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LATEST BORDERS RUGBY NEWS
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July 28th
Three years ago a film crew came over from the States to
shoot a film called "Play On" about a fictitious Borders
Rugby player. The production was shot mainly in Melrose but
the first cut of the movie didn't set the world alight so it
was shelved for a couple of years. But it's been
significantly re-edited and at the All Sports Film Festival
last week in Los Angeles it was named "Best Feature Film."
The movie will hopefully get a full British release later
this year.
Kelso have
announced their plans for the new season. As we mentioned
yesterday Ewan Ford has moved to Melrose but Hawick Linden's
Barry Sutherland has joined the club, with several
youngsters moving up from the Harlequins. A New Zealand
prop will arrive at Poynder Park as well but Kelso will be
without Stuart Laing who's retired and Gregg Minto, who's on
a world tour.

Barry Sutherland (left) steps up a few
leagues to join Kelso, but Gregg Minto
won't be lining up for the Poynder Park club this season.
And three key
players will miss the start of the season due to injury -
namely Stuart Lowrie, Stefan Carnegie and Ian Wallace.
Kevin Utterson will again be captain and Kelso's pre-season
friendlies will be against Watsonians on August 7th and
Hamilton on the 14th. Kelso's new President is Stewart
Wallace with Jimmy McCombie Vice President.
July 25th
Melrose players are going to be enjoying a very special training
session on Sunday with Scotland's Coach Andy Robinson and the rest
of the national coaching staff. If that doesn't get them in the
right frame of mind for the season ahead, nothing will. Their first
friendly will take place on August 7th against Selkirk at The
Greenyards before they travel to Tynedale a week later for another
trial match prior to the start of the season proper in the new-look
Premier League at home to champions Currie.

Cammy Murray (left)
is
resuming his playing career at Melrose while Ewan Ford
moves from Kelso to the Greenyards
The club have
announced that former Scottish international Cameron Murray is
returning, along with Alec Jessop, and these will be joined by ex
Hawick prop Nicky Little, last year's Jed skipper Gary Holborn and
Kelso's fly half Ewan Ford. New Zealander Hayden Mitchell - a second
row specialist - is also coming on board along with former Stew-Mel
prop Ruairidh McLeod. As announced previously Lindsey Gibson and
Nick McTaggart are heading back to Hawick while Luke Pettie will
once again wear Gala colours for the new season.
July 24th
Mike Howe, from Top Marque Sports, has organised a free sports
nutrition seminar at 7pm on Wednesday 28th July in the auditorium at
the Heart of Hawick. Two of the UK’s leading sports nutritionists
will be there to give a talk on the value of effective nutrition for
elite athletes. Professor Don MacLaren and Dr Graeme Close are the
speakers - they are currently working with Munster RFC, Northampton
Saints RFC, Everton FC and the GB Olympic Rowing team. Click
here for the new
NUTRITION X brand details.
July 22nd
This year's Premier Cup has
been split into 9 pools of four teams, making up the 36 sides from
the three Premier Divisions. Melrose have drawn Biggar,
Haddington and Ardrossan Accies; Gala have Dundee High, Falkirk and
Musselburgh in theirs, Jedforest will meet Edinburgh Accies, Glasgow
Hawks and Dumfries, while Peebles have been matched up with Stirling
County, Boroughmuir and Dalziel - but it's in Pool G where things
are very interesting! Selkirk, Kelso and Hawick have all been drawn
together along with Morgan Academy.
Each team will play each other in the pool in a round robin
competition starting with games on November 6th. The most
successful eight will then go through to the knockout stage at the
end of February.
No pools for the National Shield competition and no Langholm either
as we already mentioned recently. They've pulled out of the
tournament. But Hawick YM, Berwick and Hawick Linden are taking part
in the knockout Round 1. Berwick host Allan Glens, YM are away at
Irvine and Hawick Linden travel to Helensburgh.
