Rory Lamont who joined Hawks enroute to Glasgow has signed for Sale

THE HERALD REPORTS
SRU admits defeat as Lamont joins exodus
Rory Lamont has joined the growing list of high-profile departures from Scottish rugby as the SRU admitted that it does not have the money to compete in the transfer market.

The 24-year-old winger is joining Scott Lawson, his Glasgow team-mate, at Sale Sharks, the English Premiership club owned by Brian Kennedy, the SRU board member.

It has also confirmed that Euan Murray is heading for Northampton Saints in the Premiership. His departure, like Lawson\'s, emerged at the weekend.

It is a measure of the difficulty involved in running professional teams from headquarters that even as their moves were being announced in Glasgow yesterday, an official statement was being issued from Murrayfield claiming merely that the players were \"expected to leave.\"

Earlier this week, Frank Hadden, Scotland\'s head coach, claimed that a major problem was the length of time it took to sign players and that many of those going might have stayed had they been offered deals earlier in the season. Much of the difficulty seems to stem from the length of time it takes to get through SRU bureaucracy.

In yesterday\'s official statement, an SRU spokesman admitted that the cash-strapped organisation is finding it increasingly difficult to keep leading players in Scotland.

\"While recognising it is inevitable there will always be player movement at this stage in any season, particularly in a World Cup year, Scottish Rugby also accepts that it finds it hard and sometimes impossible to compete against larger, more financially secure clubs in other northern hemisphere countries, who are better placed to meet players\' overall expectations,\" said Dee McIntosh, the SRU\'s director of communications.

\"Scottish Rugby has endeavoured to make the most of its limited finances and facilities in today\'s professional game. However, despite many efforts to keep its talented players in Scotland, market forces dictate this is not a situation the governing body has sufficient powers to control.\"

That message is hardly designed to inspire confidence in those with options available to them.

Murray outlined what those players are weighing up as he explained his thinking.

\"I am very excited about the move - it will be a new start, but the process of making the decision to leave Glasgow was undoubtedly the toughest one I have ever been faced with,\" he said. \"I was born in Glasgow, raised there, went to school there and learned all my rugby there.

\"When I became really interested in the sport, my big target was to play for Glasgow and then Scotland.

\"I have been attached to the club for eight years as an apprentice and full-time pro, and I have broken into the international scene, so now is the time to answer a fresh challenge, but Glasgow will always be my home and I have a massive amount to thank a lot of rugby people in this part of the world for.\"

As the SRU struggles to identify venues for its professional teams, Murray underlined the message that has been directed to them from various quarters, that keeping and bringing in quality players is not merely about salaries.

\"Northampton\'s tremendous new stadium and their general world-class set-up . . . made them the obvious choice,\" he said, having had a range of options available. \"The prospect of running out in front of a 15-odd thousand sell-out crowd for every home game is fantastic.\"

l Scotland back row man David Callam could be the next player to leave Edinburgh, writes Colin Renton.

Reports in France claim that Bourgoin are lining him up as a replacement for Julien Bonnaire, the international No.8 who has agreed to join Clermont Auvergne.

The club\'s president, Pierre Martinet, has admitted that he has limited resources to rebuild his team, but he believes that the Scot is within his budget.

Should Callam confirm that he is joining the exodus that in the last week has seen Simon Taylor, Rob Dewey, Alasdair Strokosch and Alistair Dickinson all announce plans to quit Edinburgh, the 24-year-old will link up with fellow Scot Mark Rennie, who moved to the Stade Pierre Rajon from Lyon at the start of this season.

Edinburgh officials said yesterday that they would not confirm or deny speculation over player movements.

9:32pm today



By KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer

Back

This article was posted on 2-Mar-2007, 08:09 by Hugh Barrow.