Life is tough in the dog-eat-dog lower divisions of Scottish rugby.
Yet if you are looking for somebody to forage and snipe, ferret and fast-forward youngsters with a terrier-like refusal to succumb to obstacles, you could do a lot worse than talk to Grant Talac, the coach of Musselburgh.
This, after all, is a fellow who used to pound the beat in the footsteps of the famous Milne brothers, Iain, Kenny and David at Goldenacre, and who has grown accustomed to putting his body on the line.
Musselburgh have been one of Scotland's success stories down the years, nurturing generations of players from their Stoneyhill base, and they have enjoyed an auspicious start to the campaign.
They sit at the summit of the Scottish Championship B League, where they have a two-point lead over Jed-Forest, albeit they have played one match more than their Borders rivals. In a campaign which is already shaping up to be a three-horse race between these two clubs and Howe of Fife, there is added piquancy in the fact that Brian Hughes only left East Lothian to begin coaching duties in Jedburgh during the summer. So there are few things that Talac and Hughes don't know about one another.
"It is shaping up to be a tough battle, but I have to be happy with how we have done so far, because we have only lost once [at Riverside Park] and we got a bonus point down there, which could prove valuable in the long run," said Talac, who is continuing to combine the duties of player and coach. "We are missing a few experienced guys, which means we have had to bring in six of our second XV in recent weeks. But they have responded well and it looks as if it could boil down to which clubs manage to avoid injury and have enough strength in depth. "Some of our opponents are struggling, which is a concern. Lasswade had to cancel at the weekend, because of a lack of front-row cover, and I know of other cases where clubs are being forced to dig deep. It happened to us last year, where we had so many injuries that we had to go to our fourth-choice scrum-half and seventh-choice flanker, but we have a talented Colts side and have proved we can stand up to anybody in this division."
Some officials have looked for refuge in the easy target of blaming the SRU for their woes. But, to his credit, Talac is as direct and honest in his conversation as he ever was in the thick of a scrum.
"From where we are, I would hope we could be in the mix to advance to the Scottish National League and that is an important means of hanging on to your best youngsters, otherwise they are simply advised to move to a bigger club," said Talac, whose team tackle Murrayfield Wandererers next weekend. "I reckon it will be two from three, but if we can keep winning, we can keep things in our own hands."
Club of the week
Hawick looked as if they might be toiling in the first few weeks of their return to the Premiership. But the Mansfield Park side have never lacked for guts or gumption and gained an important victory when they beat Heriots in Edinburgh on Saturday. It pushes them 13 points clear of bottom club, Currie, and that is a lot of ground for the stragglers to make up in the second half of the campaign.
Talking point
Gala have been one of the shining lights on the Scottish domestic circuit of late, but there is no glossing over a defeat on the scale of the 86-8 loss which they suffered against Leeds Carnegie in the British & Irish Cup. With reigning Premiership holders Ayr also enduring a heavy loss - 53-10 - at home to Cornish Pirates, the cross-border tournament is turning into a bit of a nightmare for the home-based contingent.
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