NEIL DRYSDALE IN THE SUNDAY TIMES

GLASGOW-TOULOUSE FOLLOW-UP

Oasis are coming to Murrayfield next summer, but an increasing number of Scottish rugby supporters are refusing to heed the advice of one of the band’s biggest hits, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”. Following another defeat for Glasgow on Friday night in the Heineken Cup – a 22-16 reverse against Toulouse at Firhill – the Scots are on the brink of European elimination after just two group matches and even their reliably upbeat coach, Sean Lineen, admitted: “We need to win the next four games.” Since this would entail beating the French giants in the return fixture and Bath, home and away, few will be waging their mortgages on it, even without the credit crunch.

However, what was genuinely depressing about Friday’s loss was that Toulouse, uncharacteristically error-prone, were there for the taking if Glasgow had seized their opportunities and Dan Parks had managed to avoid a fresh recital of “Enigma Variations.” His evening was summed up in the 12th and 15th minutes when he was offered the chance to convert a couple of penalties. The first – from around 25m – was sclaffed horribly wide. The second – from the halfway line – sailed imperiously through the posts. It was a microcosm of the inconsistency which continues to frustrate fans.

Perhaps it was also a reminder of the fashion in which Scottish rugby’s expectations have been gradually undermined. Ten years ago, Glasgow Hawks came up against a strong Toulouse line-up at Old Anniesland and triumphed 37-15, with Tommy Hayes and Derek Star both grabbing a brace of tries, while Newcastle’s chiefs, Sir John Hall and Rob Andrew, watched from the stands. Nobody should pretend the tussle was comparable in intensity to the Heineken Cup, but nowadays, any suggestion of a similar contest being staged would be vetoed by the Health & Safety Executive to protect the innocent.

Yet, as some of the participants in the Hawks line-up said on Friday, there is no logical reason why Scotland’s grassroots organisations should have slipped back so badly. “The reality is that Toulouse were pretty surprised by the quality of the side we had on the pitch and there was all sorts of dodgy stuff going on in the forward battles,” recalled David Wilson, who now coaches the Hawks. “The ground was packed and the majority of our players were from Glasgow at the time and if the team had been allowed to grow organically, it might have caught the public’s imagination more than the current Glasgow side. A decade later, I’m sure the SRU would be happy to see both sides being franchised to ease their financial problems, but that probably isn’t going to happen.”

His words were echoed by Cammy Little, who was the scrum-half in Hawks’ success over Toulouse and now coaches the Premiership club’s second XV. “We had an incredible team spirit and while most of us knew that we weren’t going to play for Scotland, representing Glasgow was a huge honour in itself. Being realistic, we might have struggled to make professionalism work through the clubs, but the game has gone backwards ever since and it appears there isn’t even any room for debate any longer. The SRU just tell us: There is no alternative,” said Little. “Another worry is that the Italian and Romanian sides are involved in the European Challenge Cup and that will improve their standards, whereas we have nobody in that competition. It seems a sorry indictment of how things have deteriorated since that great night in 1998.”

If the Warriors were simply out of their depth, Friday’s outcome might have been acceptable. But, as Lineen acknowledged, his squad is packed with internationalists, who still veer between the brilliant and the bungling as if the pay-for-play era had never happened. “There are no excuses, the little mistakes cost us,” he concluded. Ultimately, in the bigger picture, as Liam and Noel Gallagher prepare for the trip to Edinburgh, it might be that the SRU has dug out the soul of Scottish rugby.

This article was posted on 19-Oct-2008, 14:03 by Hugh Barrow.