Rarely has there been a more appetising time to be a young PRO14 player in Scotland
In the blink of an eye, the PRO14 - or whatever the appropriate nomenclature might be for the competition in a state of flux - is upon us again. The league has been shorn of its two South African teams but may gain four new ones, as it grasps for resonance and innovation across this fraught rugby landscape.
There will be Monday night games, perhaps an attempt to own a distinct slot in the broadcast schedule and create an identity around midweek fixtures. And there will very likely be some real heavyweights trooping north from Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban in the seasons ahead as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to force a shake-up of club tournaments the world over.
Scotland’s teams will have their resources tested almost beyond measure in a campaign where an eye-watering number of internationals vanish for weeks at a time.
Edinburgh must build on a largely brilliant third term under Richard Cockerill that ended with two sickening blows. A dreadful endgame against Ulster in the PRO14 semi-final and a heinous start against Bordeaux in the Challenge Cup quarter-final did for them this past month.
The test for them is not simply whether they can make the play-offs, but how they will handle the pressure when they get there? Big opportunities were squandered in both matches and, by all accounts, Cockerill gave his players an acidic savaging when they let the league semi-final plummet through their fingers.
The picture painted of Cockerill from inside Edinburgh is that he is far more inclined to use stick than carrot and that sometimes, his intensity and belligerence veers beyond the acceptable. Unleashing the hairdryer is not necessarily bad management, but you wonder what continued verbal batterings do for players who need belief, not fear.
Edinburgh routinely beat strong opposition in conference matches and pool fixtures. They topped their division in the PRO14 with more clean breaks than anybody else, and qualified with little fuss from their Challenge Cup group. The hope is that these coulda-woulda-shoulda performances shape them into a side capable of thriving in the cut-throat business of knockout rugby.
They are, regardless, a force in the PRO14, a status that was painfully overdue before Cockerill arrived and began to haul them up by the bootstraps. His project has some way to run yet, but the results are hugely encouraging. Edinburgh have lost very few personnel. They are back at Europe’s top table and their future looks bright if they learn to flourish, not wilt, in the clutch games ahead.
Across the country, Glasgow’s development under Danny Wilson will be fascinating. Wilson has analysed his new team to the nth degree and run the numbers on their game. He has spoken again and again about the need for greater pragmatism, a cannier blueprint and a more formidable set-piece. Wilson will not sacrifice Glasgow’s great swashbuckling elan at the altar of efficiency, but he needs his team to be cleverer.
There will be games where Glasgow deviate too much from their flamboyance and become bluntly one-dimensional, and others where they revert to the riveting but risk-laden white-knuckle stuff of old. Change will not happen overnight, but change is necessary.
Glasgow made more offloads than anybody else in last season’s PRO14, but they attempted plenty others that did not find their targets and in several cases led to opposition tries. Only three teams conceded more turnovers. Their lineout operated at an 85 per cent success rate (11th best) and they conceded 27 scrum penalties across their 15 league games.
Seldom too did the Warriors kick from hand, an option to apply pressure that has become increasingly important in the modern game. Stuart Hogg, the Scotland captain, told his Exeter Chiefs teammates that Glasgow would “run absolutely everything” when the sides met in November. Exeter squeezed and suffocated them and won at a canter.
A brewing angst has swept through the Warriors fan base these past few years, supporters anxious at losing their best players without adequate replacements while Edinburgh unseated them as the nation’s premier team. This is an interminable conundrum for Scottish Rugby, who cannot keep Hoggs and Finn Russells forever nor fund like-for-like successors, but fate has been particularly cruel to Wilson.
There is absolutely no doubt that he would have signed a front-line full-back, bolstered his pack further and probably gone for a fly-half to challenge and back up Adam Hastings had the pandemic not atomised his recruitment plans. As things stand, he hasn’t a penny to spend unless there are more imminent departures.
Glasgow still wield a terrific first XV, but what happens when at least two-thirds of them vanish on international duty? With a slew of Test matches in the autumn and the spring, how often will Wilson be able to deploy anything like his best line-up?
On any given Autumn Nations Cup weekend, the coach might be without Oli Kebble, Fraser Brown, Mesulame Dolokoto, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Leone Nakarawa, Matt Fagerson, Ali Price, George Horne, Adam Hastings, Sam Johnson and Niko Matawalu. With a fair wind, Huw Jones, George Turner, Tom Gordon and Ratu Tagive could also make an international squad.
The picture is slightly less troubling at Edinburgh, but Cockerill is still likely to be shorn of a frightening volume of talent. Rory Sutherland, Stuart McInally, Simon Berghan, Grant Gilchrist, Ben Toolis, Hamish Watson, Jamie Ritchie, Magnus Bradbury, Nick Haining, Darcy Graham, Blair Kinghorn the newly eligible Duhan van der Merwe and injured Bill Mata could all be gone, with more still knocking at the door.
That is a savage collective loss. Virtually nowhere else will the Test contingent be so massive or their absence so keenly felt. These fixtures and the broadcast revenue they will generate are vital, but the international departures will stretch squads to their very limits and then stretch them some more. It won’t be a case of finding the right player so much as finding any player.
There will be angst in the short term, of course. Edinburgh and Glasgow are painted into a corner here, but in the years to come, this trying period could yield serious gains.
Rarely has there been a more appetising time to be a young player. Nathan Chamberlain will have the chance to prove himself as a viable professional fly-half at Edinburgh, even if Jaco van der Walt does not play for Scotland when he qualifies through residency in November.