The East League Regional Bowl will feature all six of the Borders
teams in a knockout competition.
For full Draws click
here.
Berwick have announced that none of
their players have left the club following the disappointment of
relegation last season from National League 1 to NL2. They have
recruited two players from Jedforest. Paul Pringle and Roy McFarlane
will be wearing the black jerseys this season. They have a busy
pre-season schedule lined up with warm-up games against Alnwick (7th
August), North Berwick (14th) and Morgan Academy (21st) before they
start the league season on 28th with an away match at Stewartry. Stalwart Colin
Young said: "We're delighted that the boys have all stayed on to
help us get promotion and with Paul and Roy in the squad we look
forward to a much better season."
Selkirk have confirmed that
Ross Armstrong will be staying with them for another season at
least. There was speculation that a move back to Hawick was a
possibility but that has now been ruled out. Greg Cottrell and Bruce
Campbell have returned to Hawick from Boroughmuir and Hawick YM
respectively. Cottrell is expected to replace retired Kevin Reid at
scrum half. Bruce McNeil has been announced as captain of Hawick
while Rory Hutton is vice captain. Ex Gala player Bruce
Aitchison has left Watsonians but has decided to take a year out
away from rugby, so there will be no return to Netherdale for him.

Paul Pringle (left)
is
returning to Berwick to see out his playing career,
while Colin Young is confident that Berwick will bounce back this
season;
but Ross Armstrong (right) is staying put at Selkirk.
July 19th
A lot has been happening in the close season with the inevitable
chopping and changing of players and coaches, and we'll give you an
insight into who has gone where in our preview of the new season.
And it is going to be a very exciting Premiership as spectators and
players get to grips with the new format. The new style of league
and pool competitions should keep the interest going right to the
end of the season.
Melrose will see their New Zealand back Ben Allen return for another
campaign and he will bring with him fellow Kiwi Hayden Mitchell, a
No.8 specialist. He will have stiff competition as he attempts to
keep Ross Miller out of the side, but once again the strength in
depth of the Melrose club will be a key factor. James King has won a
pro contract at Edinburgh but Nicky Little will be exchanging the
Hawick Green for the Melrose black and yellow, but hooker Lindsay
Gibson is moving back to Hawick from Melrose, and he's not the only
former "Green" heading back to Mansfield Park.
Rory Hutton and Nick McTaggart have confirmed they will be playing
for Hawick next season, and there are promises of more ex Hawick
players coming back. Deke Armstrong has replaced Gerry McGuinness as
Head Coach while Rocky Johnstone will be his assistant. McGuinness
has joined Gary Parker at Peebles.
Meanwhile at Selkirk, Fraser Harkness is the new skipper and Conor
Patton from New Zealand comes in. He will come in useful in the
second row or back row. He has Selkirk connections because his uncle
is David Bell, who captained Selkirk several times in the 70s.
Another newcomer is Matt Weller from Gloucester who will take the
place of the retired Martin Murray in the front row. I can also
confirm that Ross Armstrong will be staying at the club (despite
rumours of a move back down the A7 to Hawick) and that David Grieve
will return to Jedforest following a year with the Souters. Jon
Smyth has returned to New Zealand while Lee Jones and Alex Dunbar
have both got pro contracts. Rodney Pow and Graham Marshall are the
two new coaches for this season.

Fraser Harkness (left)
is
Selkirk's new captain while Ewan McQuillan has
pledged his allegiance to the Netherdale club for this season.
Jed's Director
of Rugby Roy Laidlaw has stepped down from that position and Billy
Grieve comes in to the newly created Convenor of Rugby post. Ross
Goodfellow is the new Jed captain while Darren Cunningham and Kevin
Amos will look after coaching duties aided by Kevin Barrie who takes
over as Youth Development Officer following his successful spell at
Selkirk.
Over at Netherdale Scott Nichol replaces Ecky Boland as backs coach
with George Graham in charge for another season. Graeme Speirs and
Mike Christie have left the club but Ewan McQuillan has decided to
stay at Gala for at least another season following speculation that
a move to Melrose was on the cards.
