The former Scotland coach Frank Hadden has supposedly attributed Irish rugby's success in the past decade to the fact that they "stopped drinking on Friday nights", according to a report in the Scotsman today.
At a much needed "Rugby Debate" at Napier University in Edinburgh, where the issues surrounding Scotland's failures in the professional era were analysed, the man who coached Scotland between 2005 and 2009, said that "the Irish model" wasn't exactly applicable in Scotland.
“People often think that the Irish model is one that we should follow, but they have a unique structure there, and the main reason for the Irish success in the professional era was when they stopped drinking on Friday nights.”
The Assistant Sports editor of the Scotsman, Jonathan Coates, was not bowled over by Hadden's remarks.
Frank Hadden: "The main reason for Irish success in the professional era was when they stopped drinking on Friday nights" #speechless
— Jonathan Coates (@JonCoates) March 19, 2014
However, it should be noted that in the comments section below, one contributor has objected to the reporting of Hadden's sentiments, saying (in direct response to another commenter, not the reporter David Ferguson.)
If you had actually been at the talk you would have realised that after a very detailed and sensible analysis of why the Irish model works that was a JOKE but of course that was all that was reported... It was a light hearted remark at the end of a serious reply to a question from the audience which raised a laugh and NOT (sic) part of the main presentation as implied by Ferguson's article.
