A regular programme feature that keeps you up to date with rugby and club issues and news by Kenny Hamilton.

(These might be the views Glasgow Hawks).

It’s a Grand Old Team to Play For
Today’s visitors bring the history of the oldest club in Scotland to one of the youngest. Edinburgh Accies are celebrating their 150th anniversary as we celebrate our 10th.

We offer a warm welcome to the players, coaches and President Willie Liston to Anniesland and look forward to an interesting encounter. This match brings together the two teams involved in the Scottish Cup Final from earlier this year. Ironically, the cup finalists find themselves occupying the lowliest positions in the league. But we know this is temporary – for both sides.

Trivia Question (Answer at foot of page – so answer now before looking)
Who is the top points scorer in the World Cup to date?

Last Week
The early part of the season has once again seen the coaches trying to settle a new squad of players – and progress is certainly being made.

After a shaky start at Melrose last week, the Hawks side had long spells of control of the match. The early exchanges gave Mark Robertson, now a professional but back at Melrose for this match, plenty of opportunity to show his free-running ability from broken play areas. Gradually however, Hawks began to assert themselves on the game. There was an unfortunate blunder by the match officials, in which all 3 seemed to be ‘unsighted’ for a knock-on by Melrose in the act of scoring at a key moment. It made the score 25-13 for Melrose at a point when Hawks were in the ascendancy and left the players feeling a little unlucky. However, as one experienced player said afterwards “We only have ourselves to blame for putting ourselves in the position in the first place.” The progress continues today.

World Cup
Undoubtedly the most interesting Rugby World Cup ever with some terrific matches and intriguing permutations that might emerge in the quarter –final stage. I think we all acknowledge that this is the best prepared world cup squad that Scotland has ever had and that, if they get it right on the day, we should feel confident about Scotland’s chances of reaching the next stage of the competition. (That sentence will have the superstitious amongst you reaching for your rabbit’s foot and voodoo doll.) The team is currently lying 3rd in the competition for number of tries scored – just 3 behind the Aussies and a few more behind the All Blacks.

But what is the correct approach to the match against New Zealand this Sunday for Frank Hadden? Back-up players or first team squad? If he plays the back-up squad he might learn something (I seem to remember the Welsh having a similar experience at the last World Cup). But if they suffer a humiliating defeat will that affect the confidence of the squad ahead of the Italian job? If he plays the first choice will he be condemned for risking injury of top players ahead of the group decider? I think we should trust him to make the choice based on his knowledge of the individual players. After 2 matches some will benefit from a rest while some are still building towards their peak in the competition.




President to Visit
As part of a programme of organised visits around the country the SRU President plans to meet with some of the Hawks Board in late October. So – what is the 1 question that you would like to put to the President of the SRU. If the best question, and answer, are both printable we will let you know in a future edition of “In Touch”. Please email your questions to me at [email protected]

Warriors Link Up with Hawks
The Hawks and Glasgow Warriors had a joint training session on Tuesday 11th September and players and coaches agreed that it was a very worthwhile venture. The hope is that we will be able to repeat the exercise on an ongoing basis.

What Now For Pro Rugby in Scotland?
Following the summer unrest and the Edinburgh debacle, it does seem a good time to reflect on the future organisation of pro rugby in Scotland. We have 2 sides – which frankly might be enough at this time. It will be very hard to encourage anyone to invest some serious risk money in the near future, I would suggest. So why not put in place Boards of Directors for both Glasgow and Edinburgh and charge them with responsibility of developing the business plan over the next 3 years that would lead to them becoming independent entities. They will need an agreed financial and player-release protocol in place with the SRU and the Board should be pulled together based on an appropriate mix of skills and experience to develop the business.

While it is not essential that they are all ‘rugby people’ I am sure we can find the right levels of energy and skill from those still sufficiently motivated to try and develop Scottish rugby at the top level.

Trivia Answer
Andrew Gavin Hastings (Scotland) with 227 points.

This article was posted on 20-Sep-2007, 10:34 by Hugh Barrow.