GLASGOW WARRIORS will head north to Inverness to kick-off their 2022-23 season with a pre-season friendly against Worcester taking place at the Caledonian Stadium on Friday 2nd September [kick-off 7.30pm]. The club will play its other pre-season friendly against Ulster at Scotstoun Stadium the following Friday with the same kick-off time.
This will be the first time a professional rugby match is played at the home of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC since Glasgow Caledonian Reds played Edinburgh there back in 2000. It will also be the first time that the club has taken a home game on the road since 2018, when the Warriors faced Harlequins in Perth.
The fixture will be part of Highland Rugby Club’s centenary year celebrations.
"We have a passionate group of fans in the North of Scotland who we’re looking forward to putting on this game for," said Warriors Managing Director, Al Kellock. “We will be up earlier in the week and as well as preparing for the game will work closely with Highland RFC to deliver sessions to the local rugby community
“We also look forward to using this week to connect with our commercial partners who have a presence in the north of Scotland. A huge part of our partnerships are driven through engagement with staff and customers, therefore, this is a great opportunity to further strengthen this area.”
Meanwhile, Glasgow and Edinburgh have both discovered the formats of the European competitions they will be playing in next season.
The Champions Cup – featuring Edinburgh - will operate on similar lines as last season with two pools of 12 teams, each playing four seeded matches before the top eight teams qualify for the knock-out stage.
The expanded Challenge Cup – featuring Glasgow – will move away from last season’s format of three pools of five teams, to two pools of 10 teams playing four matches each, with the top six teams in each pool plus the eighth and ninth ranked team from the Champions Cup pools, making up the knock-out phase.
