SRU must not be left behind in battle to keep stars

HAVE the ‘For Sale’ signs gone up for the best players in Scottish rugby?

There has to be a worry that the likes of Stuart Hogg (below) and Jonny Gray at Glasgow Warriors and Willem Nel at Edinburgh could be sold if the price is right — even if they are under contract. When David Den ton was transferred from the capital club to Bath in November, despite having six months left on his deal, everybody thought it was a one-off. After all, the SRU — who fund both pro teams — had never allowed players to leave early before.

But chief executive Mark Dodson set the alarm bells ringing when he said the SRU couldn’t compete with the big-spending clubs in the Aviva Premiership and Top14.

This week, they sanctioned the transfer of Fijian second row Leone Nakarawa from Glasgow to Racing 92 in the summer. He is contracted until May 2017 but the French side are being allowed to buy out the remainder of his deal.

The SRU also failed to match offers from Gloucester and London Irish respectively to keep Matt Scott and captain Mike Coman at Edinburgh. Both will leave at the end of the season.

Australian wing er Taqe le Naiyaravoro is heading off, too, after invoking a break clause in his contact that allows him to return to the Waratahs after just a year at the Warriors.

English and French clubs — and even Irish and Welsh — have announced new signings. So far, all Edinburgh and Glasgow have done is keep some players on contract extensions while letting other top-class team-mates leave.

Ross Ford will more than likely extend his stay at Edinburgh, following in the footsteps of frontrow colleague Alasdair Dickinson, but the SRU are facing a fight to keep Grant Gilchrist, who has been l i nked with Gloucester. It’s all fine and well s ayi ng t hey have extended the deals of players like Ali Price, Alex Allan and Sila Puafisi at Glasgow and Ben Toolis and Hamish Watson at Edinburgh, but they are hardly big names. Fans of both Scottish clubs deserve new signings — regardless of nationality — to freshen things up. The closest Edinburgh fans came to getting a new player was when the SRU sanctioned stand- off Duncan Weir’s move to the capital from Glasgow this summer.

With Naiyaravaro and Nakarawa leaving too, there is pressure on the SRU to sign new faces to help Gregor Townsend recover from losing such an influential trio.

The foundations for success have already been laid, with Warriors winning the Pro12 last season and Edinburgh making the Final of the European Challenge Cup.

But the SRU have to at least try to keep up with the spending power of the English and French clubs or run the risk of being left behind for good.