Fixtures for next rugby season’s Border League out now

That’s up from just one last time round, and those two pre-season matches – both on Saturday, August 24, at 3pm – will see Scottish National League Division 1 new boys Jed-Forest hosting Scottish Premiership side Selkirk at Riverside Park and top-flight Kelso at home to second-tier Gala at Poynder Park.

Last term’s equivalent fixtures yielded a 65-35 double-header home win for the Souters last September and a 28-17 stand-alone victory on the road for Kelso in April, that being last season’s final match, with two going unplayed.

Next up is Gala hosting Jed at Netherdale for a National 1 double-header on Saturday, September 14, also at 3pm.

That match-up resulted in a 24-21 win on the road for the Galashiels side at the end of March last time round.

Two more double-headers follow on Saturday, September 28, at 3pm, and they see Melrose at home at the Greenyards to Selkirk in the premiership and Gala hosting Peebles in National 1.

The 2023/24 season’s corresponding meetings were away wins by 24-20 for Melrose in February and 15-12 for Gala in March.

There’s another double-header the month after – on Saturday, October 19, at 3pm – and it’s a trip to Peebles’ Gytes ground for Jed.

The equivalent fixture last season was Jed’s only win of the campaign and first victory of any description since January 2023 as they got the better of the Pees by 32-15 at home.

Saturday, November 16, brings next term’s first stand-alone mid-season fixtures, both 3pm kick-offs.

Hawick, last season’s premiership table-toppers and beaten play-off finalists, as well as being defending Border League champions, play host to Jed at Mansfield Park and Melrose, restored to the top flight after five years away following this year’s scrapping of the Fosroc Super Series, will be visited by Peebles, promoted to National 1 this year as National 2 champions.

Last term’s matching meetings were a 61-0 double-header home win for the Greens and a 22-all draw at the Gytes.

One of December’s two fixtures is a double-header, Kelso away to Selkirk at Philiphaugh on Saturday the 14th, at 3pm, and one is a stand-alone, Gala hosting Melrose on Thursday, December 26, also at 3pm, that being the two sides’ traditional Boxing Day contest for the Waverley Cup, currently held by the visitors following a 15-10 home win last festive season.

Melrose and Gala’s Border League game last season, a National 1 double-header, yielded a 53-31 home win for the former at the end of September and Kelso and Selkirk’s, a top-flight double-header, ended with a 21-19 scoreline in favour of the travelling Souters.

Next year’s first fixture is a stand-alone game seeing Peebles hosting Selkirk on Saturday, January 4.

That’s followed by a trip down the A68 to Jedburgh for Kelso on Friday, January 31, with kick-off at 7.30pm.

The corresponding match last season, another double-header, resulted in a 30-21 home win for Kelso.

Two premiership double-headers follow on Saturday, February 8, at 3pm, Kelso hosting Melrose and Selkirk at home to Hawick, and there’s one further fixture that month, a stand-alone trip to Peebles for Kelso on Friday the 21st, with kick-off at 7.30pm.

March is the busiest month as of now for the league, being contested in a single-table format again, like last season, after decades of being played in pools, as it sees five fixtures listed, two of them-double headers.

The games doing double duty are Saturday trips for Hawick to Kelso on Saturday the 1st and Melrose on the 22nd, both 3pm kick-offs.

March’s three stand-alone fixtures see Hawick hosting Peebles and Selkirk at home to Gala on Friday the 7th, both 7.30pm kick-offs, and Jed at home to Melrose on Saturday the 8th, at 3pm.

Only one fixture remains unscheduled ahead of the new campaign and it will see Hawick at home to Gala.

Selkirk and Peebles are the only two of the seven teams making up the league carrying on with the same head coaches, Gordon Henderson and Graeme Paterson respectively.

Iain Chisholm is joined by Scott Wight as co-head coach at Melrose and Hawick, Kelso, Gala and Jed all have new gaffers.

Graham Hogg replaces Matty Douglas at Mansfield Park, Bruce McNeil and Nikki Walker take over from Kevin Utterson at Poynder Park, Ewen Robbie takes charge at Netherdale and Stuart Johnson adds Jed to his managerial CV after fulfilling the same role at Melrose, Hawick and Gala previously.

Hawick’s title win this year, their third in the past decade, was their 51st, extending the gap in the competition’s roll of honour between them and second-placed Melrose, with 20 titles to their name, the most recent in 2019, beyond the 30 mark.

The third most successful team in the 123-year history of the oldest league of its kind in the world are Gala with a dozen wins, most recently in 2016, followed by Jed, with ten; Selkirk, with seven; and Langholm, with a one-off success back in 1959.

Peebles are the only team in the league never to have won it.

See also …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/rugbys-border-league-set-to-continue-to-live-up-to-its-name-despite-fixture-pile-up-concerns-4674897

and …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/hawick-force-to-begin-defence-of-rugbys-first-border-junior-league-title-for-14-years-at-home-to-selkirks-reserves-4708328