Fresh blow for Borders as Walker is lured to Wales
IN ANOTHER worrying blow to Scottish rugby, Nikki Walker will follow his fellow international Scott MacLeod's in quitting the Border Reivers for Wales at the end of this season.

The winger, who turned 24 at the weekend and, like Llanelli-bound MacLeod's, joined the Reivers from Hawick, has agreed a lucrative contract with Neath-Swansea Ospreys, the reigning Celtic League champions. Both players are understood to have been offered contracts worth more than double what they earn in Scotland. Walker shares agents Shaun Longstaff and Mike Howe, of Top Marque, with MacLeod's, but all refused to comment yesterday.

However, there is no doubt their departures will leave a major hole in the credibility of a Borders side still struggling to win over the region's many rugby supporters and will re-ignite concerns that the Scottish Rugby Union is not being even-handed in its approach to strengthening the country's three centrally-controlled professional teams.

After beating off serious rival bids for virtually all of Edinburgh's out-of-contract players, Gordon McKie, the SRU chief executive, decided, in conjunction with Frank Hadden and Steve Bates, the Scotland and Borders coaches, that the Reivers duo were not worth the same level of contract as Gunners internationals. This was perhaps understandable, considering the current cap totals, but their loss will be keenly felt by the Borders.

MacLeod's and Walker were two genuine local heroes, who had worked their way through the club ranks in the region and, while supporters have been attracted to Netherdale to watch players of the quality of Chris Cusiter, Semo Sititi, Opeta Palepoi, Simon Danielli and Bruce Douglas, none of those Test regulars has the same affinity with club supporters as players who have come through local ranks. In fact, only the Samoans of that quintet live in the Borders.

With Reivers crowds still struggling to regularly top 2,000, the Borders set-up remains a concern as the SRU strives to get to grips with an ever-increasing debt. The poor marketing and community work of the pro teams in previous seasons contributed to a lack of affinity with the locals, but allowing the departure of two of the more talented and popular Borderers - largely responsible for a rise in Reivers supporters from Hawick - because Welsh clubs value the players higher than the SRU, compounds the problem.

McKie insisted that it was simply a matter of offering players what he and the coaches believed they were worth, and stated categorically that there was no longer a significant bias towards the country's leading side. He said: "It is a myth that Edinburgh's budget is much more than the other teams. There is a marginal difference, but the Borders is by no means the poor relation; they are simply taking time to bed down and grow.

"We rigorously benchmark players for contracts against players throughout the whole of the UK and there is no way we could have matched what is being paid in Wales. We pay the market rate and we're not prepared to get into a situation of spiralling wages. Edinburgh player contracts are market rate, but that includes looking at their skills and importance to the national team."

That final point is a key one. Edinburgh will supply eight of Scotland's starting line-up to face Ireland on Saturday, with just three coming from the other two teams in total. They deserve credit for their recruitment and bringing through excellent talent, but they have also benefited significantly from greater funding in the past, as well as keeping Borders club men, like Chris Paterson and Nathan Hines - before he left for Perpignan - in Scotland after the ill-fated merger with the Reivers in 1998. They continued to buy well, with the help of central SRU decisions on where to place big signings, notably with experienced players Todd Blackadder, Scott Murray, Brendan Laney and Dave Hewett, all of whom have helped develop home-bred players to Test standard.

They are not first choices, but MacLeod's and Walker are not miles away from those holding down the Scotland jerseys. MacLeod's helped Scotland win the Calcutta Cup and Walker's return to form this season won him a recall to Hadden's 30-man squad. They must, therefore, be in Hadden's thoughts for Scotland's World Cup campaign next year.

The real problem for Scottish rugby is how Glasgow and the Borders move themselves nearer Edinburgh's quality and competitiveness without the funding and experience Edinburgh enjoyed in building their current squad. Glasgow lost Sean Lamont to Northampton and Gordon Bulloch to Leeds last summer and have been unable to replace them with players of similar quality or experience. That lack of quality across the squad has also been exposed by a series of injuries, but, after watching his side lose at home to the Borders on Friday night, in front of a paltry attendance, Hugh Campbell, the Glasgow coach, argued that his team's rollercoaster season, with great wins over Edinburgh and Munster being followed by deflating defeats to lower-ranked opposition, was the result of being long on youthful talent but short on experience.

The financial problems of the union are biting. While the SRU ensured the Borders had the funds to keep Cusiter last summer and bring back Sititi and Gregor Townsend, like Glasgow, they are unlikely now to be able to fill the gaps left by Walker and MacLeod's with players of similar quality and experience in time for next season.

This article was posted on 9-Mar-2006, 08:23 by Hugh Barrow.