The Scotland and Edinburgh Rugby tighthead is set to
take up a role as a member of Watsonians’ coaching
staff, as the club gears up for the new Super6 season.
SCOTLAND’S WP
NEL TO BOLSTER
WATSONIANS’
SUPER6
COACHING TEAM
he 33-year-old prop will act as
Specialist Coach, working as part
of Watsonians’ Super6 coaching
ticket, which is also made up of Head Coach
Fergus Pringle, Assistant Coach and ex-
Scotland international Nikki Walker, and Skills
Coach, Richard Snedden.
While Southern Knights, Ayrshire Bulls and
Boroughmuir Bears have all undergone
rebranding ahead of the competition’s debut
season, Watsonians have decided to stick
with their original moniker.
In a statement, the club said: “In terms of
the Super6 team name, ‘Watsonians Rugby’,
the Super6 Board felt very strongly that it is
important to maintain the traditional links with
the history of the club that has been on the
go since 1875.
“The strip design reflects this as we retain
the traditional maroon and white hoops, with
just a slight twist! We have used additional
colours that appear in the WFC crest
although the team will be adopting a slightly
more modern badge to reflect the name
change.
“Those who played for the club in the ’90s
will be familiar with our new away jersey.”
Off the field, Euan Kennedy has been elected
President, the former Scotland centre
heading up the committee for 2019/20, with
Director of Rugby Chris Hunter continuing to
oversee all on-field matters at the club.
A Super6 official board, headed by Chairman
John Reid, has also been established, and
the board will support the club’s general
committee, which consists of 12 members
from all sections of the club alongside the
President.
Certainly, Watsonians look to be gearing
up well for the inaugural Super6 season,
which will begin for the Edinburgh club on
9 November when the side travels to the
Greenyards to face the Southern Knights.
Commenting on their upcoming fixture,
Watsonians Head Coach Fergus Pringle said:
“The start of Super6 still feels some way
off but we know it will come around pretty
quickly. There’s lots to look forward to, but
our main focus now is getting prepared and
using the time wisely in the build up to the
competition phase.
“We’ll play the Southern Knights down at the
Greenyards on their new pitch, so I’m sure it
will be an exciting occasion for both clubs to
be involved in.
“It’s a tough game first up, but one both sets
of players will be right up for.”
It was recently announced that the new top
tier of Scottish domestic rugby will have one
of each round televised by Scottish Rugby
as well as streamed live on the BBC Sport
Scotland website.
Of the announcement, Pringle said: “Having
the games shown live will help to create a
bit of a buzz around Super6 and generate
profile for the competition.
“There is already a lot of interest out there
in Super6 so it gives people the opportunity
to see what it's about and it gives all the
teams involved more exposure through the
televised games.”
Each of these televised games will kick-off at
2pm on Sunday, and each Super6 side will
play at least three televised games over the
course of the season, with highlights from
every round of the competition available on
the Scottish Rugby website.
Scottish Rugby Chief Executive Mark
Dodson echoed Watsonians’ Head Coach’s
excitement, saying:“Super6 is a bold new
competition that is designed to bridge
the gap between the domestic and theprofessional game in Scotland.
“It will feature the best semi-professional
players and so I’m delighted our long-term
partners BBC Sport have agreed to provide
live coverage of Super6 throughout its
opening season.
“This, coupled with the Scottish Rugby TV
coverage, will showcase the high quality
matches we are anticipating and enable
clubs to really leverage their commercial
and sponsorship opportunities knowing
the games will be available to a local and
international audience.”
Grigor Stirling, Commissioning Executive,
Sport, BBC Scotland, was similarly optimistic
about the decision to stream games from
the newest branch of domestic rugby in
Scotland.
He said: “It’s great news for our audiences
that we’ll be bringing regular live coverage of
Super6 during its inaugural season.
“It’s an exciting addition to the game in
this country and we’re delighted we’ll be
showing matches on the BBC Scotland sport
site, with the added bonus of broadcasting
the final live on the BBC Scotland channel.”T
“Having the games
shown live will
help to create
a bit of a buzz
around Super6 and
generate profile for
the competition.”
ISSUE 116 2019 • WWW.SCRUMMAGAZINE.COM • 137SUPER6