Rugby comes first for Currie's happy Kiwi

The lock has left an enviable lifestyle behind in New Zealand, reminding his Scottish wife Helena (nee Petrie) of the near unbeatable rival for his affections in the shape of the oval ball game.

In fairness he does admit: ''It was touch and go whether I came here this season. Helena and I were married in March and we've got a mortgage to pay for. If she hadn't been accepted to join the police I couldn't have come here, but she's paying half the mortgage and I've got a good mate paying the other half,'' he explains.

''I also work for myself, but my partner in our carpentry business just told me to go for it and he just wouldn't work so much.''

In short, no sooner was the honeymoon over than Laugerson was planning to abandon wife, home and business for the joys of life at what has tended to be regarded as an unfashionable Scottish rugby club.

If the woman who left Scotland with the big fellow she met on one of his previous visits to play for Currie was previously in any doubt as to the importance of rugby to the average New Zealander, she has none now.

In time, though, she will come to find that her partner for life is a steadfast soul with a true sense of devotion towards those he loves.

''It's not as if there's any money in it,'' grins Laugerson. ''I'm a really loyal club man, having only ever had two clubs, Napier Tech in Hawkes Bay and Currie. I wouldn't have come to Scotland to play for any other side.''

Having first arrived at Balerno almost a decade ago as a 21-year-old, he has returned frequently.

Graham ''Greco'' Hogg, the Scotland A coach who still helps coach Currie's first team was there, current coach Bruce Macnaughton was the stand-off while Ally Donaldson and flanker John Clinkenbeard were at the club.

Since then, though, almost everything else has changed.

''There's a big difference in the level of basic skills, even when you see the seconds and thirds - although there has been some degree of improvement in New Zealand so the gap remains - but I think the fact that both Greco and Bruce have been over to New Zealand has made a big difference to the coaching,'' Laugerson observes.

On the downside the social scene has suffered.

''The game is more professional in outlook, so it was bound to quieten down,'' he says in a tone of mock regret. ''When I first came you could go out five nights a week, but make up for it by playing and training really hard. Now everyone has an eye on the future.''

While believing that had he not spent four previous New Zealand summers in Scotland, the last of them five years ago, at a key stage in his career, he might have aspired to provincial rugby, Laugerson is under no illusions about his ability, describing himself as ''a team man who can fit in with anyone.''

However, after last season's boiler-house was dismantled, Mark Blair leaving for Ulster and Andy Lucking to Edinburgh Reivers, Currie could hardly have hoped for a better individual to help bring on Scottish Schools captain Andrew Russell.

Indeed, if any side has the nucleus of experience required to challenge Melrose this season it must be Currie, the likes of Donaldson, Clinkenbeard, Bruce Ward, Alan Watt and Murray Craig surrounding promising youngsters like Russell and Geoff Caldwell.

Their disappointment last weekend at not having beaten Boroughmuir by a bigger margin showed their ambition, rather than any contempt for their neighbours.

Melrose, then, may have particular reason today to regret not having the rugged old-timer who would be best able to police the wily Laugerson to call upon, captain Robbie Brown's absence likely to prove much more telling than was his departure last week against a Watsonians side which may take several more weeks to form an understanding.

That impression of the Myresiders may be reinforced at Burnbrae, where West of Scotland coach Guy Curtis, upset at last week's defeat at Jed-Forest, has moved to stand-off from full back in order to have greater control over proceedings.

Courtesy of snatching an unlikely win from Stirling County last weekend with two late scores, Hawick, with Keith Davidson adding a cutting edge to their back play, will be pleasantly surprised to find themselves installed as favourites against last season's trailblazers, Glasgow Hawks, who knew this may prove a difficult year, having lost so many players to superteams.

As for Stirling, their trip to Meggetland to meet Boroughmuir may indicate just how significant that defeat by Hawick was.

This time last year the meeting of Heriot's FP and Jed-Forest would have had similar implications, yet wins for both last weekend mean today's game provides more of a gauge to how optimistic they are entitled to feel.