Club coaches all find positives in British and Irish Cup defeats A CLEAN sweep of defeats for Scottish clubs in the British and Irish Cup was not good news on a tough Heineken Cup weekend, but it could spark a rise in quality in the club game according to the leading coaches. George Graham, the Gala head coach, is an unscrupulous taskmaster who has learned at the sharp end of the game with English champions Newcastle and the Scotland national side the importance of results over performances. His side arguably produced the win of the first two rounds, beating London Scottish 27-23 in front of a vociferous Netherdale crowd, and then produced a storming comeback that just fell short in a 38-28 loss to Llanelli on Saturday. He said: "I don't usually say this but I was very proud of the Gala squad despite us losing in Llanelli. When you look across the results, yes ourselves, Melrose, Dundee and Stirling all lost, but only Stirling suffered a really heavy defeat, and even then does it really matter what the score actually was? Our guys were 24-0 down after eight minutes and could easily have shipped 60 points in front of a baying Llanelli crowd, but they showed great character and have learned that they can compete at that level when they get it right. What they must do now is take the experience of the last two weeks into our Premiership and challenge themselves to play at that higher level every week. That is where we'll see the benefit at Gala, but also in the other teams in the league who we challenge to match that. The pain of defeat has not hit any coach harder than Dundee's Ian Rankin. The former Edinburgh and Scotland A coach watched Saturday's 32-6 reverse to the Cornish Pirates on crutches, having ripped a quadricep muscle from his knee in an innocuous accident while playing golf the day after his side went down 43-17 in Swansea. "It has been a tough week and I'm not sure my doctor approved of me waving my crutches about at Mayfield," he admitted, "but it has been a fantastic two weeks as far as the rugby is concerned. I agree with George that it's not natural to say defeats are okay, but I know from the pro and international game how much we are actually reliant on the development of our club players for Scottish rugby to succeed. The club international side has brought something new to aim for and the British and Irish Cup exposes them to higher levels of rugby we need. It's impossible to compare a player at Dundee who works and goes to the gym at lunchtime and trains at night with a Cornish Pirates guy who trains twice or three times a day, and has proper rest, has played in the Heineken Cup and is part of a team who is funded and pushing to get into the English Premiership, but the point is our boys can aspire to that. I could name three players from every club in the RBS Premiership good enough to play at pro level, but they need opportunities. The British and Irish Cup is bringing us that. Craig Chalmers, the former Scotland and Lions fly-half and most successful club coach in the Scottish game in recent years, is similarly enthusiastic about the platform provided by the cup despite following a great victory at Doncaster away with a loss at home to Llandovery. "Llandovery were the best team I think I've ever coached against at club level," he said, "and we had to produce our best rugby of the season just to be competitive. Of course I'm disappointed we lost, but we need that exposure, as players and coaches. The gap between the club game in Scotland and pro rugby has to keep closing for Scottish rugby to get better. The fourth coach piloting Scottish clubs in the cup is New Zealander Graham Young. He comes to this from the New Zealand perspective, and is full of praise despite a sobering 87-10 defeat at Bedford. "The concept of this competition is brilliant and Stirling players will learn more from that game than the Bedford boys will," he said. It has definitely added freshness to club rugby in Scotland.