The Scotsman reports

THE current club season might have developed a rather disjointed feel, with bad weather, international weekends and the bamboozling structure of the new Premier Cup competition all causing problems.
But despite this there is a feeling that at long last Premier One has found some momentum, and the level of competition now evident in the league is illustrated by the fact that all four of this weekend's top-flight games will have a major bearing on who ultimately wins the championship.

The top four teams in the league - Melrose, Glasgow Hawks, Ayr and Currie - are all genuine contenders for the title, and with the draw keeping them apart this week it is clear that any sort of slip-up could be crucial.

None of these sides will be expecting an easy time, but the match which looks most like being a banana skin is at Goldenacre, where a strong Heriot's team will be looking to bring down second-placed Glasgow Hawks.

Graham Lowe, the Scottish Rugby Union's director of performance, has made it clear that he sees the top end of the club game being an important rung on the ladder towards making the national team as strong as it possibly can be.

This is a significant shift away from the previous message emanating from Murrayfield, which was that the amateur game was not equipped to help our best youngsters come of age.

Of course, a big part of this change in stance is the desire to make a virtue out of a necessity, with the cash- strapped Union desperate to offload some of the financial burden of the Academy structure - but the success of clubs like Ayr in developing youth structures, in growing roots in the local community, in building a support base, in developing commercial revenue streams, and in competing successfully in the British and Irish Cup, has also played a major part in making those who once dismissed the club game as an anachronism of the amateur era sit up and take notice.

All this is not to say that the current season structure is right or that the standard of rugby is always good enough - but if the Premier clubs are serious about moving forward then these issues will be tackled during the ongoing consultation process which will feed into the SRU's strategic review (due to be published in April). As always, vested interests and ingrained cynicism are going to be serious hurdles in the path of progress - let's just hope a desire to finally move forward wins over.

This article was originally posted on 19-Feb-2011, 07:23 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 19-Feb-2011, 07:24.