Callum heads south to Premiership giants

Former Stirling County starlet Callum Hunter-Hill has joined English giants Saracens following a successful season-long loan down south.

He was contracted with Edinburgh up until the summer of 2021 but fell out of favour under head coach Richard Cockerill and, after short-term loan spells with London Scottish and Newcastle Falcons, he moved to Allianz Park on an academy loan deal last September.

The 23-year-old made 10 appearances for Saracens (six starts and four bench appearances) in the Gallagher Premiership and Champions Cup last season, and has now been awarded with a deal which will keep him in London until the summer of 2023.

“It’s a mixture of relief and just happiness,”said Hunter-Hill.“No questions about it really, I was totally excited and really keen to sign my future here and settle down at such a great environment and a great place to be.

“I’m so excited to fulfil the potential I feel I’ve been riding off for quite a while and really keen to get the most out of myself and here really is the best place to do that.“It’s a pretty exciting project to be a part of. The young players here are going to take their game to another level next year in the Championship and that’s going to be a great thing.

“I really wanted to be a part of that and I really want to be a part of that rebuild not only for next year but for the foreseeable future.”

Meanwhile, Stirling County, Bannockburn and Strathendrick will all benefit from Scottish Rugby’s Club Hardship Fund (CHF) which was set up in March in immediate response to the threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The CHF was designed to help with club running costs between then and July, a period during which no rugby was expected to be played and no income earned.