I had the full support of a forward-looking chairman and a very able chief executive” – David Mackay and Phil Anderton – “but it wasn’t enough They resigned. Why? Because it was obvious to me that Scotland would continue to fight a losing battle unless we changed our approach. “I found myself fighting battles I shouldn’t have had to fight. I was trying to introduce things that so obviously needed to happen, but with so many different agendas flying around and so many counter-productive arguments taking place, every decision I attempted to make turned out to be a major issue. I quickly came to the conclusion that in some quarters in Scotland, the professional game simply was not accepted.”When I left Northampton to return to Scotland in 1999, I was both shocked and annoyed by the scale of this non-acceptance. How did I feel when I found myself having the self-same arguments more than five years on? Let’s just say I found life a little difficult. I was keen to pull things together in what I considered to be a constructive way, to modernise and incentivise the game at a number of levels, to engage with the bigger picture, to get our rugby organised in a professional manner, even at the amateur end.

Not least at Murrayfield, where he returned in 1999 to run the national side – a prelude to his taking on the rugby directorship in 2003. Most observers assumed he would see out his career in the higher echelons of the game north of the border, but in the event, he lasted less than two years in latter post. A miracle-worker he may be – witness the Lions’ triumph over the Springboks in 1997 – but miracles are nowhere near enough when the Scottish establishment starts throwing its dead weight around.”I hadn’t realised in advance just how small-minded some people in the committee structure could be,” he said with a deep and meaningful sigh. “You know, I think we’ve handled Matt Dawson rather well,” he said, referring to the World Cup-winning scrum-half’s carefully managed return to Premiership rugby following his combative performances with the British and Irish Lions. “Twenty minutes, then half an hour, then pretty much a full game Sympathetic, well thought out … it’s the way it should be.”
Not according to the Rugby Football Union management board, the Twickenham performance department and the England coach Andy Robinson, it isn’t.

They believe Dawson should have been ordered to stay in bed until this weekend, when Wasps play Worcester at the Causeway Stadium, and are prepared both to withhold from the Londoners £15,000 in Lions compensation and to defend their position before whatever court the clubs decide to drag them to. The fact that McGeechan was one of the Lions coaches and served alongside Robinson on the trip underlines the complexity of rugby alliances in the professional era.It is enough to make a sporting sage shake his head in disbelief, but McGeechan, as sagacious as they come with four Lions coaching stints and a Five Nations Grand Slam with Scotland to his name, has been through a whole lot worse than this. On Wednesday, following a typically sharp and microscopically detailed Wasps training session, the English champions’ new director of rugby discussed everything from the antediluvian elements holding back progress in his beloved Scotland to the lessons of last summer’s dismal British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand, just as the ill wind of another club-versus-country rumpus was gathering force. Ian McGeechan is a fixed point in an ever-changing world – or in the case of the union game, slave to civil conflict, as it is a world in which every apparent change for the better brings out the worst in someone on some committee somewhere.

That meant that they shed their old identity on a defiant note, although Karl Pryce underlined Bradford’s superiority before Haumono went for a spectacular second.Bradford: L Pryce, Johnson, B Harris, Hape, Vainikolo, I Harris, Paul, Fielden, Henderson, Morley, Meyers, Peacock, Radford. Substitutes used: K Pryce, Vagana, Lynch, Langley.London: Luisi, Wells, Sykes, Smith, Bradley-Qalilawa, Mateo, Dorn, Tookey, Highton, Trindall, Haumono, Hopkins, Ablett. Substitutes used: Purdham, Williams, Mbu, Temata.Referee: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington).. Harris could not add the goal, but the Bulls finished the first half with their noses in front.Two minutes into the second half, Jamie Peacock, recently vilified by a section of the Bradford crowd for his decision to join Leeds, smashed his way through a series of tackles for a try born of sheer determination.Leon Pryce, and London’s Rob Purdham were placed on report after a clash, but Bradford tightened their grip when Shontayne Hape scored after the Broncos allowed Paul’s kick to bounce. A similar mistake from an equally precise Harris kick allowed Henderson to score as Bradford, who are the best second-half team in the business began to draw away, Vainikolo soon claiming his second score of the night.Harris also stretched over the line for his second try before Solomon Haumono and Zeb Luisi got a couple back for the Broncos. Sykes was credited with the conversion from the touchline, even though the two touch judges disagreed on whether it had gone over.Only a couple of strong runs from Brad Meyers threatened to give Bradford any momentum, but then Joe Vagana came off the bench and drove the ball up the middle. Iestyn Harris took Robbie Paul’s pass, and was awarded the try, adding the goal to bring the scores level.Bradford were still not fluent, but after 31 minutes Ian Henderson kicked from dummy half and Lesley Vainikolo won the race for the loose ball over the tryline.