PROFESSIONAL BOOST TO SCOTLAND'S CLUB GAME
Monday, 16 August 2010

Scotland's top clubs have had their pick of the 76 professional players contracted to Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby.
Based on their 2009/2010 league position, each club took its turn to draft the players with Hawick and Stirling County getting first and second pick, having been promoted from Premier 2 as runners-up and champions - Hawick selecting 22-year-old Edinburgh lock, Fraser McKenzie, as the draft's first pick, while centre James King, who joined Edinburgh from Melrose this season, was picked by Stirling County as their first and the draft's second.
Colin Thomson, Scottish Rugby Head of Community Rugby, said: "Scottish Rugby has worked hard to strengthen the links between the premier clubs and the professional games to offer a playing outlet for new and established professional players in the top tier of Scotland's club rugby leagues.
"This season's league restructure and the continued drafting of the professional players will see Premier and professional clubs working closer together than ever before and will help our efforts to bridge the gap between the playing standards of Premier 1 and the Magners League."
While the pro player draft is a familiar feast for followers of the Scotland's club leagues, this season (which sees the introduction of a mid-season split) will see the professional players redrafted to the top eight teams in November, with the aim of further boosting the intensity and standard of Scotland's top club tier.
Former Scotland internationalist and Watsonians head coach, Marcus Di Rollo, welcomed the new approach.
He said: "It's important for the future of Scottish Rugby that we continue to improve the quality and intensity of our leagues.
"Through the draft, the pro-players not selected for Glasgow or Edinburgh will benefit from regular rugby while Premier clubs and club players will play in an increasingly competitive league, brought about by an increased number of professional players in the league.
"We have secured the services of Stuart McInally once more and, while he's made it clear that his primary objective is to gain selection for Edinburgh, he played a key role for us last season and we were keen to get hold of him."
PREMIER ONE PRO-PLAYER DRAFT
HAWICK
Fraser Mckenzie (Edinburgh Rugby), Lewis Niven (Edinburgh Rugby), Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Scott MacLeod (Edinburgh Rugby), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh Rugby), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors)
STIRLING COUNTY
James King (Edinburgh Rugby), David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby), Colin Shaw (Glasgow Warriors), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby), John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), Federico Aramburu (Glasgow Warriors)
WATSONIANS
Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby), David Blair (Edinburgh Rugby), Simon Webster (Edinburgh Rugby), Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors), Bernardo Stortoni (Glasgow Warriors)
WEST OF SCOTLAND
Ed Kalman (Glasgow Warriors), John Houston (Edinburgh Rugby), Calum Forrester (Glasgow Warriors), Jon Welsh (Glasgow Warriors), Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors), Alan MacDonald (Edinburgh Rugby), Max Evans (Glasgow Warriors)
BOROUGHMUIR
Jack Gilding (Edinburgh Rugby), Ross Samson (Edinburgh Rugby), Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors), Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh Rugby), Mike Blair (Edinburgh Rugby), Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Rugby)
SELKIRK
Lee Jones (Edinburgh Rugby), Steven Turnbull (Edinburgh Rugby), Craig Hamilton (Edinburgh Rugby), Kyle Traynor (Edinburgh Rugby), Alex Grove (Edinburgh Rugby), Netani Talei (Edinburgh Rugby)
GLASGOW HAWKS
Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), Aly Muldowney (Glasgow Warriors), Andrew Kelly (Edinburgh Rugby), Kevin Tkachuk (Glasgow Warriors), Esteban Lozada (Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors)
HERIOT'S
Robert Harley (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Newlands (Edinburgh Rugby), Jim Thompson (Edinburgh Rugby), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh Rugby), Roddy Grant (Edinburgh Rugby)
DUNDEE
Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Peter Murchie (Glasgow Warriors), Hefin O'Hare (Glasgow Warriors), Rob Dewey (Glasgow Warriors), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), DTH van der Merwe (Glasgow Warriors)
MELROSE
Dave McCall (Glasgow Warriors), Alex Blair (Edinburgh Rugby), Mark Robertson (Edinburgh Rugby), Fraser Brown (Edinburgh Rugby), Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby), Phil Godman (Edinburgh Rugby)
AYR
Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors), Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors), Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors)
CURRIE
David Young (Edinburgh Rugby), Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh Rugby), Andrew Easson (Edinburgh Rugby), James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors), Ben Cairns (Edinburgh Rugby), Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors)

This article was posted on 16-Aug-2010, 21:31 by Hugh Barrow.