Resurgent pro-teams take the plaudits as Scottish rugby wins back respect

Published on Friday 23 January 2009 21:36

GLASGOW'S remarkable victory in Toulouse, coupled with Edinburgh's less surprising double over Castres, has given a boost to the game here. Consequently the standing of our two pro teams is rising.

In his Sky blog this week Stuart Barnes described them as being underrated because they were unfashionable. The Wasps and assistant Wales coach, Shaun Edwards, observed on Sunday night that both Edinburgh and Glasgow were now hard to beat. Wasps had fielded their strongest team of the season against Edinburgh and been happy to come away with a narrow win. Given the financial constraints imposed on both teams, they have come further under Sean Lineen and Andy Robinson than many thought possible, and probably than many others realise. They have both won a respect which they didn't enjoy a few years ago, when Heineken Cup games so often ended in defeat by an embarrassing margin.

It was especially pleasing that Glasgow won by playing imaginative and aggressive rugby. The backs have rightly received plaudits, but perhaps the decisive feature of the match was the number of turnovers won by the Glasgow back-row. Barnes again remarked that John Barclay, scarcely known beyond Scotland till recently, has now put himself very much in the frame for the Lions.

Behind the scrum Dan Parks and Graeme Morrison both played as well as I have seen them play, while the Evans brothers were outstanding. Morrison has probably booked the number 12 Scotland jersey for himself, but Frank Hadden has difficult decisions to make at fly-half and outside centre. Parks or Godman? Max Evans or Ben Cairns? But what is certain is that these wins over French clubs should do much to remove the element of self-doubt which tends to dog the Scotland side, and which probably cost us a victory over South Africa in the autumn.

It was interesting to read Mike Brewer's remarks this week about the "mindset" of Scottish players, and the need to make this more positive. One can only add that "mindset" reflects past performance and results as well as influencing the match you are about to play or are actually playing. Thus the more victories you chalk up, the more likely you are to win again – and to believe you are capable of doing so even if you fall behind in a game.

I saw only the first half of the Glasgow-Toulouse match, on account of pressing business down at Philiphaugh, where Selkirk were defending an unbeaten home record stretching back to September 2007 against second-placed Heriot's, the most prolific try-scorers in the league. For the first quarter of an hour that home record looked in danger as Selkirk, though playing with a strong wind at their back, struggled to get into the game and Heriot's, with a couple of penalties and a good try, went 11-0 up. Even those of us who know the skill and resilience of the team were looking doubtful. But – here is where "mindset" matters – the doubts were not shared by the players. Before half-time three tries had been scored and the game had been turned round.

The first came from full-back Fraser Harkness, taking the ball on the blindside from a five- metre scrum. It was a try from the moment he took the pass, for you need the power in the tackle of a Jason White to stop Harkness from that range. Then, after a succession of forward drives, the old-fashioned prop Martin Murray went over. A third score soon followed from a flowing three-quarter movement which saw young Lee Jones go over in the corner. I doubt if the Scotland Under-20 wing would have got the score last season, but he has worked on his physical conditioning as well as on his speed, and just managed to hold off two tacklers, stay in the field of play and get the ball down.

So at half-time it was Selkirk 17 Heriot's 11, and faith was restored on the touchlines, even though we would be playing into the wind in the second half. The matter was effectively decided when fly-half Gavin Craig followed up his own grubber kick to touch down, the conversion from scrum-half (and man of the match) Michael McVie making it 24-11. The fifth try by Ross Armstrong in injury time was the icing on the cake.

To their credit Heriot's continued to play expansive, adventurous rugby and it was only in the last ten minutes that fatigue took its toll and they started to drop passes and make other mistakes. Given the conditions – muddy pitch, howling winds, squalls of icy rain – the game was a credit to both teams, evidence once more that there's a lot of good rugby being played in the league.