Review: Second round of regional academy fixtures at Stirling County

The four regions (Caledonia, Edinburgh, Glasgow & the West and Borders & East Lothian) picked two U16 teams and an U18 team each.

The U16 teams played a match of 30-minute halves, while the U18s played 35-minute halves.

From the squads, a Scotland U18 development squad will be selected for a training camp in Ireland starting on Saturday 3 August.

The players who are not selected for the development squad will feature in U16 and U18 festival fixtures at Dalziel RFC this weekend.

Glasgow & the West and Caledonia Academy Manager Jamie Dempsey said: “For our U16s I thought it was brilliant. It gave them the opportunity to make sense of week one and take that into week two. I thought we saw a lot of aspirational rugby played, which was pretty good to see.

“The U18s were brilliant too. Both Glasgow & the West and Caledonia had a lot of changes from week one, Caledonia had a lot of U17 players getting exposure and Glasgow & the West are trying to manage a few players back into fitness from long-term injuries, and to see the standard of rugby that was played in both those games was fantastic.”

Edinburgh and Borders & East Lothian Academy Manager Bruce Frame added: “From our Edinburgh U18 game, I thought the creative attack from both sides was really positive for a pre-season game. We could probably have played more in the right areas of the field, but the defensive effort was really good. I think Borders & East Lothian U18 improved massively from last week, they fell away a little bit in the last 10 minutes but I thought there were some really good players on show.

“The U16 games across both days so far have all been close matches which is a good sign. At this stage we identify players who are doing well and monitor their progress, we’ll watch their development right across the year but we’re pleased with what we’re seeing so far.”

To view the teams from the weekend, click HERE.