Ex-Hawick, Melrose and Gala head coach Stuart Johnson takes over at Jed-Forest

That appointment will see him go up against the Maroons, his last club, in Scottish National League Division 1 next rugby season and he’ll also take on the Greens and their new Scottish Premiership rivals at the Greenyards if the Border League carries on in the league format it’s employing this time round.

Johnson’s targeting challenging for promotion back to the premiership following Jed’s relegation this spring but is fully aware that’ll be easier said than done, given Boroughmuir and Stirling County’s arrival in the division, with their ranks likely to be boosted by semi-professionals with experience of playing the likes of Ayrshire Bulls and Southern Knights, following the demise of the Fosroc Super Series franchises in the summer.

He’s planning to give it his best shot, though, and says he’s looking forward to the campaign ahead.

“It’ll be a good challenge,” he said.

“We’ve got a good coaching group set up now and the players are already there.

“It’s an exciting time for the club as they’ve come to realise what went wrong last season and they want to put that right.

“It’s exciting and it could be rewarding if we get it right on and off the pitch.

“The squad of players that are there shouldn’t be anywhere near the position they’re in.

“It’s just about how we can get them to gel a bit more and put in the performances on the park that they’re capable of.

“The first main goal for the club is to avoid the bottom three and get that one cemented but obviously we want to be as high up the table as possible,”.

“National 1’s not an easy league, as I know from coaching there with Gala and Melrose, but Jed shouldn’t be in it with the players they’ve got and we’ll be trying to put that right.”

Johnson’s not coached since leaving Gala in December 2022, seven months after taking over from Fraser Thomson as head coach, but he reckons the time is now right to give it another go.

“I’ve just been doing a bit of refereeing every now and again to help out, just bits and bobs really,” he said.

“I deliberately took a bit of time out after Gala as that left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth with what went on and I needed a bit of time away, then this opportunity came up with Jed and I spoke to few people involved there previously and got good feedback, so I decided to put my hat in the ring.”

Johnson is one of three new appointments, alongside former Jed prop Paulo Ferreira, being named as director of rugby and Ryan Ormiston helping out as an assistant coach following his return to the Borders from Australia.

Though Ferreira’s playing days are now over, Johnson is hoping to see other club stalwarts of recent years carry on to help him develop the next generation of young talent coming through at Jedburgh’s Riverside Park.

“I’ve had a good chat with some of the senior boys – the likes of Gregor Young, Robbie Shirra-Gibb, Clark Skeldon, Robert Hogg et cetera – and it looks like they’re all going to be around for next season, at the moment anyway, and there are some really good young boys there, and we’ve also got Ross Nichol coming back after being out of it for a year and a half,” he said.

“There’s definitely some good experience in there and some good younger players too and maybe a couple of guys coming back in who’ve been away for a period of time.”

Johnson is Jed’s third head coach in just over two years following the departures of Scott Tomlinson at the start of 2022 and his successor Andrew Brown last summer, the latter being replaced by an interim set-up overseen by David Grieve for Jed’s winless last top-flight season, their only victory being in the Border League against Peebles in March, by 32-15.