Scotland's clubs get ready for new format

MELROSE and Currie may have had their eyes on British and Irish competition yesterday, but the pair of annual title contenders will only have eyes for each other when the domestic season kicks off in just over a month's time.

The SRU confirmed the new fixture list for all Scottish divisions yesterday which will kick off on 21 August and is scheduled to finish on 2 April, with cup finals day brought forward to 16 April.

The new split will take a little getting used to. After playing each other in 11 games home or away, Scotland's top 24 clubs will separate into three pools of eight. The top eight will contest the Division One championship title and the three British and Irish Cup berths, continuing with the points totals accrued in the first 11 games.

The next group will start again with zero points. This group comprises the bottom four in Division One and top four in Division Two. The teams will vie for promotion and relegation to and from the top tier, which could leave the divisions the same for the following season with no-one promoted nor relegated). The third pool will enter a new round of fixtures to fight to avoid the drop into the third division, but will keep their accumulated points and two will drop and two come up.

The SRU are still hunting a sponsor to replace Scottish Hydro, but are forging on with a new 'Premier Cup' in any case, which will draw clubs into nine pools of four teams. The draw, expected to be seeded along the lines of where clubs finished last season, is due to be confirmed this month. The top seven pool winners will qualify for the quarter-finals, with the two teams with the lowest points totals playing off against each other for the remaining place.

The new format was drawn up and agreed in meetings between the top 24 clubs, Graham Lowe, the SRU's director of performance rugby and Colin Thomson, the union's head of community rugby.

Champions Currie travel to Melrose on opening day, while newly promoted Stirling County have a derby of sorts, away to Dundee HSFP. Hawick welcome Ayr to Mansfield Park, Glasgow Hawks and West of Scotland meet at Anniesland, Heriot's and Watsonians go head-to-head at Myreside and Selkirk host Boroughmuir.

"This is an exciting time for Scottish club rugby with a new shape to the top tier of our club game," said Thomson. "Following the 2010 SRU agm we are committed to consultation with national and regional clubs to review the other leagues in our game for the continued improvement of the health and wealth of the Scottish club game."

The full fixture list can be found at www.scottishrugby.org