South of Scotland go Green again in bid to win back rugby’s Scottish inter-district championship title

​South and Hawick head coach Matty Douglas this week announced his squad ​for March and April’s championship fixtures and his club account for more than a third of their 32-strong line-up.

Hawick captain Shawn Muir returns as South skipper and no fewer than ten of the 30-year-old’s Scottish Premiership table-topping team-mates will be swapping green for red-and-white hoops too.

Kirk Ford, Andrew Mitchell and Lee Armstrong are among their 14 backs and Calum and Fraser Renwick, Jae Linton, Connor Sutherland, Dalton Redpath, Ross Graham and Nicky Little line up among 18 forwards.

Prop Muir led the South to last May’s final against Caledonia Reds in Glasgow, losing out 32-30 and ending an unbeaten streak stretching back 21 years for the regional team, so he’s hoping to be able to help put that right this time round by taking their tally of titles to 18.

“It’s massive. To be given the chance again this year after leading the boys last year is huge,” he told Borders Rugby TV.

“I jumped at the chance when Matty asked me. He gave me a phone call and asked if I’d be keen to do it again and there was no hesitation on my part.

“I’ve got a score to settle, and that’s probably the way the rest of the boys feel as well who were in the squad last year.

“We’ve got a score to settle, losing the way we did, and we want to win the championship this year, there’s no point making any bones about it. We want to go one step further and I’m hugely excited to lead the squad into this campaign.

“This year it’s going to be a full championship – everybody plays everybody and the team at the top of the table win the trophy.

“We’re excited to get going and we’ll see what we can achieve.”

Hawick’s premiership play-off semi-final opponents come Saturday, March 2, make up the next-biggest contingent in the squad, contributing four backs and four forwards.

The former are Archie Barbour, Dwain Patterson, Frankie Robson and Andy Tait and the latter Bruce McNeil, Keith Melbourne, Terry Logan and Grant Shiells.

Fellow premiership outfit Selkirk aren’t far behind with six representatives – backs Callum Anderson, Josh Welsh and Aaron McColm and forwards Andrew McColm, James Bett and Luke Pettie.

Making up the rest of the squad are Gala’s Ben Gill, Angus Dun and Liam Scott; Melrose’s Donald and Douglas Crawford and Struan Hutchison; and Jed-Forest’s Clark Skeldon.

Training will take place at Kelso’s Poynder Park, starting on Wednesday, March 6.

Douglas, 28, added: “Selection has been extremely difficult this season with the quality of players that were put forward from each club.

“There are some very good players who have just missed out on selection, which demonstrates how competitive this season’s squad is. However, with the help of a selection committee and coaches’ input, we feel that we have a squad that can be very competitive and put us in a great place to win a championship

“We feel we have a good balance of players from the region and I’m excited to see how this group apply themselves at this level and what we can achieve.

“It will be hard work to try and win a championship but it’s a challenge that I know the coaching group and the players are looking forward to.”

This year’s championship fixture list sees the South play Edinburgh away in Musselburgh on Saturday, March 23; Glasgow and the West at home at Poynder Park on Saturday, March 30; and Caledonia Reds away at Canal Park in Inverness on Saturday, April 6, with all three games kicking off at 3pm.