South of Scotland draft in ex-Samoan international Opeta Palepoi as assistant coach after Kelso rugby legend Ross Ford answers country’s call
South of Scotland have recruited ex-Samoan international Opeta Palepoi as an assistant coach to replace Ross Ford following his former Border Reivers teammate being drafted in by the Scottish national rugby team to help out ahead of their four autumn tests this month.
Those four Nations Championship fixtures kick off this coming Saturday against New Zealand at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium, a day after the South commence their latest campaign away to the capital’s inter-district championship team at Musselburgh.
Galashiels-based Palepoi, 50, brings just short of half a century of international caps’ worth of experience to head coach Scott Wight’s back-room team, also featuring Melrose’s Richard Taylor, having represented his country 48 times between 1998 and 2005.
He also played for Glasgow Warriors and London’s Harlequins as well as Reivers before retiring as a professional lock or flanker in 2009 and joining his adopted home-town’s Netherdale club.
Like Wight, he’s currently helping out with coaching at Melrose, so he’s not had to go out of his way to take over from Kelso’s Ford, 42 – Scotland’s most-capped player ever, with 110 between 2004 and 2019 – and assist with the South too, their 2026 squad being based at the Greenyards in advance of playing their one home fixture there.
“We didn’t expect to make a change but it’s a great opportunity for Ross, and to have someone of OP’s calibre able to come in at short notice and join us through this period is a huge boost,” said Wight.
“This is the first time that I’ve experienced a full inter-district championship running through its own block, like a wee international window.
“We were able to bring the boys in on Sunday and have a good day together, socialise with each other, talk about expectations and have a very good training session.
“The South is a special thing, with incredible history, and there is a buzz when the top players from clubs across the region come together in the red and white.
“With three weeks together, we can now focus entirely on the championship, with no distractions, and we’ll need to because you can see from the squads selected that we will have the very best of the club game in this tournament.
“Some boys didn’t play last year because of the conflicts with the club game and missed out on the Scotland club international, but we have been clear that you have to play in the championship – if not injured, obviously – to win selection for the Scotland club side, and people get that now and are stepping up.
“It’s going to be an exciting and intense championship.”
Further to Kelso fly-half Dwain Patterson being ruled out by a dislocated shoulder seven days earlier, the South have been forced into another squad rejig by injuries sustained during Saturday’s club fixtures, with Selkirk’s Brodie Allan and Melrose’s Struan Hutchison being called up to provide cover.
Wight turns 41 this Thursday and is hoping for a victory in East Lothian the day after as a birthday present but he is warning his side that they will have to hit the ground running if they’re to get off to a winning start at Stoneyhill.
“Last year, we got caught cold,” he recalled after assisting then South head coach Gordon Henderson last time round.
“We lost a couple of tries against Edinburgh early on and we came back well, but this year it will be tougher as Edinburgh, and all the teams, have had more preparation time and they are stronger across the board.
This Friday’s match, starting at 7.30pm, is followed by another away game, against Caledonia Reds in Aberdeen on Saturday, November 14, and a final fixture at home to defending champions Glasgow and the West at the Greenyards seven days later, with respective kick-offs at 2pm and 5pm.
The South are due to name their match-day squad for Friday’s championship opener tomorrow night, November 3.