The upcoming season will see newly formed sides Tayside Silverbacks and Borders Barbarians compete against 2025 Grand Final winners, West End Warriors, along with Glasgow RL, Forth Valley Vikings, and last season’s beaten finalists Edinburgh Eagles.
The Silverbacks name will be familiar to followers of the game in Scotland as it was previously sported by Tayside-based Strathmore, so 2026 is perhaps more the reincarnation of a past club, rather than the formation of a completely new club.
The “founder” of the Tayside Silverbacks is former Glasgow RL centre/second row Ross Moir, who moved to the area for work last year. When asked about the club Moir said;
“Since moving to Tayside I have struggled to commit to travelling to Glasgow for training and games due to the distance and working shifts so I wanted to look at starting a club up here. I was looking at Dundee where I have been playing rugby union, and it was suggested I contact Strathmore as they played previously. I got in touch with Glenn (Feighan – former Strathmore player) and things developed quickly from there. We are obviously delighted to get the Silverbacks up and running again in 2026 and it we think it’s great that rugby league is returning to Tayside after a six or seven year hiatus. We are hoping to build on the success of the Silverbacks in the past and continue to grow the game domestically. We will be splitting games and training between Dundee and Strathmore rugby clubs, and aiming to lay down roots at both clubs, which we believe will help encourage players from both to try something new over the off-season. We are excited to see what this year brings.”
The Borders Barbarians on the other hand are most definitely a new club. Based out of Earlston RFC, near Melrose, the Barbarians club is the brainchild of former Scotland Students and A international, David Anderson, and Earlston teammate Cammy Hill. Despite only officially forming last month, the pair are already excited by the amount of interest the have received in such a short period of time, with the positive messages of support suggesting that they are “bringing something to the area that many wished had happened years ago”.
Anderson said;
“The Borders has long needed a rugby league team. We have had many good players over the years, playing at various representative levels, but we’ve never had our own team as such. I played for Scotland RL at different age-groups in the early 2000’s, starting with my debut at U17s versus France in Peebles. I attended last year’s Scotland RL Grand Final at Penecuik and got the bug again. I spoke to Ash Carroll (coach of Edinburgh Eagles) to decided to take to plunge and look at the possibility of starting a team at Earlston RFC where I have played and coached for the last two years. Obviously rugby 7’s is a big deal in the Borders, but not all players are built for it so that’s the players we’re hoping to interest in an alternative option over the offseason. We’ve had a lot of positive engagements, and I would like to thank Earlston for their support. I can’t wait to see what our debut season brings.”
For Scotland RL, Operations Director Barry McGuffog said;
“The two clubs joining the league competition is obviously fantastic news for everyone involved with the game in Scotland. From an organisation point of view, it’s great to see the game growing gradually again domestically and expanding into different areas. West End warriors joined the competition last year and the aim this year was to add another team. Adding two is amazing. I was involved with Edinburgh Eagles previously and recall several tough games against Glenn (Feighan) and Strathmore Silverbacks, so I’m delighted to see things happening up there again. And, having recently announced that we’ll be playing fixtures at Hawick this year, it’s great to see a club start up in the Borders.”
