Cairns juggles wedding plans to fit in tie against Japan

THE ARRIVAL of a Japanese rugby team in Scotland next week has made for some interesting wedding planning in the Currie camp.

Mark Cairns, one of the mainstays of the club's Premier One triumphs in 2007 and this year, is marrying his German fiance Eva on Sunday and they were all set up to take her family on a tour of the Scottish Highlands next week. When Currie won the league championship, however, they received a bonus of being invited to play a Japanese A side at Malleny Park on Tuesday, 25 May and the 26-year-old knew it was a game he could not miss.

"We have come to a mutual agreement," he said. "Thankfully, Eva is fantastic and very supportive of my rugby – she has even learned all the laws of rugby – and we have managed to reschedule things a bit on Tuesday. I'm going up to the Highlands with the family on Monday, but I've got a hire car arranged so that I can get back in plenty of time for the game and Eva and the rest will come down to Currie on the bus because they want to see it too.

"It's one of those games that as a club player you would not want to look back on and wish you'd been involved. Because I'm a PE teacher we knew our real honeymoon would not be possible until the summer holidays, so I think I've got away with it, just."

Currie have seven of their championship-winning side from two weeks ago either injured or unavailable, including overseas stars Willie Moala, Johnnie Smith and Ryan Wilson, while under-20 talents Matt Scott and James Taggart are also ruled out. Coach Ally Donaldson has managed to call in three former Currie players in Edinburgh hooker Andrew Kelly, Opeta Palepoi, the Samoan lock, and Kevin McShane and Glasgow full-back Peter Horne has also agreed to help out.

Cairns added: "This is a great opportunity for club players. I've been a great supporter of my brother Ben (the Edinburgh and Scotland centre] and love watching him at Murrayfield, but part of you does wish you had the chance to play an international team and this is probably as close as most of us will get.

"But we know we're also representing Scottish rugby and we want to put on a good show."

Currie (v Japan A at Malleny Park on Tuesday, 25 May, 7.30pm): P Horne; K McShane, G Whyte, A MacMahon, C Kinloch; A Binikos, R Snedden; J Cox, A Kelly, A Hamilton, A Adam (capt), O Palepoi, M Cairns, J Thomson, R Weston. Subs: A Reekie, N Scobie, G Temple, M Blair, F Strachan, A Whittingham, S Walker.