John Macphail Scholarship

[Big D]

So, bored out my tits at work and was thinking about the MacPhail Scholarship as I saw it mentioned in something about Barclay. This is generally given to players who have been identified at 18-20 as being pretty good and coaches who have potential so in theory should have a decent strike rate.

For those not aware what it is, basically a scholarship for our summer to go to NZ to further their playing/coaching education.

Positions will be at time of award:

2005 - John Barclay - back row - Now into his 10th year as an international, should have more than 50odd caps. Success
2006 - Graham Hogg - Centre - Now better known as Stuarts big brother. Played some 7s for Scotland but nothing more. Miss
2007 - Kevin Bryce - Back row - Moved to hooker and now to tight head. Has 3 Scotland caps to his name but never established himself as a club regular. Miss even though he was capped.
2008 - Roddy Grant - Back row. Became an Edinburgh stalwart. Criminally overlooked when he deserved to be capped. Good 7s player too. Success
2009 - Lewis Niven - Loosehead - Played 25 times in 4 years for Edinburgh before being released. No longer playing pro rugby (I think). Miss
2010 - Finlay Gillies - Hooker - Played 24 times in 4 years for Edinburgh and Glasgow before being released. Played for Scotland 7's. No longer playing pro rugby and now playing/coaching for Hawks (I think). Miss
2011 - Grant Gilchrist - 2nd Row - Playing for Edinburgh. Captained club and country. Has a poor injury record and currently in a slump of form but still a hit for me. Success
2011 - Harry Leonard - Stand off - Perhaps harshly let go of by Edinburgh but never truly established himself for Leeds and now Rosslyn Park. Miss
2011 - George Turner - Hooker - Stuck 4th in line for Edinburgh, at 24 and only a handful of games for Edinburgh perhaps it is time to move on. Miss
2012 - Jonny Gray - 2nd Row - Boy has the world at his feet. Say no more. Success
2012 - Gregor Hunter - Stand off - Hurt by injuries, but signed and let go by both pro clubs. May be involved with the 7s. Miss
2013 - Finn Russell - Stand off/Centre - Starting to show the rest of Europe the talent we know he has. Undisputed No.1 stand off for club and country. Success
2013- Sam Hidalgo-Clyne - Scum Half - Flashed real potential a couple of years ago but yet to live up to that since. Neither success or miss yet.
2014 - Ewan McQuillin - Tighthead Prop - 23 year old playing for LS on loan from Edinburgh. Too early to tell really. Neither success or miss yet.
2014 - Adam Ashe - No.8 - Injury prone but has real potential. Plenty of game time for Glasgow and when fit is in international contention. Success
2015 - Ben Robbins, Callum Hunter-Hill - Too early to tell. Neither success or miss yet.
2016 - Patrick Kelly, Ross McCann - Too early to tell. Neither success or miss yet.

Seems like a lot of the "misses" or players struggling for game time are front rowers. Perhaps to be expected.

Coaches - A few of these are working towards UKCC4 which is the highest qualification available so they are getting a good "education".
2016 - Mike Blair - On Glasgow coaching staff and I believe a mentor to age grade sides.
2016 - Calum Forrester - Forrester, head coach of Ayr and Scotland under-19
2015 - Ben Cairns - Currie Head Coach and Scotland under-18 Assistant Coach.
2015 - Duncan Hodge - Current acting Edinburgh Head Coach.
2014 - Don Caskie - Head of rugby at Dollar and possibly Scotland U19 coach(?).
2014 - Kenny Murray - Glasgow assistant coach, future unknown.
2013 - Shade Munro - Scotland womans coach.
2013 - Alex Duncan - Coaching at Aberdeenshire last time I heard. Little or no involvement in international programmes.
2012 - Chris Paterson - No fixed coaching role, possibly mentoring and 1-1 coaching?
2012 - Ben Fisher - SRU academy skills coach and U20 defence coach.
2011 - Iain Monaghan - SRU academy skills coach and U20 coach.

Overall looks like we get these guys into the international programmes which is good. Big question is how do we create a pathway to the Edinburgh/Glasgow roles and then the international team? Glasgow hired Kenny Murray but few chances have been taken on these guys since.

[General Zod]

Can I have your job, please?

I guess the new academies create more coaching opportunities, and an extra pro team would help across the board (if properly funded).

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Notice how many of those players are or were Edinburgh attached? Harsh to call the players a miss given their embarrassing track record of spotting and nurturing talent.

Fraser Brown and Lee Jones are two very important players to one of best teams in Europe right now. Both discarded by Edinburgh as they weren't considered good enough.

Harry Leonard must have been barely 21 when told to p!ss off by Edinburgh. Wasted talent.

[Big D]

Can I have your job, please?

I guess the new academies create more coaching opportunities, and an extra pro team would help across the board (if properly funded).

But how do we get them from the academies into pro rugby.

I think London Scottish provides the likes of Dalziel opportunities in pro rugby to start with. Fisher as a defence coach could form part of a new Edinburgh coaching staff.

[General Zod]

Get more money.

Then sack everyone at Edinburgh, open a new team in Aberdeen (although I think Stirling could be fertile ground), and use London Scottish a bit more.