Head coach Matty Douglas admits pressure’s on for South of Scotland as inter-district championship reaches climax but insists they’re up to it

South of Scotland head coach Matty Douglas talking to his players during their 27-25 win against Glasgow and the West in rugby's national inter-district championship at Kelso's Poynder Park on Saturday (Photo: Steve Cox)

The South have won both their games in the championship so far, by 27-24 away to Edinburgh at Musselburgh on Saturday, March 23, and 27-25 at home to Glasgow and the West at Kelso at the weekend, and a third victory on the bounce away to Caledonia Reds in Inverness this coming Saturday could clinch their first title since 2002.

Reds were the last team to beat the South, by 32-30 in last May’s play-off final in Glasgow, but Douglas is hopeful his 2024 squad can make amends this time round.

“In any coaching role, there’s pressure, and I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t,” said the 28-year-old, also head coach of Scottish Premiership table-toppers Hawick. “You’ve just got to deal with it.

“I’ve faced my fair share of pressure over the last couple of seasons at Hawick, especially this year.

“The pressure’s on, and at the end of the day, it’s my head on the chopping block if we don’t get it right. It’s not the players’ heads there – it’s mine and the rest of the coaching team – so we try to cover every base, and if we do that and prepare as well as we can, then hopefully we’ll be on the right end of the result.”

Though drawn from a smaller geographical area than last year’s squad, Musselburgh now being in Edinburgh’s catchment area, Douglas believes this year’s is even stronger, saying: “I think the squad are really competitive this year.

“It’s exciting to be involved in, with the quality of coaches and players we’ve got.”

The tightness of this year’s scorelines will also be adding to the pressure facing the South as they chase their 18th championship title, there having been no more than a single try separating any two sides in the four fixtures played so far, meaning that a single error or instance of indiscipline could have seen the results go the other way.

The Borderers have won their two games to date by margins of two points and three and Reds have lost theirs by margins of one, a 34-33 defeat away to Edinburgh on Saturday, and four, by 26-22 away to Glasgow and the West seven days prior.

The South’s 2023 loss to Reds at Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians’ Braidholm home ground was their first for over two decades, following nine victories on the trot.

Their last previous losses at XVs, in their Scottish Borders guise, were in 2001’s championship, but they bounced back to win all four of their games in 2002’s championship, the last until the competition’s revival in 2023.

They also came up trumps in four one-off fixtures in the interim – in 2009, 2011, 2016 and 2017 – and in the first of their two games last year, by 50-17 against Edinburgh in Galashiels last May.

Those four preceding victories were by 40-24 versus Reds in Stirling in 2017 and 33-7 against them in Jedburgh in 2016, by 22-15 versus the Barbarians in Hawick in 2011 and 37-3 over Northumberland in Galashiels in 2009.

Kick-off for the South’s game against head coach Colin Sangster’s Reds at Highland’s Canal Park home ground in Inverness is at 3pm, and the same goes for Glasgow and the West’s concluding fixture at home to Edinburgh at Braidholm.

The South go into this weekend’s finale on top of the championship table, with eight points from three fixtures, but second-placed Edinburgh are breathing down their necks on seven and third-placed Glasgow aren’t far behind on six. Reds are bottom of the standings with three points to their name.