SATURDAY’S  planned charity rugby match at The Greenyards between Southern Knights and Newcastle Falcons has been called off.

The match had been arranged to raise money for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation as Doddie played most of his club rugby at Melrose and Newcastle.

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The decision to postpone this week’s game was made after detailed discussions between the Coaches of both teams during which the Southern Knights flagged up their growing concern for the depth of the match day squad they could select.

A statement published on the Southern Knights website explained that the difficulties were threefold in that as well as injuries to key players, a number of the squad have been selected to represent Scotland Under 20’s this weekend.

The third difficulty relates to an existing agreement with newly signed players that they could continue to play for their “Clubs of Origin” in any Premier/National League games.

Due to rearranged games this weekend a further four players have been released to play on this basis.

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A spokesperson said: “The decision to postpone the fixture has been a difficult one.

“However as both clubs remain committed to retaining this double header fixture in the calendar it was agreed it was better to postpone the game rather than risk harming the competitiveness required to have a great rugby match fitting of the man it celebrates.

“Both clubs are committed to having the game played pre-season 2023/24.”

The hospitality will go ahead in the 1877 Bar where we will show the Six Nations fixtures on the big screen. Southern Knights General Manager Kieran Cooney will be in touch with table leads to confirm details.

The return fixture at Newcastle on the February 11 2023 will go ahead as planned.