​South of Scotland to face Caledonia Reds in inter-district rugby final at weekend

​This weekend’s Scottish inter-district rugby championship final in Glasgow will see South of Scotland go up against Caledonia Reds for the third time in their last four matches at XVs.
By Darin Hutson
Published 17th May 2023, 13:08 BST
Updated 18th May 2023, 14:14 BST
South of Scotland's Jae Linton on the attack against Edinburgh at Netherdale in Galashiels in rugby's first Scottish inter-district championship for 21 years (Photo: Brian Sutherland)South of Scotland's Jae Linton on the attack against Edinburgh at Netherdale in Galashiels in rugby's first Scottish inter-district championship for 21 years (Photo: Brian Sutherland)
South of Scotland's Jae Linton on the attack against Edinburgh at Netherdale in Galashiels in rugby's first Scottish inter-district championship for 21 years (Photo: Brian Sutherland)

Head coach Colin Sangster’s Reds booked their place in the final this Sunday, with kick-off at 3.30pm, by beating Glasgow and the West 58-27 at Highland’s Canal Park ground in Inverness on Saturday, the South having secured theirs with a 50-17 victory over Edinburgh in Galashiels four days earlier.

Their meeting at Glasgow Hutchesons’ Aloysians’ Braidholm home ground will be their third since the South’s revival in 2009.

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The red-and-white-hooped regional side won their last two games against the Reds, by 40-24 in Stirling in November 2017 and 33-7 in Jedburgh in November 2016, and current head coach Matty Douglas is looking forward to getting the chance to extend those back-to-back successes to a hat-trick at the weekend.

“It should be really good,” said Douglas, also head coach at Hawick.

“It’s been a good programme to be involved in and it’s been a great experience.

“I think we can carry a lot of confidence into Sunday after playing really well a week ago on Tuesday.

“We stuck to our structures and the boys really enjoyed it.

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“We’ve got a great bunch of players in the Borders and East Lothian capable of playing at a higher level and I think it showed last Tuesday night what we can do as a region if we get these boys together.

“Caley will be tougher opposition – they’ve got a lot of experienced players in there – but we’ll look to ourselves and if we stick to what we’re good at, then hopefully we’ll end up on the right side of the result.”

Sunday’s match is being streamed live on Scottish Rugby’s website, scottishrugby.org

Tickets are priced at £16.46 for adults and £9 for concessions, with children under five getting in free.

Related topics:GlasgowHighland