Scottish Rugby axes Borders team
Border Reivers will be axed as part of Scottish Rugby's wide-ranging review, BBC Sport understands.
The SRU report will be unveiled at a 1230BST media conference at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.

Players from Scotland's three professional clubs have been called to the national headquarters to hear what the future holds for next season.

And Reivers players have already been told to find new clubs as part of cost cutting by the parent body.

A number of players have announced in recent weeks that they are departing Reivers, Glasgow and Edinburgh and signing contracts with English, French and Irish clubs.

Reivers forwards Andy Miller and John Dalziel are the latest to be linked with other clubs, in their case English National League Division One outfit Exeter.

Edinburgh Rugby, the one Scottish pro team that is privately owned, on Monday publicly criticised the latest review - and Scottish Rugby.

A statement warned against reducing the number of professional teams in Scotland - and accused the SRU of a lack of consultation.

Reivers have struggled to hold their own in the Magners League.

They did deal a blow to Edinburgh's title hopes on Friday with a surprise win against their nearest neighbours.

But Reivers have failed to reach attendance targets set by their parent body and have struggled to capture the imagination of the Borders public.

The SRU has debts of more than £23m and scrapping the Reivers could save £2m per year.

Scotland's parent body had hoped to launch a fourth professional team in the north of Scotland.

But that plan appears unlikely to be achieved in the short term because of the deep financial problems.


Story from BBC SPORT:

This article was posted on 27-Mar-2007, 11:27 by Hugh Barrow.