Vernon Signing The Latest Show Of Warrior Strength

by Dugald Skene

It was announced yesterday that Richie Vernon will be making a return to Glasgow Warriors as he signed a 3 year deal from the end of the season to play at Scotstoun.

The Sale Sharks backrower has spent two years in Manchester since leaving Glasgow.  At 25 years old and with 20 international caps, he will be bringing yet more international experience to the well oiled Glasgow machine.

Vernon stated his enthusiasm for coming back to a vibrant Warriors team: "I have learnt a lot from my time at Sale over the last couple of seasons but this is an excellent opportunity for me to return home and play my rugby in Scotland.

"Of course it helps that I know a lot of the guys in the squad already, but I've been watching their progress this season and it's a very exciting time to be getting involved with the club."

Vernon has 20 Scotland caps and has scored 10 tries

in 44 appearances for Sale Sharks

Vernon's commitment to the Warriors is the latest act in Glasgow that sees the team establish themselves further as a power in the RaboDirect Pro12 league and the more dominant of the two Scottish pro teams.

In a legacy set up by Sean Lineen who oversaw 2 top four finishes in 3 years before his departure last summer, the Warriors have built a squad to last a complete season.  Long gone are the days when the Scottish teams slide down the table as the autumn internationals and 6 Nations tournaments pillaged the squads of their best talent.

What is more, they have such strength in depth now that they are taking advantage of other teams losing out to the call of international selection.  Under new coach Gregor Townsend, the team find themselves in second spot in the league, closing down early pace setters Ulster for the top spot.  A top 2 finish would be Glasgow's best season finish before the playoffs and would secure them a home berth for the post season showdowns.

The sustainable growth of the club has to be lauded, along with their Chairman Charles Shaw and Managing Director Nathan Bombrys.  Glasgow have taken small but steady steps in the last 5 years to get them to where they are, but have always made progress.  The transition from Lineen leaving under slightly acrimonious circumstances to Townsend taking the reins has been smooth.  The move to the newly refurbished Scotstoun Stadium has proved successful.  Everything is very settled in the west end of Glasgow.

Compare that to the state of Edinburgh Rugby right now.  Struggling in and around the bottom of the league table the last few seasons, Edinburgh have failed to attract both the quality and quantity of talent that their bitter rivals have.  They still falter during the international tournaments because they simply don't have that strength that Glasgow have acquired recently, and instead use the lack of relegation in the league as an impetus to concentrate on the Heineken Cup which has its fixtures fit around the 6 Nations and  autumn internationals.  It means they can look to make progress in a competition when they have all their key talent back within their ranks.

It worked last year as Edinburgh made it to the semi-finals of the premier European competition only to lose out to Ulster in Dublin.  The achievement was unprecedented for a Scottish club.  The sacrifice was their league position, finishing a lowly 11th with 32 points, less than half of the total accumulated by 4th place finishers Glasgow.

The discussion on whether all 12 RaboDirect teams get to qualify for European competition is heated and ongoing, but for me it isn't right that a team can prioritise the cup over the league, knowing they can still qualify for the following year.  The Heineken Cup should be the reward for those teams that either finish highest overall in their league or higher relative to their compatriot teams in that league.

That aside, Edinburgh must do better to attract the calibre of player heading to the west coast.  There must be a fundamental difference in the attraction of both teams for potential players looking to sign north of the border.  Is it the facilities? The management? The existing corps of players? The money?

Whichever one or combination of these it is, Glasgow have clearly struck a better balance than Edinburgh and are only building momentum. Their training facilities at Scotstoun have long been known to be first class.  Now that the team has relocated there for match days too means they now have a complete, compact and efficient operation under one roof. 

The Warriors moved to Scotstoun Stadium at the start

of the 2012/13 season

Edinburgh, on the other hand, play their games at Murrayfield, attracting a typical crowd of around 3,000 spectators who are drowned by the emptiness of a 67,500 seat stadium.  They have touted the idea of investing in Meadowbank stadium which is currently owned and operated by Edinburgh City Council.  It has the infrastructure and facilities in place to allow it to potentially flourish as a 6/7,000 seat arena.  A smaller stadium encourages a better atmosphere, which attracts punters, money, investment and players. 

