Currie expect toughest of battles to retain title

CURRIE coach Ally Donaldson's fierce competitiveness was clear when on the last day of last season he reminded journalists that no-one had predicted his side to top the Scottish Premier One table so soon after their debut win in 2006-7.

He enjoyed ramming the point home, more than once, but he will not have that opportunity again as his team have set a standard in beating Ayr and Melrose to the top last term that, with some handy summer recruitment, puts them firmly atop this year's forecasting table as the team to beat.

Very few clubs have managed to claim back-to-back league titles, in any sport, for various reasons, not least there are few surprises in a second season and every club that faces the champions are motivated hugely simply by that fact, and over-perform. The Malleny Park club struggled with the expectations after their terrific win four years ago, but Donaldson has already worked that out and believes there are reasons why his side should not slip off the pace so easily this time around.

"At that time we had a team that had peaked," he said, "so that was really the end for a core of that team. Players like Ally Warnock, Anton Edwards, Paul Huntly, Mark Blair and David Officer left after that and we had to rebuild, but the difference this time around is that I don't believe this team has peaked.

"At least I hope not. It's up to the team and coaching staff to improve now if we are going to compete again, though, because we might say this every year but I'm looking at the recruiting that's been going on, the experience teams have gained, like us, and I can see a more competitive league than ever this season."

Currie have the 'old heads' of Andy Adam, who will lead the 1st XV for a sixth time, and the reliable points machine Johnnie Smith, as the only thirtysomethings in the squad. The core now is a group of players in their early to mid-twenties who have developed good experience in the club game.Players such as Mark Cairns, Ross Weston, Alun Walker, James Taggart, Andy MacMahon and Richard Snedden are a reliable group of performers now supplemented by young talents in the shape of Dougie Fife, Matthew Scott and his brother Fergus, the captain of last year's Scottish Cup-winning colts team and Scotland Under-18 hooker.

Matthew, a talented fly-half, turned down the opportunity to join Glasgow 's elite development squad (academy) in order to complete law studies at Edinburgh University, and focus on a full season of rugby after injury and under-20 duties limited his involvement in the championship-winning year.

Currie have claimed the scalps of Blaydon and London Scottish in pre-season and Donaldson is in good heart, even if he has some reservations about the new split in the league after 11 games. He wishes it went further with end-of-season play-offs too. Currie will also enter the British and Irish Cup this season and many will watch and wonder as to whether the extra games in that competition will have the kind of impact on them that some felt stiffened Ayr's and killed Heriot's task of keeping in touch with the Malleny men last term.

The coach insists that the push to claim a top three slot provided others with extra motivation at the end of last season's campaign and will do so again this year, only teams know they will have to be in the top eight on the evening of 30 October if they are to have any chance of qualifying.

"There are good and bad sides to the split, probably," added Donaldson, "but what I have heard a lot from players in recent years is the question of how we can improve the league so that more games are meaningful and attractive to supporters.

"We had a massive, fantastic occasion when Ayr came to Malleny with their supporters for what was effectively a league decider, even though it wasn't in the sense we had more games to come, but their skipper Damien Kelly said to me straight afterwards that it would be great if we could have that every week. Everyone agrees and that was why the coaches all tried to put their heads together with the SRU and come up with something that would move us more towards that.

"The new system might not bring that straight away, and some aspects might not work well, but we have a league now where everyone will be desperate to get into the top eight places before the first 11 games are up, to then get in and challenge for the league title and the three British and Irish Cup places, and the teams that miss out will have a series of relegation battles, so either way there shouldn't be many dead rubbers."

There are concerns over the prospect of no teams being relegated from Premier One and none coming up from the second division when the dust settles on the middle eight battles, and of an imbalance over teams having more away games than at home, or even more away games in the second half than at home when the title will be decided.But Donaldson is right to assume there will be more excitement about matches throughout this season. His enthusiasm for the new season is easy to detect, but so is there a clear element of nervousness over just how strong the teams desperate to steal Currie's crown will prove to be.

COACHES: Ally Donaldson, Graham Hogg and Campbell Reynolds

CAPTAIN: Andy Adam (sixth season)

INS: Tom Brown (Edinburgh Accies), Ross Merrilees (Stewart's Melville), Fraser Strachan (back from Peebles).

OUTS: Chris Kinloch and Jamie Thompson (both leave for university in September), Willie Moala (back to New Zealand).

LAST SEASON: League champions, semi-finalists in the cup.