GLASGOW Caledonians will have a highly attractive home match against Pontypridd on September 4 to start the new Welsh/Scottish League. Edinburgh Reivers will visit Caerphilly the same day.
Fixtures for the 12-team home-and-away competition were announced yesterday. The competition will run on during the World Cup in October and November and continue into May.
''We are happy that the format and fixtures have now been agreed,'' Gordon Dixon, one of the Scottish representatives on the competition working party, said.
''It's a good fixture list, and we're looking forward to plenty of attractive rugby.''
The two Scottish superteams will have 22 fixtures in the new league in addition to at least six in the European Cup.
Additional appeal has been injected into the new competition with the return of Cardiff and Swansea to regular Welsh rugby. Cardiff visit Glasgow Caledonians on October 23, and Swansea come north to play Edinburgh Reivers a week later.
Working party representatives are currently negotiating sponsorship for the competition.
Scottish superteams' fixtures are as follows. Venues for the home ties will be decided at a later date:
September 4 - Glasgow Caledonians v Pontypridd, Caerphilly v Edinburgh Reivers; September 11 - Edinburgh Reivers v Glasgow Caledonians; September 18 - Glasgow Caledonians v Ebbw Vale, Dunavant v Edinburgh Reivers; September 25 - Edinburgh Reivers v Newport, Swansea v Glasgow Caledonians; October 2 - Glasgow Caledonians v Bridgend, Neath v Edinburgh Reivers.
October 9 - Glasgow Caledonians v Llanelli, Pontypridd v Edinburgh Reivers; October 16 - Glasgow Caledonians v Caerphilly, Cardiff v Edinburgh Reivers; October 23 - Glasgow Caledonians v Cardiff, Ebbw Vale v Edinburgh Reivers; October 30 - Edinburgh Reivers v Swansea, Dunavant v Glasgow Caledonians.
November 3/4/5 - Glasgow Caledonians v Newport, Bridgend v Edinburgh Reivers; November 13 - Glasgow Caledonians v Neath, Llanelli v Edinburgh Reivers; December 4 - Edinburgh Reivers v Caerphilly, Pontypridd v Glasgow Caledonians; December 27/28 - Glasgow Caledonians v Edinburgh Reivers.
January 3 - Edinburgh Reivers v Dunavant, Ebbw Vale v Glasgow Caledonians; January 29 - Glasgow Caledonians v Swansea, Newport v Edinburgh Reivers; February 12 - Edinburgh Reivers v Neath, Bridgend v Glasgow Caledonians; March 11 - Edinburgh Reivers v Pontypridd, Llanelli v Glasgow Caledonians.
April 8 - Edinburgh Reivers v Cardiff, Caerphilly v Glasgow Caledonians; April 25/26 - Edinburgh Reivers v Ebbw Vale, Cardiff v Glasgow Caledonians; April 29 - Glasgow Caledonians v Dunavant, Swansea v Edinburgh Reivers; May 6 - Edinburgh Reivers v Bridgend, Newport v Glasgow Caledonians; May 13 - Glasgow Caledonians v Neath; Llanelli v Edinburgh Reivers.
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