THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

By DAVID FERGUSON
THERE are some characters in Scottish rugby who have a happy knack of uncovering success and Bruce McNaughton could be considered one as he prepares to lead Peebles to their first-ever appearance at Murrayfield's finals day.
The achievement of the Division Two club in reaching the Scottish Hydro Electric Shield Final cuts to just one the number of senior Borders clubs who have not appeared in the May cup-fest, the last remaining one being Langholm, and if McNaughton's track record is anything to go by then the Borders town could be joining the likes of Hawick, Melrose, Gala, Selkirk, Jed-Forest, Berwick and Duns in claiming the silverware.

McNaughton coached Currie to the first-ever Shield win in 1996, beating a Stirling County side that included Kenny Logan and Bob McKillop – the current Heriot's coach – but had other stars away at the Middlesex Sevens on the same day.

The score back then was 75-25. McNaughton returned with Murrayfield Wanderers in 2005 to edge a closer affair with Livingston 25-13, but he expects an even tighter one this time around.

"On those occasions we were the favourites," he recalled, "but being the second division club against a Division One side that has improved through the season I'm definitely coaching the underdogs this time.

"It's a great challenge and while Hawks have a very good squad with some great young talents, we have a very good squad too. We won promotion to Division Two last year and hoped to consolidate, but, actually, now we're frustrated that we didn't win promotion again back to Division One because we were good enough to, so this is a great bonus to finish the season."

Hawks do boast enviable young talent and will undoubtedly look to run the legs off the Borderers on the wide Murrayfield pitch.

A key member of their side is scrum-half Peter Jericevich, who was yesterday named in the Scotland U20s squad for the IRB World Cup which starts in Japan in June.

The Inverurie lad, who has a mix of Scots, Maori and Croatian blood, has been an apprentice with Glasgow for the past two years and hopes to feature in the new British and Irish Cup next season.

"I've really enjoyed playing at Hawks and the players are really excited about playing at Murrayfield," he said. "This is my first time here, but I hope it turns out to be the first of many.

"It's not easy to get the opportunities to shine as an apprentice, but this is one myself and all the Hawks players are looking forward to."

Glasgow Hawks: C Gossman; J Wright, R Hair, G McDonald, S Murray; I Noble (capt); P Jericevich; G Strain, J MacLay, G Mories, N Campbell, A Kelly, M Whittleston, G Strang, G Harkness. Subs: J Stafford, N Nyemba, T McGarrity, G Francis, P Boyer, M Rainey, S Low.

Peebles: D Anderson; D Anderson, A Smellie, C Borthwick, N Hogarth; D Boughtwood, D Moore; W Aitken (capt), R McConnell, N Clark, D Harvey, S Smellie, R Jocelyn, J Oakes, D Sangster. Subs: T Keen, A Clark, A Brown, I Rodger, E Jackson, N Warnock, C Hunter.

This article was originally posted on 9-May-2009, 07:50 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 9-May-2009, 07:51.