THERE will be no easy introduction to the new British and Irish Cup for the Scottish sides after they drew perhaps the strongest teams in the competition.
The pools for next season's new competition were announced yesterday and Scottish Cup winners Heriot's are in Pool C with Bristol, recently relegated from the Guinness Premiership, as well as Munster's A team – likely to feature some players current
ly touring with Ireland – alongside Coventry, Nottingham and Neath.
Ayr, the SHE Division 1 champions, are in Pool D with Doncaster, who are coached by former Edinburgh chief Lynn Howells and include Scots Ali Warnock, Stevie McColl and Neil Cochrane, as well as Rotherham, Birmingham & Solihull, Pontypridd and Cardiff.
The third Scottish team, The Thistles, will play Leinster A, the Cornish Pirates, Plymouth Albion, Exeter Chiefs and Newport. The Thistles will be drawn from the SRU's National Academy and Edinburgh and Glasgow fringe players.
Graeme Beveridge has just retired as a professional player with Bristol after two seasons at the Memorial Stadium. The former Peebles, Glasgow and Scotland scrum-half is staying in Bristol with his wife Ceri and five-year-old son Josh, having recently qualified as a financial adviser, and will take over as player-coach with Old Redcliffians next season.
He said: "The first thing you think when you see Bristol paired with Heriot's is bad luck Heriot's. The gulf between them is night and day; pretty scary really. But Bristol have lost a lot of their big-earners because they've gone down and won't be as strong as they were, and if you look beyond the results it could be good to expose more talented young Scottish players to this level. There is a bit of a mix in the second division in England and I don't think Rotherham, Doncaster and Birmingham will be as strong for Ayr."
Heriot's coach Bob McKillop insisted: "We're genuinely delighted to have got Munster; what a challenge. We will meet our former second row Ian Nimmo, who is now at Nottingham, and it's exciting to be up against such famous rugby names. It represents a fantastic opportunity for our players."
Kenny Murray, the Ayr coach, said: "We're very excited by our draw. We didn't expect there would be any easy games given the teams involved, but we have a massive opportunity to get the Ayrshire public behind us for big cross-border matches."
The fixtures are still to be confirmed.
• Canadian international DTH van der Merwe is heading to Glasgow Warriors next season, according to Canucks coach Kieran Crowley.
The South African-born 23-year-old, whose first names are Daniel Tailliferre Hauman, will play at outside centre in the Canada side to face Wales in Toronto tomorrow, a week after proving a handful against Ireland on the wing in Vancouver.
Crowley said: "He's an accomplished player, he's going to be playing in Scotland next year for Glasgow."
The full article contains 494 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
