Clubs ready to travel new road to glory

THE new style of Scottish Cup will kick off on Saturday week with the top 36 teams pooled into nine groups to contest the Premier Cup for the first time.

The draws for the second and third tier tournaments, the Shield and the Bowl, were made yesterday with six clubs playing in a preliminary round for the Shield event and all the clubs from the lower leagues involved in the Bowl kicking off on a regional basis in an effort to help ease travel costs and increase crowd numbers with derbies.

Premier One and Two clubs complete their first run of 11 matches this weekend, after which the teams will split into three groups of eight to contest the Division One Championship, promotion and relegation from Division Two and relegation to Division Three. To enable an extra week for those new fixtures to be made up and arrangements made by clubs, the cup begins on Saturday 6 November.

The four clubs in each of the cup pools will play each other once - the other rounds taking place on 8 January and 12 February. The top seven pool winners will go into the quarter-finals on 19 March, while the bottom two winners will play off for the eighth place on 26 February. The semi-finals will be played on 26 March with finals day at Murrayfield on Saturday 16 April. The SRU's head of community rugby Colin Thomson said: "The restructure means that all Premier teams will play a minimum of three cup games, allowing Premier 2 and Premier 3 clubs to pit themselves against higher-placed opposition."

Billy McHarg, president of cup holders Ayr, added: "The cup final was a huge occasion for the club. Getting to the final again is one of the club's priorities for the coming season."

POOLS:

Pool A: Currie, Aberdeen Grammar, Howe of Fife, Hamilton

Pool B: Ayr, GHA, Dunfermline, Perthshire

Pool C: Melrose, Biggar, Haddington, Ardrossan

Pool D: Dundee, Gala, Falkirk, Musselburgh

Pool E: Heriot's, Steart's -Melville, Hillhead/ Jordanhill, Cartha QP

Pool F: Glasgow Hawks, Edinburgh Accies, Jed-Forest, Dumfries

Pool G: Selkirk, Hawick, Kelso, Morgan Academy

Pool H: Boroughmuir, Stirling County, Peebles, Dalziel

Pool I: West of Scotland, Watsonians, Kirkcaldy, Whitecraigs