No doubt there will be a few more moves before the season kicks off
on August 21st, including news from Kelso who are yet to show their
hand at time of going to press, but I must mention that the Border
League have once again resisted making any changes to the format,
which is disappointing, particularly after the chaos of the previous
three seasons when dates were changed due to the bad weather and
people were left not really knowing what was going on.
While clubs insist that they still care about the competition - and
over 1000 always turn up at the Final of the competition - I really
do have my concerns that the Border League is becoming less and less
attractive to the media and spectators. Changes are needed to make
the oldest league in the world special again, but while all the
other competitions take priority, it will always be the poor
relation. Add to that the one-sided results between the likes of
Berwick and Melrose, and you do wonder if we will ever see a
relevant Border League tournament again. It is indeed a worry.
But whatever happens this season you can guarantee that we will be
covering the Borders teams' progress at our brand new website, with
plenty of video action, stats, news and results. We update the site
several times a day to break the latest news, so if you're as
passionate about Borders Rugby as we are at Borders Rugby
Television, then join us anytime. You will be most welcome.
July 9th
Rocky Johnstone will help out as Deke Armstrong's assistant
coach for Hawick this season. This is the player's biggest challenge
yet as a coach and he told the Hawick News that he'd "like to copy
the Melrose attitude where everything is done professionally and
done right." He went on to say that discipline is very important
both on and off the pitch, and this is one thing he intends to
hammer home at the club as they prepare for their first season back
in the top flight. "We've lost a bit of that in recent years" he
admitted.

Rory Hutton (left) and
Nick
McTaggart on their way back to Hawick
Things are shaping up well down at Mansfield Park with Rory Hutton
returning to the fold along with Lindsay Gibson who has been playing
for Melrose. The former Green will be joined by another returning
player who ran out for Melrose last season in Nick McTaggart. There's
talk of Stuart Hogg and Greg Cotterill being on the Hawick hit list
as well as Ross Armstrong, who has been wearing Selkirk colours for
the past two seasons. But one player who is moving from Hawick is Nicky Little who has signed up to Melrose.
The new-look Premier 1 format has been kind to Hawick with the six
top teams from last season being drawn at home.
Over at Peebles, where former Hawick coach Gerry McGuinness has gone
to hook up with Gary Parker, Willie Aitken has been made captain for
the second year. There was a move from new President Lindsay Laird
to have an "off field" captain as well but this was shot down in
flames at the recent AGM by the players who felt it unnecessary.
Peebles are hoping to have a 3rd XV in operation this season.
July 6th
Langholm Rugby Club have once again decided to pull out of the
Scottish Cup to concentrate on their campaigns in the National
League and the Border League. The announcement was made at the
club's AGM, where new Head Coach David Scammell was also revealed.
Last season Scammell was involved in the coaching set-up at Hawick
along with Gerry McGuinness. He replaces Rob Little who has retired
from the post. Jake Little is the new Langholm President, following
on from Kenneth Pool, who completed his two year stint in the
position. Little is also Director of Rugby with Michael Bell team
manager. A captain will be announced soon.
Talking about
opting out of the cup, Jake Little said: "After discussions with
players and coaches the club decided that being involved with the
cup would mean that we would be playing far too much rugby and
something had to give. The cup was the obvious choice as it is also
an added expense that the club could do without."
Over at
Netherdale Gala have announced a backs coach to replace Ecky Boland.
Scott Nichol will join up with head coach George Graham. Scott won
two caps for Scotland and has played for several local clubs.
Meanwhile the
fixtures for the new 2010/11 season have been announced. The new
format will see 11 games being played by all 12 teams in Premier 1
and 2, with the top four from Premier 2 at the end of the matches
breaking off into an eight-team competition against the four bottom
sides from Premier 1.
