The Herald reports

Salutary lessons from southern hemisphere
JOHN BEATTIE

So here's my question: would a South Africa Under-20 team win or lose to Glasgow Hawks, Boroughmuir, West of Scotland or Selkirk? Interesting. And should there be an age-group team in our league? Interesting too.
When I was in South Africa in January, I visited Glenwood School, whose beautiful rugby pitches sit right beside the school, not far from the cricket square, tennis courts and outdoor swimming pool. Their ground holds 10,000 people.
I asked why on earth a school needed a rugby ground that holds 10,000. "Because that," said the young teacher showing me around, "is the size of the crowd we get for the big derby games against the likes of Durban High School."
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I nearly jumped into the pool with my clothes on, there and then. Rugby, in South Africa, is still a culturally important sport where inter-school and inter-university matches attract crowds into five figures. And this was just one town. Most white boys, and now many, many black boys, take up rugby in South Africa.
As it stands in Scotland, 40% of schools offer no physical education to children in S4 and S5.
John Jeffrey, manager of Scotland's Under-20s, is an old playing colleague of mine and I hope I can call him a friend. I phoned him yesterday. After the first game, against South Africa there were five Scottish players unavailable for selection for tonight's game principally because of injuries suffered in the match.
We have all read about the South Africans being bigger, stronger, faster and playing at a higher level. But JJ was interesting. "New Zealand beat Ireland 65-10 yesterday, so we are not alone," he said. "We have some good players, but Peter Horne, our full-back, is a great example of a very exciting and talented player who has played for Howe of Fife for a season and now he had to face boys with Super 14 experience.
It just doesn't work."
There are lots of problems to this, but I always like to have solutions, and the solution is to have more players, better prepared, and playing at a higher level. And that is a complicated mix.
As a former player, and now as a coach, I know, when I look at my players at West of Scotland, that some are better prepared than others. One, a young lad called Robert Harley, is in the academy system and will be training full-time this season. The reality of life is that he needs to be tested every week. So does the excellent Joe Stafford, of Hillhead-Jordanhill, from the Under-20 team, and Richie Gray, who broke his jaw in the match against South Africa. Both will probably move clubs this year to do just that.
At present the place to test these young players is in the club environment in the top flight of our league system, but some aren't even getting regular first XV rugby at their clubs. Professional team back-up games might be an answer too.
We have to put what borders on intolerable pressure on our young players to sort out the best from the rest. We will never have as many players as the major Southern Hemisphere countries - New Zealand's schools are so competitive they offer rugby scholarships to Samoan children - but we must be the best we can be.
Even speaking as a coach, I would have no objection to fielding a Scotland U20 team in Premier 1 as part of the league set-up. Or one age-group side of differing ages given that some of our players, like Lewis Calder, who is on Newcastle's books, are down south.
I have always said that there should be a team made of professional back-up players in our league for us to have a crack at too. Perhaps there should be two, a back-up players team and an age-group players team. It would certainly do away with the unseemly and annual poaching spree clubs embark upon to land the best youngsters.
Each Scottish age-group throws up only a couple of players who will go on to play for Scotland, if that. Every South African U20 player would be offered a full professional contract here. And that, I am afraid, was the difference. Good luck to the team on Saturday when they take on the USA.

This article was originally posted on 13-Jun-2008, 10:25 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 16-Jun-2008, 22:09.