THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

DAVID FERGUSON CHIEF RUGBY WRITER
SCOTLAND'S leading rugby clubs are poised to introduce a new end-of-season tournament featuring amateur and professional players in a bid to enliven the game.

A new competition will be introduced to the 2006-7 season, and clubs are currently working out the format. Terence Froud, vice-president of Hawick RFC and member of the Premier One Forum, sat on the working party created last year to form a new club structure. The new tournament is a follow-on and Froud revealed that experimental laws are also now part of the thinking.

He said: "There is a real desire among clubs to be ambitious and try and push the boundaries a bit to bring supporters, sponsors and interest back to club rugby in Scotland.

"With the new ten-team league due to finish in January, we can create an exciting new competition in the later part of the season to benefit a lot of the game. We want to integrate pro players who are not playing every week back into their clubs, we're looking at tinkering with some laws to free up the game a bit - stopping driving lineouts and allowing handling in rucks for example - and perhaps have the top clubs enter the cup a round later than at present. It's about making club rugby more attractive and enjoyable again."

After years dogged by to-ing and fro-ing over its future, club rugby was plunged into controversy again last month when it emerged that a clutch of clubs were seeking to revoke the decision of last year's working party and June agm to shrink the divisions to ten teams.

Against the backdrop of a new regime at Murrayfield and growing feel-good factor, it provided an unwelcome black cloud for the SRU.

It was widely interpreted, however, as a cynical move of self-interest pushed by a handful of clubs now unhappy at the prospect of being relegated from Division One.

Stirling County are one club facing relegation still considering a proposal for this year's agm to quash last year's vote and move to a 16-team Division One.

That would threaten to take the club XVs season into May and force clubs to play on international weekends in November and through the Six Nations, but some clubs strapped for cash view that as appealing.

It would, significantly, wreck the plans for a revamped club season. Gordon McKie, the union's relatively new chief executive, stepped into the debate last month and meetings have been held with the P1 Forum also involving Frank Hadden, the Scotland coach, and age-grade coaches Iain Paxton and Peter Wright.

They have been striving to find a solution enabling clubs to have a meaningful, home-and-away championship and cup, while relieving pressure on the nation's most talented young players caught up in a tug of war between club and country ahead of the U19 and U21 home nations and world championships.

Wright was concerned going into the current U19 World Cup in Dubai as his players had managed just one training session a week this season as preparation while the leading U19 teams trained Monday to Friday virtually throughout the season. His concerns proved justified as Scotland were crushed 78-3 by Australia in their opening game and then well-beaten by Wales.

Froud believes the clubs' plan for a revamped 2006-7 season, with a ten-team top division, could be a significant step towards a brighter future for clubs and aspiring internationalists.

He added: "The talk of expanding back to 14 or 16-team leagues is, in my opinion, ridiculous. I understand why some clubs wish to do it, but we spent a lot of time in a lot of meetings last year coming up with this new plan and the consensus was undoubtedly to go for reduced leagues.

"From next year, the premiership season should finish in early January, late January if there are postponed games. That allows the under-19 and under-21 coaches total access to their players then, leaves the Scotland weekends free from club matches and gives clubs the chance to bring in a new tournament involving pro players which could brighten up club rugby in what has become a pretty stale, end-of-season period."

A board meeting on 27 April will discuss many issues, including sevens along with all the representative teams and the hosting of an IRB world sevens series tournament.

This article was posted on 13-Apr-2006, 07:21 by Hugh Barrow.