Borders rugby fans will get to see red and white after all as South of Scotland’s seconds return
Rugby’s Scottish inter-district championship is taking a break this year because of the expanded Arnold Clark Premiership’s regular season stretching into April but sports fans in the Borders will still get to see red and white.
South of Scotland won’t be back this spring following their revival in 2023 after six years in abeyance but their seconds, the South District Union, will, and a double helping of fixtures is on offer this time round.
They only played one game last time round as they made a comeback after over two decades off, a 33-29 loss at Jedburgh’s Riverside Park to an invitational XV from Kielder’s Border Park in front of a crowd of more than 200 last April, and they’ll be going up against the Northumbrians again this year, at Melrose’s Greenyards on Friday, April 25.
The red-and-white-hooped regional side will be playing another XVs match too and that’s against a Midlothian select side made up of players from Dalkeith, Lasswade and Penicuik at Kelso’s Poynder Park on Friday, April 18.
Last year’s squad was drawn only from Border junior league clubs – Hawick Force, Kelso Sharks, Peebles Reds, Melrose Storm and Selkirk and Gala’s reserves – but the union are casting their net wider this time round and recruiting players from the three Arnold Clark East Region League divisions as well.
“We have extended selection to all east league clubs this season. As such, it is much more aligned to the original SDU team,” said a spokeperson for the union.
“We had around 60 nominations from clubs and we will be having training sessions during March, with a squad of around 35 to be selected to cover the two games.
“Hopefully, with the South senior team not having games this year due to the elongated premiership season, the SDU squad will get a good level of support at both games.
“We had a good crowd at Riverside Park last season and the players from both teams put on a great show.”
Callum Anderson will be head coach and he’ll be assisted by fellow Melrose coach Nick Beavon, Selkirk’s Darren Clapperton and Kelso’s Stuart Laing.
Players invited to the union’s initial wider training sessions include Kelso’s Max Cranston, Dan Wright, Andrew Sweenie, Ben Burton, Mckenzie Shaw, Angus Milne and Arran Jackson; Gala’s Rory Litster, Jon McLean, Jacob Moore, Jordan Corry, Eddie Eyre, Jamie Crooks and Greg Allan; Melrose’s Cameron Robertson, Evan Davies, Robbie Robinson, Andrew Kirk, Jack Wilks and Matthew Bertram; Hawick Linden’s Ryan Ali, Liam Bouglas and John Frew; and Earlston's Jai Fender, Morgan Oliver, Dylan Riddell and Tom Cromarty.