Going from being head coach of an Arnold Clark East Region League Division 1 side to taking charge of a national rugby team isn’t exactly a career path well trodden but it’s a move about to be made by Borderer Jason Hendrie according to By Darin Hutson from Southern Reporter.
Ignoring the advice of “don’t go too near” dispensed by US singer Barry Manilow in his 1981 single Bermuda Triangle, Selkirk’s Jason Hendrie is heading for the British overseas territory after landing a three-year contract as head of their rugby union.
The former Selkirk first-XV and A-team center or winger has been rugby development officer at Dalkeith since 2023 and was also head coach at the Midlothian club for four years before moving on to Arnold Clark Premiership outfit Kelso this summer as backs coach.
The 39-year-old, previously a painter and decorator for 20-plus years, has never been to Bermuda, his interview for his new job having been conducted by video-link, and hasn’t worked outwith Scotland before, so he’s looking forward to the challenge ahead and the sunnier weather on offer 3,800 miles south-west in the North Atlantic Ocean island group.
“I’d seen the job advertised online after one of my friends pointed it out and I decided to give it a go and put my CV in,” he said.
“I’ve never been to Bermuda and I’m definitely looking forward to a bit of heat now the weather’s getting colder in this country. I believe the temperatures there are in the top end of the 20s and into the mid-30s C, so that’s exactly where you’d want to be in October and November.
“I think it takes eight hours to fly to Bermuda so that’s definitely a bigger commute than the hour it takes me to get from Selkirk to Dalkeith at the minute.”
Currently awaiting a work visa being processed and expecting to take up his new role at the end of this month or early in October, he’s also setting his sights on improving the Bermudan national team’s world ranking of 74th out of 113, 66 places below that of his homeland side.
“We’re hoping to improve on that,” he said. “We’ve got a five-year plan to raise that.
“At the minute, a lot of the national team play outside the territory, so having any kind of training is hard.
“I’m going to help with a lot of the performance side of things with the national team and their sevens, women’s and under-19s teams, but I’ll be trying to grow the game as much as possible as well.
“I’ll be working a lot in schools, helping to upskill coaches, so standards become higher, basically trying to create more of a pathway for kids on the islands with aspirations to play for their national team.
“At the minute, a lot of them get scholarships at colleges or universities in England or America, so they lose a lot of players. We’ll be trying to make sure there’s a steady flow of quality talent coming through on the island as well.”
One of the challenges Hendrie will be up against is that rugby isn’t anything like as big a part of life in Bermuda as it is in his native Borders but he’s hoping to encourage more youngsters to get involved.
“It’s probably way down the pecking order in sport,” he said. “Cricket, football and athletics are the three main sports on the island.
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