Friday 14 October: Watsonians v Heriot’s

The final round of regular games kicks off this Friday as current league leaders Watsonians host Heriot’s at Myreside (kick-off 7:45pm).

How to watch

All Friday games will be broadcasted live on free-to-watch channel FreeSports. FreeSports can be found on Sky HD channel 422, Virgin HD 553, TalkTalk 64, BT Vision channel 64, Samsung TV Plus and is also available on the FreeSports Player — www.freesportsplayer.tv. For those who live outside of the UK and Ireland, you can watch these games live on the Scottish Rugby website.

Be There

Secure your spot to watch Watsonians take on Heriot’s. Find your tickets here: https://www.citizenticket.co.uk/events/watsonian-football-club/watsonians-rugby-v-heriot-s-rugby-fosroc-super6-1/

Match Officials

Ref – David Sutherland
AR 1 – Samuel O’Neil
AR 2 – Bob Nevins

Comments from the Coaches:

Fraser Pringle (Watsonians) said:

“There are 2 changes to the backs where Angus Guthrie returns to the starting team for Ross McKnight, who moves to the bench. Murray Scott starts at 9 in place of Roan Frostwick who drops out of the squad with Rory Brand returning off the bench. Connor Eastgate also returns to the squad on the bench.”

“In the forwards, we have 4 changes to the starting pack with Cal Davies and Angus Williams returning to the front row in place of Patrick Harrison and Leeroy Atalifo. Luis Ball starts at 6 with Seb Cecil moving to 8 in place of unavailable Kwagga Van Niekerk. Kieran Watt starts in the second row. On the bench, Michael Badenhorst returns to the squad having played for Heriots as emergency cover and Neil Irvine-Hess also returns to the squad. Gregor Scougall returns to the squad on the bench for injured Cole Lamberton.”

“We’re really looking forward to playing our first Friday night game at Myreside this year, and no better fixture for it than against Heriots. While Heriots haven’t had the results they may have wanted so far in this campaign, they have quality players throughout their team and will be really up for this game. We are relishing the challenge this week, and are determined to produce our best rugby when it matters most, which is now as we get down to the business end of our season.”

Finn Gillies (Heriot’s Rugby) said:

“Michael Liness and Dan Gamble return to the starting pack and replace Elliot Young and Euan McLaren respectively. Josh Scott continues at loosehead prop. A club legend, Callum Marshall returns this week, for his 20^th appearance for the side, to ease some of our back 5 woes in the scrum. Callum comes from the wilderness to start in the second row alongside Ronan Seydak.”

“Young Sam Wallace retains his place at openside flanker after an impressive performance last week. Callum Anderson returns from injury to start at number 8 and captain Ruairidh Leishman continues at blindside. Chris Keen has returned from injury to come back on to the bench and cover loosehead prop. Fraser Hastie and Iain Wilson make up the forwards replacements.”

“Jed Gelderbloom (who makes his 20^th appearance for Heriot’s Rugby) replaces Murdo McAndrew and will partner Bruce Houston, who has returned from concussion. Cammy Hutchison and Matt Davidson continue their centre partnership. Nathan Sweeney has made a long-awaited return from injury and looks like a very promising prospect and will start at fullback. Jack Blain and Jake Henry complete a very exciting looking backline. Murdo McAndrew, Nyle Godsmark and Ross Jones complete the replacements bench.”

“We were bitterly disappointed with last weeks performance and have done a bit of soul searching this week to help us reset in time for the play offs.”

“This is a strange week to prepare for, we may find ourselves in a play off against Watsonians again next week so I can’t imagine either team will be particularly keen to show their hand.”

“We have approached this week slightly differently, we have focussed on just playing the game for the enjoyment of playing the game, we want the players to go out express themselves and enjoy the final round of the regular season against our local rivals.”

Team Selections

Saturday 15 October: Southern Knights v Stirling Wolves

After their convincing win over Heriot’s last weekend, Southern Knights host Stirling Wolves at The Greenyards in Saturday’s first game (kick-off 1pm).

How to watch

All Friday games will be broadcasted live on free-to-watch channel FreeSports. FreeSports can be found on Sky HD channel 422, Virgin HD 553, TalkTalk 64, BT Vision channel 64, Samsung TV Plus and is also available on the FreeSports Player — www.freesportsplayer.tv. For those who live outside of the UK and Ireland, you can watch these games live on the Scottish Rugby website.

