AS ONE brought-up in the heartland of Ayrshire Junior football, I am well aware of how desperate things can get when you have the soul of several wee, close-knit and close-together communities expressed through the local sports teams.
Whilst in overall terms of the game they play, Melrose, Gala, Hawick, Selkirk, Langholm and Kelso are probably a couple of rungs futher up the sporting ladder than Auchinleck Talbot, Cumnock, Glenafton Athletic, Beith, Irvine Meadow and Largs Thistle; I feel the Ayrshire junior football teams could give the Borders rugby teams a head start when it comes to depth of local rivalry, mutual dislike and on-field aggro and still win.
Aye, they take their rugby seriously in the Borders, but not quite as seriously as we take our football here in God's County.
So, I can well understand how they feel at The Greenyards and Netherdale this week, as they consider the return of Hawick to the top flight of the club game. Sadly, because of the needs of the professional game - that old saw about a strong Scottish rugby needing a strong Hawick no longer quite holds true, but, as someone who doesn't have a particular Borders hobby horse to ride, can I welcome the mighty greens back into the top flight and hope they can flourish there.
Their return is doubly welcome, because they have come back with a genuinely Hawick squad of mostly born and bred Terris - other clubs please note. That famed green jersey is, sadly, no longer the be-all and end-all for rugby in the toun; some of the lesser lights have got into the National Leagues, flourished and are we here a bit less-willing to put the Greens first - to the distress of Mansfield rugby. But, the Green Machine is back where it belongs and that is cause for rejoicing.
I HAVE nothing against Jonathan Humphreys, but, must again wonder what exactly a talented Scottish coach has to do to get the call to Murrayfield.
It is not as if the Ospreys pack over recent years has been outstanding. Indeed, I would reckon the Glasgow pack, which Shade Munro has moulded and which we will learn this week included fewer 2013 British Lions than the opposition, which steamrolled Ospreys at Scotstoun recently, probably showed that, when it comes to forwards coaching, Munro has nothing to learn from Humphreys.
Maybe the SRU was unwilling to break-up the fledgling but successful Townsend/Munro team, but, given the way Welsh and particularly Ospreys forwards seem to blow hot and cold, I don't think the new man is the right one for Scotland.
Time will tell, so, we give him a chance. But, for me, we need more Scots in positions of power at Murrayfield if we are to go places.
THE Lions squad will be announced tomorrow. The pre-release hints are that it will be a largely Welsh squad, with, at most, six Scots chosen. I have said it before and will doubtless end up saying: "I told you so", but, the current Welsh squad is vastly over-rated and to pick the bulk of them will be a disaster.
I think the following Scots should go: Hogg, Maitland, Lamont, Laidlaw, Grant, Murray, Gray, Kellock, Brown and Beattie; and I would put Matt Scott on stand-by.
Kellock would be a superb leader of the dirt trackers, whilst, as the best line-out reader in Europe, he will be worth his weight in gold when it comes to cracking the Aussie codes.
Brown for me, has to go as the best all-purpose back rower in Europe, able to put in a good shift in all three breakaway roles. Again, he brings something extra as a leader.
Of course, if I get six of my ten into the squad, I will think we have done well, but, I reckon there are Scots who would be better tourists than some of the highly-touted Welsh and English players being banded about as shoo-ins.
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