Selkirk, Hawick
and Melrose have all been given home matches on August 21st against
Boroughmuir, Ayr and Currie respectively in Premier 1, while two of
Premier 2's four local teams will take part in a local derby at
Netherdale when Gala and Kelso go head-to-head. Peebles will visit
Kirkcaldy while Jedforest travel to GHA.
Melrose are also
in the British & Irish Cup and in their pool they will meet Munster
Development XV, Llanelli, Esher, Bristol and Nottingham, kicking off
their campaign on December 11th with a home tie against Munster
Development XV at The Greenyards. Melrose, along with Currie and
Ayr, are the Scottish teams in the competition. Ben Allen has
confirmed he will play for Melrose next season, and will be joined
by fellow New Zealander Hayden Mitchell, a No.8 specialist.

Scott Wight (Melrose captain) is joined on
Hadrian's Wall by Ayr's Glen Tippett (centre) and Currie's skipper
Andy Adam to fly the flag for Scotland's Club elite
July 4th
The world famous Melrose Sevens has been on the BBC for a number of
years but the 2011 event on April 9th is not guaranteed to be on
terrestrial TV. Media Rights negotiations for the event are handled
by the SRU and its Chief Executive Gordon McKie has come out
publicly against the BBC's low offers to broadcast rugby events in
Scotland. The BBC still want to broadcast the Melrose Sevens, but
the SRU, in looking for a better offer, may yet partner with a
satellite station such as Sky.
June 22nd
The Border League have decided to stick to the same format for next
season despite calls for change to a system which would avoid
cricket scores and ensure the top Borders teams played against each
other so that the winning side would truly be champions of the
Border League. Local rugby legend John Rutherford has always said
that to truly be Border League champions you have to beat the best
of the Borders, but next season the pool system will mean that the
team who wins the title will not have to face two of the Borders top
teams. The proposal to address this by splitting the league into
two pools based on finishing positions in the League was thrown out,
with the only change being one game being played pre-season. But
this does not go far enough. At least two and preferably three
matches (including a midweek fixture pre season) would have been the
obvious solution.
Meanwhile the
new President of the Border League is John Reed, the current Vice
President at Melrose, who slots into the position instead of Mike
Dalgetty who has too many other commitments to take up the position.
The Border League Final will take place on the Wednesday after the
Melrose Sevens tournament at The Gytes in Peebles. An announcement
on the make-up of the Kings of the Sevens tournament will follow
shortly after the SRU AGM takes place next Saturday. John Thorburn
and Norman Anderson remain as secretary and treasurer of the Border
League respectively for another season.
PROPOSED BORDER LEAGUE FIXTURES
14
Aug 2010
Pool A
Peebles v Melrose
Jedforest v Langholm
Pool B
Berwick v Selkirk
Haddington v Gala
11 Dec
Pool A
Hawick v Peebles
Pool B
Kelso v Selkirk
18 Dec
Pool A
Peebles v Jedforest
Pool B
Gala v Kelso
27 Dec
Pool A
Langholm v Melrose
Jedforest v Hawick
Pool B
Selkirk v Gala
Kelso v Haddington
3 Jan 2011
Pool A
Melrose v Hawick
Pool B
Berwick v Kelso
15 Jan
Pool A
Langholm v Peebles
5 Feb
Pool A
Hawick v Langholm
Pool B
Haddington v Berwick
26 Feb
Pool B
Selkirk v Haddington
Gala v Berwick
19 Mar
Pool A
Melrose v Jedforest
June 22nd
Jedforest have announced that Roy Laidlaw has stepped down as
Director of Rugby and the role has been renamed as Convenor of
Rugby. That role has been filled by Billy Grieve, who will oversee a
rugby committee made up of Alistair Campbell, Donald Miller and Glen
Gibson. Ross Goodfellow will captain the side next season with Neil
Cook his vice captain. Gary Holborn will move to Melrose and Paul
Pringle has decided to retire, although it wouldn't surprise anyone
if he rejoined Berwick to help them get back on track again. David
Grieve has left Selkirk and will return to Jed. Darren Cunningham
remains Head Coach with Kevin Amos looking after the backs, while
Kevin Barrie is the new Youth Development Officer who will also help
bring on new coaches including James Henderson.

