AN end to journeyman imports; the ability to sign superstar names of the quality of Sonny Bill Williams; a flow of top-quality home-produced talent and maybe, just maybe, the chance to revisit calls for a third professional team in Scotland.
All that, and more, have been promised as a direct result of the official launch of the Scottish Rugby Union's latest attempt to get its academy system right and to start making the most of the young talent emerging from schools and clubs across the country.
As had been widely trailed at the annual general meeting in August, the first of four new regional academies is at Aberdeen and yesterday all the union's leading functionaries were there to witness Ian Rankin, the union's president, and Professor Sir Ian Diamond, the principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, perform the official opening ceremony.
The plan is for it to be followed by similar centres in Galashiels, at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and at Cumbernauld, at a total cost of £1.2m per year.
Mark Dodson, the SRU chief executive, said the academies were all scheduled to be up and running by September next year.
One man who might benefit if they even come close to delivering on their promise is Vern Cotter, the head coach of the national team, who was in Aberdeen to run his eye over some of the candidates for the first intake and the facilities on offer. "This compares with any facility in world rugby," he said. "It is outstanding. It is here. It will be well run and we just want the players to put their hands up now."
Cotter believes it will take about three years before the new academy structure starts producing players for the professional teams and the national side, but once the flow starts, the effects will be seen quickly. "We will try to get as many players as possible out of here and into pro teams. If each is producing 10 world-class professional rugby players and you have four, that is 40 players. Can you then put in another professional, or two professional teams? When you look at it like that, the future is really exciting," he said.
"Would I like to see more Scottish [eligible] players playing in Scotland? Yes, I would. It is not going to happen all the time - there are exile players and lifestyle changes with family decisions - but if we had a third team it would mean rugby is progressing and we have players who are coming out of these environments and performing."
Nor is that something that Dodson has ruled out, though he maintains a third pro team is not even a medium-term objective but one for the more distant future. "We've been very clear that we need a third franchise," he said.
"The economics behind that are always the obstacle. We can't have one that starts and fails. We need to know where it would play, we've got the Guinness PRO12, not the Guinness PRO13. We have to wait until we have the ability to build a team and enter a competition that's worthwhile and meaningful. We're looking at all options. We've never said that we don't need a third franchise. I would love four franchises, but I haven't got the wherewithal to pay for it or the players to populate it. This is the first step on a journey."
The most immediate effect, he promised, will be that once quality Scottish players start rolling off the production line at the four centres, the need for signing average-quality imports will have ended and instead they can look to sign players with a bit of stardust sprinkled over them.
"If we're going to produce high-quality players, we don't need imported players to keep our pro teams competitive, we'll have Scottish players," Dodson said. "Then we can go back to signing outstanding foreigners to make a real big difference rather than just to make us competitive.
"The reason we import players is either we have problems at the highest level in those positions, or we need squad depth to stay competitive in the league when our Scotland players are taken away. If we're producing homebred players of sufficient quality, you don't need to do that. That's when you can go for the very highest-level player like Sam Burgess or Sonny Bill Williams; players who bring the bling factor, who drive crowds and sales.
"Ulster had a lot of players coming through, then they signed three outstanding South Africans who added to their crowds. We're criticised for signing good players, but not of the highest level. If this works, in quite short order, we should be able to change that policy."
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