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Stew Mel vs Heriot's,
27/8/05
Inverleith Angle
Good afternoon and welcome to Inverleith for our first
game back in the top flight of Scottish rugby in a decade.
It's great that this occasion is marked with a local derby
against one of our oldest rivals, Heriot's Rugby Club. To
their President Jock Millican and the rest of the Heriot's
Club, may I extend a warm welcome and wish you all the best
for the season ahead. Starting next weekend!
On the field, we will be represented by all bar one of
the squad who took us to promotion last season. Nick Penny
has, unfortunately, had to call time on his playing career,
but hopes to remain involved with coaching. Certainly, with
Grant MacKenzie, Stewart Bennet, Graham Ellis, Graham Shiel,
Stuart Thom and David Hunter, as well as Nick, forming our
coaching team, we are in a very fortunate position.
The squad has been bolstered over the summer by a number
of new arrivals. The biggest name is Craig Joiner, a 25
cap international, who joins us from Edinburgh Rugby, having
spent the last decade as a professional. Craig will link
up with Graham Shiel in a partnership that goes back to
the 1995 World Cup Quarter Final with New Zealand. Craig,
as you may remember, had the dubious honour of marking a
rampant Jonah Lomu.
Other additions see Andrew Easson (ex-Heriot's), Zane Gardiner
(ex-Peebles) and Niall Statham (ex-RHC) join from other
clubs, while Ross Samson, David McCall and Alex Cox join
from last year's School 1st XV. Richard Vernon and Colin
Goudie join us from Dundee High School, having played in
the last two Schools Cup Finals as well as last season's
Scotland U18 team. There are numerous other additions, and
all are very welcome at the Club - I hope they enjoy their
time here.
We have been allocated five professional players from the
Edinburgh Gunners squad this season, and they may be available
to play for us from time to time. Our 'Pros' are Andrew
Kelly, Craig Smith, Ally Hogg, Matt Dey and Peter Jorgensen.
We also have three apprentices with Edinburgh, namely Ross
Rennie, Andrew Easson and David McCall. They are all very
welcome at Inverleith, and we look forward to them becoming
part of the club. Those of you who have been around the
club for a while may remember a certain young Australian
arriving in season '92 / '93, and it's great to see Jorgo
back in Edinburgh. After more than a decade spent playing
rugby league in Australia and rugby union in England, the
best thing about Jorgo is that he's not changed a bit.
Pre-season has gone very well, with victories recorded
over Haddington (22-13), Blaydon (19-10) and Edinburgh Accies
(24-10). We have used over 36 players in the course of these
games, so we have a bigger squad than we have had for a
few years. We hope to field four XVs regularly this season,
and, through NERO (North Edinburgh Rugby Organisation),
we hope to be able to offer rugby to all those in north
Edinburgh who want to play on a Saturday afternoon. Our
partners in NERO are Heriot's, Inverleith, Edinburgh Northern
and Leith Accies.
A special thanks needs to go to Head Groundsman Willie Purdie
and his assistant Colin for the work done on the pitch.
It is in fantastic condition - probably the best I have
ever seen it - and is arguably the finest playing surface
in Scotland.
All that's left for me to do is hope that you all enjoy
the match this afternoon and hope that you are regular visitors
to Inverleith throughout the season. Please feel free to
visit the bar after the game
Riggers
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