English ring. It's an invidious position for a promising young player with the vast bulk of his rugby career ahead of him.

His case is mirrored by many others including the offspring of several Scottish legends; Lewis, son of Jim Calder, plays for Exeter as does Sean, son of Alan Tomes, while Roger Baird's boy Jonny plays in the back row for Nottingham.

"I definitely wouldn't want to make myself eligible for England," says McColl. "I wasn't aware of any of this but I still dream about playing for Scotland and I won't give that up."

McColl may be one of the lucky ones who uses the Championship as a stepping stone to the Guinness or Magners League but the lack of opportunities in Scotland will become even more obvious if Championship clubs become reluctant to hire Scots for fear of losing Twickenham's largesse.

It may be inadvertent but it still seems a little unfair that the nation with the most rugby players in the world should be pinching from one of the nations with the least.

CHAMPIONSHIP SCOTS

Doncaster Knights

Stephen McColl, Steve Lawrie, Stuart Corsar, Ali Warnock, Dougie Flockhart, Neil Cochrane

Exeter Chiefs

Lewis Calder, Andy Miller, Bryan Rennie, Sean Tomes, Sean Marsden

Rotherham Titans

Steve Swindall, Gregor Hayter, Ben Prescott

Nottingham

Ian Nimmo, Jonny Baird

Bedford Blues

James Knight, Duncan Taylor

London Welsh

Gordon Ross