STEWART Hamilton -- big and bluff, no frills, likes the odd cigar, and

an occasional glass of the amber nectar -- will be out there for

Stirling County against Edinburgh Academicals at Raeburn Place today

giving his all, as he has done for more years than he cares to remember.

Big Hammy, for whom the big four-oh beckons in February, is the

godfather of premiership rugby, and at a time of life when most players

have long since traded the rigours of the top-grade game for the

committee room or a spot of punditry on Rugby Special, he is still

there, Saturday in and Saturday out, competing with the young bloods who

weren't even born when he came, late, to the game as a 22-year-old.

But Hamilton, the purveyor of farm equipment who starts his own

business in Stirling on Wednesday, is still earning his corn as a

hard-grafting lock with County, the club he has served -- barring three

seasons with Heriot's FP in the mid-eighties -- since enlisting with

them from that hot-bed of rugby, Larkhall, almost 18 years ago.

''There wasn't much rugby played in Larkhall,'' he says, with just a

hint of understatement, ''but being in the farm-equipment business I was

mixing with farmers and it was Muff Scobie and Hamish Logan who said

that, with my size, I should be playing rugby.''

So much has changed since County were beginning their climb from the

nether regions of Division 6 and Hamilton has played through them all.

Regrets? He has a few.

Most notably, the fact that after two 'B' caps against France, in 1986

and '87, he just couldn't make that final leap towards a full cap.

''That remains a major regret. I felt at the time that I was capable of

playing for Scotland. When I saw the likes of Jeremy Campbell-Lamerton

getting a cap, I just knew that I was a better player but I didn't get

the final nod.

''That was why I went to Heriot's. I got a phone call from Andy

Irvine. He was obviously a rugby hero and when somebody like Irvine

rings you up and asks if you'd like to come down to Goldenacre, then

you'd be daft to say no.

''I was loyal to Stirling, just as I am now, but I was loyal to

myself, too, and I really wanted that cap. Stirling were stuck in the

second division and I reckoned that first-division rugby would give me

the final boost I needed.''

There have been compensations but Hamilton doesn't try to kid on that

they make up for not playing for Scotland. ''I've played in district

championship sides with Edinburgh and Glasgow, and this season I'll be

trying to make it a hat trick with North and Midlands.

''And, of course, the greatest compensation of all was captaining

Stirling to the championship last season. I couldn't even begin to tell

you how sweet that was.''

Hamilton, just a sliver short of 6ft 4in. and still tipping the scales

at the 18st he did as a 22-year-old, reckons that players are now more

dedicated and committed than they were when he was starting out.

He believes, too, that the game is not as physical as it was when he

was learning his craft at the coal-face of lineout and scrum. ''There

aren't the really hard men around now that there used to be. When I was

at Heriot's and we were playing the likes of Hawick, there were maybe

half-a-dozen characters who could put the fear of death into you.

''Maybe they're still around and they just don't put the fear of death

into me any longer but I don't think so. There were some hard nuts

playing in the early and mid-eighties. The game has progressed, the laws

have changed, and there doesn't seem to be any time for the battles that

used to break out all over the place.

''There's a metre between the forwards at the lineouts now and that's

where most of the battles used to break out. It's difficult to give your

opposite number a skelp when there's all that space between you. Mind

you, the good news is that he can't skelp you either.''

After Stirling's championship win last season Hamilton had hinted that

he might retire from top-flight rugby and yet he is still there and

happy in his work.

''A couple of weeks ago we had a 16-year-old playing for us against

Hawick. I'm old enough to be his father and I don't recognise that many

people on the team bus, right enough, but I don't feel my age when I'm

out there on the pitch.

''I've promised my elder son, Gregor, who is 12 and a centre for his

school side at Dollar Academy, that one day we'll both play in the same

side. Obviously that won't be first XV rugby but I'm not hanging up the

boots until that promise has been fulfilled.

''So far as retirement from top-grade rugby is concerned, I've told

the club that I'm more than happy to soldier on until they find a

replacement. I wouldn't begrudge any youngster coming into the side and

taking my place if the club felt he was good enough.

''After that I'll keep playing for fun and until Gregor and me have

run out on to the park together. But, hopefully, I've still got a good

few games in me before then,'' he declares.