Scots face Wales as development programme continues to grow

Scotland’s best home-based U18 players will face their Welsh counterparts at Oriam this Sunday in the latest development of the country’s BT Sport Academy programme – admission free.

Free ticket registration is now open

Scotland’s East U18 and West U18 sides – made up of the four BT Sport Academy Regions of the Borders & East Lothian and Edinburgh (representing East), and Caledonia and Glasgow & the West (representing West) – will face ‘Wales Colts’ (kick-off 12.30pm) and ‘Wales Druids’ (kick-off 2pm) respectively on the indoor surface at Oriam, Scotland’s Sports Performance Centre and the training base of the senior men and women’s teams.

The fixtures are the first cross-border regional representative matches to take place for several years and the first to happen against Welsh opposition, as part of growing fixture schedule for aspiring young rugby players that provide further, intensified competition ahead of international age-grade selection.

Grant McKelvey, Scottish Rugby Talent ID and Performance Projects Manager, said: “These matches provide another layer of heightened competition for promising young rugby players and coaches.

“The games against the Welsh offer a new and different challenge to that which they’ve been exposed before, with the aim to better prepare our players for the rigours of international representative rugby by replicating the intense test match cycle of play / recover / train and reducing the ‘competition shock’ of those with aspirations of representing their country in April.”