Favourite son Tomes heads south to avoid the district line

Famous young names promise a reflowering, but only if nurtured

According to Roy and HG, those acerbic Aussie observers of the sporting scene, Scotland have been playing rugby "from the 12th century" in the course of their wholly unconvincing World Cup campaign. Few of the Scots watching from back home would disagree. Even fewer would laugh.

The five-tries-to-nil 51-9 thumping inflicted by the French at Telstra Stadium eight days ago was seriously unfunny for Scottish rugby. Yesterday's feisty face-saving fightback against Fiji was little more amusing either. Four ploddingly pedestrian pool performances have brought into sharp focus the sorry state of the oval-ball game in Caledonia.

It was different at the first World Cup in 1987, when Scotland played a 20-20 draw with the French in Christchurch. Alan Tomes wore the No 5 shirt that day. Perhaps he is helping to find a way to a brighter future for the Scots. His son, Sean, is emerging as a chip off the old lock, playing for Scotland's Under-19 team in the Junior World Cup in April.

Then there is Michael Rutherford, son of John, who showed a measure of his old man's outside-half skill when inspiring Selkirk to victory in the Scottish Youth Cup final at Murrayfield in February. There is also Rory Lawson, son of Alan Lawson (and grandson of Bill McLaren) and, like his father, a talented scrum-half, having emerged through the Scotland Under-21 side to make it into the "super-districts" set-up with Edinburgh.

And there is John Beattie Jnr, son of John Beattie Snr, the back-row man turned writer and broadcaster. He played at lock for Scotland's Under-18s this year. In the land where Dolly got her cloning, it could be that natural genetics will become rugby union's saviour. Not that Alan Tomes is banking on it. "As sons of famous fathers, it doesn't mean a thing," he said, "unless they're getting broken into the right competition levels and getting toughened up."

Tomes Snr, 51 now, played 48 Tests in the second row for Scotland. He made his debut against England in 1976, setting up Lawson for a famous try in a famous Murrayfield victory, and bowed out in World Cup quarter-final defeat against the All Blacks in Christchurch in 1987. He played in all four of Scotland's Grand Slam games in 1984.

Tomes did his toughening up in the National League that thrived north of the border long before the introduction of a competitive club structure in England, travelling from Tyneside, where his family settled when he was eight, to play for Hawick. In contrast, Tomes Jnr is aiming to do his toughening up by staying in England. As a member of the Newcastle Falcons development squad, he has been farmed out to Blaydon, members of National Division Three North, whose old boys include former England men Steve Bainbridge and Micky Skinner.

"Basically, the development team don't play many matches, so they release you to different clubs and if you do well there, and in training, you'll get your chance when the development team play," Sean said. "It's a good set-up here at Blaydon. Nothing against the professional teams in Scotland, but I'd rather try to make it with Newcastle."

That could be just as well for Scotland. The national team's woeful lack of penetration against France and Fiji seemed to betray a bluntness borne of steering players away from the English Premiership into the three-team "super-districts" set-up north of the border. And Alan Tomes does not disagree with the groundswell of Scots who would either scrap or downgrade the costly Edinburgh, Glasgow and Borders professional entities and return the thrust of player development to club rugby.

"I would have stuck with the clubs," he said, "and invested the money in six clubs, perhaps. You would have got local identity then. That was always going to be a problem with the pro teams. There's never been any local identity with district teams in Scotland. But I really don't see any easy answers for Scottish rugby. It's difficult for them. They simply haven't got enough good players, and you can only work with what you've got."

What they've got in Tomes's son is 6ft 5in of raw potential. "He's the same height as me but a different kind of player than I was," Alan reflected. "He's a better player that I was at 19. But it's what he does from now on that matters: how quickly he develops in the senior game.

"It's the same for any young player. You can play colts rugby and junior rugby, but then you're into men's rugby for real and you've got to prove you can do it.

"It's up to Sean now. He's got to start performing as a senior."

And if he performs anything like his dad did on the senior stage, the young Tomes could provide the answer to one of Scotland's problems. That would leave just another 14 to solve.