Given that Scottish Rugby can’t tell us at this stage whether the national team will be able to fly out on their mini tour to Eastern Europe next Wednesday it was a bold move of the governing body to launch a new three-year strategy for the whole sport.  

With Covid continuing to cast a shadow of uncertainty over the game at all levels, Murrayfield chief executive Mark Dodson struggled to provide meaningful detail when addressing both the tour and the three-year strategy during yesterday’s press briefing. 

“It is a waiting game,” he replied, when asked if the four positive Covid test results returned by Scotland squad members last week will mean that they won’t be able to fly out to Bucharest next Wednesday, ahead of playing Romania on 10th July and Georgia seven days later.  “We have to do three or four more days of surveillance and it is only when we find the outcomes of that surveillance can we take any judgments.” 

“I was talking to James Robson – Scottish Rugby’s Chief Medical Officer – this morning when he gave me his daily briefing and I am afraid it is a wait and see situation. The results don’t come back daily, they come back in batches, and as soon as we have more results, we will come back to you.” 

In fairness to Dodson, there is not much more he can say on that front given that it is a moving story which is entirely out-with his own control. However, the lack of meaningful detail in his presentation on the strategy is less forgivable given that this is an unprompted initiative meaning we are entitled to expect a detailed document with specific goals, how progress will be benchmarked and costings, rather than just a series of positive sounding aspirations based around the buzzwords of ‘winning’, ‘well-being’ and ‘women’. 

“Our stakeholders are asking for us to support, help and aid them to come through and restart rugby, from a winning perspective we’re looking at starting a brand-new competition with an emphasis on squad quality rather than squad depth, so we’re not going to give ourselves those numerical and quantitative targets that you either meet or don’t meet,” was Dodson’s rather unconvincing explanation for this unsatisfactory vagueness. 

In terms of the ‘winning’ theme, Dodson was clear that making sure Scotland’s two pro teams are competitive in the newly formed United Rugby Championship is the priority, arguing that the addition of four South African franchises to what was previously the PRO14 is an opportunity to make that tier more financially viable in their own right. 

“When you look at the challenges we are facing with the United Rugby Championship and how that is going to alter the landscape of our league, it's important that we address that head-on,” said Dodson. “This is going to be a watershed moment for the tournament, and it will help us close that gap [between income and cost for the two pro teams].  

“We should be able to exploit the South African market in a much bigger way than we did before,” he added. “We’ve seen an incredible demand for season tickets at Edinburgh. So, we find ourselves in a position where all the work that has been done with the South Africa project over the last couple of years is coming to fruition in this new URC.” 

As for the ‘women’ theme, Dodson sounded bullish at the same time as revealing that an ‘over-arching’ strategy for this area of the game will not be published until Autumn. 

“I think we are some way behind some teams in the world and we have to redouble our effort,” he acknowledged. “There are quite a few of those pathways and pieces of the jigsaw that we do not have in place – for instance, a dedicated school program and regional training centres.” 

“It's basically kicking at an open door. There are so many different agencies and stakeholders and sponsors who expect us to invest heavily in the women's game. What we need is a better quality of competition and more coaching across the country. If it means a pro team then that is definitely part of a long-term plan.” 

Dodson also stated that he hopes to see his controversial Super6 semi-pro league increase to an eight-team competition at the earliest opportunity, and reckons it won’t stop there. 

“The ecosystem has got to expand,” he said. “We’re looking at Super8, probably Super10, even Super12 as it gets stronger and stronger. It depends on depth of talent and economics.  

“Maybe Super6 will be the model with more than one league, with a second division. I don’t know.” 

Given that Scottish Rugby can’t tell us at this stage whether the national team will be able to fly out on their mini tour to Eastern Europe next Wednesday it was a bold move of the governing body to launch a new three-year strategy for the whole sport yesterday.  

With Covid continuing to cast a shadow of uncertainty over the game at all levels, Murrayfield chief executive Mark Dodson struggled to provide meaningful detail when addressing both the tour and the three-year strategy during yesterday’s press briefing. 

“It is a waiting game,” he replied, when asked if the four positive Covid test results returned by Scotland squad members last week will mean that they won’t be able to fly out to Bucharest next Wednesday, ahead of playing Romania on 10th July and Georgia seven days later.  “We have to do three or four more days of surveillance and it is only when we find the outcomes of that surveillance can we take any judgments.” 

“I was talking to James Robson – Scottish Rugby’s Chief Medical Officer – this morning when he gave me his daily briefing and I am afraid it is a wait and see situation. The results don’t come back daily, they come back in batches, and as soon as we have more results, we will come back to you.” 

In fairness to Dodson, there is not much more he can say on that front given that it is a moving story which is entirely out-with his own control. However, the lack of meaningful detail in his presentation on the strategy is less forgivable given that this is an unprompted initiative meaning we are entitled to expect a detailed document with specific goals, how progress will be benchmarked and costings, rather than just a series of positive sounding aspirations based around the buzzwords of ‘winning’, ‘well-being’ and ‘women’. 

“Our stakeholders are asking for us to support, help and aid them to come through and restart rugby, from a winning perspective we’re looking at starting a brand-new competition with an emphasis on squad quality rather than squad depth, so we’re not going to give ourselves those numerical and quantitative targets that you either meet or don’t meet,” was Dodson’s rather unconvincing explanation for this unsatisfactory vagueness. 

In terms of the ‘winning’ theme, Dodson was clear that making sure Scotland’s two pro teams are competitive in the newly formed United Rugby Championship is the priority, arguing that the addition of four South African franchises to what was previously the PRO14 is an opportunity to make that tier more financially viable in their own right. 

“When you look at the challenges we are facing with the United Rugby Championship and how that is going to alter the landscape of our league, it's important that we address that head-on,” said Dodson. “This is going to be a watershed moment for the tournament, and it will help us close that gap [between income and cost for the two pro teams].  

“We should be able to exploit the South African market in a much bigger way than we did before,” he added. “We’ve seen an incredible demand for season tickets at Edinburgh. So, we find ourselves in a position where all the work that has been done with the South Africa project over the last couple of years is coming to fruition in this new URC.” 

As for the ‘women’ theme, Dodson sounded bullish at the same time as revealing that an ‘over-arching’ strategy for this area of the game will not be published until Autumn. 

“I think we are some way behind some teams in the world and we have to redouble our effort,” he acknowledged. “There are quite a few of those pathways and pieces of the jigsaw that we do not have in place – for instance, a dedicated school program and regional training centres.” 

“It's basically kicking at an open door. There are so many different agencies and stakeholders and sponsors who expect us to invest heavily in the women's game. What we need is a better quality of competition and more coaching across the country. If it means a pro team then that is definitely part of a long-term plan.” 

Dodson also stated that he hopes to see his controversial Super6 semi-pro league increase to an eight-team competition at the earliest opportunity, and reckons it won’t stop there. 

“The ecosystem has got to expand,” he said. “We’re looking at Super8, probably Super10, even Super12 as it gets stronger and stronger. It depends on depth of talent and economics.  

“Maybe Super6 will be the model with more than one league, with a second division. I don’t know.”