From left: Ross Goodfellow, Darren Cunningham
and Neil Cook
June 21st
Melrose player Nicola Halfpenny is the only representative from the
Borders in the Scottish Women's squad who will take part in the
World Cup in England in August and September. Donna Kennedy, who has
won 110 caps, is also in Peebles and Scotland's Women's coach Gary
Parker's squad.

Gary Parker (left) and Melrose's Nicola
Halfpenny
June 19th
Scotland achieved a remarkable two-test series win today in
Argentina as they took the game 13-9 to go 7th in the world
rankings. It was a fantastic display with the Scottish pack once
again awesome. They conceded no tries this week thanks to a spirited
defence and will be bringing home two trophies to display at Murrayfield when they return early next week to a heroes welcome.
Jim Hamilton put
Scotland ahead on just two minutes with a drive-over try, using all
of his 6'8" frame to touch the ball down on the try-line. Dan Parks
converted before Felipe Contepomi brought the Pumas back into the
game with a couple of penalties. Parks extended the lead to 10-6 to
put his team in at the break four points clear.
Argentina,
despite being reduced to 14 men after a yellow card was shown, were
the better side for most of the second half and they deservedly got
within one point of the Scottish total with a third penalty, but
another Parks penalty with just over 10 minutes to go meant that the
hosts had to score a try to win the game. Scotland's defence held
firm for an historic victory as well as a psychological boost since
the two teams will meet in the pool stages at the next World Cup. It
was Scotland's first ever test series win in history.
June 17th
Scotland could jump from 9th to 6th in the IRB World Rankings this
Saturday with another win against Argentina in the second test on
Saturday evening. A similar win would automatically put them 7th,
but if Australia beat England by more than 15 points in their game
at the weekend, this would propel Scotland into sixth position, and
equal their highest ever ranking which dates back to Frank Hadden's
reign in 2006. The game kicks off at 7.45pm and is live on BBC
Scotland. Scotland have made just one change in personnel for the
game, bringing in Simon Danielli for Nick De Luca.
June 12th
Scotland pulled off a magnificent away win against Argentina by
24-16 at Tucuman, a venue the Pumas have never lost at in seven
previous tests since they first played test rugby at that venue 37
years ago. Dan Parks kicked all of Scotland's points - 12 in each
half - with six penalties and two drop goals, and with the territory
and possession stats going their way, the fact that Argentina scored
the only two tries of the game became incidental. It's only the
third time Scotland have beaten Argentina in capped matches and two
of them have now been on South American soil.
They trailed
13-12 at the break but the performance of all the players would have
delighted coach Andy Robinson as they achieved back-to-back away
wins for the first time in a very long time. Victories away from
Murrayfield are very rare so to win at Croke Park against Ireland at
the end of the Six Nations campaign and then in Argentina is a
magnificent achievement for Scottish Rugby and a huge boost to the
game north of the border. There were four internationals today with
England, Ireland and France all going down heavily to southern
hemisphere opposition. Scotland will want to do it all again at a
different venue in Argentina next Saturday if they are to collect
their third away win on the trot.
June 8th
Alex Hastie, the former Melrose and Scotland scrum half, has died at
the age of 74. He won 18 caps for Scotland, many of them partnering
team mate David Chisholm, whom he played with for over a decade at
Melrose. He died yesterday at the Borders General Hospital.
Melrose
President Mike Dalgetty said: "The club is deeply saddened by the
death of Alex "Eck" Hastie. He was very much part of the fabric and
history of the club. He partnered his great friend David Chisholm 13
times for Scotland and they still hold the record of remaining
undefeated on ten continuous occasions. It's unlikely this will ever
be repeated. He was an inspiration as a coach to the Melrose Colts
and a wonderful family man. His legacy will remain with us forever."
