There was good news for clubs on both sides of the Central Belt as the services of two valuable loose forwards were announced. Glasgow Warriors have managed to secure the services of prodigal son Richie Vernon once more while Roddy Grant has extended his contract with Edinburgh Rugby.
Richie Vernon who has previously been part of the set up at Glasgow will be returning to the club next season from Aviva Premiership club Sale Sharks where he has been since the 2011/2012 season. He has signed a three year which means he will be playing his home games at Scotstoun Stadium until at least May 2016.
Roddy Grant has extended his contract with Edinburgh for the next two years, pledging his future to the club until the end of the 2014/2015 season.
| Richie Vernon | Roddy Grant | |
| 7 July 1987 | Date of birth | 31 January 1987 |
| Dundee, Scotland | Place of birth | Botswana |
| 1.96m | Height | 1.83m |
| 103 kg | Weight | 97 kg |
| 20 | Scotland caps | 12 – Scotland A |
The 25 year old Richie Vernon is a versatile quick and skilful loose forward who has played flank and eighth man and is this season’s joint top try scorer for Sale Sharks, with five tries. In total he has scored ten tries for Sale in the 44 games that he has played for them thus far.
He impressed particularly during his appearances in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. However, his participation lately with the national team has been as part of the broader Six Nations training squad and he is yet to make it into the match day squad for this year’s tournament. One wonders if the struggles of Sale Sharks this year have played a role in this and so coming back to play his rugby in Scotland may just reignite his international career.
However, he will have to fight hard to gain a regular starting spot at Glasgow as they have built up good depth among their loose forwards and at present have a formidable trio in Josh Strauss, Rob Harley and the strong man Ryan Wilson. In addition they presently also have other promising back row options in James Eddie, young Chris Fusaro and the experienced John Barclay, although Barclay has been struggling a bit with injury this year and one feels he has not consistently reached his high standards.
Roddy Grant’s direct opponent for the open side flanker spot at Edinburgh is stalwart Ross Rennie who made a big impact for Scotland in last year’s Six Nations but has been struggling with injury this year. David Denton, Stuart McInally and the development player Hamish Watson complete the loose forward line up for Edinburgh who are also able to play for Scotland. In addition they have Georgian Dimitri Basilaia and Fijian Netani Talei as back row options.
Grant was born in Botswana but moved to Cape Town at a young age where part of his schooling took place at Bishops before he went on to Hilton College where he captained their team and played for Natal schools. He also played water polo for South Africa as a youngster and has represented Scotland rugby at under 19, under 20 and A team level as well as in the Sevens.