GLASGOW High/Kelvinside have expanded their coaching team from three
to eight in an effort to consolidate their position in Scottish rugby's
first division. Iain Russell will now be assisted by Randy Laing, Andy
Sherman, Graeme Ogilvy, Peter Horne, Charlie Forsyth, Bob Tomlinson, and
Kenny Hamilton.
Last season Russell, Sherman, and Tomlinson had to look after about 50
players on most training nights. ''Attempting to be all things to all
men did not work,'' Russell commented. ''The senior team and not a few
players suffered.''
GHK, restored to the first division last season after an absence of 13
years, finished ahead of only the two relegated clubs, Glasgow
Academicals and Watsonians. Russell, however, was satisfied with the
players' physical fitness throughout the league campaign, justifying the
decision last year to invite Tomlinson in to concentrate on that aspect
of the club's work.
This summer the players have quickly picked up their fitness, allowing
Russell and his team to work at specific conditioning coaching. ''That
is something which we hardly touched last season,'' the coach added.
GHK, led by Ewan McCorkindale from scrum half, can thus go confidently
into the new season.
McCorkindale, however, will miss the opening match against GHK's
Anniesland neighbours, Glasgow Academicals, a week on Saturday, and so
will at least nine other regulars. The captain will be in Ireland with
the Glasgow squad that weekend along with Fergus Wallace, Shade Munro,
Alan Watt, and Derek Busby, whereas Gordon McClymont, John Couper,
Gordon Peterson, and Charlie Dunlop are injured, and George Breckenridge
does not return until mid-September from a season of New Zealand rugby.
During his sojourn in the Antipodes, Breckenridge made a place in the
Wairarapa-Bush provincial squad, as Munro and Watt had done before.
Reciprocating the full back's visit, Todd Woollet, a talented young
midfield back from New Zealand, will be joining GHK early in the season.
Andrew Ness, the Dollar Academy and Scottish Schools No.8 last season,
also has enlisted with GHK. So have Jimmy Sanderson, the former
Kelvinside Academy and Glasgow Schools stand-off, and Walter Malcolm,
Glasgow Academcials' former captain. The latter's move through the
Anniesland fence can be seen as Glasgow rugby's equivalent of jumping
the Berlin Wall.
Once the season is over GHK will be preparing for an August tour,
their fourth to the United States in 17 years. Their visit next year
will be to Colorado.
Old Anniesland business begins on Sunday with the annual seven-a-side
tournament, sponsored again by Ryden. Selkirk will be defending the
Minerva Cup against opposition that includes four of their Border rivals
as well as Orrell from Lancashire. The draw (first tie 1.30pm) is:
Orrell v Greenock Wanderers, West of Scotland v Kilmarnock, Selkirk v
Hutchesons', Jed-Forest v Hillhead-Jordanhill, Glasgow High/Kelvinside v
Cambuslang, Gala v Corstorphine, Kelso v Glasgow Academicals, Ayr v
Langholm.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article