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The glum statistic about this weekend's Scotland squad
The dwindling impact of the once mighty Borders rugby production factory reaches a nadir this weekend with a Scotland squad selected for the first time since the war without a single Borderer included.
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The one region in Scotland where rugby has always been the no1 working class game, with versions developed through several centuries, and which has produced more international rugby players per head of population than any other, has become somewhat cut off from the supply of the country’s leading players.
Scotland has become a byword for the impact of exiles on teams around the globe, and in this Six Nations Championship is the squad most heavily dependent on players from elsewhere. The statistics show Scotland with over 52 percent of its squad being born outside Scotland, compared to 23 percent in the Italian side, 21 percent with Ireland, 13 percent in England’s squad, 12 percent of the Welsh squad and 11 percent with France. While Italy and Ireland both have more than 80 percent home-grown players and France, England and Wales more than 90 percent, the Scots have just 48 percent of its squad developed in Scotland.
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With Sam Skinner having only returned from injury for Edinburgh two weeks ago, there was a possibility that Glen Young would have stepped into the Borders vacancy left by the injured Darcy Graham, retirement of Stuart Hogg and dropped prop Rory Sutherland. But Gregor Townsend and John Dalziel, his forwards chief, ironically both Borderers, have opted for a not yet fully fit Skinner over Young on account of his experience.
Young could yet force his way in, however, as he is an underrated player. A full-back until his mid-teens, he grew up in Jedburgh with cousins Gregor and Lewis Young, two fine back three players who would go on to play for Scotland at sevens. Young’s handling skills and surety under the high ball are testament to those days growing up as a back, before his continued growth to an eventual 6ft 6ins had coaches pushing him into the second and back rows.
He is keen to push for his chance in coming weeks, but like many players from small towns he speaks about the honour of selection as being much more than his, something shared across his community.
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“This is my first Six Nations, so I’m really excited about being involved,” he said. “It’s the one I grew up watching. You had the World Cup every four years, which as exciting but I don’t remember watching that too much, but I remember watching every Six Nations and dreaming of playing for Scotland. At half times you would always go out into my street and play, pretending you were playing for Scotland.
“I can just remember watching boys like Ross Ford and Mossy playing, and just loving it. We used to go out and play 2 v 2, full contact on the concrete. I don’t think any of us got our head split open or anything, but we’d pretend at half-time we were playing so it’s amazing to be here now. I have a lot of boy cousins, but I’m the biggest which is good.
“It means a lot to me and the people of the town. Greig Laidlaw obviously is a Jed boy, and to see the reaction he got when he started playing for Scotland, and he way the town got behind him, was amazing. They are so passionate about it and when I have been involved in camps, they get so behind you. When I saw that Greig could do it, and he’s just a regular, Jed guy, it didn’t look too far out of reach.
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“I’ve got fly the flag for the Borders. It’s disappointing not having Darcy here, but all the towns are so passionate about it and you see how Hawick get behind the Hawick boys, and so it’s good to represent them.”
On its own, Scotland’s reliance on players identified from scouring the globe for Scottish connections is not alarming, as they, and most nations, have done it for decades. Even going back to Scotland’s first Grand Slam of 1925, a key player was wing Johnnie Wallace, an Australian. The Grand Slam squad of 1984 was a strong Scottish one, and intriguingly was more than 50 percent Borderers, but the 1990 squad had a handful of players with backgrounds across England, South Africa and New Zealand.
It has been crucial for Scotland’s survival at the top table. Scotland has the smallest number of rugby players by some distance, with only around 5,000 adult men involved in regular rugby, just over 100 professional players in the country and, as a result of the lack of numbers, a far less cohesive, competitive development system between the key ages of 16 and 21 than their rivals.
France, second to England in number of players, have quite deliberately turned around their worrying reliance on flown-in overseas players by adopting the ‘JIFF’ system, where clubs must develop its own talent through the ‘espoirs’ and field a large percentage of French-qualified players in every matchday squad. Not only have their national teams improved, their support has risen significantly, unsurprisingly, because sport owes much to affinity and affinity is stronger when supporters know who they are watching.
It is ironic that the trend has become so sharp under Gregor Townsend and his forwards coach, John Dalziel, both proud Borderers hailing from Galashiels. Centurion caps Ross Ford, Chris Paterson and Stuart Hogg have perhaps put a gloss on Borders’ influence in the past two decades, and Townsend would like it to be very different, with a squad drawn from players produced across Scotland inspiring their towns and cities and all who follow their paths. But, he is a realist and will leave no stone unturned to achieve the aim of leading Scotland to a Six Nations title.
The real concerns lie with a Scottish Rugby system that shut down a professional presence in the Borders, not once but twice in the first decade of professionalism, and then turned its back on the one area where legends roam, pubs will be packed in the coming weeks and children still reel off the names of Six Nations stars in their sleep – when they’re not bashing each other in the street.
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*In 2017, Scotland defeated Australia 53-24 at Murrayfield without a Borderer in squad – Hogg had been selected but went down with an injury in the warm-up.
Credit: Kevin Millar for his help with statistics
So the Boks are, likely, the only team with 100% of their players from SA?
Interesting…
Since the coaches obviously prefer to pick foreign players they will alienate Scottish born players. A plastic Scotland side.
The loss of teachers has been one of the problems, for example at Jed, the legendary commentator Mr Johnstone was the PE teacher. the enthusiasm and love of rugby (and his toorie) he brought and instilled to us, his pupils.