TWO friends whose 90mph car race killed a young rugby player have been jailed for what a judge has branded indescribable stupidity.

Murray McAllan, left, and Sean Goodfellow, right, were both jailed for four-and-a-half years for their part in the accident that killed their teammate and friend Richard Wilkinson, above

Sean Goodfellow and Murray McAllan, both 19, engaged in their high-speed race on a narrow twisting road which ended in death near Eckford.

Teenage rugby star Richard Wilkinson from Newmill on Slitrig, near Hawick, was a front seat passenger in Goodfellow's Peugeot 306 GTI when Goodfellow lost control while returning from a rugby tournament in Kelso in April last year.

England V Scotland Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality

The car rolled into a field and the 17-year-old Hawick Wanderers stand-off was killed when a piece of wood pierced the windscreen, inflicting a massive head injury.

The pair had their race on the A698 Kelso to Jedburgh road, on stretches which were narrow and views were blocked by high hedges.

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday Goodfellow, of Myreslaw Green, Hawick, and McAllan, of Bonchester Bridge, were each jailed for four-and-a-half years and banned from the roads for 12 months.

He said: "I make it absolutely clear this court fully appreciates no sentence passed is capable of undoing the harm done, nor of alleviating the grief caused. Neither is it a measure of the extent of the loss caused to the family."

In a statement the Wilkinson family said: "We cannot begin to put into words the loss we feel or the irreplaceable hole that this has left in our lives. The outcome of the sentence bears no relation to the sentence we have already endured and will continue to endure for the rest of our lives.

"If there could be one positive thing to come from losing Richard we can only wish that young drivers learn from the devastating consequences of speeding and driving dangerously, and the resultant loss of young lives."

Their words were echoed by Inspector Fraser Jarvis of the road policing department of Lothian and Borders Police.

He said: "The death of Richard Wilkinson was as tragic as it was avoidable and it is imperative that motorists, particularly young motorists, learn from this to avoid similar tragedies themselves."

England V Scotland Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality

WELSH rugby will play its part in welcoming the Italian invasion into the Magners League when the new season kicks off.

The Scarlets are to provide the opening opposition for Benetton Treviso at the Stadio Monigo on the first weekend at the beginning of September.

Treviso are one of two Italian additions to the league, with new franchise Aironi Rugby, swelling the competition to a 12-team event as it heads into its 10th anniversary campaign

The Scarlets will be the first Welsh team to take on Aironi, who travel to Llanelli on the third weekend of the season.

Treviso, for their part, have recruited Kiwi wing Joe Maddock from Bath, with Alessandro Zanni, Luke McLean and Gonzalo Garcia among their international contingent.

They head for Swansea on the second weekend of the season to take on reigning champions the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.

England V Scotland Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality

The opening fixture at Ravenhill, on the weekend of September 3-5, will mark a return to familiar territory for Ospreys try-machine Tommy Bowe, who spent five years with Ulster before heading for Wales in 2008.

Bowe was one of the Ospreys’ two try scorers in their 17-12 grand final victory over Leinster in Dublin in May when they clinched the Magners crown.

After hosting Italian champions Treviso in their opening home fixture in round two, they will face Heineken Cup rivals Munster at Thomond Park on the weekend of September 17.

Reigning Amlin Challenge Cup champions the Blues will be seeking revenge for their home defeat last season when they host Edinburgh in their opening game at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Grand final runners-up Leinster travel to another of last season’s play-off sides, Glasgow Warriors, on the opening weekend and then host the Blues at the Royal Dublin Showground in round two.

The increase in numbers means there will be four extra rounds of matches in the league phase of the tournament.

In order to accommodate this, some games are to be played during the international windows in November and while the Six Nations championship is being played.

There will be two full rounds of matches during the autumn Test period in November, including clashes between Munster and the Scarlets, and Ospreys and Leinster.

There are also two rounds of games on Six Nations weekends in February on the weekends that Wales take on Scotland and Italy respectively.

It all means the likes of the Ospreys and Blues who both take on Ulster during the championship will be without a host of players for four league fixtures.

England V Scotland Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality

Scotland’s best performance in the Six Nations since 2006 and their maiden Southern Hemisphere series’ victory has led many to believe that the Thistles may be on the verge of turning around what has been a dismal run in the last decade and a struggle at the top level that has occurred for the last century.

While Andy Robinson appears to have invigorated the team, one must not get too excited if taking into account the trend of false dawns set by Scotland.

When Frank Hadden took over for his first test match against Romania in June 5, 2005, few could have predicted the impact he would have had in the subsequent Six Nations 2011.

He led his team to an opening round win over France at Murrayfield, and would follow this up with the prized scalp of England and a win over Italy in Rome to achieve what was only Scotland’s second top half table finish since the competition expanded to include the Azzurri.

England V Scotland Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality

They were only the third nation in 20 tests to keep Australia from scoring more than one try, and from there the first pillar was laid.

And in the Six Nations 2010, the Scottish loose forwards came of age, with John Barclay, John Beattie and Kelly Brown finishing the competition as arguably the form back row in Europe.

The confidence permeating the squad is best encapsulated by Dan Parks, who looked consigned to the international scrapheap before rising to play his best rugby under Robinson, collecting three man-of-the-match awards during the Six Nations.

A litmus test if there ever was one, but a promising showing against New Zealand and South Africa on their autumn internationals will see them approach the Six Nations 2011 at the very least as the darkest of horses.

England V Scotland Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality