IT used to be said that a strong Yorkshire was a prerequisite for England's cricketers being a powerful team and similar claims have been made for Hawick's rugby club down the decades.

In these days of professional competitions, with players isolated from the communities which produced them, the analogy has lost some of its efficacy, but it still remains a convincing argument that Scotland have never been the international force they used to be in the 1980s and early 1990s since the Borders influence on the side's fortunes began to diminish.

So what can be done to revive such organisations as Hawick? Well, thankfully, the Mansfield Park committee has already started the process by appointing Nikki Walker as their coach. This is the fellow who has grown up eating sleeping and breathing rugby since he went to school in the town which brought us such luminaries as Jim Renwick, Bill McLaren and 1990 grand slam-winning try-scorer Tony Stanger.

And Walker's own career, which includes 24 Scotland caps and prolific stints with the Border Reivers and the Ospreys, is a testament to the qualities which characterised the Aberdeen-born winger; unstinting determination, an eye for the try line, the ability to rally from a series of injuries and the ability to ghost past would-be defenders.

Now, however, his responsibility lies in reviving the once-fabled Green Machine and he was as delighted as anybody with their nerve-shredding victory over Ayr on Saturday; a result which demonstrated the capacity of the BT Premiership to serve up shocks on a weekly basis. "We needed the win, because we had to settle for bonus-point defeats in our previous two matches where we could have won both them," said Walker.

"I glanced at the fixture list last Friday and actually thought every single contest could go either way and that is how I expect it to be for the rest of the season.

"It's obviously terrific for spectators, but it also shows how attitudes have changed among the coaches and the players. This year, we have lots of young coaches who have moved from the pro set-up, so there is a real sense of ambition and of hitting the ground running.

"The players, meanwhile, have made it clear they want to chase contracts at Glasgow and Edinburgh and although we are still amateur in name, a lot of these boys are pushing themselves to the limit to forge careers. You have to be at the top of your game every weekend otherwise you'll get beaten. I think that is a very healthy situation."

In former times, Hawick was synonymous with tough-as-teak customers. There was no room for prima donnas or those who believed that offering 90% was adequate in their ranks and, despite suffering relegation twice in recent years, one detects their mindset hasn't fundamentally changed.

What has altered is acceptance that the sport can't exist in a bubble or take its volunteer army for granted. Instead, new partnerships have to be established and that is where somebody such as Walker can be so effective. He has played nearly all his rugby in the two parts of Britain - the Borders and Wales - where the round ball isn't king. And he aims to keep it that way.

"It is still a big deal down here and you often find mums and dads wanting their kids to choose rugby over football," said Walker.

"We have been doing our best to make families feel welcome. We don't have the numbers we used to do, but there is plenty of interest at youth level and we are planning to build as many bridges as possible to help spread the gospel.

"We also want to do our best to keep encouraging talented youngsters to go through all the age groups and eventually offer them an opportunity in the pro game. You saw how quickly Stuart Hogg burst into the limelight and he's a proud Hawick boy. So there is still a passion for rugby in these parts."

He isn't so Micawberish as to suggest the glory period of the 1970s might return. But Walker is a redoubtable customer and there will be no slacking on his watch.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

There might have been some doubts as to whether Boroughmuir could rise to the challenge of life in the top tier after they lost their opening match at home to Stirling County, but the Meggetland men have responded in the best possible fashion and showed their calibre with a 31-26 success over reigning champions Melrose, on an afternoon when there were all manner of upsets.

TALKING POINTS

Nobody questions the rising impact of Glasgow Warriors in the European stage, but could their exploits be at the expense of the city's amateur clubs? Hawks slipped to a heavy defeat at Gala and Hillhead-Jordanhill were thrashed by Selkirk. The Premiership isn't in any way a national competition at the moment, with no Aberdeen or Dundee representation and just one Glasgow side in the mix.