Preview: Southern Knights v FOSROC Future XV

The first half of the competition saw the FOSROC Future XV find their identity as a Super Series team and improve their performances week on week.

This week, the team return to The Greenyards to face Southern Knights, the team which they made their Super Series debut against.

Last time the two teams met, an unsuccessful Futures penalty kick on the full-time whistle saw the hosts secure their win by one in front of a home crowd.  However, this performance, plus others in the first half of the Championship, has given the team the confidence that they can put in a winning performance.

This week the FOSROC Future XV welcome three key players from last season’s U20 squad, hooker Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, second row Ruaraidh Hart and wing Finn Douglas. Blyth-Lafferty and Hart made multiple appearances during the 2023 Under-20 Six Nations earlier this year and in the World Rugby U20 Trophy in July. Douglas made his Scotland U20 debut in the tournament. In addition, all three were named as part of the 2023/24 FOSROC Scottish Rugby Academy, with Blyth-Lafferty and Douglas signing for Edinburgh Rugby and Hart for Glasgow Warriors.

Head Coach Scott Forrest said: “We all agreed after the Watsonians game that we are starting to develop our own identity as a team. That is what we will look to build on this Saturday against a Knights team who have shown some very impressive performances over the past few rounds.

“We know the Knights want to play an exciting brand of rugby and when these two teams met in Round 1, it produced some outstanding attacking rugby, something we hope will be on show again this Saturday.”

The team