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Articles by Al Kerr
Late Night Check In
With it being my 27th birthday. I keep thinking back to where I was 14 months ago. I was laying in a hospital bed after a 70 pill overdose in a suicide attempt. 14 months later and I’ve completely rebuilt my life in ways I never imagined. I’m back on my feet and living my dream of running a community theatre group. I’ll never forget the kindness and strength all of you gave me while I was in that hospital bed. Especially you Bridget.
Scottish Rugby Blog
We’re a bit light on the news front this weekend with the pro-teams out of European action, although there is plenty going on around the country in the club game. Ruaridh Jackson has signed a contract extension at Glasgow, while Edinburgh have snapped up FOSROC Academy lock Jamie Hodgson for his first pro contract. Scotland Women announced they will play two Autumn tests away from home for the first time with a mini-tour to South Africa – ranked one place above them globally.
European Teams for the Weekend
Edinburgh vs Munster Date: Sat 30 March 2019 12:45 (GMT) Venue: BT Murrayfield Stadium Live on Channel 4 Richard Cockerill has gone for form in the selection of his forward pack to face the might of Munster, foregoing a second row replacement in favour of both Jamie Ritchie and Magnus Bradbury on the bench. It’s a strong group of players and the bench looks great too. If any Scottish pack of the last decade could stand up to a Munste/monstering, it’ll be this one.
Scottish Rugby Blog
Hamish Watson - pic © Alastair Ross / Novantae Photography Head Coach Gregor Townsend has today announced four additional players called up to the Scotland squad, who met up in camp yesterday. The principle casualty from a heavy weekend of Scottish action in the Heineken Champions Cup for Edinburgh was Hamish Watson who suffered a hand injury during a tackle and has dropped out of the squad for now.
Six Nations Fantasy - start picking your squad
Come and play Six Nations Fantasy with the team on Superbru! It’s free, and we like it probably the best of all the systems out there at the moment as you can pick a squad rather than a team each week which allows for more flexibility with injuries. It can even swap in subs from your squad for you if, like Brodie, you forget to change it. There are unlimited transfers before the first game, so get a skeleton squad in there and adjust it after the teams are all announced.
Scotland 7s finish 3rd in Wellington; remain 4th overall
South Africa claimed the third round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series with a 26-5 win over in Fiji in a windy and half-empty Cake Tin Wellington on Sunday, cementing their spot at the top of the series standings. Scotland Sevens finished in third place after beating Canada 28-22 in an epic bronze final and continues their fine run of form this season.
Burleigh Sits Out Stade Return Leg; Pyrgos Re-Signs
After a 1 week suspension for the PapeSlappe™, Phil Burleigh will sit out the return leg in Paris tonight. Despite a citing commissioner’s warning, Pascal Pape will set the tone at captain for the home side. Sergio Parisse also returns for the Stade. Burleigh’s place is taken by Chris Dean, and Jason Tovey also comes in to replace Duncan Weir who despite having a storming second half last weekend, had a bit of a shocker in the first – he wasn’t alone.
6 Nations Referees for Scotland Games
Now that Craig Joubert has retired, here are the referee appointments for the Six Nations: Roman Poite for Sco v Ire – not always friendly to us jocks (see SA in 2013), but he reffed Eng v Sco in 2015 pretty well and also oversaw the close loss to New Zealand in 2014 without too much fuss. Jaco Peyper for Fra v Sco – Peyper used to be our friend (remember that last scrum against Australia in Newcastle) John Lacey for Sco v Wal – enough said.
Team GB Sevens Squad Announced
The subset of Simon Amor’s Team GB Sevens training squad the “Royals” last weekend claimed back to back titles in the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series. They beat the other half of the squad, GB Lions, 26-14 in the Gdynia Sevens Cup final. Scotland’s Jamie Farndale, Scott Riddell and Joe Nayacavou all featured for the winning GB Royals side which you would hope put them high in contention for places in the final Olympic Sevens squad announced on Tuesday.
World Rugby Stumbles On To Thin Ice
The news released last night of the outcome of the weekends disciplinary citations has seen World Rugby enter very dangerous territory with regards to it’s credibility as a governing body for the sport. The decision to ban Johnny Gray and Ross Ford for three weeks each for a dangerous tackle is harsh from most angles, especially on Ford.
The Horrors of Pre-Season
Pre Season. Two words (or possibly a hyphenate) that universally send a chill up the spine of rugby players across the country. You’ve hit it hard over the summer months, nights out and holidays away with friends and families. Of course it would have been remiss to not have those extra beers on the night out or agreed to go that family BBQ and stuffed your face with sausages of dubious origin.
A wooden spoon to stir the black stuff…
A hot day at the Twickenham Stoop; and a Scotland player has just deftly side-stepped Ireland and Lions Number 8 Jamie Heaslip and run in for an easy try. The try was possibly an equal to anything Scotland produced during the 6 Nations, but unfortunately this was a try at the Guinness Challenge touch rugby tournament rather than a match of any real meaning.
Crystal Ball or Crystal Meths?
World Cup 2007 – phew, what a tournament! The scrummage was intense, the rivalry between two passionate set of combatants, the immense handling skills – all to the backing track of rousing renditions of national anthems. Yup, getting to and fro the bar in Le Glasgow Bar the night before the Scotland v Italy match was a sight to behold and some of the handling skill on display was immense – 4 pints, 2 nips and a bag of crisps all expertly carried by one brave soul through the heaving masses.
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