APRIL - traditionally the lost month of the Scottish rugby season, since the SRU have never managed to square the circle of Sevens v Fifteens in this month which should be ideal for running rugby.
Most, if not all the leagues have been settled, whilst Melrose, for so-long one of our top clubs will be centre stage, between the Melrose Sevens and their appearance in the RBS Scottish Cup Final, at Murrayfield, on 20 April.
This promises to be a cracking match, Melrose v Ayr (again), with the men from the Greenyards clearly anxious to send Chick Chalmers away a winner, and thereby paper over the considerable cracks of this season.
Wee Chick has enemies - of that there is no doubt; however, when it comes to being Chick's worst enemy, nobody can do this as well as the man himself.
Chick's departure will mean big close-season decisions for his successor, John Dalziel, as he sets out to re-cast, rejuvenate and reinvigorate the Melrose squad for next season. He will surely wish to start off with a team which has shown it is capable of winning the big prizes.
However, Ayr will be no pushovers. With the Premiership title already wrapped-up, they will be desperate to add the Cup in a double-winning season.
Ayr face a difficult close season. There can be no doubting the men they recruited from relegated Glasgow Hawks at the start of the season: the Gossman brothers, Dean Kelbrick, Peter Jericevich and the two Warriors who were moved to Ayr from Old Anniesland - George Hunter and Nick Campbell all played significant roles in Ayr's season.
How many of these Glasgow-based players will revert to Hawks, now the Glasgow club has battled back into the top league? Will some go, might they all return - or, will Ayr's British & Irish Cup place mitigate against staying in Glasgow?
Then there is the position of coach Kenny Murray. He, even more than George Graham at Gala, has surely earned a crack at coaching a professional club; maybe not as Head Coach at Edinburgh, but surely as at least an assistant or specialist coach.
Murray inherited a competitive squad from Craig Redpath, who deserves credit for getting his new club Marr to Finals Day at Murrayfield by the way; but, he has since taken Ayr up a level.
If he gets the professional call - who will take over? If he doesn't, can he persuade the Glasgow gang to remain at Millbrae, and can he continue to keep Ayr going forward - or will the same voice, shouting the same things, week after week, finally pale?
Yep, Finals Day, and the aftermath, will be very interesting and I can guarantee, this summer, we will have more than the Lions in Australia, to keep us talking.
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