Anyone invested in the future of Scottish rugby should ‘doff their caps’ to the SRL

With the announcement of a fundamental change in the male performance pathway the SRU has acted to completely restructure our broken pathway

Scotland’s national team's dependency on players from outside the Scottish pathway and our 5^th in the world ranking was masking the fact that Scottish rugby was at cusp of major crisis. Despair born out of frustration with abject failure of the SRU male performance pathway and our dependence on recruiting players with any Scottish connection, albeit how tenuous, I penned four papers (State of our Union 1-4) focused on the problems facing Scottish rugby that analysis of the change over 30 years of our player base, structure of our professional teams and a comparison to successful models (Ireland & New Zealand):

1.       Base of the player pyramid is collapsing.

2.       Conveyor belt of independent educated players is stressed.

3.       Too few opportunities for players on the development pathway.

4.       Professional level is rewarded for buying not developing players.

What became clear was that all four areas of concern were intertwined and came down to two central problems:

1. Deceasing player participation

2. Ineffective player development pathway

Rather than just moan about the issues resolutions were suggested in the fifth paper (State of our Union – an analysis of Scottish rugby). The conclusion was the Scottish rugby needed an evolution that created consistency and continuity across the whole game in Scotland from foundation, to participation, to performance, to elite players. Scotland needed to establish an eco-system that was self-sufficient and develops/makes not buys players. Specifically Scottish rugby needed to:

1. Reorganize rugby in Scotland

2. Rebuild the player base.

3. Modify the way we teach rugby and remove contact until secondary school.

4. Reform player pathway and academies.

5. Shift SRU culture and renumeration policy.

Five papers in I thought my time writing on Scottish rugby was finished. However, after the abject failure of our U20’s in the second-tier world cup (World Rugby under-20 Trophy) in July 2023 it was impossible not to comment on the SRU’s reaction. The paper title summed up my frustration: Rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic will not resolve the rotten core that is at the heart of player development in Scottish rugby.

Despite my gloominess I stressed that all was not lost. Winds of change were blowing through the hallowed corridors of Murrayfield with the creation of the Scottish Rugby Limited (SRL) chaired by John McGuigian from May 2023. With the SRL having strategic and financial oversight on the Scottish Rugby Union Board (SRU), effectively depowering the SRU Board, we had to hope that their oversight to shape the much-needed change.

These winds of change have resulted in actions that are an antidote to my despair. With the announcement of a fundamental change in the male performance pathway the SRU has acted to completely restructure our broken pathway. Anyone invested in our future should ‘doff their caps’ to the SRL.

They have identified problems and presented a solution to the biggest challenge facing the future of Scottish rugby. Yes, the details are vague, but the journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Changes that to the pathway announced by the SRU are:

• Restatement of national A fixtures

• Expanding our two pro teams to A squads

• Minimum number of Scottish Qualified players in Scotland’s pro team squads

• More formal approach to succession planning around key playing positions and connection with the national team

• Increasing the upper age of the academy from 20 to 23

• Bringing back district rugby and club internationals as a bridge to the pro game

• Integrating the performance and community playing pathway

The following is a graphic offered by the SRU to illustrate the changes being implemented.

As part of this process the SRU engaged the Oakwell Sports Advisory to support the review with analysis, recommendations and provide relevant benchmarking against other countries. This was smart. It gave the board an independent perspective, aka stick, to convince doubtful stakeholders of the need for change. Although, in truth, any naysayer just needed to look at our U’20’s results over the last few years.

In the corporate world, when new management needed to implement radical changes in strategy, employment, organizational structure etc., they always engaged an external independent consultant to authenticate actions. It’s why McKinsey et al exist – to give management currency to impose change, particularly what is seen as unpleasant change by key stakeholders.

Comments on these initial proposals are:

• The A team fixtures need to have some bite – we simply cannot play Glasgow -v Edinburgh A teams behind closed doors as currently happens. For players to progress their skills that allow them to progress to a higher-level rugby they need to play at least 25 games a year. With the elimination of the Super Six these fixtures for the pro A teams have disappeared – the A team fixture list is a yawning chasm.

• The minimum number of Scottish qualified players should be altered to the minimum number of players that have come through the Scottish pathway. Based on the Edinburgh team that played against the Osprey’s on 1 March 2023 the number of Scottish qualified players was 19 out of the 23. But the number of players that came through the Scottish pathway was only 9 out of the 23, or 39%. France requires 12 of the 23 (52%) - we should aim for the same number to have come through the Scotland domestic pathway in each match day squad.

• Succession planning needs to allow the SRU to say no to our two professional teams coaches. We cannot continue to allow so much of SRU monies to be paid to players who are not qualified, or ever will be, for Scotland. Quoting Mark Palmer in the Times (19 February 2024) - the example of Glasgow signing 31-year-old South African journeyman Henco Venter at the same time the SRU released three players (Rudi Brown, Rhys Tait and Archie Smeaton) who all impressed for the national under-20 team in recent years must never happen again.

Many of the changes identified mirror the solutions proposed in my 4^th paper. Missing is how the SRU will restructure Scottish rugby. This will be a challenge give the parochial ethos inside clubs in Scotland.

The impending change in CEO and recruitment of a new performance director will be important in restructuring rugby in Scotland. With these appointments the SRU has an opportunity to reset on many levels. Culture change at the SRU is the essential reset that will facilitate reorganization of rugby at the club level. This must be a key priority for the SRL.

One piece of advice I would offer the SRL that would accelerate much needed culture shift within the SRU is to implement a renumeration structure. Have a large proportion of pay focused on our national development system. Pay on what matters to the future of Scottish rugby. And that is not results. Results are an output, not an input.