ANYBODY watching the Borders against Munster in the Magners League at Netherdale last weekend would have realised that Scottish rugby is in a bit of bother. Not only did a second-string visiting side win by a thoroughly convincing 36-0, but the paltry crowd at the Galashiels venue proved that the rugby people of the area just don't get this regional rugby malarkey. Before the game, the good and the great from around the Borders region, the likes of Craig Chalmers, Colin Deans, Keith Robertson and Peter Dods, were introduced to the crowd in an attempt to link the past with the present. The bean counters were hoping to get 3,000 through the gate on the evening but the official figure was 1,485. And even that miserable figure must have been compiled by someone from the Nick Leeson school of number crunching.

It was so depressing you'd imagine that Gordon McKie, the chief executive of the SRU, scurried straight back to Edinburgh and started drafting the soul-searching statement that hit the union's website on Sunday afternoon.

The gist of it all is that the SRU are going to review everything to do with their two and half remaining professional teams over the coming months, from level of investments to squad sizes, from third-party investment to participation in the Magners League and Heineken Cup in the future. It's believed that Glasgow, the Borders and partly privatised Edinburgh will play in all competitions in the 2007/8 season but once that year has passed, it appears everything in Scottish Rugby is up in the air.

The most interesting segment of the statement, however, was the hint that a Scottish professional team in London might be the answer to some of the SRU's woes. It's a road the Scots have peered down before without making any definite attempt to take a step or two. In 2004, the SRU's then chief executive, Phil Anderton, outlined the logic behind the idea. "London is the third biggest Scottish city in terms of the number of Scots living there and there are a lot of Scottish businessmen with the interest and financial clout to become involved in Scottish rugby, so my feeling is it would be foolish not to look at capitalising on that."

The SRU plan would be for their London-based Scottish team to play in the Magners League, an idea that London Welsh also floated following discussions with the WRU about their future before Christmas. "I think we would bring a great deal to the Magners League, " said London Welsh operations manager Peter Thomas in the past couple of months. "Geographically, it would mean the league would have a team playing in each of the capital cities, which would be great.

In terms of bringing in potential sponsors, I think having a club based in London would help with that. And if you look at what we could pull in terms of crowds, we would end up with very healthy gates."

Which naturally enough brings us to the thoughts of things Irish. While both the SRU and WRU are keeping open minds about a professional team in London for financially productive reasons, the IRFU don't necessarily need to think along such lines. If, instead, they were to think a bit laterally, a fifth Irish province in London, playing in the Magners League, could help arrest a talent drain that's becoming increasingly frequent over the past three seasons. At the moment, there is somewhere in the region of 30 Irish players plying their trade in the Guinness Premiership, and almost a dozen more in National Division One, and that figure only looks likely to increase over the coming years. What better way to look after the disenchanted, the slow developers or those simply looking to broaden their horizons than shipping them off to a part-IRFU owned franchise in London? Connacht were retained as a professional outfit for this very purpose but players who fit into the above categories just don't appear to want to move west.

Maybe, then, going east is the answer.

There's another reason why it would make sense for the IRFU. At the end of last year we discussed the case of Shane Geraghty in these pages. The point we were trying to get across in the piece was that the young out-half, whose father hails from Castlebar, had slipped through the IRFU recruitment net because the union don't have a coherent policy for tracking Irish-qualified players in England.

London Irish effectively gave up that responsibility as soon as they were awarded the right to host an RFU Academy at Sunbury, and while the Exiles committee in England has encouraged the likes of Simon Easterby, Justin Bishop, Kevin Maggs and Rob Henderson to don Irish jerseys over the years, their word-of-mouth system just doesn't cut it in the professional era.

Which is where an Irish team based in London would come in handy. If the London club were to incorporate an academy, along the lines of the provincial versions currently in operation in Ireland, the IRFU could reap some serious benefits. They would, almost overnight, be able to compete alongside the RFU's 14 Regional Academies for the services of Irish qualified players in England once they leave school. It would open up a whole new pool of potential professionals. And while that might not stop the Geraghty situation from happening again, it would, at the very least, give the IRFU a coherent method of netting Irishqualified talent.

