THE HERALD REPORTS
Currie’s finish eases concerns

KEVIN FERRIE December 27 2006

Currie\'s early clinching of the Scottish title last weekend has had benefits for all Premier One clubs, with coaches now allowed to better prepare for the New Year\'s innovative Super Cup tournament.
The competition has become crucial to world rugby\'s development as the only one in the Northern Hemisphere trialling all the new laws designed to improve the sport as a spectacle.
The Super Cup had looked like getting off to a messy start because it was due to begin on the first weekend of the New Year, but clubs will then revert to the old laws for their final round of league matches the following week.
That weekend was looking like being crucial until Currie\'s win over Heriot\'s combined with Ayr\'s defeat by Glasgow Hawks to see the team from the west side of the capital crowned champions. Now coaches can concentrate on introducing players to the new laws, which was welcomed by Bob McKillop, head coach of Heriot\'s, who played host to Currie\'s triumph on Saturday.
\"The second half of the season is quite important for us,\" he said. \"The Super Cup is a challenge in different ways and could be quite exciting, particularly since the last couple of weeks have seen good rugby under the old rules.
\"Richie Dixon [the SRU head of projects who is in charge of the experiment] has been down at all the Premier One clubs taking them through the new rules. A lot of them make sense. Collapsing the driving lineout will be interesting.\"
McKillop readily acknowledged that under the existing laws the right team won the league. \"Currie and Ayr have played to their strengths most consistently and you can\'t criticise people for that.\"
Yet there is a feeling throughout Premier One that those strengths lean more towards an older style of play. The new laws look to encourage an open, quick game and it will be fascinating to see who adapts best.
McKillop, who is also coaching Scotland\'s under-20s this season so is handing over the reins for the Super Cup to backs coach George Breckenridge, also welcomed the fact that the settling of league issues means his assistant can now focus on the changes rather than get caught between two. \"It was curious scheduling to say the least, but I think the new rules suit us,\" he said. \"George is really fired up for it and we want to win it.\"
On the face of it those laws should suit the sort of game Heriot\'s traditionally aspire to, but McKillop is particularly encouraged by the attitude his men have shown lately.
\"I\'ve been really pleased the last couple of weeks because we\'ve had a lot of disruption in the second half of both and yet the patterns the guys have played with and the heart they\'ve played with have been great,\" he said.
The likes of Watsonians and Glasgow Hawks will also feel they have good reason to believe they are improving as relatively new combinations come together and that the experimental laws may suit their playing style.
Their introduction has given credibility to what had looked like being a meaningless competition. Currie\'s success has, meanwhile, given clubs every chance of making a success of an important experiment.

This article was posted on 27-Dec-2006, 09:15 by Hugh Barrow.