We will see the thrilling Jamie Dobie given more game time with Glasgow, alongside Rufus McLean and Ollie Smith. Edinburgh’s slew of missing back rows will allow Rory Darge and Connor Boyle a platform to step up from excellent performances at under-20 level.
It would be unwise to toss all the kids in at once and hope they thrive, but Cockerill and Wilson have long track records in giving youth its chance when the time is ripe. In this jaundiced time of shrunken budgets and recruitment freezes, the battalion of exiting Test giants will present openings for so many of them. Opportunities to savour amid the most arduous PRO14 campaign.
Latest Comments
Yeah I reckon Savea could show himself to be like McCaw in that respect, remodel himself to play how the team/game needed or changed. He started playing different when he moved into 8 I reckon, and I think he’s got a lot of those skills to shift back to 7 too. But you pretty much describe him as he is now, playing 8. Who’s going to be that dirty guy cleaning rucks and making tackles if Ardie is at 7? Sititi at 8? No, he’s basically doing what you describe of Ardie. Barrett? I think he’d be an excellent muscle man to replace and more importantly, improve on what Cane provided.\
Yeah I’m still wanting to give DP a shot, Super form is not everything, and maybe after a taste of playing against England, possible New Zealands toughest opponents last year, maybe his trying to hone a test game.
It’s not, but it’s terribly complicated for us part timers to discuss are few factors online when all the bigger picture can be taken into context (and which your reader my not be on the same track with). I really like to try and get somewhere succinctly when having a quick back and forth online, which is why I ask a specific question when really no one in that actual position is going to think about it like that, you’re right.
I asked it because I suspected you answer was just along those same lines indicating his strengths now as an 8. So were sorta coming around to your argument of wanting to put the bigger picture on it when I question how you’re going to fit “Cane” into the team.
I really agree with that, but would go even further in saying its improvement from much more than the “trio” that’s needed to be able to bust games open again like that. A lot of it was much better last year, with the props and second row getting involved in some nice breaks, but certainly there was still far too much one out rugby and they were always the worst at getting over the gainline. I’d actually say they need more of a team contributor than Ardiea Savea’s individual brilliance to improve in that area. Ardie is the toughest and most succesful at getting them on the front foot when they are really playing that one out simple hit up or pick and go structure, but I think they need, as I actually referred in the 7, someone running on the shoulder of another, willing to give the player that option and keep the defence guessing. Obviously players carrying need to be comfortable flicking the ball on last second etc, but I actually see Ardie as being someone with the least skills in either of those areas in the current squad. He is perhaps the two pass wide midfield carry man in place of Jordie and Rieko, enough ferocity to break tough midfield tackles and get an offload away if he wins that contact. Now that I think of it, having Ardie in the team may be a key factory in why the team is so poor in showing trickery and deception before the tackle happens, like where other teams prefer to work space. I’ve never really thought the ABs simply have the worst runners?
Sotutu is a key man in that area of the game for me, he is the one player in NZ that is so adept at passing to the right runner. Kirifi would be perfect for being that guy as far as a loosie option for me, as far as this article goes. Sititi as the alround runner and distribute from the bench, and Ardie being able to play in whatever role is missing, or needed more, are how I can see some of the other ‘trio’ facets working too.
To add, going back to you orginal post, and what you repeated;
I suspect you are talking about people being able to take it into the tackle and then recycle it sorta thing before going to ground. I’m pretty sure were doing this to the best of our ability right now, and only some selections like Sotutu are going to impact that area. Again, what I’ve been thinking is we actually need smarter people to provide better go forward, not better benders/breakers/offloaders (who are these people? Three Ardies?!). Were definitely still going to need that Sam Cane contribution as well, but can it come from the midfield instead? Timico? The wingers? And can Ardie be the guy whos adept enough to flick between that and being a good support runner or offload, as needed?
Go to commentsFrance using the 7-1, England using the 6-2, Ireland and Scotland have used it a few times as well and many nations are starting to adopt it. The reality is the game is changing. Administrators have made it faster and that is leading to more significant drop offs in the forwards. You have 2 options. Load your bench with forwards or alter your player conditioning which might mean more intense conditioning for forwards and a drop off in bulk. The game can still be played many ways. Every nation needs to adapt in their own way to suit their strengths. France have followed the Springbok model of tight forwards being preferred because it suits them. They have huge hunks of meat and the bench is as good as the starters so why not go for it? The Springboks have also used hybrids like Kwagga Smith, Schalk Britz, Deon Fourie, Franco Mostert and others. England are following that model instead and by putting 3 loosies there who can do damage in defence and make the breakdown a mess in the final quarter. It worked well against Wales but will be interested to see how it goes going forward against better opposition who can threaten their lineout and scrum. All the talk around bench limitations to stop the 7-1 and 6-2 for me is nonsense. Coaches who refuse to innovate want to keep the game the same and make it uniform and sameness is bad for fans. The bench composition adds jeopardy and is a huge debate point for fans who love it. Bench innovations have not made the game worse, they have made it better and more watchable. They challenge coaches and teams and that’s what fans want. What we need now is more coaches to innovate. There is still space for the 5-3 or even a 4-4 if a coach is willing to take it on and play expansive high tempo possession-based rugby with forwards who are lean and mean and backs who are good over the ball. The laws favour that style more than ever before. Ireland are too old to do it now. Every team needs to innovate to best suit their style and players so I hope coaches and pundits stop moaning about forwards and benches and start to find different ways to win.
Go to comments