Over the past week, we have delved into some of the major issues within Scottish rugby – from the player development pathway to the finances of the governing body and issues at grassroots level.
As part of our Fixing Scottish rugby series, we also looked at the tasks that lie in store for the new chief executive, whenever he or she is appointed. Even that has not been a straightforward process, but the blame there cannot be squarely laid at Scottish Rugby’s door.
Most of the issues we have explored over the past week are for those within the corridors of power at Scottish Gas Murrayfield to address.
Read more from our Fixing Scottish rugby series:
- The priorities for new Scottish Rugby chief executive
- Planned Scottish Rugby cuts are just the first austerity step
- How Scottish Rugby fell into financial black hole with £10.5m losses
- Ex-Hawick president says clubs 'poor relations' of Scottish Rugby
- Bruce Aitchison: My ideas to breathe life into the club game
There’s a £10.5 million deficit in the most recent accounts, and that looks like growing further when the annual results for the current financial year are reported.
In the absence of a CEO, Scottish Rugby Limited chairman John McGuigan has kicked off a ‘financial reset’ and 35 jobs are set to go. At the start of the week, Alasdair Reid praised McGuigan for acting – but said it is not likely to be the end of the cutbacks.
Rob Robertson looked at four of the most pressing issues for the new chief executive and therein lies another major problem. Since Jim Mallinder departed earlier this year, Scottish Rugby hasn’t had someone running the performance side of the game.
They had hoped to wait until a new CEO was in place so they could rubber-stamp the performance director appointment, but given the toing and froing with Mark Darbon, are now pressing ahead. It meant Gregor Townsend was able to mark his own homework after a disappointing Six Nations.
That means nobody has called into question Townsend’s future. A fourth place finish in the Six Nations was, under the circumstances of Scotland being the most settled side after the World Cup and with Wales and England both having major struggles, an unacceptable outcome.
A successful summer tour is hard to judge when Scotland have faced the might of USA and Canada (to date). Scotland – and their head coach – should be judged on the autumn when the world champion Springboks and a much-improving Wallabies come calling, and the 2025 Six Nations. By then Townsend will have been in charge for nearly eight years.
The on-field disappointment delivered by Scotland in the Six Nations has been masked somewhat by the successes of Glasgow Warriors winning the United Rugby Championship and the under-20s lifting the World Rugby U20 Trophy.
Both great achievements, but the challenge now is for the Warriors players to help that translate into national team success, and for Kenny Murray’s youngsters to show they can mix it with the best. Their Six Nations results have been dreadful since Covid, and they must again challenge at that level and in next year’s world championship.
They have the players to do it – those players must be afforded requisite minutes at a level high enough to challenge them, rather than going through the motions. For many, like star back-row duo Liam McConnell and Freddy Douglas – playing in the top level of the club game won’t pose much of a challenge. They need exposure to the professional game, fast.
Graham Shiel, a well-respected coach, told us he’s concerned for the future following the scrapping of Super Series.
It is five months since we were told the semi-professional league was no more, but there hasn't been as much as a whisper about the proposed Glasgow and Edinburgh ‘A’ matches that are going to give our next generation of top-class talent a meaninful development platform.
There’s been even less information about the expanded academy system we were told would be introduced to allow players more time to develop. Will these ‘A’ matches be glorified friendlies? Will there be a league structure? Will they be played in front of crowds or will they be behind-closed-doors affairs?
The changes to the league structure mean the 2024/25 grassroots season might be one of readjustment as the teams who once had semi-professional teams find their feet in their new homes.
Bruce Aitchison, the creator of Happiness is Egg Shaped and a former coach at Murrayfield Wanderers and Boroughmuir, among others, gave us his insight into the issues facing those in clubland.
He came up with a raft of ideas to help clubs attract more players, ensure more games are played and become an integral part of their communities.
While we’ve looked at some of the problems, there are clear areas of success within Scottish rugby at the moment.
Glasgow Warriors are thriving on the field under the guidance of Franco Smith, and performing similarly off the rugby pitch with Al Kellock at the helm.
Scotland Women are increasingly competitive during the Six Nations, with England and France still way ahead of the other four nations.
A first-ever sell-out crowd at Hive Stadium for their clash with England showed the growth of that particular fanbase.
They are all-but guaranteed a place at next year’s Rugby World Cup, a spot they are sure to seal during the WXV competition in South Africa later this year, and Lisa Thomson is days away from becoming a double Olympian.
Edinburgh missed out on the URC play-offs after a poor end to the season, but they showed enough in Sean Everitt’s first season in charge for fans to return to Hive Stadium hopeful when the 2024/25 season kicks off.
If Scottish Rugby can address some of the problems we have mentioned, we hope the game will not only continue in its current state, but draw in new fans, more players, new volunteers to help grassroots clubs pivot from surviving to thriving.
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