Sean Fitzpatrick: Desperate for the Scots to rise again

It will be impossible to watch Scotland vs Wales tomorrow morning without thinking that the Scots must do what the Welsh have done - rescue their game.

The decline in Scottish rugby has been consistent and depressing and the Scots have some very basic problems to overcome if they are to be a force again. Numbers is the main one.

Across the border in England, there are something like 650,000 players in action each weekend. In Scotland, there are just 2500 players over 18 playing the game every week.

Why so few in comparison? Well, soccer has a great hold in Scottish sport and rugby isn't played in many schools. Their rugby team has also not been particularly successful of late and that has an effect. And, even though I hear that Matt Williams - the Australian coach of Scotland - is doing a good job, it must be better for Scotland to have a Scottish coach.

I'm not criticising Wiliams. He's made progress and I know people who saw what he did at Leinster and speak highly of him.

But the problem is that, when a sport is not doing well, you can suffer from cynicism if you're not a local. People who might otherwise follow the game find it harder to be positive if they know the team is being controlled by an 'outsider'.

It's tough for Williams because he is under pressure. Even though Scotland beat Italy recently, Williams is under more pressure than Italy's coach John Kirwan because JK is making progress but is not yet expected to be winning consistently. Scotland's expectations are greater.

It's also about building up national heroes. In the days of Andy Irvine, every Scottish kid wanted to be Andy Irvine. Hell, even I wanted to be Andy Irvine.

In Wales, they've built their game again from the grassroots up and now every kid in Wales wants to be Gavin Henson. Scotland has to find a way to get the kids playing and emulating heroes again. You'd have to say that Graham Henry and Steve Hansen helped get Wales where they are today. But they have blossomed further under Welsh coach Mike Ruddock.

So a foreign coach is by no means a hindrance and can help - but, in the end, maybe it would be better to have a Scotttish coach, even if that person was to be more of a manager and a figurehead and the people behind him actually do a lot of the coaching.

Rugby needs a strong Scotland. The game is not so successful internationally that we can afford a country like Scotland to be struggling to stay inside the top 10 nations in the game. I remember when I was playing, they were a tough side physically and mentally and you always knew you'd been in a game.

Buck Shelford's last match for the All Blacks in 1990 was the match on Eden Park where they probably should have beaten us.

I remember playing them in the 1987 World Cup. The scrum went down, Steve McDowell ran up the back of Iain Milne and a bit of strife occurred. I was ready to let one go when Iain Paxton, their big back rower, came through from the back of the scrum and gave me a wee tap.

All mates off the field, of course, but that's the Scotland I remember and respect - and I hope they'll be remembered and respected again.