There was much more to my discussions with Mark Dodson, the CEO of Scottish Rugby, than the headline issues of selling Murrayfield, a third pro team and the fortunes of the national team. Here’s the remainder of our meeting, in Dodson’s words.
EDINBURGH, AND THEIR RECRUITMENT POLICY: “I’m very confident that Edinburgh will be a top-six competitive team in the PRO12 next year.
“Alan Solomons has got two jobs to do, he’s got to make Edinburgh competitive so supporters come to watch the team, otherwise the business model immediately unravels. The second thing he has to do is get as much Scottish talent coming through as possible for the identity of the team.
“The Irish have managed to do this, their teams have players they’ve developed themselves augmented by three or four marquee signings. We can’t compete for those top-end signings and presently don’t have enough players coming through our pipeline.
“Alan is making sure he’s got combat-ready, tough pros to fill the gap until the Scottish talent comes through. In the meantime he’s signed or re-signed all the best available Scottish talent, these guys like Matt Scott and Grant Gilchrist and David Denton stay because they believe what they’re doing here at Edinburgh.
“The criticism is justified in asking where the pipeline of young players has gone, but you’ll find that when the last group of young players came through it was to a losing team, and it was very hard for them to grow into the team. You have the opposite example of Glasgow where Hogg, Dunbar, Weir and the like came into a stable team going forward and thrived.
“What we’ve done with that generation is move them on, to championship clubs in the main, and try to get the next generation in, while also trying to make sure the EDP and talent-spotting system is as first class it can be.
“In the meantime we supplement the young talent with experienced players. It’s been mostly South Africans because they’re what we can afford and Alan knows the talent base there. The likes of Mike Coman and Andries Strauss can be leaders and take this team forward.”
THE PROPOSED “SUPERLEAGUE” AND SECOND TIER STRUCTURE: “There’s a large and growing gap between the pro teams and the club game. There’s a gap also growing between the Premiership and the National and Regional Leagues. I feel we have to narrow that gap as much as we possibly can.
“The superleague was a radical proposal, just one of a list we put forward for more change in a year than has been done at any time before the rest, for the academies, schools/youth rugby, women, were all universally approved.
“There’s been a clear desire to debate the superleague proposal more deeply. We’ve established a working group to look at the pros and cons of the superleague format, but also to look at the other models, districts and things that other people have indicated they want.
“It’ll be a complete overview of all models, benefits and drawbacks of all, to come back with proposals for the way forward.”
THE MURRAYFIELD PITCH: “It’s an expense that was unexpected. We had a pitch that was the envy of a lot of countries for many years. But it’s not really a burden as hybrid pitches are the way the game is going, and we’d probably have had to install one at some point.
“We’re just doing it now because of the unfortunate infestation. This is between £1.2-£1.3 million of investment that will give us a perfect playing surface.
“We’re also working hard with Glasgow Life to improve the (substandard) pitch at Scotstoun and making headway there. The expenditure here at Murrayfield doesn’t affect any of our other plans going forward.”
SCHOOLS AND YOUTH RUGBY: “The Scottish Schools Cup Final at present is really the Independent Schools final. The time is long overdue to stop having state schools, independent schools, and club youth team separated.
“We want to bring forward a competition that embraces all aspects of schools and youth rugby, but the difficulty has been getting everyone aligned, because there’s so many different voices, ideaS and opinions of what people want from us in this area.
“We’re every grateful for what the independent schools do, they’ve got great coaching and the best facilities. But as a governing body we can’t rely on that, we’ve got to go into state schools and clubs and try and develop the game.
“I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the best club development programmes, in the Borders, at Howe of Fife, North Berwick, Stirling, are where the clubs are closely aligned with the local schools. That’s the model we should follow.”
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT AND “RESIDENTIAL” QUALIFIERS: “We’ve tried to bring in people where our depth chart is weak. WP Nel is a quality tight-head, wants to play for Scotland, and we don’t have lot of back-up at that position. Josh Strauss was a leading player in South Africa and is a ball carrying No 8, another type of player we don’t have a lot of. Cornell du Preez won’t be available for the next World Cup but is a quality young player.
“We’re not bringing in anyone of lesser quality. If we had a stream of players coming through we wouldn’t have to do this.
“But once the four district academies are established they will be the places we find the talent, where we don’t waste it.
“We’ll “super-charge” the young players quickly, get them bigger and stronger, improve their skills, and also get them playing each other regularly to create another new tier providing for the pro game.”