London Scottish Senior Amateur Rugby had the opportunity to select a few Academy and Highlander players to play in the B&I Cup with the London Scottish first team against Cardiff Blues at home under lights.
Ross Doneghan, the Head Coach for the Academy and Highlanders, mentioned that the boys selected have the opportunity to showcase their skills and offer something for the first team going forward.
By building this partnership and reinforcing the link between the Academy and first team is exciting for the players as well as the fans. This will see home grown talent thrive from the grass roots level of the club.
Aaron Booth, to his delight, was selected to start with the first team at scrum half, an experience which he enjoyed. The intensity of the match set the ground for the rest of the Academy boys to come on later in the game with Alex Watts in the front row and Adam Adamson in the back row, who had a chance to step onto the field to gain further experience with Josh Barton coming on at scrum half later in the game to deliver a try from 10 metres out, evening the score.
The Highlanders have Saturday home games against the second teams of Esher, Blackheath and Henley Hawks in the coming weeks, whilst the London Scottish Academy have a game against Ealing trailfinders U23 academy on Wednesday the 12th of April 2017.
The Highlanders and the Academy have worked hard as a team and have relished the opportunity given by the first team to shine and look to the horizon for next season and the reinforcing of a healthy relationship between all sections of the club
London Scottish Extra Bs (the longest running team in the club with well over 20 years of history) have also enjoyed significant success on the pitch this season, marching into the Middlesex Merit Table 3 playoffs, with a semi-final this Saturday away to Pinner RFC. To add to this already significant achievement, the Extra Bs are in the final of the Middlesex Merit Table Bowl on Saturday 1st of April against Old Streetonians III with a 14:00 kick off at Chiswick RFC. Should they be successful in the playoff semi-final this weekend, the Extra Bs will be on course for an unprecedented league and cup Double.
London Scottish Kilts have also been running a number of friendly fixtures throughout the season, starting with cup success in the Middlesex 7s, culminating in the recent ‘Super Scottish Saturday’ which saw the Kilts play the touring Gordonstoun Old Boys at home (with a number of Junior Academy players making their Senior, adult rugby debuts – hot on the heels of the Highlanders in the first team), the Extra Bs play Old Hamptonians at home and the Calcutta Cup game at Twickenham all on the same day.
Please lend your support for all teams in anyway you can, whether that be by attending games (all free of charge) to see the rising stars of the club mixing it with past stars in the Extra Bs, or through support on social media. All sections of the club have worked extremely hard to align with each other this season, from the first team to the Highlanders, to the Extra Bs, to the Junior and Senior Academy sides. #LondonTartan #UnitateFortior
