SEASON 2016-17 has
not officially finished – there are still three Scotland
internationals and a stack of Lions' games to be played, but,
already, with the publication of the BT Premiership and National
league fixtures for season 2017-18, we can start to prepare.
Premiership new
boys Marr's very-experienced coach, Craig Redpath, will get an early chance to gauge their fitness for the top
flight, since they begin their first Premiership campaign at Old
Anniesland, against Glasgow Hawks, who finished third last season and
are aiming to close the gap between themselves and top two Ayr and
Melrose. Marr's introduction to the Premiership could not have been
much harder.
In football, the
defending champions are normally given a home match to kick-off the
new season, not so in rugby, where Ayr have been asked to travel to
Meggetland and take-on Boroughmuir, one of the teams who beat them
last season. This again will be a difficult first outing for Coach of
the Year Calum Forrester and his new-look squad.
Melrose are at
home to Watsonians, in what may well be the clash of the day.
Ayr's opening
run of games could hardly be any more difficult. After that outing to
Edinburgh, they return to Millbrae to entertain perennial west coast
rivals Hawks. On Week Three, comes the first clash of the big two,
when Melrose arrive in Burns' Country. Then its off to Malleny Park
to face Currie, followed by Ross Curle's return to Alloway, in
Stirling County's colours, before, on 7 October, comes the clash the
whole of Ayrshire is eagerly anticipating, when Marr entertain Ayr at
Fullerton.
Ross Curle, will be back at Millbrae with Stirling County in September
When they beat
Melrose in that pulsating Premiership final at the Greenyards back in
April, Ayr not only lifted the silverware – they took the Bill
McLaren Shield home on their bus. Assuming they win their first three
admittedly difficult home games, on 14 October, when Heriot's come
calling, Ayr might well be seeking the victory which would put their
name on the plank of wood for a second time. That should make what is
always a keenly-fought battle even harder.
It seems strange
to find a mere two Borders clubs still in the top flight, and they,
Melrose and Hawick do not lock horns until week eight of the
schedule, when they clash at the Greenyards. Against this, there is
an all-Edinburgh clash in six of the first eight weeks of the season.
The full BT
Premiership schedule for the new season is available to either view
or download in pdf format from the official SRU website.
WHAT a cracking
result that was for the Scotland Under-20s, beating the Irish in game
two of their World Championship group in Georgia. Now, all they have
to do is, maintain their focus in their final group game against group
minnows Italy, and they will have qualified for the quarter-finals.
I say “only”
deliberately, this is a Scotland team after all, and, if exposure to
Scottish Rugby for nearly 60-years has taught me one thing it is this
– where Scotland is concerned, never count your chickens.
I maybe was
unaware of what was going on at the time, but, I lived through the
run of 17 defeats in a row in the early 1950s, with Scotland it is
always better to travel hopefully, let's hope Georgia 2017 is one of
those times when we arrive at our preferred destination.
BACK in the
more-laid-back amateur days, when what happened on tour, stayed on
tour, Scotland would occasionally venture forth below the equator and
some London Scottish fringe player, or an Oxford or Cambridge
University “blue” who had never played in Scotland, would join
the ranks of the one-cap wonders.
This is
less-likely to happen these days, but, it will be interesting to
waken-up tomorrow morning to Michael James's press release with the
Scotland team to face Italy. With Hoggie, Tommy Seymour and Greig
Laidlaw with the Lions and Richie Gray back home in France, there
will be some changes, and it will be interesting to see the XV Toony
sends out.
For instance,
who will wear 15? Who will be our centres? Will Wilem Nel start, or
be eased back in off the bench? Will Tim Swinson resume his club lock
partnership with Jonny Gray, or will Ben Toolis be rewarded for his
outstanding club season with the start? Who will form our breaaway
trio?
Plenty of
questions, we await Toony's answers with interest.
I HAVE been a
wee bit critical of recent Glasgow signings, so, can I just say,
although I expect him to have only a fringe role at first, I am
delighted to see big Kiran McDonald back at the club.
Kiran McDonald has rejoined Warriors
This kid has a
lot of potential, and, while I was surprised when he left Hawks for
Hull and East Riding, I gather he did well there and I am pleased to
see a big, young, Scottish player given his chance – somebody needs
to tell Dave Rennie, we have a few more good young lads deserving of
a chance in the pro ranks.
No comments:
Post a Comment