Scottish Rugby has launched ‘Tell Us’, an email support resource to encourage members of the community game to raise concerns or share negative experiences relating to incidents of sexism, misogyny, homophobia or racism.

The service will sit alongside existing support channels covered by Scottish Rugby’s regional teams, respective club and school’s own management structures and our sport’s existing disciplinary process underwritten by its Code of Conduct.

The dedicated and confidential inbox will be monitored on a daily basis, with submissions delegated to experienced representatives of Scottish Rugby’s Rugby Development dept, disciplinary and safeguarding teams, depending on the level of support and action required.

Tell Us will allow clubs and people connected to the game to have a voice with the knowledge that they will be supported, their concerns will be handled sensitively, investigated when appropriate and addressed for the benefit of all involved and the wider game.

Scottish Rugby is circulating a study on behalf of the University of Glasgow relating to concussion of those working and volunteering in grassroots sport across the UK.

We now invite our clubs and schools to circulate the information on this study to your members, and encourage them to take part.

About the survey

Head injury and/or concussion is a sporting injury that all those involved in sport should be aware of. The researchers believe there is currently a lack of knowledge about the injury within grassroots sport which the UK Government is trying to address.

We would like to invite you to complete the online questionnaire on your own knowledge of concussion and how it is managed. This will inform the researchers what education is further required as well as how best to disseminate this information. It will take around 3-4 minutes to complete and we should be very grateful for your participation.

Please click on the link to complete. The survey is live until Tuesday 21 February.

After a three-season hiatus, the Scottish Cup returned to action last weekend as teams from the Tennent’s Premiership and National Division 1 began their battle for the title. The next round will take place on Saturday 25 March.

There are just two rounds of contest left in the Tennent's Men's Premiership before the play-offs. Hawick, Edinburgh Accies and Currie Chieftains booked their play-off spot, with the final team set to be confirmed after the next two rounds.

Catch up on the results and action from both competitions, below.

The Scottish Government (SG) has published a public consultation on potential alcohol advertising and promoting restrictions in Scotland. 

The SG committed to consulting and engaging on a range of potential measures, including mandatory restrictions on alcohol marketing, in their Alcohol Framework 2018.

The consultation paper, available here, is wide ranging and covers potential restrictions on all of the major sources of alcohol advertising and promotion in Scotland, including advertising outdoors, in-store, and through sports and events sponsorship. Clearly, this could have serious financial implications for rugby clubs and the Government is keen to hear your views. 

An Easy Read version of the consultation paper has been produced and can be accessed here.

Scottish Rugby invites clubs to consider responding to the consultation via Citizen Space using the following link: https://consult.gov.scot/alcohol-policy/alcohol-advertising-and-promotion. You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open.

Please note the consultation will close on Thursday 9 March.

If you have any questions regarding any of the above please contact rugbydevelopmentadmin@sru.org.uk.

Don't miss out on Scrum School! Places for courses are filling up fast and we have limited availability in some of the regions.

About Scrum School

To help improve the standard of front row play across Scotland, Scottish Rugby has launched a new programme called Scrum School.

Through a series of practical workshops and online resources, Scrum School will provide support to coaches and players with the aim of creating stronger, more confident, and skilled front-row players.

More information can be found via the link below.