Stirling County

Scotland’s Super Six franchise clubs will face the top six in the Welsh Principality Premiership as part of a new cross-border competition.

Response to this week’s news about the SRU’s “Super 6” must surely be “we’ll have to wait and see”. No doubt the members of the panel, chaired by Sir Bill Gammell, who had the task of assessing the twelve bidding clubs, and selecting the Six that will set sail on the uncharted ocean of officially approved semi-pro rugby, will have adhered scrupulously to the criteria they were handed. Nevertheless, it seems wrong – even ridiculous – that three of the “chosen six” are Edinburgh clubs, that there is no Glasgow one, and that Stirling County is the most northerly club selected. For years we have bewailed the narrow base of Scottish rugby. Now Ayr is to be the only Super 6 club more than a drive and a chip from Murrayfield. This is a weird way to grow the game.

The Scottish Rugby Union ignored its own compliance guidelines when it awarded three of its Super 6 franchises to clubs in Edinburgh, The Scotsman has learned.

The winning bids may now be known but lots of questions remain over what impact, positive or negative, the watershed creation of the Super 6 will have on the landscape of Scottish rugby.

Rob Chrystie did a pretty good job of being magnanimous in victory after his team had dismantled Stirling County on Saturday to add the Scottish Cup to the BT Premiership crown they claimed three weeks ago, but there was no disguising the gulf in class between the two sides.

The players of Stirling County
are embracing the opportunity to attain legendary 
status by becoming only the second team in the club’s 
history to win a piece of major silverware as they look to upset the odds in today’s 
BT Cup final against hot favourites Melrose.

There was no disguising Peter Jericevich’s sense of anticipation for County’s first BT Cup final appearance after his side demolished Hawick with eight tries.

Stirling County booked their place in the BT Cup final with a spirited display that saw them rout Hawick in style.

The SRU has received 12 applications from clubs to form franchises in the new part-time professional Super 6 league which is due to launch in the 2019/20 season.

Marr did what they had to: secured the bonus-point win they needed, but, with Melrose losing at Hawick, it wasn’t enough and they will go back to National League 1 next season.

In a match that meant little to either side in terms of the BT Premiership, Melrose had enough power to eke out yet another home win.

Boroughmuir coach Peter Wright emerged from the dressing room after his players dismantled a bewildered, tactically poor Stirling, relishing the knowledge that victory had earned them a shot at survival in the Premiership with three games left to play.

Boroughmuir more than halved the eight-point difference between the teams to keep their hopes of escaping the relegation zone alive with only three Premiership games left to play.

Currie went into this fixture as considerable favourites, given their good form which has seen them post recent wins over both Melrose and Ayr, the only two sides above them in the BT Premiership prior to this match.

These are curious times at Stirling, with an improved side apparently incapable of seeing out matches from winning positions.

The year ahead promises to be an interesting one for rugby. The best two teams in world rugby will meet for the first time since 2014 and either New Zealand or England will get a huge boost one year out from the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

There was less than a fag paper separating these sides before the start, so a close encounter always looked to be on the cards – and so it turned out.

Hawick achieved their first BT Premiership win of the season after scoring five tries against Stirling County with a performance that exuded a new-found confidence.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold and there was certainly a nip in the air as Heriot’s made amends for their defeat at home to Stirling on the opening day of the league season.