Saturday 13th May 2023, 3:00 pm Kick Off
This weekend, sees Canal Park host Round 2 of the revamped Inter-District Championship competition, when the Caledonia Reds entertain Glasgow and the West.
In the revived format, four men’s teams from across the country – Caledonia Reds, Edinburgh, Glasgow & West and the South are competing to play in the Championship Final to be played at GHA’s ground Braidholm, Glasgow, on the 21st May. The loser of each tie will play each other on the same day.
The first round was completed on Tuesday night when The South ran out comfortable 50-17 winners against Edinburgh, you can see the highlights of that game here.
The weather forecast isn’t looking too bad for Saturday, and there should be some cracking rugby on offer from both teams. Why not get along to the club and give the lads your support.
You can purchase your tickets here https://www.highlandrugbyclub.com/events/
Head Coach Colin Sangster (Dundee Rugby and previously Caithness RFC) has been appointed head coach and given the task of taking the team through the competition.
Colin will be assisted by Forwards Coach Kevin Wyness (GHA & Highland), Backs Coach Junior Bulumakau (Highland), and Defence Coach Sam Mountain (Gordonians).
Players featured in each squad have been selected from across the National Leagues, which includes the Premiership.
Familiar Faces – different shirt
As such it is great for the club to see so many current and former Highland players involved in the Reds squad.
There were no less than 12 current and former Highland players in the initial 34 man squad that was named, with a 13th man coming in a little later.
Sean Blair, Callum Carson, Gordon Gregor, Magnus Henry, Stephen Murray, Adriu Muritoki, Patrick Ratumaisese, Rupeni Rokoduguni, & Seumas Ross were all selected from our current squad. The former Highland players picked in there squad are Oscar Baird (Glasgow Hawks), Paddy Boyer (Currie Chieftains), Callum MacPherson (Stirling County), & Jake Mills (Edinburgh Access).
Congratulations to you all on your selection – and for those of you who moved away we can’t wait to see you back to Canal Park.
The squad had a run out against against a British Army in Scotland RFC team at Howe of Fife RFC on 29th April – coming away with a 52-7 win.
Since then it’s been the coaching teams job to whittle the squad down to the team selection for Saturdays game. Once again it’s fantastic to see so many local lads in the matchday squad. Here is Sangster’s Caledonia Reds squad which will be co-captained by Sean Blair of Highland and Harry Russell of Falkirk.
BACKS:
15. Adriu Muritoki (Highland), 14. James McCaig (Currie Chieftains), 13. Max Wallace (Edinburgh Accies), 12. DJ Innes (Currie Chieftains), 11. Rupeni Rokoduguni (Highland), 10. Liam Brims (Glasgow Hawks), 9. Harry Russell Co-Captain (Falkirk)
FORWARDS:
1. Stephen Murray (Highland), 2. Fraser Allan (Howe Of Fife), 3. Glen Brough (Gala),
4. Jake Mills (Edinburgh Accies), 5. Sean Blair Co-Captain (Highland), 6. Oscar Baird (Glasgow Hawks), 7. Sam Cardosi (Dundee Rugby), 8. Callum Carson (Highland)
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Archie Falconer (GHA), 17. Euan Bissett (Howe Of Fife), 18. Jacob Ramsay (Currie Chieftains), 19. Callum MacPherson (Stirling County), 20. Gordon Gregor (Highland)
21. James Imrie (Stirling County), 22. Magnus Henry (Highland), 23. Seumas Ross (Highland)
Glasgow full of Premiership experience
The Glasgow & The West sided is packed full of high level experience, with only 7 Ewan Stewart (Biggar), 8 Mark McCornick (Newton Stewart), and replacements 18 Angus Troop (GHK) and 23 Ben Frame (GHK) coming from teams that didn’t play in the Premiership this season.
You can expect this team to provide a real test for the Reds. The full Glasgow squad is as follows
BACKS:
15. Chris Hyde (GHA), 14. Ryan Flett (Glasgow Hawks), 13. James Pinkerton (Glasgow Hawks), 12. Conor Bickerstaff Co-Captain (Marr), 11. Scott Bickerstaff (Marr),
10. Colin Sturgeon (Marr), 9. Fergus Johnston (GHA)
FORWARDS:
1. Michael Downer (Glasgow Hawks), 2. Paul Cairncross Co-Captain (Glasgow Hawks), 3. Andrew Action (Marr), 4. Max Crumlish (Glasgow Hawks), 5. Adam Kerr (GHA), 6. Fraser Grant (Marr), 7. Ewan Stewart (Biggar), 8. Mark McCornick (Newton Stewart)
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Marc Ashdown (Glasgow Hawks), 17. Michael Fox (GHA), 18. Angus Troop (GHK)
19. Dario Ewing (GHA), 20. Max McFarlane (GHA), 21. Gavin Cruickshanks (Glasgow Hawks), 22. Sam Graham (Glasgow Hawks), 23. Ben Frame (GHK)