Leader: Welcome to the strange world of SRU politics

TURMOIL? What turmoil? In the troubled - and often fiery - affairs of the Scottish Rugby Union, few statements could match the one yesterday for its Olympian emollience and the density of the oil copiously poured over "unhelpful media speculation".

It was issued after a board meeting called at very short notice by chairman Allan Munro. This naturally prompted questions - not least from within the board - as why it was being called and what was to be discussed. Was chief executive Gordon McKie safe? No agenda was circulated. SRU president Ian McLauchlan had to break his holiday in Islay to attend. Was it a scrum down? Were penalty tries awarded? Executives sin-binned? "The board", said the lofty statement, "unanimously reaffirmed its support for and confidence in Scottish Rugby's established and successful system of Governance," and that "the governance model of our game in Scotland is absolutely sound". The board also "reaffirmed its support for the Scottish Rugby Executive management team". Phew. But why interrupt a holiday to say so? It was all worthy of a Delphic official communique from the IMF on Eurozone debt. If there's no problem, why say there's no problem? If everyone's happy with SRU governance, why call a sudden summer-time meeting to say they're so happy?