HARD HITTING VIEW
Once again, Scotland’s rugby fans have to wait until this morning to discover whether their side won their second match on tour against the USA, unless they were sufficiently dedicated to stay up and watch in the middle of the night.
Having despatched Canada, with a fairly young and inexperienced side, the USA will have given the Scots a sterner test. The team, led for the first time by Stuart Hogg, was much-changed from the Canada test.
Two pairs of brothers started – the Hornes and the Fagersons – and it will have been a memorable moment for Gavin Hastings, who flew out to Houston this week, to watch his son, Adam, on his first start for the Scots.
But the real story this week has been that of Keith Russell’s win in court. Russell is the father of the Scotland flyhalf, Finn.
Claiming he was unfairly dismissed by the SRU, the judge found in Russell’s favour, awarding him substantial compensation and damages.
An emergency meeting was called by the SRU Council on Friday, chaired by SRU president Rob Flockhart to discuss the court outcome and Russell’s scathing criticism of his former employer, which has been widely reported this last week.
It is all quite unsavoury and some fairly brutal adjectives have been bandied around in relation to the culture at the SRU.
This sort of issue rarely dies out without some collateral
Unsurprisingly, the SRU have kept fairly quiet for the time being, with their only comment being that they disagreed with some areas of the ruling. But they have chosen not to appeal the judgment.
Yet, the implications for the credibility of the organisation are significant and indeed, for their CEO, Mark Dodson who is at the centre of the affair.
It will be interesting to see how the SRU Council react to this emergent crisis of integrity at the organisation, and what steps they take (or not) to deal with such punishing criticism from Russell.
Dodson has done a great job of getting the Union on a much more sound financial footing. But rumblings still exist about Agenda 3, and this crisis will not help his cause.
Having had his contract renewed recently, Dodson can feel reasonably secure. But this sort of issue rarely dies out without some collateral damage.
Finally, it was wonderful to see another generation of ‘Sole’ be part of an historic victory over England.
I was very proud to watch my middle son, Chris, take part in the victory over England for the Scottish cricket team at the Grange last Sunday.
The ranking and funding between the two teams created a real ‘David and Goliath’ moment. When Scotland prevailed in the penultimate over, it was a victory every bit as sweet, if not sweeter, than the one I was privileged to be a part of in 1990.