ROUND FIVE: PREMIER 1 PREVIEW
Thursday, 16 September 2010

Round five serves up yet another huge weekend for Premier 1 rugby:
The high fliers go head to head as third-placed Glasgow Hawks and second-placed Ayr jostle for position at Old Anniesland; familiar foes Heriot's and Melrose reignite old cup rivalries at Goldenacre; table-topping Boroughmuir welcome a resurgent Stirling County to Meggetland; Hawick and Dundee clash at Mansfield Park for a place in the top-eight half way to league split; Selkirk play league champions Currie at Philiphaugh with both sides desperate for winning momentum; and West of Scotland take on Watsonians in a bottom of the table clash.
HIGH FLIERS GO HEAD TO HEAD: GLASGOW HAWKS v AYR, OLD ANNIESLAND
Third-placed Glasgow Hawks host an undefeated Ayr side at Old Anniesland this weekend, desperate to get back to winning ways after dropping their first points in a draw with champions, Currie, last weekend. A win for either side would do their title hopes the world of good.
Glasgow Hawks team news: Team selection has been pretty consistent this season. The only change to the starting line-up sees Craig Gossman come in at full-back in place of Andy White who drops to the bench.
Glasgow hawks head coach, Peter Wright, said: “The challenge doesn’t get any easier with the visit of unbeaten Ayr. It’s never an easy game against our West coast rivals. This could be a cracker with both teams looking to play some positive expensive rugby”.
AYR UPDATE/TEAM TO FOLLOW
Glasgow Hawks team: Craig Gossman; Joffy White, Dean Kelbrick, Tom Preece, Kerr Gossman; Mike Adamson, Peter  Jericevich; Adrian Smith, Eric Milligan, George Hunter, Rory Hamilton, Andy Kirkland, Rory McKay, Bart Karalus, Ross Miller
Substitutes: Gary Strain, Callum Taylor, Andy Hill, Kris Hamilton, Andy White
OLD FOES IN FOURTH/FIFTH FACE OFF: HERIOT’S v MELROSE, GOLDENACRE
Heriot’s and Melrose have developed a healthy rivalry in recent seasons in a string of entertaining cup final encounters. Five matches into the 11 week cut-off means Saturday’s fourth and fifth-placed battle will be every bit as keenly contested.
Heriot’s team news: The only expected change in selection is Mark Lee who replaces the injured Struan Dewar at number 8.
Heriot’s head coach, Bob McKillop, said: “Melrose are a very well-balanced team who are always tough to beat. They will be keen to keep their winning run going and we are keen to bounce back from last weekend [25-16 loss to Ayr]. I expect another high-scoring, tight Heriot’s v Melrose clash.”
Melrose team news: Drafted Edinburgh professional, Alex Blair, and prop, Kieran Cooney, replace the injured Ewan Ford and Nicky Little respecetively. Richard Higgins replaces Gary Holborn at tight-head with Holborn dropping to the bench. Cammy Murray steps up after playing two good games for the 2nd XV.
Melrose head coach, Craig Chalmers, said: “After a narrow win last weekend, we are looking for a much improved performance. Our performances over the last two weeks have not been up to the required standard, especially our defense. We will have to bring our A-game if we are to get the desired result.”
Heriot’s team: Colin Goudie, Max Nimmo, Max Learmonth, Peter Saunders, Gary Bryce; Cammy Ferguson, Graham Wilson CAPTAIN; Alan Dymock, Scott Burnett, Wullie Blacklock, Jason Hill, R Martin, Jamie Parker, Peter Eccles, Mark Lee
Melrose team: Fraser Thomson; Callum Anderson, Ben Allen, Alex Blair, A Dodds; Scott Wight, Scott Mccormick; Kieran Cooney, Wayne Mitchell, Richard Higgins, Ross Miller, G Elder, John Dalziel, Grant Runciman, Graham Dodds
Substitutes: Graham Innes, G Holborn, H Mitchell, Robert Chrystie, Cammy Murray
QUEST FOR FLAWLESSNESS CONTINUES: BOROUGHUIR v STIRLING COUNTY, MEGGETLAND
League-leaders Boroughmuir will seek to remain at the top of the tree with a match against a resurgent Stirling County who are fresh from a 50-point drubbing of Selkirk last weekend.
Boroughmuir team news: Robert Cairns replaces the injured Tom Bury on the wing, Jamie Doubleday moves to number 8 and Andrew Rose gets his first start of the season at flanker.
Stirling County team news: Mike McDonald replaces Duncan Morrison at prop due to injury and Brian Archibald comes back into the squad for drafted Glasgow Warriros wing, Colin Shaw, for his first league outing.
Stirling County head coach, Eddie Pollock, said: “We played much better last week and will be looking to continue that improvement against a high-flying, confident Boroughmuir side. This will again be another stern test and we are looking forward to what should be a great game.”
Boroughmuir team: Stephen Ruddick; Robert Cairns, Malcolm Clapperton, Stevie Wilson, Ross Neill; Ali Warnock, Ross Samson; Robin Hislop, Sean Crombie, Nick Fraser, Tom McColl, Ali Davidson, Andrew Rose, Neil Rodger, Jamie Doubleday
Substitutes: Callum MacIntosh, Jonny Latta, Derek O'Riordan, Sam Johnson, Harry Leonard
Stirling County team: Robbie McGowan; Graham Lindsay, Danny Gilmour, Jonny Hope, Ben Addison;  Stuart Edwards, Sean Kennedy; Mike McDonald, Alex Moffat, Gary Mountford, Tyler Edwards, Grant Gilchrist, Colin Eadie, Tim Clarke, Craig Deacons
Substitutes: John Graham, Craig Black, Struan Robertson, Brian Archibald, Graeme Calder 