Be There

There’s still time to grab your tickets to watch Southern Knights take on Stirling Wolves at The Greenyards. Find your tickets here: https://beecraigsfestiveforest.citizenticket.co.uk/events/southern-knights/southern-knights-v-stirling-wolves/

Match Officials

Ref – Ross Mabon
AR 1 – Craig Clark
AR 2 – Alistair Watt

Comments from the Coaches:

Bruce Ruthven (Southern Knights) said:

“David Colvine gets the nod ahead of Keiran Clark this week at Full back. Aidan Cross will hope to continue his fine form on the right wing and Ben Pickles moves out from centre to the left wing replacing injured Finn Douglas. A midfield partnership of Chalmers and Winters both return from injury to add some power to the midfield with halfbacks Crawford and McGhee completing the backline.”

“The young trio of Rudi Brown at No8 with flankers Wallace Nelson and Sam Derrick start again for the Knights. The second row sees Jamie Campbell alongside Edinburgh draft player Marshall Sykes. Stage 3 player Robbie Deans keeps his place at tight head with Mike Mbaud on the loose with Captain Fraser Renwick starting at hooker.”

“Eighteen-year-old LH Aaron Cameron joins the Knights from Newcastle University on Emergency Cover and will try to catch the eye of the U20 selectors from the bench. Stage 3 player Harri Morris covers hooker with Isaac Brace tight head replacement. Erem Demirel & Alan Ferrie will hope to make an important contribution from the bench along with stalwart with Russell Anderson. Keiran Clark and Jedforest RFC player Mason Cullen complete a 6/2 split for the substitutions.”

“The players are in a buoyant mood ahead of tomorrow’s clash versus the Wolves but we know its going to be another tough match which will be very tightly contested.  Both teams will be desperate for a win on the last game of the Championship which will make for an exciting encounter. The young Knights have been steadily progressing and will be hoping to make another improvement this Saturday towards their all-round performance. It is a day to come of age and put their best foot forwards and give the home support something to cheer about.”

Ben Cairns (Stirling Wolves) said:

“Euan Cunningham moves to fullback for the injured Craig Robertson and Stevie Hamilton returns from injury to start on the wing. Marcus Holden returns to start at 10 for the unreleased Duncan Weir and our assistant coach Sean Kennedy is released by Glasgow Warriors to start at 9.”

“The pack sees Rhodri Tanner start at tighthead, Hamish Ferguson drop into the boiler house for the unreleased Max Williamson and Co-Captain Connor Gordon return in the back row.”

“On the bench, two emergency loan players in the form of students Sam Rainey and Sam Wright come in to cover hooker and tighthead and we are very appreciative of the support from their universities, University of Stirling & St Andrews University respectively, for their support. Harris McLeod and Alex Thom also return to the squad.”

“With the prospect of 53 players used in 10 matches it’s been a tough old Championship for our group. However, teams tend to grow stronger through adversity and we intend to show that on Saturday in what will be our last game of the season and our last game together as a group.”

“The Southern Knights will be buoyed by their performance last time out at Goldenacre in a result which all but sealed our fate at the foot of the Super6 table. They have some quality young players who can score from anywhere and we know we need to stay focused for the full 80 minutes if we are to finish the season on a high.”

Team Selections

Saturday 15 October:  Boroughmuir Bears v Ayrshire Bulls

Round 10 closes out on Saturday evening at Meggetland as the Bears take on the Bulls (kick-off 5pm).

How to watch

Watch this game live on the Scottish Rugby website, BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer.

Be There

There’s still time to grab your tickets to watch Boroughmuir Bears and Ayrshire Bulls go head-to-head at Meggetland! Find your tickets here: https://www.citizenticket.co.uk/events/boroughmuir-rugby/boroughmuir-bears-v-ayrshire-bulls-2022-fosroc-super6-championship/

Match Officials

Ref – Ian Kenny
AR 1 – Michael Todd
AR 2 – David Changleng

Comments from the Coaches:

Graham Shiel (Boroughmuir Bears) said:

“Brandon Sweet comes back into the starting XV alongside Jerry Blyth Lafferty at hooker and Luca Alessandri gets his first start for Bears at Tight Head. Jack Fisher returns to action this week after recovering from a knock to rejoin Callum Atkinson in the middle row.”

