Former Birkmyre youth player makes professional rugby debut

Rhu starred in the Warriors' 40-7 United Rugby Championship win at home to Dragons on Saturday night.

His rugby career started at Birkmyre in Primary 4 and he remained with the club until reaching the U15/16 age group.

He developed his basic skills at the club and grew as a player competing through the age groups.

In 2019, Rhu captained the Birkmyre side who took park in the Hilversum Rugby Tournament in the Netherlands. This is an annual tournament that attracts clubs from across the UK, Europe and as far away as South Africa. He also led the club to win the West Region Shield.

Glasgow Warriors have been recognising the clubs the players started their careers at in recent weeks. As a mark of respect and recognition, the players wore their original club's socks during the match on Saturday, meaning Rhu was wearing the red and white of Birkmyre.

Rhu, from Lochwinnoch, also attended Glasgow Academy and progressed through the SRU’s Pathway Programme, ultimately signing for Glasgow Warriors and also playing for Glasgow Hawks as part of his development.

As well as making his Warriors debut from the bench on Saturday, he is in his second and final year of playing for Scotland U20s and is currently one of the vice-captains of their 6 Nations squad.

Stuart Cruickshank, one of Rhu’s former coaches at Birkmyre commented: "We are all immensely proud of Rhu and what he has achieved. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get to where he has and we are delighted that we were able to start him on his journey at Birkmyre.”