THE HERALD REPORTS

Bristol's scrummage had completely disrupted the Stade Francais unit and, as the packs broke up, Mark Regan punched the air, two-fisted. One of the French club's front-row took exception, lowered his forehead and Regan, eye blackened from some previous altercation and mud covered from that day's labours, moved not one millimetre back, instead lowering his own to confront his opponent nose to nose.

The referee had to intervene but the England hooker made his point. Thereafter, there was little doubt Bristol would go on to claim the win which Richard Hill, their coach, afterwards rated his career highlight.

On a Heineken Cup weekend which produced plenty of fine rugby, Regan's goading moment of triumphalism was the highlight. In the grand traditions of Brian Moore and Steve Thompson, he is a player who talks non-stop at opponents, very much the sort of snarling, aggressive, unpleasant-looking customer most true competitors want on their side and dread playing against.

Someone said this week - that is what makes Regan a winner. Actually, his track record does not quite back that up. There is no cabinet full of medals. What makes this veteran so admirable, though, is that, stretching limited ability and physique to the maximum, he does absolutely everything he can to challenge opponents and officials to the limit and help his team win.

There were no recriminations from Fabien Galthie, Stade's head coach, himself a feisty, competitor in his playing days; no attempt was made to take matters further when, technically, Regan may have had a case to answer for head-butting.

There was merely acceptance that in the rough and tumble of competitive sport the pre-tournament favourites had simply been bullied to defeat by a Bristol team which, man for man, was grossly inferior in terms of talent but much more willing to do what was required on a grimy afternoon in the West Country.

Yet only one day later, one of Scottish rugby's most famous names became the latest to call for raw Scottish youngsters to be sent into battle with such monsters. Pretty much everyone likes Scott Hastings, so it is painful, and will doubtless be unpopular, to suggest that he was irresponsible to the point of recklessness in claiming ways should be found to put teams from the Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership top flight into the European Challenge Cup.

He demonstrated a total failure to absorb the lessons of a decade ago, when the argument that letting clubs enter European competition would create a self-perpetuating elite was - rightly - upheld. All the country's best non-contracted players would immediately join the teams that qualified the first time to get into the shop window, and so ensure dominance of the domestic game by those same few, thereby undermining the incentive for other clubs to develop players.

Even setting that philosophical issue aside, the harsh reality is that the proposition is rugby's equivalent of asking an Olympic hopeful to go a full 12 rounds with Joe Calzaghe or Ricky Hatton. I have seen a couple of Premier One games this season and I would regard any administrator who exposed some of these relatively scrawny kids to such risks as legally culpable as and when something dreadful happens.

For years people focused on scrummaging as a major danger area, particularly since an English referee was successfully sued for failing to protect young players in a game where the umpteenth collapsed scrum eventually resulted in a broken neck. That alone offers pause for thought when ruthless individuals like Regan abound in the professional game.

More and more evidence is, though, emerging that the most serious injuries tend to result from collisions. Accidents can happen any time, of course, yet there is surely much more likelihood of impacts proving lethal when there is a significant mismatch in the physical preparation of those involved.

Consider, then, that this season's European Challenge Cup contestants include Sale Sharks, home club of Sebastien Chabal and Hastings' fellow former Watsonian Jason White, two of world rugby's most fearsome tacklers.

As an aside it is worth adding that years of over-zealous interventionism from Murrayfield disciplinarians eager to make names for themselves, has contributed to widespread "niceness" among Scottish amateur sportsmen that is ill-suited to the uncompromising business of professional sport.

All in all, then, significant re-programming is required for the vast majority of current Premiership 1 players to take on the full-time athletes who represent English and French clubs. Those seeking to earn the right to play at that level must develop both the physical and mental wherewithal to cope with professional rugby's ugly side.

There are, of course, individuals at some Premiership clubs with the potential to do so. They must, though, be prepared carefully then introduced alongside those who can help look after them when they first confront the Regans, Chabals and Whites of this world. Otherwise, there will be a high price to pay.

12:01am today



By KEVIN FERRIE

This article was posted on 22-Nov-2007, 08:44 by Hugh Barrow.