“Trystan Andrews returns to start at 8 having built back into playing from injury taking over from Craig Keddie, who is now on the injured list. Euan Ferrie continues to thrive and impress at this level and this week his flexibility sees him deployed at 6 with Liam McConnell moves across the back row to take on the role of openside flank. Liam will also assume the role of ‘skipper’ this week as part of his development as he continues to impress with his approach to the game and the maturity that he shows along with his willingness to improve – he has experience all around him, so we feel that this is a natural decision and fully merited.”

“Ruairidh Swan and Jack Bergin continue at half back with Scott Robeson and Adam Scott completing the midfield. With what has been a fairly settled area for the Bears has been challenged this week we have a different lineup Tom Brown and Kerr Johnstone both out injured, so Joe Jenkins remains but is joined by Andrew McLean (Glasgow Hawks) and Cammy Meagher (Currie Chieftains) who will make his debut at Super6 level.”

“Iain Carmichael starts again from the bench and continues to progress within the Bears environment. Callum McFeat Smith stands down this week starting from the bench after putting in a significant shift over the Championship. Nicky Hart of North Berwick RFC steps into the breach to help us out on this match day as front row cover.”

“Josh King again starts from the bench as he recovers fully from illness and Paul Bogie returns to the squad.”

“At the time of release 17-year-old scrum half Ross Cadzow (who will turn 18 on Saturday) has been released to play from Edinburgh Accies as an ‘emergency loan player’ along with former Boroughmuir player Cameron Hogg joining us from Currie Chieftains completing the match day 23.”

“We are very grateful to Edinburgh Accies Iain Berthinusen, Glasgow Hawks Andy Hill, Currie Chieftains Mark Cairns & Ally Donaldson, North Berwick’s Marc Teague and Southern Knights Bruce Ruthven for their support, and we appreciate the gesture greatly when they too are in competition.”

“Back on track? Last week was a fantastic performance from the Bears and one that although we lost and took nothing material from, we are proud of and felt that this was on one of the occasions that the “scoreboard didn’t look after itself” and was not a true reflection on the competitiveness of the game. It took a huge effort from the whole squad, but it did unfortunately take its toll and means that we have a list of injuries as long as Santa’s present list! With 15 players unavailable this weekend (13 injured) we are finding it a little challenging to field a squad this weekend.”

“As has been our trademark – we dust ourselves down look at things where we performed well and towards the areas that we need to improve. We then get busy through the week to try and find ways to be as competitive as we can in this competition. The learning that continues to take place is very satisfying from a coaching team point of view and how our players continue to look at ways to get better, take responsibility for their performances, reset as a group and the willingness to go again. ”

“Last weekend was tough physically for the Bears. We have a further two weeks of competition in which to give our best, to perform as well as we can in to complete in what has been overall, a very positive 2022 for the Bears family.”

“We are under no illusions around our standing and that the fact that we are sitting in 3^rd position (on 22pts), 17pts behind Ayrshire Bulls in 2^nd and as noted last week there is ‘some distance’ between ourselves and the competition leaders.”

“In round 1 versus Ayrshire Bulls the gulf between the sides was significant, so we know the size of the task ahead. Our aim is to continue to improve week upon week and to be able to compete with the top 2 teams in the Super6 competition. On last week’s performance, whilst we achieved that, over the 80mins we were unable to sustain the levels of pressure and accuracy required which we recognize we will need to do this week against the Bulls.”

Pat McArthur (Ayrshire Bulls) said:

“We again see a number of changes with Ollie Smith, Ross Thompson, Alex Samuel and Sione Vialanu all unavailable this week which means Liam McNamara, Will Hunt, Ewan Bulger and Archie Seaton gets a start. Jamie Drummon, Alex McGuire and Calvin Henderson starts in the from row with Ali Rogers, James Malcom and Simon Berghan on the bench. Other changes include, Cam Jones and Eli Caven staring with Jamie Shedden moving to 13 and Jordan Lenac and Thomas Glendinning reverting to the bench.”

“With Boroughmuir being our possible Semi final opponents it’s really important that we put in a good performance. They are a team that like to move the ball so defensively we will need to be at our best. Their Line out and maul has functioned well so discipline will be key. It’s also the last opportunity for individual players to stake their claim for next week which means motivation will not be a problem.”

Team Selections