Only true Scots should wear the dark blue

I’m beginning to wonder what state professional rugby in Scotland will be in by the end of this decade?

Also, just how many Scottish born-and-bred players will be wearing the dark blue come the Rugby World Cup in 2019?

Mark Dodson, the SRU’s Chief Executive, was very defensive when he was challenged over the number of foreign players turning up to play for Edinburgh. It was almost as if it has become the accepted norm in the Northern Hemisphere and, unless Scotland does it, then we’re going to be left behind on the international stage.

Perhaps I’m a traditionalist at heart but I’m not in favour of any country applying the residential rule to qualify to play for a country.

Clearly any player doing that from South Africa, New Zealand or Australia has made a decision that they are probably not good enough to win a cap for their country of birth and, instead, will throw their lot in with another second-tier country.

The obvious immediate implication being that standards in those Northern Hemisphere countries will decline as the players are second rate.

Can you blame the player? Well no probably not. Rugby Union is now a professional game and players work hard for their living and put up with the threat of serious harm every time they take the field. They earn every penny they are paid. But should that extend to the international team?

I would rather see 15 born-and-bred Scots lose gallantly than have a mixture of nationalities compete for my country, but I think I am becoming more of a lone voice.

The reality is that Scottish domestic rugby is the poor relation of our neighbouring countries. Not one Scottish club team won in the British & Irish Cup competition last weekend and no side has ever progressed to the knockout stages of that competition.

An influx of foreign ‘project players’ will only cause the gap to widen between the professional and amateur games which ultimately will impact on the future stream of young Scottish players wanting to make their way in the game.

I feel there is too much of an emphasis on the upper echelons of the game in Scotland at the moment and not enough looking at grassroots development.

The SRU academies will help to address this, but only if they are based on elite performance. If they are filled for the sake of it, the standards will decline to the lowest common denominator. So if there aren’t enough players good enough, that’s too bad.

It is a long-term strategy but one, which in my view, will ultimately be to the benefit of Scottish rugby as I want to support a truly Scottish team.