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Scotland to take Player Poaching to the next level.
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<blockquote data-quote="Peat" data-source="post: 734467" data-attributes="member: 42330"><p>They have youth coaches, they're not finding the talent. At least not in enough numbers.</p><p></p><p>I really don't see the issue with this, speaking out of cold practicality. Every level of 'elite' Scottish rugby is propped up by players from abroad. Just look at Glasgow's squad list; 14 members of the pack were born and raised outside of Scotland. Four members of the Scotland U18 side are likewise - George Thornton, Connor Eastgate, Mike Dewar and Thomas Gordon. I deleted my list of the U20s of similar stock but it was about twice the size. It's the only way for Scotland to achieve some moderate success at the moment, not that there's been much of it.</p><p></p><p>It's not short term fixes vs long term mends; Scotland need both. Scotland need strong professional teams for their youngsters to learn their trade in and it needs a strong enough pool of available internationals that they don't keep losing matches simply because one or two members of the team are not of the required standard. Teams cannot be much stronger than their weakest link and right now, Scotland's playing pool contains too many insufficiently skilled players at the highest level. If poaching can sort that, then good for them. Simply dropping in kids and assuming they'll make it won't work. It's not like Scottish rugby is allegic to young talent; guys like Russell, Ashe, the Grays, they've been promoted about as quickly as is possible. But you don't want a team of kids and if there's not enough Scottish born and raised talent willing to play in Scotland to provide the experience and know how in those teams, then go abroad.</p><p></p><p>There's enough players coming into Scotland already that doing it better and more successfully would pay back this role's salary in any case. It's not like this position would pay for a pro Caledonian Reds by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not sure the salary of every foreign-raised rugby man in Scotland would pay for it tbh.</p><p></p><p>If the SRU are doing this *and* increasing youth funding, where's the bother?</p><p></p><p>Meh. Rambling post is rambly. But I feel the reaction here is more emotional than rational, and also, Scotty seems to be somewhat overrating Scotland's player pool.</p><p></p><p>P.s. The single best thing Scotland could do for the promotion of Scottish talent is to get more Scottish players in the RFU Championship and get them playing professionally at a suitable level of competition for their age.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Peat, post: 734467, member: 42330"] They have youth coaches, they're not finding the talent. At least not in enough numbers. I really don't see the issue with this, speaking out of cold practicality. Every level of 'elite' Scottish rugby is propped up by players from abroad. Just look at Glasgow's squad list; 14 members of the pack were born and raised outside of Scotland. Four members of the Scotland U18 side are likewise - George Thornton, Connor Eastgate, Mike Dewar and Thomas Gordon. I deleted my list of the U20s of similar stock but it was about twice the size. It's the only way for Scotland to achieve some moderate success at the moment, not that there's been much of it. It's not short term fixes vs long term mends; Scotland need both. Scotland need strong professional teams for their youngsters to learn their trade in and it needs a strong enough pool of available internationals that they don't keep losing matches simply because one or two members of the team are not of the required standard. Teams cannot be much stronger than their weakest link and right now, Scotland's playing pool contains too many insufficiently skilled players at the highest level. If poaching can sort that, then good for them. Simply dropping in kids and assuming they'll make it won't work. It's not like Scottish rugby is allegic to young talent; guys like Russell, Ashe, the Grays, they've been promoted about as quickly as is possible. But you don't want a team of kids and if there's not enough Scottish born and raised talent willing to play in Scotland to provide the experience and know how in those teams, then go abroad. There's enough players coming into Scotland already that doing it better and more successfully would pay back this role's salary in any case. It's not like this position would pay for a pro Caledonian Reds by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not sure the salary of every foreign-raised rugby man in Scotland would pay for it tbh. If the SRU are doing this *and* increasing youth funding, where's the bother? Meh. Rambling post is rambly. But I feel the reaction here is more emotional than rational, and also, Scotty seems to be somewhat overrating Scotland's player pool. P.s. The single best thing Scotland could do for the promotion of Scottish talent is to get more Scottish players in the RFU Championship and get them playing professionally at a suitable level of competition for their age. [/QUOTE]
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