SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS

Q&A with Ian Barnes

FRANK CORCORAN (Falkirk): Who was the hardest player you played with, or against?

IAN BARNES: Ian McLauchlan, no doubt about it. A wee tough guy, a dirty little bastard who would have kicked his granny's head in - and even he admits that. He was frightened of nobody, but in those days everybody could look after themselves. At Hawick we had the likes of Norman Pender - a huge, hard man - and a lot of others. The line-outs were a jungle then, an absolute nightmare. All the trouble started there and it was every man for himself, elbows, knees, everything.

JAMIE MURDOCH (Morningside): Are the players these days softer than then?

IB: They take bigger hits, but I doubt they are as hard mentally. They may be bigger and stronger and do a lot of weights, but a lot of it is rugby by numbers. In my day, you sorted problems out yourself, but now the standard of refereeing is a lot higher and you can't get away with as much which is probably not a bad thing. There is not the same bite now, the hard men used to have a real edge to them.

JAMES RICHARDSON (Stockbridge): Can you remember your first Scotland cap?

IB: It was against Wales at Cardiff in 1972 in the heyday of Barry John and Gareth Edwards. They won by 20-odd points and although I don't recall much about the day itself, I do mind Edwards coming off a line-out and handing us off for that famous slide-in-the-mud try. I thought a horse had kicked us.

THOMAS MCNEILL (Stirling): If you were playing today would you stick to a diet?

IB: Aye, I think so. We never used to, of course. Funnily enough I was talking about this the other day with Jim Renwick and we agreed that we probably had the best of rugby. Playing was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs and I think we enjoyed our careers a lot more before weights and diet and full-time training came in. Even at club level now it is more like a job of work.

DEREK McIVOR (Duddingston): Best players?

IB: Jim Renwick first and Jim Renwick second. Just the best I have ever seen. It's a tragedy that Jim is not involved in the international game because he knows more than Ian McGeechan and Clive Woodward put together. He just sees things other people don't see. I would have to put Andy Irvine in there, and Colin Deans was probably the best trainer I have worked with. His attitude was outstanding. He was captain of Scotland but at Hawick he was just a player and would arrive half an hour before everyone else and still be there half an hour after everyone else had gone off to the pub. And he had a big job at the time.

JANE ROBERTS (Glasgow): How do you spot a good player? IB: We have over 70 training at Accies, but you can spot the boys that are strong and the boys that can run. I know them all anyway because they have come through the schools. Same at Hawick. Folk would be watching you at 16 or 17 and the likes of Hugh McLeod would stop you and talk to you in the street. Rugby players have always had a bit of status in Hawick.

DARREN CULVER (Glenrothes): What do you think of the Scotland coaching set-up?

IB: Well, I never used to be a Frank Hadden man, but he seems to have got them playing again. Mind you, anyone would look good after Matt Williams and Willie Anderson. They were absolutely hopeless. I don't agree with Hadden and the SRU on a lot of things still and I certainly don't think Scotland is big enough for a three-tier system - international, professional teams and clubs. We should get rid of the Celtic League and although I hate talking about brands, there is no doubt that Scotland's strongest brand has always been the clubs. Edinburgh had attendances averaging 2,500 last season, Borders and Glasgow around 1,700. There would be six weekend club games with bigger crowds than that. Clubs are getting squeezed and squeezed and squeezed. At the first cup final there was 22,000 at Murrayfield to see Hawick against Watsonians; last season 4,000 for the Watsonians v Currie final. So something is wrong. You have to build from the bottom up. The jury is still out on [SRU chief executive] Gordon McKie to my mind. He seems okay on the business side, but on the rugby front he is still listening to the people that Jim Telfer put in place.

DERRICK DAVIES (Selkirk): Chris Paterson, full-back, wing or stand-off?

IB: Well, I wasn't a back, but I was surprised they didn't stick with him at stand-off and decided to move him to wing or full-back. That was a bit strange. I must say I have been impressed with his goalkicking and he has obviously done a lot of work there. I used to put him on a par with Kenny Logan as a kicker; now if you see him lining up a kick on TV you can go and make yourself a cup of tea knowing he is going to kick it. Jim Renwick reckons he is wasted on the wing and that will do for me.

This article was posted on 30-Jul-2006, 07:50 by Hugh Barrow.