His funeral will
take place at Melrose Parish Church on Tuesday 15th June at 1.15pm
followed by a burial at Wairds Cemetery in the town. A collection
will be taken at the funeral in aid of the British Heart Foundation.
June 4th
This time last week Gerry McGuinness was Hawick Head Coach and
looking forward to the new season in Premier 1. Two days ago Hawick
sacked him and installed Deke Armstrong. Today we can reveal that
Peebles have swooped to gain Gerry's services as their Forwards
coach following the departure of Bruce McNaughton at the end of last
season after five years in that position. Director of Rugby at
Peebles, Bob Hogarth, said he was delighted that Gerry had agreed to
join new coach Gary Parker at The Gytes. "This is a big boost to the
club and I am looking forward very much to working with Gerry. We
have an excellent coaching team in place and we will certainly be
aiming to do very well in Premier 2 next season."
Gerry told us:
"I am really pleased to be involved at Peebles, and to be working
with such an experienced coach as Gary. This is a new challenge for
me, and I know that Peebles are already a hard team to play against,
but if we can find a little bit extra here and there, who knows what
can be achieved."

Gary Parker (left) and Gerry McGuinness head
the new coaching team at Peebles
June 3rd
A Celebrity-Amateur Golf day is taking place to raise funds for the
Bill McLaren Foundation on Friday 20th August at Vertish Hill in
Hawick. The event will feature 18 teams of four. Each team will
field a celebrity, a member of Hawick Golf Club, a sponsor and a
guest and the £300 entry fee per team will include golf and
food. Among the 18 celebrities will be Andy Irvine, John Rutherford,
Tony Stanger, Jim Renwick and Gregor Townsend. Details from John
Thorburn at 07929 655132
June 1st
Hawick Rugby Club won promotion this season back into Premier 1
under Gerry McGuinness but following a review by club officials and
players they have decided that his services are no longer required.
Deke Armstrong moves up from Assistant Coach to take over the reins
at Mansfield Park.

Left: Deke Armstrong takes over at Hawick from
Gerry McGuinness
In a short
statement, Hawick RFC said: "Hawick RFC has confirmed that the
services of last season's head coach Gerry McGuinness are no longer
required at the club. This decision was taken following a full
review of the season involving players and coaches. His replacement
will be Deke Armstrong who was an assistant coach last season.
Armstrong will have an early start with pre season training starting
on June 15th to which all new and current players are welcome."
Armstrong is
looking to add to the squad with a few players but said that it was
a shame that Gerry had to go after he worked so hard to get Hawick
promoted. "It wasn't my decision to sack him but I have always
wanted to be head coach and I am very excited about the prospect."
Gerry McGuinness
told us: "I was informed last night that my services were no longer
needed at Hawick, and I have to say it came as a complete surprise.
Davy Scammell and I had taken a demoralised group of players, who
had been relegated from Prem 1 for the first time, and turned them
into a team who could compete with any side in Scotland, and in
doing so, we achieved our goal of promotion back to Prem 1, beating
eventual champions Stirling both home and away. We were looking
forward to continuing their development in Prem 1 this coming season
and I have no doubt that the players at Hawick are more than capable
of holding their own in the top flight, and I wish them well for the
new season".
May 30th
Scotland ended their second day at the IRB World Series Sevens at
Murrayfield with victory in the Plate competition after a
disappointing loss to England in the Cup Quarter Final by 19-7. They
went on to win their Plate Semi Final against South Africa 19-14
before seeing off Argentina 19-0 in the Final. With five wins in six
games over the weekend, it was a remarkable performance by Scotland
who had never made a Cup quarter final all season. Ex Gala player
Roddy Grant was many people's Scottish Player of the Tournament but
the whole squad, including skipper Greig Laidlaw (pictured below
with the Plate), played their part in giving coach Steven Gemmell a
tremendous send-off as he moves to another position within the SRU.
