Broncos all set as new season starts with trip to Inverclyde

The Grangemouth Broncos will start the action on Saturday, April 13, when they travel to Inverclyde Comets for games against Glasgow Hornets, Edinburgh Outlaws and Carnegie Flag – with the Colts also starting their campaign (story right).

The Broncos ended last season in third after a promising start was snuffed out by two key injuries. Both Fraser Thomson and Kevin Woods, Great Britain standard players, were sidelined for the second half of the season after suffering injuries while playing in Germany.

Third place in the north meant no appearance in the National Finals, where the top eight teams in the UK played a knock-out tournament for the British Championship.

The Broncos did cap their year by winning the BAFA Premier Plate competition, which effectively placed them ninth in the UK standings.

This year, Fraser Thomson, the club’s head coach, is still recovering from achilles tendon surgery. Woods, on the other hand, is back and ready to go. Along with Thomson and Woods, the Broncos will feature other GB players, Callum Woods and Liam Fleming. In addition, they are hoping to complete the transfer from Aberdeen of another GB player, Calum Young, before this weekend’s deadline.

Other Broncos players returning from last year’s squad are quarterback Scott McKenzie, Luke Morrice and Matthew Ross, all of whom will be fighting for Scotland places by the end of the year. Veteran player Jimmy Thomson will be returning for “just one more year” in the top flight. Two other players will be added to the team for this year.

Joe McIlwaine had an outstanding few games for the Colts last year before heading to America for the summer. And finally, Ally Mundie has been playing American Football in some form or other for almost ten years. The club are hopeful that the experience he has gained playing for the Highland Stags recently will further strengthen a good team.

The first game of the season will be against tough opposition in the Glasgow Hornets, who went through last season unbeaten right up to the British Final where they were unlucky to lose to the Baker Street Buttonhookers.

The second game of the day will be against the Edinburgh Outlaws. The Broncos rarely lose to the Outlaws, but they have their own GB and Scotland players who continue to make this a tight fixture.

The third game of the day will be against Carnegie Flag, from Dunfermline. Carnegie won themselves promotion for BAFA Dive 1 last year, another team who had an unbeaten run through to the Div 1 British Final. The BAFA Premier action will be at Greenock Wanderers Rugby Club and kicks off at 11am.