“When teams speak to their club boards they will be told that it is vital to not just develop but win”
● Lineen says consistency key for new competition ● Teams must focus on success and development ● Gemmell insists results won’t happen overnight
It has been a period of soul-searching for Scottish rugby following the disappointment of failure to make the quarter-finals of the World Cup for only the second time ever.
For all the flashes of hope that have sprung up during the last few years under Vern Cotter and Gregor Townsend, it has been starkly shown yet again that Scotland are struggling to keep pace with the rest of the world.
Any improvement is offset by even further ones being made by the powerhouses of the game – and some emerging ones – around the globe.
The new Super 6 project, which finally launches this weekend following a contentious couple of years of debate, is viewed by the powers at BT Murrayfield as a driver to help close that gap.
Differing views have been exchanged around a system which sees six clubs launch new “franchises” in partnership with the union, with a cross-border competition with Welsh sides to follow at the end of the season next spring.
Super 6 chief Sean Lineen, pictured inset, who is in charge of “on-field development” for the new competition, is adamant that the streamlining nature of the tournament will lead to noticeable results.
“When you reduce from ten teams to six it does concentrate the player base a bit more,” said Lineen, who won Lineen, who won 29 caps for Scotland between 1989 and 1992 and was part of the legendary Grand Slam team of 1990. “You would like to think we are not going to get the 50-plus points differential [seen in the old Premiership top flight].
“From the top down we are looking for consistency. You can’t rest your best players and have to be on your game every week. Consistency is what we want.”
Lineen accepts there are many sceptics who wonder what market there is for what is effectively artificially-created new entities in centralised partnership with the governing body.
“We have to get the balance right. It is good to develop but we want teams to win games,” said Lineen. “When they speak to their club boards they will be told it is vital to not just develop but win.
“They will be playing against quality opposition with good coaches week in, week out and will be under the spotlight and be more accountable. These games matter.” Tournament director Stephen Gemmell, pictured above, was keen to stress that point too and was emphatic when asked how important it is to the future of rugby in the country that Super 6 succeeds.
“It is massively important. We’re tasked with raising standards and this is part of our response to that,” said the former Scotland Sevens coach.
“We acknowledge that there is a gap between the top end of the club game and the professional game, and this is a step in the right direction towards closing that gap.
“It is important for players. We have been able to retain a number of talented young players in Scotland because of this, and we have been able to attract a number of players back. So, it is massively important.” Gemmell said he was excited that the talking and debate is now about to give way to actual rugby on the fields of play and expressed hope that, in time, the public would latch on to the new competition.
“I think the important thing is that we are now into rugby which is what it was brought in to do,” said Gemmell. “I fully appreciate that not everybody was a supporter of it, and when you try to bring the rugby people of Scotland along on a journey then people are going to have opinions and different ideas about what is right and what is wrong.
“We are now at the stage where we are launching, the players are excited, the coaches are excited, and I can’t wait for that first game [Boroughmuir Bears v Stirling County] on Friday night.”
Gemmell acknowledged: “I think there is an element of stepping into the unknown for everybody. The teams have had a number of pre-season games playing against each other – with the usual situation of not everybody showing their hand – so we don’t know exactly what to expect but one thing we can be sure of is an increase in intensity and physicality, because of the level of training the players have been able to do on a part-time professional basis.
“But what it looks like in a year’s time will be different from what it starts out looking like this weekend.
“All I can do is urge people to approach this with an open mind. Come along and judge what they see on the pitch, judge what they see off the field.
“Is it going to be an overnight success? I think we’d by naive to think everything is going to be perfect that first weekend, but as people get behind the tournament, get behind the clubs and get behind the players, we will be able to grow some momentum.”
‘THESE GAMES MATTER’
“We have to get the balance right. It is good to develop but we want teams to win games. When they speak to their club boards they will be told it is vital to not just develop but win. They will be playing against quality opposition with good coaches and will be under the spotlight and be more accountable. These games matter”
SEAN LINEEN