14 Borderers named in training squad for Scotland club rugby XV’s first match for six years
Borderers account for more than a third of the 38-strong training squad being assembled ahead of a revived Scotland club XV’s first match for six years away to Ireland next month.
Head coach Bob McKillop’s squad, made up of 21 forwards and 17 backs, includes 14 players eligible for South of Scotland selection for this year’s Scottish inter-district rugby championship, 11 from Glasgow and the West, nine from Caledonia Reds and four from Edinburgh’s district side.
Arnold Clark Premiership table-toppers Ayr are the club best represented, with eight players, followed by Arnold Clark National League Division 1 top dogs Stirling County, with five.
Hawick, Selkirk and Heriot’s contribute four players each, one more than Melrose, Kelso and Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians.
Currie Chieftains supply two and Glasgow Hawks and Gordonians chip in one apiece.
Fraser Renwick, Connor Sutherland, Andrew Mitchell and Jae Linton make up Hawick’s contingent.
Jack Fisher, Monroe Job, Callum Anderson and Ben Pickles represent Selkirk.
Melrose’s contribution comprises South captain Angus Runciman, Jack Dobie and Finn Douglas.
Kelso’s Dan Gamble, Archie Barbour and Dwain Patterson complete the Borders’ share of Heriot’s head coach McKillop’s squad.
His other forwards are Ayr’s Oscar Baird, Tim Brown, Jamie Drummond, Calvin Henderson, Blair Macpherson, Alex McGuire; Heriot’s Struan Cessford, Ruairidh Leishman, Sam Wallace and Elliot Young; Gordonians’ Robbie Deans; Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians’ Adam Kerr; and Stirling County’s Ruaraidh Hart.
Ayr’s Jamie Shedden and Bobby Beattie; Currie Chieftains’ Gregor Christie and Ryan Daley; GHA’s Andrew Goudie and Euan McKirdy; Glasgow Hawks’ Euan Muirhead; and Stirling County’s Ryan Southern, Mikey Heron, Glenn Bryce and Eric Davey are the remaining backs.
The region’s 14-strong representation is up by a handful on the nine selected both last time round in 2020, with Greens centre Mitchell – currently the premiership’s top try-scorer with 14 – the only one returning, and in 2019.
He was accompanied back then by Mansfield Park teammates Matt Carryer and Shawn Muir, plus Selkirk’s Ewan MacDougall, James Bett, Ryan Cottrell and Aaron McColm and Jed-Forest’s Gregor Law and Calum Young.
Currie scrum-half Christie and Ayr tighthead prop Calvin Henderson, with Marr at the time, were also in that squad, beaten 61-34 on aggregate six years ago, losing 39-17 at home at Netherdale in Galashiels in January 2020 and 22-17 away the month after.
Heriot’s tighthead prop Cessford and No 8 Leishman and Ayr No 8 Macpherson have club XV history dating back even further, to the squad that lost 23-9 in Galashiels then drew 19-19 away in January 2019, with Melrose’s Rob Chrystie as head coach.
The Borderers accompanying them seven years ago were Melrose’s Murdo McAndrew, Fraser Thomson, Russell Anderson, Iain Moody, Grant Runciman, Neil Irvine-Hess and Craig Jackson and Hawick’s Muir and Lee Armstrong, plus Gala’s Gregor Hunter, with Currie back then.
The squad’s first training session – overseen by McKillop, 58, with Melrose co-head coach Scott Wight, in charge of 2020’s club XV, as one of three assistants – is lined up for this Sunday, with two more to follow ahead of a match-day line-up of 23 being announced ahead of their Dalriada Cup game against the Irish at Donnybrook, near Dublin, on Friday, February 13, with kick-off at 6pm.
McKillop is glad to see that cup competition, contested since 2011 following the launch of a Scottish club XV five years prior in a bid to help bridge the gap between the then-new professional game and its amateur counterpart, making a comeback, saying: “The club XV fixture was always a highlight in the club calendar, so its return provides a great opportunity for the best club players across our four districts to come together for a representative fixture.
“It is a privilege for our players, so I am looking forward to working with them and our very experienced coaches to prepare the best we can to face Ireland’s club XV.”
Scottish Rugby’s head of competitions and compliance, Vicky Cox, added: “The squad announcement marks an exciting moment for our domestic pathway and reinforces our commitment to the club XV programme.
“The players have raised the bar in this year’s inter-district championship, so this fixture is the perfect occasion to the test themselves against tough opposition.”