Rugby World

STIRLING COUNTY

THE STARS are aligned. Everything falls into place. On the unique crossover of Burns Night and Chinese New Year – or as one mate down the pub dubbed it, Chinese Burns – we are in Stirling to see County’s first home win in the FOSROC Super6 league.

Do you not know much about the new competition? Well, currently made up of six teams (Ayrshire Bulls, Boroughmuir Bears, Heriot’s, Stirling, Southern Knights and today’s opponents, Watsonians), it is a semi-professional division championed by Scottish rugby supremo Mark Dodson. The idea is to have a step between the traditional club game and the two professional sides.

There have been grumbles in some quarters about the selection process for the franchises, with three Edinburgh teams, Stirling the sole representative of the Caledonia region and no side playing in Glasgow. Unsurprisingly, there are some who think it is just another mad reshuffle from business heads who don’t really know the grass-roots game, while those who support the plan are aware that season one will be a bit all over the place due to the timings.

For one season only, the competition runs from November to March, thanks to the Rugby World Cup, meaning

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