South District Union continue latest rugby season with 54-14 win against Northumbrians in Galashiels
This year’s South District Union squad continued their latest rugby season with their second win on the bounce against Northumberland’s Border Park in Galashiels last Friday.
The South of Scotland inter-district championship team’s second string – with Doug Dodds as head coach, assisted by his Greenyards sidekick Nick Beavon, Duns’ Richard Hume and Earlston’s Cammy Hill – followed up their 41-31 victory against the English invitational outfit last April with another by 54-14 at Netherdale a year on.
That was the second of three outings for the union this year, coming after a 66-19 defeat of charity team the Pigbarians in Peebles seven days earlier and with a reverse fixture versus the Northumbrians to follow in Alnwick this coming Friday, with kick-off at 7.45pm.
Skippered by Langholm’s Bailey Donaldson at inside-centre, Friday’s starting line-up included three of his Milntown teammates – Tom Hope at loosehead prop, Callum Henderson at openside flanker and Ben Jardine at outside-centre, plus Chris Tait as a replacement.
That four-strong representation was outdone by Selkirk A’s handful of starters – Finlay Wheelans at full-back, Robbie Macdonnell on the right wing, Ethan Wilson at fly-half, Oliver McClymont at scrum-half and Finlay Smith wearing the No 5 lock’s jersey, accompanied by their Philiphaugh teammate Fraser Easson on the bench.
Earlston contributed two starters and three substitutes, the former being Ethan Deakin at No 8 and Josh Herbert at No 4 lock and the latter Ollie Smith. Keith Young and Thomas Richardson.
Melrose Storm also supplied two starters – Jack Henderson at blindside flanker and Robbie Robinson at tighthead prop – along with one replacement, Cammy Robertson.
Friday’s other starting spots went to Hawick Harlequins’ Eli Hamilton on the left wing and Kelso Sharks’ Harris Ross at hooker and the two other places on an eight-strong bench were occupied by Duns’ Adam Urwin and Scott Millar.
Langholm were almost as well represented in the visitors’ match-day squad as they were in the hosts’, with No 5 lock Josh Duffy and left-winger Zander Shipley starting, the former skippering too, and Callum Bell and Will Donaldson on the bench.
Jed-Forest supplied one starter, hooker Finlay Scott, and two replacements, Ryan Briggs and Douglas McNeil.
Also starting for the Kielder-based side were David Batey at loosehead prop, Angus White at tighthead, Ayden Knott at No 4 lock, Jonny Cousin and Jacob Brown as flankers, Ben Bell at No 8, Ali Gray at scrum-half, Don Collins at fly-half, Aaron Harlow-Stephenson and Ryan Potts as centres, Dan Matthews on the right wing and Tom Robson at full-back, with Matt Stewart, Henry Aitkenhead, Tom Dungait and Stephen Wood on the bench.
Hamilton, Macdonnell, Wheelans, Urwin, Millar, Robertson, Smith and Wilson scored the hosts’ tries, with the No 10 converting all but one of them.
Last week’s game was the union’s third against Border Park, their other, besides 2025’s win at the Greenyards, being a 33-29 defeat at Jedburgh’s Riverside Park in 2024.