Scottish club rugby starts its new season on Saturday with renewed credibility.
RBS Premier One’s longest serving head coach, Dundee HSFP’s Ian Rankin, has seen the game at all levels and believes the top league has secured itself a vital role in the preparation of players for the professional game.
The Mayfield director of rugby, who has coached Scotland A, Scotland Clubs and Edinburgh, pinpointed the success of David Denton who started last year at Stirling County, played the last two months for Edinburgh and eventually made the Scotland World Cup training squad.
“Academy players would previously come to Premier One clubs and maybe not be all that interested, but these days the competition is so good they are properly engaged with their teams,” said Rankin.
“David was a good example of a young guy getting bigger and stronger in training and all he needed was just learn how to play games, and look at how quickly he developed thanks to his Premier One appearances.
“We have the Academy guys contributing, and you look at all 12 clubs in Premier One this year and see the impressive guys they’ve brought in, while the new sponsorship from RBS just lend us greater credibility as well.”
Dundee have recruited strongly and have a new-look backline for Saturday’s opener against Boroughmuir at Meggetland, including two recruits from Australia, centre Robbie Lavery and full back Cameron Wyper, both recommended by former full-back Aubrey Horton who played with them at Sydney Souths this summer.
Wyper is Scottish-qualified as is former Bath Academy fly-half Cam Brown, while wing Andy McLean has come over the Tay from Howe of Fife.
However the best news for the backline might be the retention of centre Harry Duthie and a fully-fit James Fleming, who is on a Scotland Sevens contract but should be available until the IRB Series starts next year.
Up front, it’s roughly the same pack as last year for Dundee with Neil Dymock taking over the captaincy from Richie Hawkins and Andy Redmayne coming in to the back row.
Rankin continued: “We were in the dales of Yorkshire last week doing some goal-setting for the year, and the message is clearly that in this league if we stand still we’ll get left behind.
“We have competition all over the squad and that’s vital, because even the most conscientious player will get a wee bit complacent if he’s absolutely sure of his place.”
Premier Three will see Kirkcaldy looking to bounce back up after relegation, while Howe of Fife continues to produce young talent and will be among the favourites for promotion. Perthshire and Morgan had long battles against relegation in 2010/11 and will seek to solidify their Premier status again.
Dunfermline dropped into the last remaining National League division but may not stay there for long, given some impressive pre-season wins including a rout last week of Premier Three club Dalziel.
The redrawn Caledonia leagues has retained one pan-district division with the rest now on more reasonable regional lines to provide welcome savings in travel costs, start next week with the preliminary rounds of the RBS Shield and Bowl providing kick-off action.
In the Shield, Glenrothes open against Aberdeenshire at Carleton Park while the pick of the Bowl fixtures has Harris Academy FP taking on Stirling University at Elliot Road.
RBS League and Cup matches this weekend:Premier One: Boroughmuir v Dundee HSFP.Premier Three: Kirkcaldy v Dalziel, Howe of Fife v Haddington, Lasswade v Perthshire, Ardrossan Accies v Morgan.National League One: Dunfermline v Garnock.Caledonia Shield first round: Glenrothes v Aberdeenshire, Mackie Academy FP v Hillfoots, Orkney Caithness, Gordonians v Highland.Caledonia Bowl first round: Harris Academy FP v Stirling University, Bannockburn v Carnoustie HSFP, Arbroath v Crieff & Strathearn.