Burrow carrying on Doddie legacy

Former rugby league player Rob Burrow has paid tribute to Scotland rugby union legend Doddie Weir for helping him deal with his own diagnosis of motor neurone disease.

Weir died on Saturday after a six-year battle with the disease, which Burrow discovered he had in 2019.

“His positive outlook and attitude was central to how I decided I was going to take on my own challenge with MND,” Burrow wrote in the Daily Mail.

“His attitude was exactly what I needed. When I was diagnosed, all anyone told me about was how bad it would be, but Doddie was totally different.

“I suppose being sportspeople, we see challenges and think about how we can beat them and turn things in our favour.

“He showed us all the way and did it every time with a laugh and a joke. He gave the MND community a voice and he became a beacon of light that we could all follow.”

Weir, who won 61 caps, raised more than £8 million for MND research via his My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and Burrow now wants the government to honour its pledge to provide more funding.

“He has inspired millions of pounds of fundraising that has turned the course of research,” added Burrow.

“But we now need the government to keep their promise to Doddie and the 5,000 people living with MND in the UK.

“The government pledged £50m to research over a year ago, yet that money frustratingly has not yet been handed to researchers. The prime minister can change that by keeping his government’s promise.”

Edinburgh Rugby head coach Mike Blair, meanwhile, hopes Weir’s Foundation continues to flourish.

“You see the impact it (Weir’s death) has had, probably not just on the rugby community, but the general community in Scotland,” said the 41-year-old, who crossed paths with Weir at various hospitality events.

“You could see how many people he touched with the work he did for MND.

“Hopefully that will continue and leave a bit of a legacy and people will really get behind the fundraising and find a cure for MND, which Doddie’s gone a huge way to trying to do.

“It’s really sad for his family first and foremost but also the people who shared part of their rugby journey with him.”

Blair, meanwhile, is assessing his Scotland internationals before deciding which of them to restore to the team for Friday’s United Rugby Championship showdown with Munster.

The capital club were without a host of big names for Saturday’s disappointing defeat away to Benetton as Grant Gilchrist, Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman and Jamie Ritchie were among those given time off following their exploits with the national team during the recent autumn series.

The majority of the team’s key men have now rejoined training ahead of Friday’s match at home to ninth-place Munster.

“We should have most of our internationals available so we’ll just work out the best way of bringing them back in over this intense period,” said Blair, referring to the fact his fifth-place Edinburgh team are due to play on each of the next nine weekends before the 2023 Six Nations Championship kicks off in early February.

● Six Nations CEO Ben Morel will step down at the end of the 2022-23 rugby season.

Morel joined Six Nations Rugby in 2018 and guided the tournament through the Covid-19 pandemic.

A replacement is to be announced in January.

INSPIRATIONAL: Doddie Weir’s work has been hailed by Rob Burrow, inset.