THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

Currie the role model for club rugby
DAVID FERGUSON CHIEF RUGBY WRITER ([email protected])
SCOTTISH rugby has been crying out for signs of change and fresh excitement, and Currie answered the call on Saturday to ensure 2007 will start with a new league champion etched into the history books.

In 32 years of official rugby leagues in Scotland, only nine clubs had won the Division 1 championship before Saturday. Of them, four had come from the Borders, three from Edinburgh, one from the midlands and one from Glasgow, the Hawks, so as well as becoming the tenth victor with their clinching 39-26 win at Heriot's, and ending Hawks' run at three successive titles, Currie also brought Edinburgh level with the south region in terms of winning clubs.

It is now six years since Hawick won the Borders' last title, the longest period the trophy has remained outside the Borders, so are we witnessing a turning of the tide? Ally Donaldson, Currie's head coach, was not so sure.

"I think we are witnessing an exciting time for Currie," he said, "but things change quickly in rugby. I would like to think that what our victory does show is what can be achieved by anyone with a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

"Stirling have done it in the past and other clubs, like Hamilton, Perthshire and others, are climbing up through the leagues and showing what they can do with the right guys involved.

"We do have to work hard to attract players because we are disadvantaged geographically. There are a good few rugby clubs that have been going for years in Edinburgh, and so they pick up the many players who move to the city to study, work or just live, and there's no need really to travel out to Currie."

Their closest challengers at the weekend, Ayr - had they not lost 11-8 to Glasgow Hawks on Saturday the title race would have continued to the last game on 13 January - could argue over the most geographically-challenged club, but the fact they are also riding high, while Hawick narrowly avoided a first-ever relegation, merely endorses the view that we are seeing a shift in power.

The challenge for Currie, and Ayr, now is to stay there, and there is evidence they might. The new champions, in particular, can draw on two high schools in Currie and Balerno with around 2,000 youngsters, which is actually a greater hinterland than most of the previous Division One winners.

Stirling used that to their benefit, drawing on a terrific youth system to challenge the elite and grab the crown in 1994-5, but, though returning next season, they have struggled to remain part of the top echelons over the past decade.

Donaldson, a teacher at George Watson's School, is insistent that once the celebrations have died down and the deserved plaudits are fully digested, Currie must not rest on their laurels. "The youth section of the club is stronger than it has ever been," he said, "with the under-18s down to under-14s all doing very well. We have a good development officer in Ruaridh Pye working in the schools, and, yes, it is important that we work as hard as we can to develop our own players.

"It is easier for the city clubs in Edinburgh and Glasgow Hawks, as the only top team in Glasgow, to be a magnet for players with ambition, but I would hope that this success will help turn heads towards Currie a bit more in the future. People are attracted by success and we want to continue it to build on what the club has achieved so far.

"We actually have quite a young squad. David Officer, Mark Blair, Anton Edwards and Andy Adam, our captain, are the older, more experienced heads, who have been hugely important in our improvement, but the rest are quite young. Four of our forwards on Saturday were under 20, and the core of outstanding players we have - guys like Richard Snedden, Ross Weston and Mark Cairns - will be playing for a good few years yet.

"I don't think we're showing the way really because everyone is trying to do the same, everyone wants to win, and we'll be doing our best to maintain the level we're at now. But you can't expect it just to continue, especially in this league which has become very competitive.

"We've lost four games this season which you couldn't do in previous championships and expect to win the title, but this time we almost went to the last day with four teams still in contention."

After watching three players ascend to the professional ranks last summer - Ben Cairns to Edinburgh, Dougie Flockhart to the Borders and Donovan Raw to French rugby - Currie may lose stand-off Ally Warnock to Edinburgh after he undergoes an operation to finally repair a hip joint injured as a child.

But that is for later. Cairns and Flockhart delighted in joining the celebrations on Saturday night, Raw phoned in from France and Warnock paid tribute to the club which has resurrected his career.

Donaldson, a Currie man through and through, added: "That is what pleases me most I think - seeing how much people feel for this club.

"There were founder members celebrating on Saturday and I don't think they ever believed they would see their club at the top of Scottish rugby 36 years after they got together to launch it. We have myself and Graham Hogg, a Scotland international, Campbell Reynolds and guys who have played pro rugby, Mark Blair, David Officer, Gav Scott, and it's just such a satisfying feeling for all of us to get reward for all the hard work that has gone in.

"And we even got a little help in the end from ex-Currie player Davie Wilson, who I played with for many years, as his Glasgow Hawks team saw off Ayr and made sure that the pressure was relieved just in time for Christmas. That made Christmas a bit sweeter for us all!"

This article was posted on 26-Dec-2006, 09:19 by Hugh Barrow.