February 22, 2007

Club players on trial

Posted by Editor on February 22, 2007 06:01 PM | 7 comments | Print | E-mail author

Max Evans plays in the club international trial match
A trial match is to be staged at Goldenacre, Edinburgh on Sunday as preparations are stepped up for the first club international to be staged on home soil.

After last year's inaugural club international against Ireland staged in Dublin, the return fixture will take place on the eve of the RBS 6 Nations Championship clash between the countries next month.

The match will be played at Meggetland, Edinburgh, home of Boroughmuir RFC, on Friday 9 March with a 7.00pm kick-off.

Head coach for the Scotland Club International side, Ian Rankin, and his assistant coach, George Breckenridge, held a squad session last weekend. Rankin said: "I was very impressed with the commitment of the players in our squad and taken by their real desire to play for their country."

Rankin will be in Dublin tomorrow to watch Ireland play a club international against their English counterparts.

He added: "The interest and support from club coaches has been very encouraging and has been a great help in making our initial selections for this trial. With Ireland playing England before our game it was vital to our preparations that we had some game time together, and with genuine competition for places I look forward to a very competitive match at Goldenacre on Sunday."

The teams for Sunday's trial (kick-off 12 noon) are:

BLUE

15 James Thompson (Heriot's)
14 Rory Couper (Boroughmuir)
13 Graham Thomson (Dundee HSFP)
12 John Houston (Heriot's)
11 Max Evans (Glasgow Hawks)

10 Andrew Skeen (Watsonians)
9 Alasdhair MacFarlane (Ayr)

1 Andrew Reekie (Currie)
2 Scott Burnett (Currie)
3 Richard Higgins (Melrose)
4 Damien Kelly (Ayr)
5 Richard Maxton (Hamilton)
6 Tam McVie (Heriot's) CAPTAIN
8 Ross Weston (Currie)
7 Angus Martyn (Boroughmuir)

GREENS

15 Matt Coupar (Watsonians)
14 Marc Teague (Heriot's)
13 Andy McMahon (Currie)
12 Cameron Goodall (Heriot's)
11 Charlie Keenan (Boroughmuir)

10 Murray Strang (Glasgow Hawks)
9 Richard Snedden (Currie)

1 Willie Blacklock (Hawick)
2 Neil Meikle (Heriot's)
3 Freddie Lait (Boroughmuir)
4 Jeff Nicolson (Watsonians)
5 Andy Adam (Currie) CAPTAIN
6 Paul Burke (Ayr)
8 Grant Strang (Aberdeen Grammar Rugby)
7 George Oommen (Dundee HSFP)

Substitutes (for both teams)

Backs

Brian Archibald (Stirling County)
Steven Duffy (Glasgow Hawks)
Stephen Gordon (Glasgow Hawks)
Kenny Sinclair (Glasgow Hawks)
Gavin Douglas (Edinburgh Accies)

Forwards

Will Rowley (Watsonians)
Scott Sutherland (Ayr)
Mark Cairns (Currie)
Andrew Kelly (GHA)
Bruce MacFarlane (Stirling County)
Wayne Mitchell (Melrose)
Gary Mountford (Stirling County)

Unavailable for selection due to injury

Innes Brown (Heriot's)
Roddy Deans (Heriot's)
Andy Dunlop (Biggar)
Stuart Johnson (Melrose)
Jamie Murray (Melrose)

Comments
Posted by Hannah on February 22, 2007 09:25 PM | Reply to this comment

Glad that Max is getting to start! He is a lovely guy and a great player and deserves his shot.

Posted by gazelle on February 23, 2007 07:24 AM | Reply to this comment

I'm sure they're all lovely guys,many of them may even have higher profile brothers, but what exactly is the the objective of this team, what therefore should be the basis of selection, and has this been reflected in the team list?

Posted by highlandbrave75 on February 23, 2007 12:27 PM | Reply to this comment

if you go back and read the piece above the team selection again your questions may be answered.

Posted by gazelle on February 23, 2007 09:29 PM | Reply to this comment

I read the piece, and read it again, Other than saying the players all want to play for Scotland ( so do I )I can't see how it answers my questions. Is this supposed to be a Scotland C ? If so, why not just pick a third tier of professional players? It might give some of them some much needed match time. Seriously,I imagined the function of the team was to provide some kind of recognition for players who have put in the effort to achieve excellence at the amateur level, thereby earning their selection. If so, I don't see that this is reflected consistently in the selection.

Posted by hugh on February 25, 2007 06:41 PM | Reply to this comment

spot on

Posted by Hannah on February 23, 2007 04:06 PM | Reply to this comment

having Thom as a brother doesn't make Max a better player. The guy has proved his worth in many a game and is an exciting player to watch. Look at Rory Lamont would u say he is a better play just cause of Sean? No! Max and Thom both play differently and are both nice guys but that does not cloud my judgement of Max's playing ablity!

Posted by hugh on February 25, 2007 06:42 PM | Reply to this comment

Max has proved his worth end of message

Add a comment to this article

If you're replying to an existing comment, please use the 'Reply to this comment' link above the entry. This will display the comments in a way which is far easier for other readers to follow.