Why Scotland are so Rubbish at Rugby

It's really tough supporting Scotland at rugby. Really difficult watching them play and thinking, "that is the best our nation can do". The thing that gets me, is that Scotland's backs never look like breaking the line. Whenever Shane Williams or Jason Robinson gets/got the ball, you were always expecting the jinky little gits to magically weave their way through lines of defenders. Instead our backs take the ball at what seems like incredibly slow speeds and kind of bash in to the defenders.

Why do they take the ball so slow? No-one else does? Is it a tactic? I don't get it. If this is our international level, what do they do at club level? Walk?

Sean Lamont seems to be well admired and he does make a fair number of line breaks, but when he gets the ball, you are never expecting him to do some little side-step and dash through to the try-line.

I would give anything for a Scottish Shane Williams in the team. I find it hard to believe that he plays on the opposite wing to Nikki Walker. I know which wing I would be passing to.

Nikki - 11 trys in 45 games for Ospreys. 24%
Shane - 35 trys in 78 games for Ospreys. 45%

Anyhow, I've always reckoned that the main disadvantage that Scotland has is the number of prople playing rugby that it has to choose from. Scotland - 5 million people; England - 45 Million - so they's 9 times more people to choose from. As for Wales and New Zealand having less people than us - well the Welsh are just rugby mad, and the Kiwis have the Maoris.

Ian McGeechan once said that New Zealanders were just Scots who had learnt how to win.

Anyway, with regards to the number of people to choose from, I found an interesting article that suggests it is worse than the simple population stats would suggest. Put simply - not very many people in Scotland play rugby compared to other countries.

I've summarised it below (figures include women and children):

England - 1,000,000 players
France - 212,000
New Zealand - 141,000
Japan - 126,000
Ireland - 100,000
Argentina - 81,000
Zimbabwe - 55,000
Italy - 45,000
Wales - 42,000
Scotland - 24,000
Spain - 17,000
Madagasgar - 17,000
Chile - 16,000

It's worth reading this article, in which it is suggested that on the basis of the above numbers, Scotland actually punches above its weight. I would tend to agree.

So basically the problem is that we are a lazy nation who can't be arsed to play sport. That, or we just don't like rugby that much compared to football. I remember when I briefly played club rugby in Scotland and it was always a struggle to get 15 people together for the game. Half the team couldn't be bothered turning up because they were hungover. Quite sad really.

There are more deep-rooted problems with the SRU, but I won't go in to that now.

Sorry Ireland

On behalf of the nation of Scotland I apologise for our poor show against the French. :(

Rubgy - bad idea?

With the Six Nations being on at the moment, I'm getting kind of tempted to take up rugby again. I'm 27 now, the last time I played was for Carnoustie HSFP when I was about 20. My memories from that one season include:

1. Feeling like my head was about to explode and having to put it under a running tap for about 10 minutes after my first summer training session on the beach.
2. Scoring 2 tries on my debut against Waid and getting into the Guide and Gazette with some kind of headline like "Youngster Score Twice on Debut" (I think they thought I was about 16 - Kev my still have the cutting).
3. They thought I was some kind of new star - but I never scored again!
4. That 7s tournament where I had to go and lie down for about 2 hours after the first game. "It's only 7 minutes each way - I can manage that!"
5. Sexually deviant Royal Marines with an unsettling penchant for young blond wingers...

Obviously something has happened to my memory over the past 7 years as there are some very good reasons for me not to play rugby:

1. I'm skinny and fairly weak.
   
2. I'm not a particuarly fast runner.
   
3. I'm aerobically very unfit - one sprint and I am shattered.
   
4. I'm not very good at playing rugby...
   
5. I was always rubbish at tackling
   
6. and spin passing to the right
   
7. and taking passes
   
8. and catching high balls
   
9. and kicking
   
10. Sexually deviant Royal Marines are everywhere!

However there are some reasons to play:

1. I like rugby
   
2. I should try to get fitter rather than just accept the wheezing.
   
3. It is a good excuse to try and bulk up a bit

So there are some reasons to play, but they are more than outweighed by the reasons not to play.

I think I'm one of these "take something up then forget about it again" type people. Yeah, trying Ju-Jitsu again at Uni was a great use of my time!

Maybe it's some kind of "late 20s" crisis? I think it will be rugby or wargaming. Or maybe both? Hmmm....

Well, maybe I'll join Oxford for their summer training and try to get fit before the next season. I'll also try to gain some weight. Apparently I am 72.5kg at the moment.