If it makes sense playerwise, then there's every indication that any potential venture in London would pay for itself financially. You can guarantee there'd be no shortage of sponsors willing to put a few quid behind the cause and attendances shouldn't be an issue. Census figures suggest that there are somewhere in the region of 200,000 residents listing themselves "White Irish" in the London region. More importantly, however, British government statistics suggest that there is a transitional Irish population of about 150,000 working in the London area at any given time. And if you think London Irish caters for their patriotic needs, think again, as anyone who's ever tried to get to Reading from central London without a car will tell you.

The one bane of the rugby supporter in the English capital is that three of the city's four clubs play outside the M25. If the fifth Irish province were to base itself at Brentford's Griffin Park (as London Welsh have suggested), QPR's Loftus Road or Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park, there's no reason to suggest that they couldn't match the average Magners League attendance of Munster (7,815) and certainly Connacht (2,335) on a regular basis.

Throw in the fact that Welsh ex-pats would flock to watch if Cardiff or Llanelli were in town, and Scottish ex-pats would do likewise when Edinburgh, Glasgow or the Borders played and you've got, with beer-mat calculations admittedly, what looks like a fairly reasonable proposition.

Of course much of this is pie in the sky at the moment but you'd have to imagine the Magners League people wouldn't be opposed to such a development, if the SRU, WRU or IRFU, or possibly all three, decided to set up a team in London. Nobody within the organisation was contactable this week but their initial willingness to include three Italian teams in the competition two years ago would suggest that the tournament is open to expansion. There is a possible conflict with the RFU, in whose jurisdiction any potential Celtic team in London would be playing, but that's likely to be an issue of inter-union diplomacy rather than law.

So, is anybody out there willing to tempt the IRFU down this particular road?

LONDON GAELS: HOW IRELAND'S FIFTH PROVINCE MIGHT LINE-UP

The Back Three

Geordan Murphy (Leicester) would be a shoo-in for full-back. The wing slots face a bit of competition with Johnny Murphy (Leicester), Justin Bishop (London Irish) and Simon Keogh (Harlequins) competing for two slots. Brendan Burke (Rotherham) would also fancy his chances of a game every now and then.

Centre

Not an awful lot of competition in this area but some decent players nonetheless. David Quinlan (Northampton) would give the side a firm foundation at 12, while Gavin Duffy (Harlequins) is capable of providing that little bit of spark outside him. Brian Tuohy (Rotherham), the former Shannon man, is also capable of playing at the very top level given a bit of exposure.

Half-Backs

A bucket load to choose from. At scrum-half, there'd be some fierce competition between Frank Murphy (Leicester), Brian O'Riordan (Bristol) and Eoin Reddan (Wasps).

Reddan would probably get the nod but there's similar competition at out-half. Jeremy Stauton (Wasps) and Ian Humphreys (Leicester) would probably fancy their chances but golden oldies, Paul Burke (Leicester) and Barry Everitt (London Irish but soon to be Northampton), might have something to say about that. Gareth Steenson (Rotherham) could also develop with some decent game time.

Front Row

Peter Bracken (Wasps but soon to be Bristol) would line up at tight-head, with Ray Hogan (Connacht but soon to be Bristol) at loose. Niall Treston (Coventry) would be a more than adequate replacement. As for hooker, former Leinster players Gavin Hickie (Leicester) and David Blaney (Bristol) would be "ghting for the starting slot in the number two shirt.

Second Row

With Leo Cullen heading back to Leinster, Bob Casey (London Irish) and Damien Browne (Northampton) would be de"nite starters. Shadowing them would be Tom Hayes (Plymouth) and Henry Head (Rotherham).

Back Row

The departure of Shane Jennings from Leicester leaves the back-row cupboard a little bare.

Johnny O'Connor (Wasps) would start at seven, with Aidan McCullen (London Irish) taking the number six shirt. Irish-quali"ed Kiwi Daniel Browne (Northampton) would be number eight.

Coach

Conor O'Shea, the RFU Academy Director, might be persuaded to take the reins.