REGRETS? He has a few. But then again, too few to mention. The irrepressible Scott Hastings is looking well – sitting in the front room of his home, a stone’s throw away from Goldenacre, which was, of course, enemy territory back in his playing days as a dyed-in-the-wool Watsonian – but he’s feeling reflective. Little wonder. It is, after all, the end of a year which has seen the 1990 Grand Slam hero face his own brush with mortality through a six-week course of chemotherapy, whilst also dealing with the loss of some great friends, including (but not restricted to) fellow Scotland greats Doddi ..read more

Glasgow Warriors 16 Edinburgh 10 DAVID BARNES @ Scotstoun FIRST blood to Glasgow in this festive season’s 1872 Cup double-header, and four valuable URC league points obtained which leap-frogs them ahead of their inter-city rivals and up to fifth in the table (at least until Boxing Day) – but Edinburgh will certainly fancy their chances of turning around the six-point deficit in next Friday’s re-match to claim the silverware, and they’ll also draw some consolation from Jaco van der Walt’s late penalty securing a losing bonus-point which could be crucial in the final shakedown at ..read more

DUHAN VAN DER MERWE has, as expected, returned to the Edinburgh line-up for tomorrow’s 1872 Cup match against Glasgow at Scotstoun – a game that will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first encounter between the two rivals. Connor Boyle also returns to the line-up selected by head coach Mike Blair, while there is a first start after two appearances off the bench for hooker Tom Cruse. However, Stuart McInally and Blair Kinghorn miss out after being injured in last week’s Champions Cup tie against Castres, while Luke Crosbie is rested after a punishing recent schedule. Van der Merwe had b ..read more

GLASGOW WARRIORS head coach Franco Smith has made five changes to the starting XV he sent out against Perpignan last weekend ahead of tomorrow night’s 1872 Cup first leg clash against Edinburgh at Scotstoun. In the backline, club captain Kyle Steyn returns on the left wing in place of Rufus McLean, Stafford McDowall takes over from Huw Jones at inside-centre, and Tom Jordan replaces Duncan Weir at stand-off. There are two changes in the pack, with Fraser Brown starting ahead of the benched George Turner at hooker, and Sintu Manjezi preferred to Lewis Bean in the second-row. 1872 ..read more

A PILOT competition called the Celtic Challenge has been launched to provide more high-performance playing opportunities for women players in Scotland, Ireland and Wales ahead of the 2023 Six Nations Championship. In year one, the tournament, which is supported by World Rugby, will see one team from each Union compete in a series of home and away fixtures over a six-week period commencing at the end of January, with the competition concluding four weeks prior to the start of the 2023 TikTok Six Nations Championship. The ambition is to launch a full, six-team tournament in 2024 featuring t ..read more

HAMISH Watson, who has been out of action since sustaining a head injury playing for Scotland against New Zealand last month, is now a doubt for the start of the Six Nations. Edinburgh coach Mike Blair explained this afternoon that, while the back-row forward was making good progress and had resumed some light training on his own, he is still some way from making a return. Asked if Watson would be back for the beginning of the Championship, Blair said: “I would have thought around that time.” Scotland’s first game in the tournament is away to England on 4 February.  Blair said: “Hamish ha ..read more

BATH have completed an agreement to sign Finn Russell and an announcement confirming the deal is expected in the coming days, according to a report in The Telegraph. A deal between the 30-year-old and the English Premiership club is understood to have been finalised on Friday in face-to-face talks with Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan. Russell’s contract – worth an estimated £1million for each of its three years – is set to make him one of the most highly-paid players in the history of the English top flight. Bath’s interest in Russell was first revealed by the Daily Mail last month, at whi ..read more

Glasgow Warriors 26 Perpignan 18 DAVID BARNES @ Murrayfield ONLY 671 hardy souls made it along the M8 to watch Glasgow pick up a bonus-point win which keeps them on track to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Challenge Cup this season (with nine points collected so far from a possible 10) – so it was a surreal sort of atmosphere at the national stadium, which perhaps contributed to the ‘home’ teams scratchy performance. There was some really positive aspects in Warriors’ performance, but they were also inaccurate at key moments, and three times they switched off after forcing their w ..read more

ALL five Premiership games scheduled for tomorrow have now been called off. Further snow overnight in many parts of the country fell on top of pitches which in some cases were already frozen. It is the second weekend running that the full card in the top flight has fallen victim to the weather. Decisions on revised dates will be taken in due course. With no matches due to be played on Christmas Eve or Hogmanay, the Premiership is next in action on Saturday 7 January, 2023. The post All Premiership matches off on Saturday 17th appeared first on The Offside Line ..read more

CHRISTMAS is looming over the horizon like Pierre Schoeman on the charge towards a biltong tree … so The Offside Line has stepped up to the plate with three Christmas-saving suggestions which we promise will elevate you from zero to hero in the Yuletide gift-giving stakes. 1. First up is the magnificent offer being thrown out by our long-time friends at Polaris Publishing, who are rewarding The Offside Line’s loyal readers with a 40 percent discount if they choose to purchase three or more of their magnificent rugby books from their distinguished catalogue. To find out more and place your ..read more