March 22, 2005

More players set to leave as Fortress Scotland lies in ruins

Posted by Editor on March 22, 2005 06:46 AM | 6 comments | Print | E-mail author
Glasgow's Gordon Bulloch yesterday refused to comment on reports he was ready to walk away from international rugby.

Yesterday's newspapers carried reports that the hooker was to quit international rugby and move south to play in the Zurich Premiership.

The Scotland skipper said: "I have nothing to say on matters like that at the moment."

A number of senior players are thought to be ready to join prop Tom Smith who told colleagues he was retiring from the international scene after Saturday's defeat to England, although Smith would neither confirm or deny the claims yesterday. There are reports today that Nathan Hines is moving to French side Perpignan from Edinburgh, while Jon Petrie and Sean Lamont are thought to be leaving Glasgow.

The reports come as speculation over the future of Matt Williams continues with claims that relations between the coach and the players is non-existant. One senior player said: "The squad feel they have been treated like morons and robots.

"The coaching team is like a dictatorship with even the most seasoned players not being allowed to chip in with ideas or opinions.

"Under this regime, it seems individuals are not allowed to express themselves on or off the pitch and that is so frustrating.

"Some players actually know a bit about the game - whereas some of the coaches never played at international level.

"We are hellbent on winning for Scotland. But they want to do that as players and not as a collection of robots."

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Comments
Posted by hugues on March 22, 2005 08:48 AM | Reply to this comment

If it is the truth, the coaching team should leave Scottish Rugby.
If the seniors with a lot of caps can't give an opinion about the game, it won't work.
Even if it will be long and hard, maybe it's the time to work with scottish rugby skills.
About the players, SRU should identify the locals and help them to reach the level.
I think, it's not motivating for young scots to play and reach the top level of rugby if the emergency policy is to provide the squad with guys from SE, second choice, and sometimes from rugby league etc...
Just an example with french centres;
One month ago, we were stuck with a centre like liebenberg, ok he is good enough but no flair...
And France launched young centres like baby, marti, very talented and they showed they are already skilled to play international.
OK i'm mixing everything, maybe because of my sadness to see this mess in scottish rugby.

Posted by ballinj on March 22, 2005 12:00 PM | Reply to this comment

Defining moment for me from Saturday's game was with 5 minutes to go Scotland had an attacking line out inside the English 22. Bulloch picks up the ball makes a half hearted attempt at a short throw which the English collect, Bulloch stands on the touch line with hands on hips making no attempt to join the ruck that had formed.

I personally don't think Bulloch should have either the Glasgow or Scotland No.2 jersey (Lawson is a far better play if maybe needing to bulk up a bit) however one thing you could never accuse GB of is lack of effort or commitment. It was such a sad sight to see and if it is a true reflection of the level of disillusionment within the senior players then there is no option but for Williams to go.

The irony for me over the 6 nations tournament is when you compare it to the last one under McGeechan where you had a powerful pack that caused problems and gave Scotland good possession but lacked a cutting edge behind No.10 to do anything with the possession. NOw we have the cutting edge (especially with Southwell and Paterson kicking the ball at every opportunity - in 1st half against Wales & England) but don't seem to have the possession for it to matter.

Always thought Solomons the Ulster coach would have been a better bet as he had more in common with the Scottish position i.e. lack of depth of talent, lack of resources but a team that was beligerent as hell, incredibly difficult to play against and excellently defensively (Celtic Cup Final vs. Edinburgh, or for that matter the two semis against Glasgow.

The worry for me is are any of the Scottish coaches ready yet to take on the mantle of being Scottish manager ? Only one way to find out I suppose !

And what is Glasgow's season going to be like next year with no senior players and no management team and virtually no money to do anything about it.

Posted by hugh on March 22, 2005 12:02 PM | Reply to this comment

probably sign on half the Hawks

Posted by ballinj on March 22, 2005 12:13 PM | Reply to this comment

indeed which is great for the Hawks players if not for the club itself

Posted by Highlandbrave75 on March 22, 2005 02:11 PM | Reply to this comment

As I said before there wasn't really a "Fortress Scotland" in place to start with. First day was serious talk of no players outwith Scotland playing for the Scottish side, next day it was "hang on we need to water this down for now"!

If Matt was really serious then we'd have seen the likes of Tom Smith, Stuart Grimes, Ian Fullerton, Rob Russell, Jason White, Craig Hamilton all disappear from the Scottish setup.

Posted by weee on March 23, 2005 08:11 AM | Reply to this comment

Leaving aside that most people, myself included think Williams should go, I think he was badly let down or severely mislead right at the start of his time in charge.

Who authorised him to put Fortress Scotland on the agenda and then completely undermined this by delaying the setting of budgets until virtually all Scots outside Scotland had had to make decisions on offers from their existing clubs?

Whatever, you think of Williams I can't believe he would have made the statement he made, without believing he had the backing of the SRU to help make it happen.

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