|
Jan 30th On Tuesday night there will be three matches played. Peebles will take on Stirling County at The Gytes in Premier 2 with an 8pm kick off following today's postponement while two fixtures in Pool A of the Border League have been re-scheduled. Langholm will host Kelso at Milntown while Hawick will play Jedforest at Mansfield Park - a game which will see the winners lift the annual Skelly Cup trophy. Both Border League matches will start at 7.30pm. Incidentally Calum Brown is back coaching at Jedforest - he will look after the forwards to the end of the season, assisting Head Coach Darren Cunningham. Two of next Saturday's Cup games have been postponed due to the fact that Melrose and Currie have players playing in Friday's Scotland Club International fixture at Netherdale on Friday night against France. This means that Peebles v Melrose and Currie v Hawick will be re-arranged. The Currie game has already been re-scheduled for Saturday 13th February. Meanwhile Peebles will play at Biggar in a re-arranged Premier Division 2 clash.
Jan
29th
Jan 26th
Jan 25th
Mourners were given Hawick Balls - Bill's favourite sweets - on their way in from Bill's grandchildren including Scottish international Rory Lawson and Scotland A player Jim Thompson. It was a lovely touch. Members of Hawick's Rugby Team did their club proud as they carried the coffin in and out of the church. It will be a memory which they will take with them for the rest of their lives.
The service, conducted by Minister Neil Combe, was very well presented and produced, and another grandson, Gregor Lawson, made a remarkable speech packed with anecdotes sprinkled with humour. Ian Landles recited his poem which he wrote a few years ago dedicated to Bill McLaren and it was received warmly. President of the SRU, Jim Stevenson, was there along with Scottish rugby internationals including Gregor Townsend, Andy Irvine, Gavin Hastings, Ian McLauchlan, Sandy Carmichael, Colin Deans, Jim Renwick, John Jeffrey, Chris Paterson, Mike Blair, Nathan Hines and Hugo Southwell. Scottish coach Andy Robinson and former coach Frank Hadden were present along with representatives from clubs in the Borders. Colleagues from the world of Television also attended including John Inverdale, Jill Douglas and Nigel Starmer-Smith.
It was a very emotional occasion and the whole family, lead by Bill's widow Bette, made a point of thanking everyone for their overwhelming tributes which have provided great comfort to them at this difficult time. Talking to people afterwards everyone felt that the service had captured exactly the right mood and while Bill would have probably had a chuckle to himself wondering what all the fuss was about, being a very private man, he would no doubt have been very chuffed that in his long lifetime he had managed to touch so many people. Watch our tribute video here. Stuart Cameron
Jan 24th
Jan 23rd
Melrose went down to Heriot's at Goldenacre by 28-16 with their only try coming from a consolation effort from hooker Wayne Mitchell who typically burrowed his way over in injury time. Scott Wight scored all Melrose's points up till then and converted Mitchell's try. Into Premier 2 and good news for Hawick as they beat Biggar 23-9 at Mansfield Park, keeping them at the top of the table and also putting them three points clear of Melrose in the Borders Rugby Rankings table. John Coutts and Bruce McNeil both scored tries to give them 10 each for the season and put them joint second behind Fraser Thomson (Melrose) who is on 13. Graham Hogg kicked both conversions and two penalties while Coutts also dropped a goal.
