County collect national awards

May 27 2009 by Alan Rennie, Stirling Observer Wednesday

STIRLING County was well represented at last week’s Scottish Rugby Awards ceremony at Murrayfield.

Towering lock Grant Gilchrist was named under-19 player of the year while the accolade of Scotland’s best youth coach went to Douglas McCulloch.

Gilchrist was almost an ever-present in the County 1st XV in his debut senior season. And he also skippered the Scottish under-19 side.

A couple of weeks ago, “Gilcho” was called into the Scotland under-20 squad that jets off this Friday to Tokyo for the Under-20 World Cup.

Also in the squad is club team-mate Robbie McGowan. They’ll be playing pool games against Samoa on June 5, England on June 9 and hosts Japan on June 13.

Douglas McCulloch’s award was equally well merited.

This year he helped bring County’s under-18 team to their second successive victory at the Youth Cup Final at Murrayfield. He also contributed five players to the Scotland under-18 national side and many others to the Caledonia district teams.

“During his eight year tenure at Stirling County,” the awards audience were told, “he has created an inventive, fun approach to training which has shone through in the ambition of his players.”

Also receiving praise in the past week has been another Stirling lad, the ex-County star Ally Hogg.

After watching his Edinburgh side defeat Cardiff 36-14, head coach Andy Robinson singled out stand-in captain Allister Hogg for his performance against Cardiff and also for his overall contribution to the season.

The back rower has clocked up 1410 minutes of Magners League rugby and started all 18 games for Edinburgh.

“I would like to give Ally Hogg a special mention because I feel he deserves it,” said Robinson. “He really led from the front and produced a top performance.

“To have started every game this season is a great achievement and he has made a massive contribution towards the team finishing in second place in the league.”

Hogg, who was rather harshly treated by the Scottish selectors in this season’s Six Nations, has added a new dimension to the Scotland 7s squad.

His experience and talent helped Scotland to a best-ever semi-final outing in the Twickenham tournament at the weekend.

Losing 26-12 to hosts England in the semi will have been a bitter pill but Scotland’s overall showing will give them confidence for the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens Festival at Murrayfield this Saturday and Sunday.

Hogg and another Stirling-born player, Mike Adamson, are in the Scots squad. They play England (12.09pm), Kenya (3.13pm) and Canada (6.56pm) in their pool games on Saturday.