HAWKS GO FOR HOME GROWN DRAFT

The SRU Draft for Pro Team players has now been confirmed and Hawks Director of Rugby, Peter Wright, has gone for players who, with the exception of Tim Barker, have all previously played for Hawks. The drafted players for Hawks are:

Cat 3: Michael Adamson
Cat 3: Colin Shaw
Cat 2: Richie Gray
Cat 2: Tim Barker (lock )
Cat 1: Graeme Morrison
Cat 1: Max Evans

Category 3 : strong possibility will play regularly for clubs

Category 2 : possibly will play for clubs, but rarely and probably only for return from injury reasons

Category 1 : will NOT play for clubs except in extreme circumstances

Tim Barker is a lock forward who has Anniesland connections and is in his second spell with Glasgow Warriors.

Tim spent a season with Glasgow - in 2005/06 - before re-joining Irish province Ulster for a season en route to French Top 14 side Castres.

On his return to Glasgow, 6ft 6in 18st Tim said: "I'm very excited to be coming back to Glasgow because I thoroughly enjoyed my previous spell with the club."

Tim played for Malone and Dungannon and has represented Ireland at U18, U19 and U21 level.

Pro Player Draft - who's going where.

Scotland's 74 home-based pro rugby players have been asked to strengthen the links between the elite and club levels of the sport following the completion of the draft process that has allocated all of them between the 12 Scottish Hydro Premier One sides.

Colin Thomson, the Scottish Rugby Union's head of community rugby, expressed the hope that all of them would be able to pass on the benefit of their top-level experience to ambitious players within the largely amateur club game.

Thomson said: "Scottish Rugby has worked hard in tandem with its professional teams to strengthen the links with clubs and will continue to cement the improving relationship between the professional and club games with pro-player visits to all clubs increasing every year.

"Clearly, not all of these players will play for that club during a season, but anything that gives professional players the opportunity to play and share their experiences with some of the best players in top-tier club rugby is to be welcomed."

Stewart’s-Melville FP - R Grant, A Kelly, R Rennie, Calum Forrester, Kevin Tkachuk, A MacDonald

Dundee HSFP - F McKenzie, D Young, Richie Vernon, Hefin O'Hare, Rob Dewey, S Webster, DTH van der Merwe

Glasgow Hawks - Mike Adamson, Colin Shaw, Richie Gray, Tim Barker, Graeme Morrison, Max Evans

Edinburgh Accies - R Samson, K Traynor, S MacLeod, G Laidlaw, M Blair, P Godman

Watsonians - S Turnbull, A Hogg, A Turnbull, Colin Gregor, J Hamilton, Thom Evans

Currie - Chris Kinloch, D Blair, Scott Forrest, Mark McMillan, B Cairns, Dougie Hall

West Of Scotland - Jon Welsh, Peter Murchie, James Eddie, Alastair Kellock, Fergus Thomson, Johnnie Beattie, Bernardo Stortoni

Selkirk - S Crombie, S Cross, J Thompson, C Hamilton, C Paterson, John Barclay

Melrose - Peter Horne, M Robertson, Dan Turner, R Ford, Chris Cusiter, Kelly Brown

Boroughmuir - A Easson, R Grant, S Jones, D Callam, A Jacobsen, Justin Va'a

Heriot's - Dave McCall, S Newlands, J Houston, G Cross, N De Luca, Moray Low

Ayr - T Visser, Hamish Mitchell, Pat MacArthur, Ed Kalman, Ruaridh Jackson, Dan Parks

THE HERALD REPORTS
Common sense prevails  in draft

Stuart McAllister

A NEW mood of common sense seems to have hit the Scottish domestic club scene as the annual draft of professionals to the Premiership clubs went through yesterday without any of the nonsense allocations that blighted the system last year.

So while the likes of John Houston spent last year coaching Heriot’s while playing, when available, for Stirling – ironically one of the few times he was free to play club rugby was when they faced Heriot’s – this season he will be back at Golden acre, the club where he is earning his stripes as a coach.

Other players to take up club coaching include Allister Hogg at Watsonians, Andrew Kelly at Stewart’s Melville and Bernie Stortoni at West of Scotland – though in his case the draft had to be massaged with the co-operation of all involved to get him there with Stewart’s Melville heading a list of clubs that agreed to forgo their choice in order to leave him free to stay at Burnbrae.

There are two main models for how the clubs reached decisions on the players they opted for. Some have gone for players with local connections, with the likes of Richie Vernon, the Glasgow No.8, going to Dundee, his home city, alongside Fraser McKenzie, the flanker, and David Young, the prop, both from Fife, and Rob Dewey who went to school in St Andrews.

Tim Barker, the Ulster-born lock, is the only one of the six players drafted by Glasgow Hawks who did not play for the club before turning professional. Heriot’s made sure they kept David McCall by putting him first in their draft list.

Others have gone for players not expected to see much professional action and, therefore, able to make an impact for them on the field. That meant that Steven Turnbull, the Edinburgh lock, was taken by Watsonians, who are short of lineout options, Tim Visser, Edinburgh’s powerhouse wing, has gone to Ayr and Andrew Easson, the centre, has been taken by Boroughmuir.

In a separate move, the SRU have also announced they are bringing forward finals day at Murrayfield. This season the competitions are being streamlined with the Cup tournament being for Premiership clubs only, the Shield for the National League, and the Bowl for Regional Leagues, allowing the finale to be brought forward from its traditional date in early May to April 24.