It was a sad day at Riverside Park last Saturday as one of the great names in Scottish Rugby dropped out of the top 20 and into the third tier Championship.
It was always going to be a tough ask with Jed-Forest’s stars out injured or unavailable, and while the many teenagers drafted into the side to take on one of the best teams in Scotland – Glasgow Hawks – played their hearts out, the gulf in class was there for all to see and Hawks ran in 10 tries as they head for promotion back to the Premiership (see report on page 101).
For Jed, Michael Weekley was immense, typifying the spirit of what it means to play for the jersey, and speaking after the game he was in no doubt over what his future holds.
He said: “I always play with my heart on my sleeve and I love this club. When I put on this jersey I give 100 per cent and I will continue to do that. I think it’s only right that the team that got us relegated plays again next year to get us back up, but that’s only my opinion.”
Weekley was referring to the possibility that some of the club’s key players may opt to leave in order to play at a higher level.
“We have some really talented players down here,” he added.
“We have the Young twins but, we’ll probably lose them and that will be a huge loss to us. Ross Goodfellow and Neil Cook are just about at retiring age, while young Glen Young has huge potential and if someone came and asked for him it would be difficult for him to say no. We’ll just have to wait and see, though.”
Work is not done for Jed yet, however. On Saturday, they face Hawick at Riverside with Phil Leck’s men keen to consolidate a play-off position which ultimately could throw them up against Melrose.
So close is the lower threequarters of the Premiership that if ’Rose win their two remaining games, they could retain their British & Irish Cup status next season, but two defeats would take them perilously close to a relegation play-off.
Melrose director of rugby Mike Dalgetty said: “Although there’s no sign of the weather improving, things are certainly about to heat up during the next three weeks. Sandwiched in the middle is a cup semi-final, so the entire season will be defined by the next three results.”
For other weekend rugby fixtures, see page 92.