Well-respected forwards Pete McCallum and Jack Turley are to co-captain the PROJECX Waterboys at the Hong Kong 10s in April.
The Waterboys team was initially started in 2012 with the aim of providing younger players, with a link to Scotland, the opportunity to visit the world’s largest tournaments.
The team this year is set to be filled with talent from the BT Premiership and beyond and the Waterboys are seeded eighth for the Hong Kong event which take place on April 5 and 6.
Pete is the Ayr skipper who also led the Scotland Club XV against English Counties in February while former Heriot’s man Jack, who now plays for Fylde down south, once turned out for Edinburgh Rugby.
On the honour of being named co-captain of the Waterboys 24-year-old back-row Pete said: “It’s a massive honour to be asked to co-captain the Waterboys in what is the world’s best 10s tournament that attracts the best invitational sides in the world.
“As always Alistair Munro and the coaches have put together an exciting squad with so much talent from the BT Premiership, which will hopefully play great attacking and high tempo rugby.
“So many great players have competed in this event so I am really looking forward to the team testing ourselves and hopefully building on last year’s performance.”
This will be Pete’s second outing with the Waterboys having made his debut in Stockholm last year where they won the tournament.
It will be Jack’s third outing with the Waterboys having played in Hong Kong and Dubai in 2016.
The 28-year-old Kiwi back-row said: “It is a big honour to be named co-captain. We had a good tournament last year putting the Waterboys on the map at the elite level and we are looking to improve this year.
“We have a very strong squad together this year with a good mixture of skill sets, 10s is a more physical game than sevens and we will be ready for that.
“The tournament is full of top level and young and upcoming players looking to make their mark on the big stage, so it’s a great tournament.
Pete is still battling it out with Ayr for two domestic trophies, the BT Premiership and the BT Cup, while Jack has enjoyed testing himself with Fylde after a very successful few years at Heriot’s in Edinburgh.
With such an exciting pool of players, the Waterboys will play with lots of attack and flare and progress well in the tournament,” said Pete ahead of the Hong Kong trip.
“There are so many standout players who can change the game in an instant that I’m sure we will do what is needed to progress far in the event.”
Jack added: “We will play a very entertaining style of rugby showing off the talent we have in our squad. Most importantly we will play the rugby needed to advance as far as possible.”
The PROJECX Waterboys are in Pool A at the Hong Kong 10s with last year’s winners Penguins International, the Irish Vikings and the Devils Advocate Dragons.
Once again PROJECX, International Power and Water Investments, JA Resorts & Hotels, Ace Property Management , Sarcogent Solutions and Ethigen are supporting the team. They also have a range of new sponsors including Kyloe Restaurant (Signature Pubs), Orion Systems, St. Julians Advisory, 4 Navitas and Bureau.
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