St Andrews University’s Director of Rugby David Ross has been appointed as Scottish Students XV Rugby head coach for the forthcoming season. David along with his new-look coaching and management team was at the University of Stirling for the first Scottish Students XV trial.
Stirling University played host for the first trial of the season with over 70 players from across Scotland who had been nominated by their university or college to try out for a place in the squad.
The weather was kind for the coaches as the sun stayed high and bright all day allowing perfect conditions for rugby. The morning session saw the players go through conditioned games under the watchful eye of assistant coaches Garry Horne and Eugene Murnane.
In the afternoon the players took part in games under the control of premiership referee Charles Samson. The games allowed the coaching team to assess players under match conditions
The second trial will be on Sunday 28th November and will see the successful players from this stage joined by players that have national age-grade representative experience.
The Scottish Students XV squad will then prepare for the tough task of taking on the French Students in Reims on March 18th 2011.
After the first trial with the new look management and coaching team in place David Ross said: “I'm delighted with the number of quality players putting themselves forward to represent Scottish Students this year.
"It shows the amount of young talent in the Scottish game right now and these young players are having a big impact on the top club games in the country.

"Selection has been hard but we feel as a management team that we have selected a squad of players for the next trial that are capable of pushing standards high within the squad as we prepare to play a test match away in France.”
Scottish Universities Sport (SUS) Sports Manager Stew Fowlie added: "This trial represented a new beginning for our men’s rugby squad. As well as welcoming the newly appointed team staff we are delighted to be able to include college students in our programme. Everyone involved with the Scottish Students XV is now looking forward with excitement to the future."
Scottish Rugby Development Manager (17-24 Year Olds), Lindsey Booth added: “Scottish Rugby is pleased to continue its support for the Scottish Students programme as part of our broader commitment to increasing student participation. We look forward to what we hope will be a successful season for the Students XV, building on the success of the 7’s squads last season.

This article was posted on 18-Nov-2010, 11:05 by Hugh Barrow.