Rugby: Captain Crombie embraces raft of emerging Boroughmuir talent

Capped at Under-17 and Under-18 level, Crawley has had to wait patiently for his chance through injury, but now he is set to become the latest Meggetlander to graduate to the professional scene.

Captain Sean Crombie is delighted to welcome on board a player who has turned out in friendlies such as last week’s run-out at Hamilton, especially as Sep Visser has been drafted into the Edinburgh squad which visits Munster in the RaboDirect Pro 12 League. If Visser turns out it will be his competitive debut at Edinburgh level having started ten out of 11 league games with ‘Muir.

Crombie says: “It’s been good and bad for our club helping the likes of Harry Leonard, Robin Hislop and now Sep Visser into the Edinburgh set-up but we are pleased to play our part in their development, especially knowing there are others like Mike knocking on the door of the first team.

“Whenever he has been fit, Mike has looked really sharp and the back-up he provides at a time when Malcolm Clapperton is a long-term injury is really valuable.

“Malcolm isn’t going to go on forever at centre so this could be the start of a long run for a player who joined us over the summer from Stewart’s Melville.”

Priority for Crombie is seeing Boroughmuir succeed in closing out tight games.

“Had our Premiership defeats against Heriot’s (12-15), Melrose (22-24), Dundee (25-31) and Currie (15-18) produced another score in our favour we could have been sitting high up instead of just finishing inside the top group of eight teams,” he added.

“Currie’s visit is a case in point where we got close but not close enough.

“Tomorrow sees the start of our bid to go the whole way in the Cup and it is essential we get off to a good start.”

The elevation of the younger Visser means Graeme Blackhall comes in while Matt Harvey starts at second row. Ally Davidson is on the bench after recovering from flu.

For Currie, the match marks a return to domestic matters after back-to-back British and Irish Cup ties.

Andrew Binikos returns, allowing Jamie Forbes to move from stand-off to full-back while James Johnstone switches to centre.

At scrum-half, Jonny Bruton replaces Chris Leck, who was on loan from Edinburgh in helping Currie keep a strong Ulster side in check for 72 minutes before falling away in the closing stages last week.

Currie coach Ally Donaldson says: “Our team has a more settled look than during the B & I Cup when we had a lot of injuries. However, we hope to put the lessons from those matches and the quality of most of our play into good effect.”

Elsewhere, Watsonians head for Biggar in the regional cup.