Jed-Forest Rugby Club was formed in 1884 and has a rich history over its 140 years in existence. The most remarkable thing about the club is that, with a population of just 4,000 people, it has produced three British & Irish Lions scrum halves who all captained Scotland!
Roy Laidlaw was the first – he went on the 1983 Tour to New Zealand, playing in 13 of the 18 matches overall including all four Tests. Then came Gary Armstrong six years after that – he was on the Lions tour to Australia. The third was Roy Laidlaw’s nephew, Greig, who went on the 2017 Lions tour.
Currently playing in the Scottish Premiership and the Border League – the oldest established rugby union league in the world – Jed-Forest have enjoyed a lot of success.
They were Scottish National League Division 1 champions in 1987-88 and 2011-12.
Jed-Forest have been specialists at the shortened game of 7s for a number of years and have always performed well on the Kings of the 7s circuit, winning the title on six occasions, the first being in 2001 and the most recent in 2022.