South of Scotland name training squad of almost 50 ahead of this rugby season’s inter-district championship

Four of that handful of selections from three of the capital’s Arnold Clark Premiership clubs are among a scattering of new faces set to compete for red-and-white-hooped jerseys come November.

Currie Chieftains lock Jack Fisher is the only one of them to have represented the region before, while at Selkirk, and he’s joined this time round by Malleny Park teammates Gregor Christie and Archie Smellie, Watsonians’ Hamish Seggie and Edinburgh Academical’s Finlay Anderson.

Currie co-captain Christie is the one to have clocked up most mileage to return to his roots, having been brought up in Peebles before his family emigrated to New Zealand early this century, only returning to Scotland in his twenties and having played for Watsonians and Stirling County since.

The 32-year-old, elder brother of 28-times-capped New Zealand scrum-half Finlay Christie, 31, has previously turned out for Edinburgh in the inter-district championship, along with Scotland’s club XV, but he now wants to push for selection to represent his mother Liz’s home region instead of going up against them.

South operations manager Ewen Swinton said: “There are a lot of new players coming through and many boys who want to represent their home district, so there is definitely going to be a lot of competition for places.

“Gregor approached us and said he would like to come back to his Borders roots and be considered for the South, being a Peebles lad with family still in the Borders, and we are delighted that it means that much to him.

“The coaches have selected a large training squad that will come together on October 6 and 8, a rest week from the league competitions, to give as many boys as possible the chance to put their names forward for selection.

“There may still be players that drop out and the door remains open for others coming back from injury and who produce top form in the coming weeks, and we have also involved some young talents to give them experience at this level.

“I think we’re going to see a very intense championship because players from across all four districts reacted very positively to last year’s tournament, some with little time for preparation, and the return of the Scotland club XV has created a real excitement.

“The premiership and national leagues have started with some cracking games and that’s going to make selection extremely competitive, but that’s what you want. The championship is a step up and will show the best of club rugby.”

This season’s championship is to be contested over the course of 15 days, starting with the South facing Edinburgh in Musselburgh on Friday, November 6, and Caledonia Reds in Aberdeen on Saturday, November 14, ahead of wrapping up against defending champions Glasgow and the West at Melrose’s Greenyards on Saturday, November 21.

Head coach Scott Wight’s training squad will be made up of 23 forwards and 25 backs.

Melrose – currently the region’s top dogs in the premiership, sitting second to Currie – supply the biggest contingent of players, 14 all together.

They’re represented by forwards Patrick Anderson, Sam Derrick, Jack Dobie, Craig Fairbairn and Angus Runciman and backs Callum Anderson, Scott Clark, Donald and Douglas Crawford, Struan Hutchison, Ben Pickles, Charlie Robbie, Luke Townsend and Gavin Wood.

Kelso contribute the next-biggest representation and it’s a dozen-strong – forwards Harry Borthwick, Dan Gamble, Euan Knox, Gregor Law, Grant Paxton and Harris Ross and backs Archie Barbour, Liam Herdman, Dwain Patterson, Hamish and William Tweedie and Angus Utterson.

The Borders’ other top-flight club, Hawick, supply seven players – back Andrew Mitchell and forwards Hughie Donaldson, Jae Linton, Nicky Little, Shawn Muir, Fraser Renwick and Connor Sutherland.

Arnold Clark National League Division 1 rivals Gala and Selkirk are represented by four players each – the Maroons by Ben Gill, Sam and Aiden Smith and Robbie Irvine and the Souters by Brodie Allan, Aaron McColm, Archie Morris and Bruce Riddell.

Their second-tier rivals Jed-Forest supply one player, Owen Cranston, as do National 2’s Peebles, namely Jack Harrison.