Tennent’s Women’s Premiership Preview | 26 & 27 November

Kicking off the action this weekend, Cartha Queens Park host Heriot’s Blues at Dumbreck.

The two teams last met in September where this weekend’s hosts Cartha secured a win (17-24). The Blues will be fighting to maintain their play-off position this weekend which will certainly make for an exciting game to watched with only two full rounds of competition left in the regular league before we reach the play-offs.

After winning their last two matches, Heriot’s Blues are hoping to continue their momentum with Co-captain, Caitlin Sedgeworth saying: “The team has been growing in confidence and performances have been coming together which has shown in our most recent games with back-to-back wins against Hills.

“We are looking forward to this weekend’s game against Cartha, it has been a long time since we last played them, the team has grown a lot since that game and will be looking to produce a much-improved performance from that narrow loss.”

Cartha Queens Park v Heriot’s Blues – Dumbreck, KO 2pm

Up in the north of Scotland, Garioch will host Watsonians.

The two sides last met in September where last year’s Champions Watsonians claimed an emphatic 74-12 victory which they will be hoping to replicate as they travel to Kellands Park this Sunday.

Garioch are looking forward to welcoming Watsonians after a couple of waterlogged weekends. Captain Nikki Simpson said “With the bad weather and flooding up in Aberdeenshire, we’ve struggled to get some proper training and games played.

“However, the team is looking strong this weekend with great availability. We’ve been working hard in the gym to keep us going and the girls are all excited to play some rugby this weekend.”

Garioch will be hoping for some home field advantages as they continue to search for their first league points this season.

Reflecting on the season so far, Watsonian Vice-Captain, Kaeli King said, “The team is apprehensive about our final two matches in the league, but we have built momentum and intend to complete the season on a strong note.

“We always knew this season would look different from last, and we are proud of all the new players for stepping up and working to better themselves; younger players like Karis Craig, Mary Nelson, and Fran McGhie have made themselves invaluable to our squad.”

The most notable absence for Watsonians will be that of their Captain, Briar McNamara will be absent from the field this weekend. However, the team will see speedster Shannon Macey return for her first run out this season post-injury.

Garioch v Watsonians – Kellands Park, KO 2pm

On Sunday it’s an East versus West clash as we see Hillhead Jordanhill welcome Corstorphine Cougars to Hughenden.

Hills and Cougars last met a couple of months ago which saw a competitive game from both sides with Cougars securing the win 14:7. This weekend will be set to be another nail biter as Hills must secure a bonus point to put them back in the running for a coveted play-off spot.

Hills Captain, Debbie Lee highlighted: “This is a really important game for us, and we know we need to go out and give it our all.

“We’ve been working hard in training and focusing on ourselves and what we can do as a squad. We’re looking forward to hosting Cougars on Sunday as its always a competitive match.”

Cougars Head Coach Eric Jones is expecting this weekend to be a tight match, but the team have been preparing well. Eric said: “We have moved some of our sessions indoors and had some really good analysis sessions where we were able to go into some detail around what we’re looking to achieve. This has really focussed the sessions when we are outdoors, so it’s been a good few weeks.

“We’ve managed to get a good number of players Premiership experience this season, so we will have confidence in the 20 that take to the pitch on Sunday.”

Hillhead Jordanhill v Corstorphine Cougars – Hughenden, KO 2pm

Stirling County are having a bye week sitting at the top of the league table with their play-off spot secured. Last weekend saw Stirling awarded a 28-0 win as Garioch were unable to field a team for their fixture.

TENNENT’S NATIONAL 1

Tennent’s National 1 takes a break this weekend and will return next week (4 December) where we head into our final round of the competition where it is still all to play for to see who will earn promotion next season to the Premiership.