BATTLE FOR THE TOP EIGHT: HAWICK v DUNDEE, MANSFIELD PARK
Hawick and Dundee hang close to either side of the top eight cut-off, Hawick one place in, Dundee one place out. This is a crucial encounter for both sides.
Hawick team news: Hawick will field the same team for the second week, hoping for a repeat of last weekend’s convincing away victory over West of Scotland (45-12).
Hawick coach Derek Armstrong, said: “We’ve another difficult home game coming up and, judging by Dundee’s second-half performance at Melrose last week, our visitors are in good form. We’re keen to get a win at home after narrow losses at Mansfield to Ayr and Melrose.”
Dundee team news: Dundee field the same forward pack for the third successive week.
Dundee director of rugby, Ian Rankin, said: “Although I’ve been pleased with many aspects of our game there can be no hiding from the fact that we have dropped into the dog-fight zone and desperately need a win. We have done well at Mansfield on our last few visits but face a Hawick side who put West of Scotland to the sword.”
Dundee team: James Fleming; Alan Hay, Harry Duthie, Peter Horne, Matt Smith; Ali Oconnor, Andy Dymock; Neil Dymock, Simon Forrest, Alan Brown, Andy Linton, Richie Hawkins CAPTAIN, Chris Cumming, Rob Gray, Danny Levison
Substitutes: Callum Kerr, Darell Rusell, Ryan Milne, Rob Cessford, Connor Wade
Hawick team: Graham Hogg; Gary Johnstone, Stuart Hogg, Alex Dunbar, Steven Anderson; Rory Hutton, Greg Cottrell; Bruce McNeil, Matthew Landels, Sean Linton, Craig Charters, Keith Davies, Nick MacTaggart, Danny Landels, David Lowrie
Substitutes: Neil Renwick, Michael Robertson, Gary Lowrie, Alistair Marsh, Lindsey Gibson
POINTS MEAN PRIZES: SELKIRK v CURRIE, PHILIPHAUGH
The spoils from this match are crucial to both sides: eighth-placed champions Currie rest on the edge of the season split and chase their first win of the season, while 10th placed Selkirk will be keen to recover from last week’s 50-point humbling to Stirling County.
Currie team news: Matt Scott comes in at stand-off, drafted Edinburgh flier Andrew Turnbull starts on the wing and Tom Brown moves to full-back.
Currie head coach, Ally Donaldson, said: “We're trying to get some consistency in our game and eradicate the silly errors which have cost us in each game this season. Both teams are desperate for a win and we look forward to the encounter.”
Selkirk head coach, Graham Marshall, said: “Training has been really positive. If we can tighten things up defensively we can test teams like Currie, especially at home.”
Currie team: Tom Brown; Andrew Turnbull, James Johnston, Andy MacMahon, Douglas Fife; Matt Scott, Richard Snedden; John Cox, Fergus Scott, Alastair Hamilton, Ryan Wilson, Andy Adam CAPTAIN, Mark Cairns, Michael Entwhistle, Ross Weston
Subsitutes: Neil Scobie, Ross Merrilees, Gary Temple, Andrew Binikos, Johnny Smith
Selkirk team to be announced
BASEMENT BATTLE: WEST OF SCOTLAND v WATSONIANS, BURNBRAE
The two sides propping up Premier 1 go head to head at Burnbrae this weekend desperate for victory.
West of Scotland team news: McConnell and Horner make their first starts of the season, Matheson switches to the wing and Davis comes back onto he bench after missing last week with a foot injury.
Watsonians team news: Captain Alan Nash returns to the squad and, in the forwards, Ed Hunter and Craig Owenson are in for Donald Seed and Ross Turner as the team look to build on a good first 40 minutes, before defeat, against Boroughmuir last week.
West of Scotland team: M Simm;  A Hagan McCall, R Dalgleish, M Horner, K Matheson; A Stevenson, M McConnell; E McLaren, D McKenna, I Henderson, M Jenkinson, R McAlpine, D Young, A De Ste Croix, C Morrison
Substitutes: G Haswell, A Hunter, J Walker, C Davis, A Fisken
Watsonians team to be announced
 
Next >
[ Back ]

This article was posted on 16-Sep-2010, 20:23 by Hugh Barrow.