Exciting times ahead for Lanark Rugby Club

Lanark Rugby Club youngsters (from left) Murray Lean, Jamie Morrow, Liam Grant & Lewis Campbell have been selected BT Academy Stage 1 coaching programme (Submitted pic)

Lewis Campbell, Liam Grant, Jamie Morrow and Murray Lean, all students at Lanark’s School of Rugby, will receive additional specialist training from top coaches.

Lanark Rugby Club president Iain Hughes said: “This is with a view to these boys potentially representing a Glasgow under-15 or under-16 team next year.

“They will develop through Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 so that they are at a high enough level to play for a youth team of someone like Glasgow Warriors or Edinburgh.

“It shows the progress the boys have made at Lanark under their coach Shabaz Khan.

“These boys are very young and very raw. But we wouldn’t have put them forward for this if we didn’t think they were good enough.

“If you don’t buy a ticket you won’t win the lottery.

“They have the attributes and qualities we believe will progress them to the next level so fingers crossed that will happen.”

The good news just keeps on coming for Lanark Rugby Club, with a £12,000 clubhouse kitchen upgrade at their Lanark Racecourse base having just been completed and the aforementioned Lewis Campbell being selected as a mascot for the Scotland v Ireland Six Nations match at Murrayfield this Saturday, February 4.

Iain added: “This work on the clubhouse has given us more storage space and we’ve now got a prep room area.

“It’s absolutely brilliant. We invested in it heavily and that kitchen won’t need to be touched now for the next 20 years.

“And it’s great that Lewis will be a mascot at the Scotland v Ireland game.

“The SRU decided that one of our boys should be mascot as a reward for all our efforts with the School of Rugby.

“There was a random draw and it was Lewis’s name that was picked out.

“He gets to go to the game with his family and walk out onto the park with the players. He is really excited and looking forward to it.”

Iain revealed that £5000 of the costs for the clubhouse upgrade were covered by a Clyde Windfarm Trust grant.

Additional money came from Lanark Rugby Club’s 200 Club – which exists specifically to pay for maintenance and upkeep of the clubhouse – plus sponsors and local businesses.

Twenty of Lewis’s fellow students will support the youngster on his Scotland mascot duties.

And Iain revealed that over 100 people will be in a Lanark Rugby Club party attending the Scotland v Wales game at Murrayfield on February 25.