After a humiliating couple of weeks on and off the pitch, Craig Chalmers has to live with personal regrets as he prepares to return to centre stage by leading Melrose to Murrayfield on Saturday for the Scottish Hydro Cup final. David Ferguson writes in The Scotsman.
"It is a chance to make headlines for the right reasons: his side will become the first in Scottish rugby history to feature in three successive cup finals and have the opportunity to become only the third club in cup history, following Glasgow Hawks and Boroughmuir, to win the trophy three times.
They face up to final newcomers Ayr, who Chalmers rates as favourites by dint of them still being in the hunt for a rare league and cup double, but though confident, the chastened coach is clearly just pleased to have the opportunity to help play a part in atoning for an outburst which saw him arrested, detained overnight and fined £60 after he was refused entry to a Melrose Sevens party by door stewards. He has admitted that the past fortnight have been a couple of the toughest weeks of his life.
He told The Scotsman: "The position I put myself in two weeks ago was unforgivable and I hugely regret the embarrassment I've caused to my family, the club, Melrose supporters and the SRU. I have important roles as a husband, father, a club coach, where I demand high standards of my players on and off the pitch, as an ambassador for the club and as a coach with Scotland Under-20s, and these things mean everything to me."
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