The ten southern District squads play each other over three play days whilst ten northern squads do the same, with the top teams from both meeting in March to play in the district championships.

The Borders A squad, coached at Peebles Netball, had previous wins under its belt over Inverclyde A, Renfrewshire A, South Lanarkshire B, Glasgow B, with only one loss to South Lanarkshire A. Despite the loss to Argyll and Bute A last weekend, the victories over Ayrshire A, Borders B (coached by Hawick), and a conceded match by Glasgow A, look set to put Borders A into second place in their group of 10 on points, and a secure place in the championship finals against the north Districts. Results: Borders A 26, Ayrshire A 2; Borders A, 20 Borders B 9; Borders A 12, Argyll and Bute 18.

Elsewhere, in the Youth Cup, Peebles U13s played their third of three regional matches in the Scottish Youth Cup, all against Edinburgh clubs, with convincing victories in all three. With only one team from each section moving to the next stage, the youngsters have earned their place in the quarter finals of the Cup, opening up the prospect of retaining the trophy won by their predecessors in Peebles last season.

It t was a different matter for Peebles U17s in a mid-week cup match against a feisty Edinburgh squad. Although leading at half time by 17 goals to 16, the absence of one of Peebles regular shooters through illness was all too apparent, and despite an outstanding effort from Sarah Hudson in particular in goal attack, who scored 15 of the 25 goals, and some superb defence work from duo Gemma Gass and Mhairi Davidson, it was not enough to maintain the lead under pressure.

In the U17 section of the cup two teams emerge to the next round from Peebles’ section, and depending on all results from the pool, Peebles may be given a second chance in the next stage.

FOLLOWING regional matches, Peebles Senior B team reached the gold section of the Scottish Schools’ Cup for the first time in the club’s history. However, gold section standards are very tough and the second round draw against Holycross, twice gold finalists in recent years, was always going to be challenging.

In the event, Peebles started well, with nine goals to Holycross’s 16 in the first quarter. But the Hamilton side started to apply the pressure, their national squad players coming to the fore, leaving Peebles all too often out of the mix on court, eventually bowing out the Cup, 70-24.

Peebles Senior A team, winners of the gold section cup for the last two seasons, have a bye into the next round and await news of their opponents.