DAVID SOLE ON RUGBY

Rob Baxter, the coach of Exeter Chiefs who have just signed Jonny Gray, believes part of the rationale behind the Glasgow Warriors lock’s move was to battle his way to selection for the British & Irish Lions.

“One reasons he committed to us is he wants to put himself in the shop window for further international selection, and potentially the Lions,” he said

In the same week, Dave Rennie – Gray’s coach at Warriors – maintained part of his responsibility was to ensure there was good succession into the professional ranks.

There is an urgent need to ensure the talent drain of Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray away from professional teams is replaced by, talented youngsters like George Horne, Adam Hastings and Matt Fagerson.

It is well-known that Scotland are not blessed with an abundance of playing resources in raw numbers.

For years during the professional era, the pathways into the professional game were underdeveloped and under-invested in.

This changed under Scott Johnson, who introduced the Academy system and Mark Dodson’s Agenda 3, with the introduction this season of the Super Six competition and structure.

But the jury is still out as to how effective this is proving to be. It would be interesting to see just how many

‘ The pathways into the pro game have been under-invested in

minutes of rugby have been played by the 35 players contracted to Super Six teams this year.

Given that this is the opportunity for Academy players to get game time, joining the more experienced players in the squads, I suspect the answer doesn’t make great reading.

Indeed, it would not surprise me if, at some point, these squads are cut, which I’m sure will relieve some of the financial burden on the clubs involved in Dodson’s masterplan.

It will also be a blessing to the clubs in the Premiership who have had their squads decimated.

In England, each club has developed its own Academy structure along with partnership relationships with several clubs to ensure squad players get game time.

That is so critical in the learning process for aspiring young players.

If more autonomy and control was given to Glasgow and Edinburgh to run this independently rather than be beholden to policy developed centrally at Murrayfield, I wonder if the outcomes would be different.

As Dave Rennie said, developing the future generations of Scottish professional players is part of his job.

But it must be hard to do that really well with one hand tied behind his back.

If that means that the likes of Jonny Gray, Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg have to leave Scotland to really develop, so be it – at least for now.