Glasgow made the step from playing at Hughenden with very little seating to the 9,000 capacity football ground at Firhill before adopting Scotstoun as their home for good.  It's manageable, realistic and sustainable.  It seems that Edinburgh have some ground to make up.

And so we can conclude that Richie Vernon is heading back to the brighter of the two Scottish rugby stars right now.  The only question now would be where and how much he will play with such a wealth of talent on the books at Scotstoun?  He will be competing with the likes of John Barclay, James Eddie, Josh Strauss, Ryan Wilson, Rob Harley and Chris Fusaro who all ply their trade in the back row.  With his pace, Vernon provides a different option to all of these guys but he'll have to raise his game if he has designs on a consistent starting spot.

Success breeds success, and Vernon will no doubt be up for the challenge.

Irish Loss Ironically Shows The Turning Of A Corner

by Dugald Skene

Given the result on Sunday, and the nature of the 12-8 loss for Ireland at Murrayfield that day, it might be strange to suggest that the Irish have finally decided to turn the corner that they have seemingly refused since their 2009 Grand Slam winning campaign.  But I think that's exactly what has happened.

Declan Kidney has taken much of the stick for Ireland's poor display, particularly in the second half, and although culpable to a large degree, he also needs to be praised for his approach to the game.

Ireland were ultimately let down by the players' inability to finish off the chances they created and convert the huge amounts of possession and territory they enjoyed in the game. They allowed the Scots back into the game and paid the price.

Declan Kidney has taken the brunt of the blame

for Ireland's loss to Scotland

Hindsight, as they say, is a wonderful thing, and everyone can point fingers at the coaching staff for poor selection, but that isn't what lost the game.

Instead if I was an Irish fan, once the pain of such a demoralising loss had subsided, I'd be encouraged that the Irish dominated a game for huge portions of the match with a lot of young and fresh talent.

So Paddy Jackson didn't have a great day with the kicking tee.  It happens, he'll improve.  Fellow debutant Luke Marshall was the standout player in the first half and looked perfectly at home in international rugby.  With the recent debut caps for the likes of Craig Gilroy and Simon Zebo, I think we are starting to see the changing of the old guard in Irish rugby.

This has been coming for Irish fans. The so called 'golden generation', led by inspirational centre Brian O'Driscoll, is starting to fade away, although O'Driscoll (along with Rob Kearney) is one of the few who can still legitimately claim a starting berth for the Irish.  Ronan O'Gara has lost his ability to secure a match in the closing stages as a stabilising substitute.  Some of his decision making was flawed to say the very least when Ireland needed him and his renowned composure in such a tight contest.  Although forced out by injury, I don't believe Gordon D'Arcy is worthy of a starting place in the team and the likes of Luke Marshall have shown that to be the case.

These players all peaked during their 2009 Grand Slam campaign and Kidney rode the wave created by that success through to the World Cup in New Zealand in 2011.  If 2009 wasn't the time to change, 2011 surely was.  And yet Kidney has for the large part refused to adapt and bring in younger talent when the chances have come.  For me, in culminated in the 3-0 series loss in New Zealand.

Since that summer tour, Kidney has recognised the need to freshen up the team.  He has selected a new captain in Jamie Heaslip, despite the ongoing participation of O'Driscoll.  He has debuted more players in the last 6 months than I can remember for some time.

I accept that most of the changes made for Sunday's game were borne out of necessity given the extensive injury list Ireland currently have, but Kidney didn't have to start Jackson. He could have played it safe and started O'Gara, but he chose not to.  Regardless of the result and the player's own performance, that has to be applauded.

It may all be too little too late as the fans and media in Ireland mount increasing pressure on Kidney, but it can't be argued that he is trying to do something new and finally get Ireland out of the selection rut it has been in for the last 4 years or so.

Every change comes with growing pains, and Sunday's defeat at Murrayfield is the first big one.  They are also hard to get used to, especially when the status quo has been in place for over a decade.

If Kidney is really trying to push through a much needed revolution in Irish Rugby, he has to be given the chance to see it out.  There is still enough time before the next World Cup to develop these young players into hardened test match veterans, but they need to be exposed to that environment now for it to take effect.  It's hard to change a culture that so many have become accustomed to and there will be losses along the way, but it's all for the greater good in my book.