The Sunday Post (Newcastle)

A time to honour Siobhan and‘TheWelshBi­llMcLaren’

- DAVID SOLE’S HARD-HITTING VIEW – EMAIL DAVID: SPORT@SUNDAYPOST.COM

Scotland announced their squad for the delayed Women’s Rugby World Cup, and it is a group packed with experience.

There’s a total of 775 caps between the 32 players picked for the tournament, which begins in New Zealand – home of the defending champions – on October 8.

The squad fly out on Friday, and increased funding has enabled them to train together full-time for the last 11 weeks.

Their preparatio­ns have been slightly hindered by the death of the Queen, as a warm-up match against Spain had to be postponed last weekend.

The girls lost narrowly to the USA in August in another warm-up match, but this should be the best-prepared Scottish squad ever.

The players also have another, greater motivation to do well.

The tragic death of their team-mate, Siobhan Cattigan – and the ongoing saga surroundin­g the circumstan­ces leading up to her death – are sure to provide a huge motivation for the players to do well.

Scotland have a tough group, alongside Wales, Australia and New Zealand, but there can be no doubt that they will want to acquit themselves well, and do justice to Cattigan’s memory.

Rugby lost another icon with the premature death of Eddie Butler last week.

The former Welsh internatio­nal and BBC commentato­r died in his sleep while on a charity trek in Peru.

Many called Butler “The Voice of Rugby”, with the mellow, rich intonation­s in his voice, and lyrical delivery.

The same accolade was given to Bill McLaren, and few would argue that the man from Hawick remains the ultimate commentato­r on rugby.

But Butler was definitely up there. Perhaps an appropriat­e tag for Butler should be that he was “The Welsh Bill McLaren”.

He formed a compelling pairing with the irascible Brian Moore, who himself stepped back from commentary just recently.

Between them they had great rugby minds, quick wit and an ability to explain complex situations simply to the viewer.

To be fair, the love of the pairing wasn’t always unanimous, but their assessment of a game was always relatively unbiased and credit was always given when it was due.

Butler played for Pontypool in the late 1970s and 1980s, having won a blue at Cambridge.

That a Cambridge-educated forward should end up at Pontypool in the heart of

GET IN TOUCH the valleys – a club with a fearsome reputation in South Wales – seemed like a bit of a contradict­ion.

But Butler went on to captain the side before retiring.

He will be missed from the commentary box, of that there is no doubt.

However, it is as a man that he will be missed more, as the tributes over the past few days have shown.

 ?? ?? Memories of Siobhan Cattigan and Eddie Butler (inset) will permeate rugby in the coming weeks
Memories of Siobhan Cattigan and Eddie Butler (inset) will permeate rugby in the coming weeks
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