THE HERALD REPORTS

ANDY NICOL December 13 2008
Last Sunday might just prove to have been one of the most important days in the future of Scottish Rugby. Big statement Iknow, and perhaps a slight exaggeration, but it's almost Christmas, so I am allowed to indulge a bit.

I saw a young Scottish player produce a performance which has excited me more than at any time in the last 10 years or so.

Ruaridh Jackson was thrown in at the deep end by Glasgow Warriors when Sean Lineen handed him a starting slot for the trip to Bath and, boy, did he take his chance.


I have seen such as Chris Cusiter, John Barclay and Nick De Luca emerge at a young age and produce performances that made me sit up and take notice. In many ways, though, it is easier to make a debut at outside-centre or at openside because, if you do the basics well, you will do fine. Make your tackles, compete for ball in the tackle and link well and it will allow a debutant to emerge with credit.

But, when you play in a position that has so many more basics' - and is so important to how any team performs - then making your debut at stand-off is without doubt the hardest. So, when I see a performance like the one from Jackson last Sunday, it really hints at an exciting prospect.

In Scotland, we seem to produce any number of scrum-halves and back-row forwards, to the extent that we could get a number of injuries and still be happy with who was in the team.

For many years now, that has not been the case at stand-off, which has surprised me. I would have thought every youngster starting out in the game would want to play the most important position, which is stand-off. The only reasons I did not want to play there was my best friend at the time wanted to play stand-off and I wanted to play scrum-half because my brother played there.

Every team we played against had the same set-up. The biggest player played at No.8 and the best player played stand-off; it still happens today. I am dumbfounded as to why these players do not develop and make their way into senior rugby.

Every year, in my role as a television pundit, we would discuss who the next big thing is going to be in each country. I was able to talk with excitement about Cusiter and Barclay over the last few years or so but it seemed all the others were talking about young stand-offs.

James Hook was identified well before he made his debut and they have another in Wales at present with a young player called Daniel Biggar. Then there was Danny Cipriani and, as he is English, the hype was even greater. But now, finally, I can shout from the roof tops about Ruaridh Jackson.

I was so impressed with his game management last week against Bath. He has all the physical attributes required at the top level but very rarely do you see such a young player play with such maturity. Hebossed his team which is exactly what a stand-off needs to do but which is very difficult when so young.

I remember having a go at the pack, which included David Sole and Derek White, in my debut season for Scotland when I was 20 and it is a tough thing to do.

I know we should not get too carried away because it was only one performance, but it was the small things I saw Jackson do so well which fill me with so much hopefor him. Lineen will have to manage him well, as he has done already this week by leaving him outfor the rematch with Bath.

Glasgow have Dan Parks fit again and re-installed as captain, with Jackson having to make do with a place on the bench. There are going to be some tough decisions for Lineen to make during the rest of the season. Parks is so influential for Glasgow and really makes them tick but Jackson is the future. He must get game time to develop, but that might mean Lineen limiting Glasgow's chance of success because Jackson will not play as well as he did last week all the time.

The experience of Cipriani might be a good one to replicate. He was introduced a lot at full-back initially, which allowed him to gain experience but not in the pivotal position of stand-off. He was then moved forward to the No.10 shirt, sometimes for the last 20 minutes of amatch, to ease him in gently.

Parks has a big role to play in Jackson's development. He has to mentor him in all aspects of his game but especially on game management, one of Park's strengths. The trouble for Parks is that, by doing this, he will be lowering his own chances of selection.

In other words - and very topically - it would be like turkeys voting for an early Christmas . . .

This article was posted on 13-Dec-2008, 10:51 by Hugh Barrow.