Today's Scotsman reports that a series of eight 'development' matches involving Edinburgh, Glasgow and the reserve sides of Newcastle and Sale, will now kick off on Monday, despite an earlier agreement to postpone this month's first games due to injury problems among the pro teams. Another meeting was planned for the week of 11 October for the remaining matches to be re-considered.
Ian McGeechan, the SRU director of rugby, says that the games can go ahead "if the clubs agree", resulting in a request for 33 club players, some of whom are pro-team apprentices, to be made available.
Clubs such as GHA and Glasgow Hawks have expressed their fears that young players are being stretched in too many directions. GHA coach David Wilson will supply three players, but fears that too much is being demanded of some young players: "I just think 'here we go again' - another demand on these young guys. On the one hand the SRU are talking about over-exposing players to games and on the other they are creating more games. I don't want to stop the lads showing what they can do for Glasgow, but where does this all stop? Are we going to work these guys until they become stale and don't perform. It's a ridiculous scenario."
Peter Wright, the Glasgow Hawks coach, added: "I think the concept of reserve games is a good one, but the execution and timing is poor with the pro squads now being so small.
"The SRU are limiting the pro players to 30 games a season, yet they're asking club guys to play three games in a week. Are the club boys more expendable? I worry young lads are getting too much too young now. When you look at the schedules it's no wonder some guys are dropping out of the game - we're destroying these boys."
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