Updated: 13 Borderers named in training squad for Scotland club rugby XV’s first match for six years

Head coach Bob McKillop’s squad, made up of 20 forwards and 17 backs, includes 13 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.

Selkirk and Heriot’s contribute four players each, one more than Hawick, Melrose, Kelso and Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians.

Currie Chieftains supply two and Glasgow Hawks and Aberdeen’s Gordonians chip in one apiece.

Fraser Renwick, Connor Sutherland and Andrew Mitchell make up Hawick’s contingent. Their No 8 teammate Jae Linton was initially selected too but he’s been forced to pull out as he’s still injured.

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 13-strong representation is up by almost a handful on the nine selected both last time round in 2020 – with Greens centre Mitchell, currently the premiership’s top try-scorer with 15, 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 – took place on 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, telling Borders Rugby TV: “I’m absolutely over the moon to be to be involved in this again.

“I think it’s absolutely vital for Scottish rugby and I could already see an injection of enthusiasm as soon as the fixture was announced, so it’s brilliant to be involved and great to get to this stage.

“It was club-driven originally and I think the Scottish Rugby Union realised this is a great pathway for our late developers or just for those really good club guys who maybe played right up to under 20 and then worry they’ve got nothing else to aim for and we lose them to the game.

“The amount of people that have been speaking to me since this was announced just shows how much the players want it, and at the end of the day, that’s what this is for.

“It’s back up and running and it would be great if we had two games, but let’s take it one step at a time.

“I think playing Ireland will be fantastic, but wouldn’t it be great if, in time, we could add England, Wales, France or one of the second-tier nations?

“I think we need to walk before we can run and we struggle as a nation already to agree about our season and what’s in it and what’s not in it, and what we don’t want to do is put any more pressure on on players at the moment, so let’s get this one game up, let’s make it successful and we’ve got the guarantee of a return fixture with Ireland next year. Let’s make that successful and then hopefully we can just build from there.

“This can be a pinnacle or it can be a stepping stone. It’s just another way for people to represent their country and get recognised. It’s up to people how they grab it and whether they treat it as the pinnacle of their career or they’re desperate to prove their point that they shouldn’t have missed out. Either way, I’m privileged to coach them.

“You’ve got guys here who are following this pathway to the pinnacle of club rugby, so I just think we’re opening up opportunities for club players to continually test themselves and progress in whatever direction they want. I think this is just another good step in that direction.

“Ideally we’ll beat Ireland and ideally we’ll put in a performance we’re all proud of, but more than that, I want these guys to go back to their clubs and say ‘you want to be involved. This is brilliant. This was the best weekend of my rugby life’.That’s my number-one goal for these guys.

“My job here is to make this as good as I possibly can for everybody who does want to be involved.”

Selection was based on performances in this season’s inter-district championship, currently being led by Caledonia, on nine points from two fixtures, with a third and final round of games to be played in March.

“The squad was selected mainly on performances in the inter-district championship’s two rounds of matches that we’ve had so far,” explained McKillop.

“We’ve gone with the guys we think have shone in the inter-district tournament, plus a couple of guys who didn’t get the chance to shine there because they were unfortunately injured at the time

“We’re very, very happy with the squad we’ve got, and there are two or three people that are still on a watchlist if there are injuries or if the guys that come in aren’t really doing what we thought they could do.

“It was tough enough getting down to 37, believe me, and I’m dreading going down to 23. It will be really difficult. Look down that list and I dare anyone to say there’s not talent in Scottish club rugby. It’s going to be very difficult.

“In a one-off game, sometimes combinations will come into it. It’s not just about getting down to 23 – it’s then about who starts and who finishes, and I think our bench strategy will be really, really interesting because there are some buzz-bomb forwards that could come off the bench. Do you bring them all off the bench or do you start with some of them?

“We will be looking for guys that enter into the spirit of it and we think can make a difference and fit into what we’re trying to do really quickly, guys who can lead, guys who can mingle and mix.

“When you get to this level, the connections between the team might be every bit as important as the quality of the individuals because everybody in this 37 could play. We’re not bringing anybody along for the ride. We think everybody on this list is capable of playing.

“Have we discussed what our dream team might look like? Absolutely, but it’s a million miles away from being nailed down. There’s still a chance for everyone in that squad to work their way in, absolutely.

“We’re really looking at attitude and how they come in. We’ve got to get to a state of complete clarity before we jet off to Ireland on Friday the 13th.

“The inter-district championship has been a critical step in getting this back up and running and I just hope that there’s a snowball effect and next year everyone will want to play in the championship because everybody wants to be involved in the club international and hopefully we’ll have a couple of fixtures by this time next year.”

McKillop is disappointed Linton, 26, was forced to pull out but is hopeful he’ll be involved in 2027, saying: “It’s sad news that Jae has had to pull out. It’s really sad for him.

“I personally hold him in incredibly high regard. I think he’s a wonderful athlete, exactly the sort of player that would thrive in a Scotland club international environment.

“We’re very sad, but I think it’s a measure of the regard that Jae is held in that he has been injured for such a long time but was still selected. As a coach, you have to have quite a long memory and we know how good Jae could be.

“We’re very disappointed that he’s not going to be with us and we’re really disappointed for him, but the good news is that he’s on the cusp of a comeback for Hawick and he’ll be back playing soon.

“I’ve already spoken to him about the return fixture next year, and wouldn’t it be great if Jae were to feature in that because he’s a top player and a hell of a nice bloke as well.

“With Jae pulling out, we have three from Hawick, four from Selkirk, three from Melrose and three from Kelso, so it’s all pretty spread out.”