Samoa went on to win the Final against Australia and also take the
overall Series title for the first time in their history.

With five of the
12 Scottish players having Borders connections it once again showed
the importance of Borders Rugby to the game of Sevens. Looking back
at this season as a whole it has been a disaster. The policy has
been one of chopping and changing players over the eight tournaments
due to pro players being unavailable. This was clearly a headache
for coach Gemmell who could only work with the players he was given,
and it became clear with the likes of Australia that their model of
bringing in a squad of new players dedicated to Sevens at the start
of the season is definitely the way to go if Scotland are to make
any kind of impact in the future.
My own solution
is controversial but one which would ensure that Scotland's Sevens
squad would be together for the whole season enabling a team to play
consistently with each other. I would pick a squad of around 16
players from those available who would not be first choice players
for Edinburgh or Glasgow Warriors. Instead I would pick from fringe
pro players (like Lee Jones of Selkirk who has just signed for
Edinburgh) and the best of the club players who have experience on
the Kings of the Sevens circuit this year.

Future Scotland Sevens stars?
From left: Lee Jones, Fraser Harkness & Fraser Thomson.
Players like
Grant Somerville (Watsonians), Fraser Thomson and Callum Anderson
(Melrose), Fraser Harkness (Selkirk), Rory Hutton (Hawick) and Gregg
Minto (Kelso) should be put on a contract at the start of next
season and they would be representing Scotland on the circuit. The
benefits are that they already know each other well, they have
experience of the shortened game, they would be given special
fitness and conditioning training and would be moulded into a team.
Those who say
that the level would be too high to step up for most of these
players are wrong. Fitness levels would increase with the extra time
devoted to this area, and players like Jones and Hutton have already
performed with credit on the IRB World Series circuit. If Australia
can bring in a bunch of youngsters to go from nowhere to two finals
in one season, there is no reason why Scotland could not do the
same. It's all about playing consistently together and that is
something the Scotland squad have not been able to do over the past
few years. At the end of the day Scotland have nothing to lose by
at least trying this, and after the season is over you can guarantee
that all selected for the Sevens squad will have benefited greatly
as players, and come out the other side having developed their
skills as well as enjoying an amazing experience at a higher level.
The time has
come for Scotland to treat their Sevens squad as something
completely separate from anything else. Yes, continue to allow
these players to turn out for their clubs throughout the season, but
playing Sevens would be the priority and this would ensure the team
would go forward together, building a strong team dedicated to this
particular sport.
The SRU are due
to make an announcement over the next few weeks with regards the
future of Sevens rugby. They know something has to be done,
especially with the threat of being kicked out of the Commonwealth
Games hanging over them. While this weekend's team performed
magnificently to ensure that we are capable of winning a medal with
the right team on the pitch, it is obvious that most of the squad at
Murrayfield would not be regularly available for the Sevens team in
the future because of pro rugby commitments, and it is this fact
alone that tells us that we must breed a Scottish squad of players
who will be available for every tournament on the IRB World Series
circuit in the future. They would then have the choice at the end of
the season to seek out contracts in the 15-a-side game or
concentrate on representing Scotland at Sevens Rugby, but not until
they had served a year under contract playing the abridged version
of the game for their country.
NEWS ARCHIVE MAY 2010
NEWS ARCHIVE APRIL 2010
NEWS ARCHIVE MARCH 2010
NEWS ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 2010
NEWS ARCHIVE JANUARY 2010
NEWS ARCHIVE DECEMBER 2009
NEWS ARCHIVE NOVEMBER 2009
NEWS ARCHIVE OCTOBER 2009
NEWS ARCHIVE SEPTEMBER 2009
NEWS ARCHIVE AUGUST 2009
NEWS ARCHIVE JULY 2009
NEWS ARCHIVE JUNE 2009
NEWS ARCHIVE MAY 2009 |