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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Alexandria's rugby teams came home from Scotland this weekend with two trophies, a historic shutout and one piece of unfinished business.
The Alexandria Select squads took two of three matches against sister city Dundee in the revived Mayors' Cup Challenge. But the men lost the marquee game 33-17, meaning the Mayor's Cup itself — in Dundee's possession since 2008 — stays in Scotland.
"We are returning home with 2 of the 3 trophies," Mayor Alyia Gaskins posted on X, "but more importantly a much deeper understanding of the friendship between Dundee and Alexandria and the importance of sister cities."
Friday: the legends, 18 years later
The weekend opened Friday night at Alloway Place with the Gavin Garden Quaich legends match. "Tonight, we officially kick off the fight for the Mayor's Cup," Gaskins wrote that afternoon.
Alexandria won it, 38-24, according to Dundee Rugby Club.
Some of those players had been on the pitch for the original Mayors' Cup in 2008 — the year Dundee won 76-0.
"Congratulations to the members of the Legends team," Gaskins wrote. "These players competed in the original Mayors Cup in 2008 and last night they won."
Gaskins' husband, Greg, joined the legends side and was named Man of the Match for what the mayor described as several key tackles.
Saturday: a shutout and a shortfall
The teams moved to Mayfield Sports Centre on Saturday for a women's and men's double header.
Alexandria's women — fielding a side in the competition for the first time in its history — shut out Dundee 87-0 for the Lord Provost Salver.
"Fun fact, this is the first time that we've ever brought a women's team over to compete in the challenge," Gaskins said in a video posted Saturday night. She said the result showed how much women's rugby has grown in both countries.
The men followed and fell 33-17. Gaskins said the team "put up one of the best fights I have ever seen," describing players who kept going hit after hit, determined to finish strong.
"A weekend of rugby, competition, and friendship, with plenty of reasons to celebrate the connection between Dundee and Alexandria," the Dundee club wrote on Instagram. The club noted it had won only one of the three trophies, but added that with the Mayor's Cup staying in Dundee, it was a good way to close out the weekend.
The results scramble a rivalry that had been entirely one-sided. Dundee's Lord Provost Select XV won that inaugural 2008 match and took the 2009 rematch at George Washington Middle School 21-7. The 87-0 women's result is, in a sense, the mirror image of that first scoreline — delivered 18 years later by a team that didn't exist in the original series.
A theater exchange, born at the closing gala
The trip produced at least one concrete new project. At a rugby gala Saturday night, young performers from across Dundee took the stage and told the Alexandria delegation they are already working with high school students in Alexandria — including at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School — on a new piece of theater they hope to stage in both cities.
"Old friendships became new friendships, new ideas were shared," Gaskins said.
She said the week's agenda ran well past the pitch, with conversations about tourism, economic development, museums and cultural exchange, plus shared problems the two cities face — flooding, building an innovation economy, and staying welcoming "in the face of so much hate and division across our world."
"This week has been about so much more than just sports," she said. "It's been about community and showing the world that twinning, relationships and sister cities still matter."
The delegation also visited Arbroath Abbey, roughly 17 miles up the Angus coast, where it was welcomed by Angus Provost Craig Fotheringham, members of the Friends of Arbroath Abbey, Brian Cargill of the Arbroath Town Board and councillors Brenda Durno and Lois Speed.
There, the group learned about the Declaration of Arbroath, the 1320 letter in which Scottish barons asserted the country's independence in an appeal to Pope John XXII. The document's supposed influence on the American Declaration of Independence is a familiar piece of Scottish-American lore — Congress cited it in 1998 when it designated April 6 as National Tartan Day. Historians have been more skeptical; a Historic Environment Scotland researcher traced the claimed link to a 1970s magazine article rather than to anything in the founders' papers.
The delegation was welcomed to Dundee at a reception in the council chambers, attended by Gaskins, the Deputy Lord Provost of Dundee, Alexandria Sister Cities Committee President Eric Compton, Dave Mitchell, members of the Dundee-Alexandria Twinning Association and the Alexandria players.
"We look forward to sharing more highlights from the visit as our delegation continues celebrating the longstanding friendship between Alexandria and Dundee," the Sister Cities Committee wrote.
Alexandria and Dundee have been twinned since 1962.
Getting there
Roughly 80 players, supporters and civic leaders made the trip, which ran Aug. 4-8 and included practices and a scrimmage with the Dundee club. Players funded their own travel, with fundraising going toward reimbursing flights, lodging and living expenses. Gaskins hosted a free community send-off at the Fraternal Order of the Eagles on July 26, and the team held a Rugby Ball benefit at the New Zealand Embassy in June.
Gaskins announced the revival in December at a City Council legislative meeting, days after Alexandria hosted the Lord and Lady of Dundee for the 54th annual Scottish Christmas Walk Weekend.
A return leg appears likely — the Alexandria team's Instagram account bills itself as Alexandria Mayors' Cup 2026-2027. Eighteen years ago Alexandria came home from Dundee with nothing but a 76-0 scoreline. This time there's silverware in the luggage, and only one cup left to win.
