Ex-Melrose and Scotland centre Graham Shiel takes up new job as director of rugby at Glasgow school

The Galashiels-born 54-year-old had been in charge of the Edinburgh outfit’s second-tier team since last summer after six years of overseeing their now-disbanded Boroughmuir Bears Fosroc Super Series franchise, steering them to a sixth-placed finish in the table last season on 43 points from 18 fixtures.

“We’re delighted to officially welcome Graham Shiel as our new director of rugby,” said a spokesperson for the Catholic private school.

“A former Scotland international and professional player with Edinburgh, Shiel brings with him over two decades of experience coaching and developing some of the best young players in the country.

“His appointment marks a major step forward for rugby at the college and we know this news will be warmly welcomed by our community.

“We’re excited to have him leading our programme and building a strong future for rugby across all year groups.”

Shiel, capped 18 times between 1991 and 2000, added: “There’s great potential in this school to be able to develop its rugby culture.

“There’s a lot of good work gone before and there’s a lot of good history in the college for rugby, so hopefully I can continue that good work and put my personal stamp onto what lies ahead.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for me. I’ve done pretty much the whole spectrum of coaching within rugby at pretty much every level but what I haven’t been involved in is a school rugby programme so it was really appealing to me to come in and try and shape the future of rugby here.”