Hawks player of the decade Glenn(Snowy)Metalfe has been back in town to attend the Tom Smith Benefit Dinner
Glenn was the last player to be capped straight from "club rugby" when Telfer chose him for Scotland's Tour of 98 on his performances with Hawks in the cub's first season
Glenn has being looking up some old Accies friends like Jeremy Hart-- the club where he started his quest for a Scottish cap


THE HERALD REPORTS
Armstrong questions squad’s attitude
KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer March 13 2009
Scotland's players and management have received something of a public dressing-down from Gary Armstrong, captain of the country's last championship-winning side.

One of the greatest to wear the navy blue jersey, Armstrong is not among the more out-spoken of former players, but he expressed his views bluntly during a question-and-answer session at his former Scotland team-mate Tom Smith's testimonial dinner at Murrayfield on Wednesday.

Billed as a reunion of the 1999team that won the last FiveNations Championship, theevent was attended by several hundred with proceeds going to a group of charities.

With Frank Hadden, the national team's head coach, Mike Brewer, one of his assistants, and several players including Jason White, Euan Murray and Nathan Hines sitting just a few feet away, Armstrong began by questioning why the players do not look as if they are enjoying themselves on the pitch. He noted that, to his eyes, Ireland and Wales are the teams that appear to be doing that most and are getting their reward with results.

Among the four others alongside him on the platform was Gregor Townsend, another member of that 1999 team and now Scotland's backs coach. What made that intriguing is that, following Armstrong's retirement from Test rugby at the 1999 World Cup, Townsend went on to become an influential member of the Scotland team that, at thenext World Cup, was accused by David Campese, the great Australia winger, of looking as if they enjoyed themselves more off the pitch than on it.

Gathering momentum, Armstrong went on to tell Scotland's senior players it was their responsibility to get more out of their junior counterparts, indicating that he and Craig Chalmers had rather more than a healthy respect for the likes of Finlay Calder when they came into what became the 1990 grandslam-winning side.

Armstrong's status was reinforced when, asked who had been the most influential member of the 1999 team, JimTelfer, their venerable coach, said it had been the captain.

He went on to point out that the task facing Scotland teams seeking to emulate their achievement in the revamped Six Nations tournament has become ever harder in the professional era, such is the country's shortage of rugby resources.

Telfer, though, had a positive message for the team that will take the field at Murrayfield tomorrow when he told them he believes this is a match Ireland would rather not play.

While he was a deeply controversial figure as an administrator as the Scottish Rugby Union's director of rugby, Telfer was one of the sport's greatest ever coaches.

He suggested Scotland could have an edge because the Irish will be terrified of slipping up and would prefer to move on to what they expect to be their championship decider with Wales and potential grand slam clincher without having to negotiate this trip.

This article was originally posted on 13-Mar-2009, 08:03 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 13-Mar-2009, 08:07.