In the border derby Kelso were too good for Gala winning 28-7 at Poynder Park. They scored three tries from Kevin Utterson with a brace and MeeKaaEel Hartley, with Greg Pontin on form with the boot, landing 2 conversions and three penalties. Gala's points came from an Ian Ross try converted by Gregor Hunter. Kelso now jump above Jedforest into 10th place as Jed lost 31-9 on the road to Stirling County, with Ewan Scott's three penalties the only reward for their day's work. Peebles won at bogie side Haddington's ground, Nielsen Park, for the first time in many years as they ran up a 22-0 score. Dale Clancy was back after two years out through injury and celebrated with a try while Neil Hogarth and Ryan McConnell also crossed for a try each. Donald Anderson kicked 2 conversions and a penalty. In the crucial battle in the mud at Scremerston in National League 1, it went the way of the visitors as Langholm beat Berwick 21-10. It wasn't a pretty game by any means but the result puts Langholm eight points clear of Berwick in the table. The men from Milntown stay 10th but they've opened up daylight between them and their Border rivals with Annan almost certain of going down in last place. With just six games to play it's beginning to look desperate for Berwick who must start winning. Langholm raced to a 10-0 lead with a Jamie Little try superbly converted from the touchline by Colin Jardine who also kicked a penalty from the same position. Berwick responded with a Jack Webster penalty before the interval and fought back to score a try when Richard Hume went over the line shunted forward by his pack who took full advantage when Cammy Little was yellow carded earlier. Jardine's excellent kicking display from the first period wasn't repeated in the second half when he missed four, but he did manage to succeed with a penalty to put his team 16-10 up. Berwick refused to go for goal when awarded a penalty in front of the posts while still a man up and the scrum they chose instead came to nothing. Soon after another Little try converted by Jardine sealed the game for Langholm who must now be favourites to stay up but they still have work to do. You can watch highlights of the match here. In National League 2 Hawick YM secured a winning bonus point thanks to a 33-24 win over Waysiders Drumpelier and that result should take away any relegation worries they may have for this season. They scored five tries through Shaun Desport, who got two, and one each by Ryan Halliday, Steve Anderson and Hamish Neish. Gregor Welsh kicked four conversions. Three red cards were brandished in this game, two of them going to YM players David Douglas and Keith Traynor. With Hawick and Hawick YM both winning at home, Hawick Linden were hoping to make it a hat-trick of home wins for the town on the first day of rugby following the death of Hawick's favourite son Bill McLaren, and they did it too with a well earned 18-10 win over Hillfoots, Barry Sutherland kicking six penalty goals to secure the victory and ease the club's own relegation fears for at least another week in their first season in National League 2. This result was particularly impressive when you consider the corresponding fixture away from home earlier in the season saw Linden beaten 42-0. Moving to East League 1 and the only local team to win was Duns, who narrowly went past Lismore by a single point to take the game 14-13. Hawick Harlequins were no match for league leaders North Berwick on the road - they went down 43-14 - and Earlston found the going too tough at second placed Portobello, losing 26-5. In East League 2 there was a thumping victory for Walkerburn who leathered bottom club Liberton 86-0 while St Boswells narrowly lost their home game against promotion candidates Leith 29-25. Gala YM's game against Queensferry was postponed.
Jan 20th Both sides were understandably rusty not having played for well over a month, but there was plenty of passion and three yellow cards dished out to both Peebles' try scorers and Gala's Chris Weir. Peebles take the four points to tuck themselves in just behind Melrose, while Gala got a losing bonus point. Go to our Border League page for the latest news and tables from the Border League.
Jan 20th
Jan 19th McLaren was born in Hawick on 16th October 1923. He grew up playing rugby and was a useful flank forward but his one regret was not quite making it to Scottish international status. "I would have given everything for just the one cap" he told me in his last ever radio interview. Sadly a serious illness prevented him from playing rugby but he turned his attention to reporting on the game of rugby and quickly rose to the very top of the tree.
Bill was one of the nicest men you could hope to meet. He had time for everyone and touched many people who met him. The world has lost one of the true greats. His answer to the question "How would you like to be remembered?" was simply this: "I'd like to be remembered for being fair and treating everybody alike. I think if you've done that you've done pretty well." Bill had been in poor health for a number of years. He is survived by his wife Bette. Stuart Cameron
Jan 19th Kelly Brown has signed for Saracens. Currently at Glasgow Warriors, the former Earlston High School pupil, Melrose RFC and Border Reivers player who is very much part of the Scotland squad, will head south for the start of next season.
Jan 16th
|
