Sarah Beaney Cup | Road to the Quarter-finals

The finals of the Sarah Beaney Cup, Plate and Bowl will all be played as part of Silver Saturday at BT Murrayfield. The Sarah Beaney Cup final will be broadcast on BBC ALBA.

The Cup competition is named in memory of a Murrayfield Wanderers player who tragically died in 2005.

The Plate and Bowl also get underway in the coming days as players from the length and breadth of Scotland look to make it one step closer to a big day out at BT Murrayfield at the end of April.

In the Sarah Beaney Cup there are three matches on Sunday.

At Wardie there is an Edinburgh derby where Broughton meet Corstorphine.

The sides know each other well from over the years and actually played each other last weekend in a pre-arranged friendly, so this tie could be nip and tuck given their familiarity.

Corstorphine will start the tie as slight favourites given that they played in the top flight during 2018, but they know it will be a tough 80 minutes.

“We are looking forward to the match and we are aware that we will have to play well to progress,” the Corstorphine coach Eric Jones said.

“During the pool stages we only played one match so we arranged last week’s friendly with Broughton before we knew this draw.

“Both sides were keen to press on with last week’s game and get as many players as possible game time ahead of this tie and the team have taken a lot away from that run out and the recent weeks of training.

“The team is coming together nicely with a good mix of experienced players and newer ones and I am looking forward to seeing how we do on Sunday.”

As Jones mentioned, Corstorphine played one Pool 5 match, defeating Livingston 85-0 on March 17.

Broughton too played one pool match, defeating Lismore 49-0 on March 3 to top Pool 7.

“It would mean everything to a small club like Broughton to reach the quarter finals,” Broughton coach Louise Forsyth said.

“We have worked hard since the end of the league in November, focusing fully on the cup run. The girls have showed so much dedication and desire to win and I would love them to beat a Premiership team.

“We are looking forward to welcoming our Edinburgh foes Corstorphine to Wardie on Sunday where we always provide teams with a warm welcome

“I also have one eye on the next league campaign and we have strengthened the squad, some old and new faces but still the same ambition.”

Heriot’s head to Cartha Queens Park and it should be an intriguing tie at Dumbreck.

Heriot’s will be buoyed for the trip west by the news that Annabel Sergeant will be representing Scotland Sevens in Hong Kong next week.

Stirling County are on the road to Annan.

When they met in the top flight last August, County came out on top 72-12, but expect this 80 minutes to be closer.

The winners of these three ties will head into the Sarah Beaney Cup last eight to join Watsonians, Ayr, Hillhead/Jordanhill, Howe Harlequins and Garioch.

There are also three matches in the Plate.

Shetland are on the road to Oban Lorne and Grangemouth make the trip to play the Orkney Dragons.

Wigtownshire and Glasgow University both had great away wins in their respective pool matches last weekend and they meet this time around looking to progress.

In the Bowl there are three ties.

Ardrossan Accies face Greenock Wanderers, Livingston welcome Biggar to West Lothian and Stornoway are due to take on Peterhead or Huntly.

This weekend’s fixtures (all Sunday)

Sarah Beaney Cup

Plate

Bowl

Photo caption: last week’s friendly between Broughton and Corstorphine.
Photo credit: Mark Brown