91Èȱ¬

Another of my favourite rugby jokes - and these things happened in the olden days on Lions tours. Lions captain to referee: "Sir, who's put-in is it at the scrum?" Referee: "Ours."

But that's another diversion and this is your blog. Yeeeha, this time of year gives me one more delicious reason to live because is here. Ever since I can remember, this time of year means watching the world's best tournament.

You have to understand that my generation stood on terraces accepting cans of beer from Welshmen who made it a week's trip to go to , or taking wine from smoky Frenchmen who smiled and laughed as their team kicked ours off the park.

But who is going to win? Come on, tell me who you think is going to win.

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My favourite rugby joke: Hooker shouts out secret code: "Fifty six, thirty three, ninety two, eleven." Second row looks up and says: "Oh no, not me again!"

But that's a diversion and this is your blog - what should become of ?

I am writing this after watching - I will never be part of a semi naked calendar for very obvious reasons - and .
And the same question keeps popping up in my head: what on earth do we do with the ruck?

Here's what happens nowadays: A man carrying the ball is tackled and there are two people on the ground. A third person arrives and if he is from the defending side then he goes for the ball with his hands. If the fourth person is from the attacking side then he tries to blast the defender with his hands on the ball as hard as he can. Or he tries to twist him to get him "off his feet".

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and one of the best men the world has ever seen.

He was unbiased, clear, knowledgeable, and his voice is part of the fabric of rugby in its greatest era. As a player, I was proud that a Scotsman was the best rugby commentator, and he gave the United Kingdom credibility in rugby terms.

He fought at , and at one stage found himself in a ditch when he heard German voices just six feet away. He was 20-years old.

Everyone knows that he should have been capped at the game he loved but tuberculosis robbed him of the chance.

We were travelling around in a car once and he turned to us and said: "I've been here before, in a tank with General Mark Clark of the US army."

Then his eyes went back down to his homework and that pack of shuffled cards that was his tool to make numbers become names; "Vaccari to Troncon..." It was astonishing.

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A couple of things this week have made me think that Scotland doesn't get respect as a rugby country.

Refereeing and Brian Moore, in no particular order.

I'll start with refereeing. Each weekend, I watch a Magners League game, usually from the stand and at least one Heineken Cup match or English Premiership game on TV.

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Dan's the man, and I think Cardiff might well have done the deal of the century in .

In fact, Parks, a pleasant Australian of Scottish ancestry, has probably been the most inappropriately treated player in the history of Scottish rugby when it comes to the fan base. It's partly because he is seen as the jovial interloping Aussie.

Could he even be in line for a dramatic , despite the pressure from Rory Hutton's superb display for Edinburgh on Saturday, the man in possession Phil Godman, and his own understudy at Glasgow Ruaridh Jackson?

Parks was our 91Èȱ¬ Radio Scotland player of the season and if you want someone to get a scoreboard ticking over I don't think there is anyone else like him in British rugby.

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You are back at work. At your desk. Let your mind drift, come on. Summer rugby, anyone?

At this time of year should we not be having a two-month break, too much food, and keep our training inside?

, and slipping on ice while coughing from bronchitis is hardly fun as you try to follow rugby at the moment. Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans must think we are stark raving bonkers.

There was a time long, long ago, when men played rugby in the winter, and cricket or golf in the summer.

The rugby season, when I was a boy, went from October to March with pre-season lasting, oh, a taxing two weeks.

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