Men’s Premiership season 2023/24 update: Monday 12 February

HAWICK, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 18: Players from each Men's Premiership club during the Men's Premiership Launch at Mansfield Park, on August 18, 2023, in Hawick, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

Last week, it was confirmed that Hawick, Kelso, Currie Chieftains and Marr are this year’s semi-finalists, having secured a position in the top four.

However, due to adverse weather conditions throughout November, December and into January, the league has not been able to progress as scheduled, causing a delay to the scheduled semi-final date of Saturday 17 February.

Last week, Scottish Rugby’s competitions team contacted the four clubs to advise of potential next steps, outlining that whilst Scottish Rugby could not allocate fixtures to the home Six Nations weekend of 24 February, that the clubs – Hawick, Kelso, Currie Chieftains and Marr – had the option of agreeing and requesting to play the semi-finals over that weekend, as per NCR 4.2, which would allow the Final to be played as planned on Saturday 2 March.

A unanimous agreement was not met, and as such, both semi-finals will now take place on Saturday 2 March. A new date for the Men’s Premiership Final has not yet been concluded, as following this date, the season structure moves immediately into the Scottish Cup and Inter-District Championship.

The first round of the Scottish Cup takes place on Saturday 9 March, with the quarter-finals set to be played on Saturday 16 March. The semi-finals for this competition are currently scheduled for Saturday 13 April, with the Final on Saturday 27 April at Scottish Gas Murrayfield.

There are also three rounds of Inter-district Championship competition set to be played in the Spring months – Saturday 23 and 30 March, plus Saturday 6 April.

Kevin Quinn, Club Rugby Board Representative for the Premiership, said: “Season 2023/2024 has once again been an exciting one for the clubs involved in the Premiership, and especially the title race. It was only after results on Saturday 3 February that the top four clubs to progress to the play-offs were confirmed.

“Hawick will play Kelso at Mansfield Park, while the winner of this Friday’s league match between Currie Chieftains and Marr Rugby will earn home advantage for the other semi-final. The Premiership clubs agree that our league concludes with play-offs as this gives an exciting conclusion to the campaign.

“Unfortunately, the recent extended adverse weather has created significant fixture disruption and a challenge in concluding the Premiership as had originally been envisaged.  All four clubs have significant commitments for the Scottish Cup as well as the Inter-district programme. To that end, the Premiership Final date is one that can’t easily be set or settled. As progress in the Scottish Cup develops, the clubs will continue to work with Scottish Rugby’s Competitions team to figure out what will work best to help conclude this year’s Premiership.”

Scottish Rugby will continue to work closely with the two teams who reach the Final to find and agree upon a suitable date, and will provide updates to relevant stakeholders as soon as possible.