SRU must prioritise youth over expensive imports

Under-20s humiliation and Mosese pursuit underline need for change

ARE the SRU failing Scotland’s young rugby players? It’s the question on many people’s lips after yet another torrid Six Nations for Scotland Under-20s and amid reports that the SRU are attempting to lure Mosese Tuipulotu, younger brother of current Scotland star centre Sione, to Scotland on a reported £120,000 contract.

Comments made this week by Scotland head Gregor Townsend and Glasgow Warriors attack coach Nigel Carolan have only added fuel to the fire.

Carolan admitted that Scotland’s youth setup is a decade behind Ireland’s, while Townsend, very much singing from the same hymn sheet, added: ‘Are we doing enough at the 15 to 18 age to help them come through? I am not sure.’

The impression conveyed by the Under-20s’ performances in recent years, not least by the 82-7 defeat against Ireland, is that it has been ‘men against boys’. Since 2018, Scotland’s youngsters have won just five of their 30 games in the Six Nations, conceding a staggering 1,100 points.

Around the same time as the rumours emerged about Mosese Tuipulotu, who was born in Australian but qualifies through his Scottish grandmother, it was also announced that the Edinburgh trio of Harry Paterson, Cammy Scott and Mike Jones had graduated from the academy and signed their first pro deals.

Of the deals, Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair said: ‘It’s really exciting to see local guys come through the system and pull on the jersey for the first time.’

Paterson and Scott are Edinburgh born and bred, while Jones is a Lasswade and Stewart’s Melville lad. However, despite the SRU’s professed desire to promote domestic youth, it’s unlikely that even their combined new annual salaries would match the reported sum offered to Mosese Tuipulotu. How’s that for cold, hard financial priorities?

Townsend faced similar questions about imported players in January when it emerged that more than half of his Six Nations squad were foreign-born or developed.

His use of World Rugby’s three-year stand-down rule, created to help the Pacific Island nations, to call-up three-time England cap Ruaridh McConnochie, as well as rumours that Ireland-capped scrum-half John Cooney would be called up using the same rule, led to further suggestions that the SRU were taking the ‘easy option’, rather than investing the time and resources to develop their own players. The SRU insist their plan is to simultaneously invest in global ‘Scottish’ headhunting and the domestic youth system much like the IRFU, who had 10 imports in their senior Six Nations squad alongside a core of homegrown talent.

As Townsend said: ‘We’ll continue to look for players who are Scottish qualified. Ireland are showing us the way and Italy are showing us the way as well. We’ve got to learn from what we’re doing now but also from what the best models are, and they’re quite close to us, across the Irish Sea.’

The Irish comparison is appropriate given Scotland and

Ireland have similar populations (just shy of 5.5million and five million, respectively). Yet, as of 2020, Ireland had over 100,000 registered rugby players, compared with Scotland’s 49,000 — less than the likes of Kenya and Sri Lanka.

This small player pool is the excuse the SRU usually resorts to by way of justifying their imports.

Another concern is how Ireland have managed to turn such a small player pool, compared with France’s more than 542,000, into world No1s. As Carolan explained: ‘Ireland are maybe ten years down that road having invested in players as 14 or 15-year-olds.

‘There’s no point investing in the middle and hoping that the 20s are going to win. You have to invest in them as 15-year-olds.’

With this in mind, how exactly is the SRU’s ‘big fix’, the Super6 (now Super Series), going to close the 10-year gap to Ireland?

The Super6, founded in 2019, is not only plagued by pitiful attendances and rumours of failing finances, but it also isn’t adequately helping enough young players bridge the gap to full-time pro rugby. Townsend touched on this and admitted: ‘No Under-20s players from the past two or three years are playing at pro level or are in pro-level squads.’

The SRU, with its finite resources, is struggling to strike the right balance with its double-pronged strategy.

Both Townsend and Carolan have indicated this isn’t the way forward, arguing that the future strength of Scotland’s national team depends on domestically developed players. Townsend stated: ‘If we can get our own players through quicker then that’s going to help us long term.’

Carolan, meanwhile, noted: ‘When Scotland catches up (to Ireland), they’ll get it through local, indigenous players again.’

With this in mind, it’s only reasonable to wonder whether money spent scouring the world for players with a Scottish granny might be better spent closer to home?

The SRU may finally start to act but the overwhelming sense that the SRU are letting down young Scottish players is unavoidable.