'There is plenty on the line' - Jed-Forest head coach Andrew Brown looks ahead to first Borders derby against Hawick

"Local derbies are where everybody wants to be,” Brown told The Southern Reporter. “That’s what everybody wants to play for.

"This will be my first encounter with a Borders rugby local derby.

"But any other derbies that I have been involved with it normally can be fairly tasty.

"There is plenty on the line isn’t there?”

Brown said he expects winger Mason Cullen to return to fitness over the next few weeks, with the player having been out since January due to an arm injury sustained during a Scotland under-20s internal squad game.

Having finished eighth in the Tennent’s Premiership last year under the previous coaching regime, Brown was decisive when asked what his aims are for this term.

"To do better than eighth,” he said. “I set a target the other day for us to score more points than we concede during the season.

"I looked back at the league over the last few years and found that if you do that you finish top five. That would be a realistic target.”

Brown doesn’t expect Jed’s style of rugby to change under his leadership.

"You can’t change DNA,” he said. “That’s engrained into the players.

"It’s more about me learning how to coach how they play to be honest.

"I feel that’s the way myself and Mark (assistant coach Mark Lee) have got to approach this.

"They like to play with width and ambition and have a fabulous skills set and great talent. It’s about harnessing that and getting them to enjoy what they’re doing.”