THERE are persistent rumours that the SRU paid off former marketing man Keith Grainger with a golden goodbye amounting to an astonishing £250,000. Or, put another way, the cost of running the Sevens team for an entire season.

Grainger flounced out of Murrayfield shortly after Gordon McKie's appointment, clearly disappointed at having been overlooked for the top job. If the figure is correct then it is little wonder the Union's finances are dominated by red ink.

THE SRU are not the only rugby union to hit the financial buffers. The Argentinian Union (UAR) are threatened with having their bank accounts frozen following a court ruling which upheld a claim against them for £285,000 (1.6 million pesos) in damages made by a quadriplegic player. The UAR applied for, and were granted, leave to continue to organise their upcoming Test matches against New Zealand and Wales on the basis that this was the only way to generate income to meet their debts, but the whole system of governance in the country has broken down.

The players are said to be considering strike action although to what purpose goodness only knows?

CLOSER to home it appears that the Union have bowed to the inevitable, some would say obvious, and asked their age group coaches to double up as managers of the new expanded pro-team academies.

It is not immediately apparent what this means for the current managers but with Phil Smith now promoted to backs' coach of Edinburgh's senior squad there is at least one vacancy at the Gunner's Academy that needs filling.

This article was posted on 21-May-2006, 19:10 by Hugh Barrow.