Friday 3 May: Boroughmuir Bears v Ayrshire Bulls
KO 7:35pm

How to Watch
This Friday’s game will be broadcast live on BBC ALBA with coverage starting from 7.30pm.

BBC ALBA is available on: Freeview / You View 7 (Scotland only), Freesat 109 (UK), Sky 117 (Scotland), Sky 169 (rest of UK), Sky Glass 121 (Scotland), Sky Glass 172 (Rest of UK), Virgin Media 120 (Scotland), Virgin Media 161 (rest of UK).

It is also available on the BBC ALBA channel on BBC iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/bbcalba and BBC Alba YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/bbcalba.

Be There
Tickets are available from Boroughmuir Bears HERE.

Match Officials 
Ref David Sutherland
AR1 Michael Milner
AR2 Bob Nevins

Team Selections

Coaches Comments

Graham Shiel (Boroughmuir Bears): “As much as Round 1 was very pleasing, Round 2 was frustrating for the whole group. The excellent aspects of our performance versus Glasgow Warriors were not replicated against Southern Knights and we were unable to challenge Southern Knights on their home ground, as we had planned. As always there are many lessons to be learnt and many areas to work hard to improve. Reality is that we needed to get back into training this week to look at making improvements in our game ahead of this weeks challenge.  

“We welcome Ayrshire Bulls to Meggetland and as always know the size of the challenge that we face as they travel unbeaten to play Round 3. The Bulls continue to perform with the most consistency in the competition having been very much at the forefront of Super Series rugby since it’s conception.  

“Ayrshire Bulls were impressive in their outing last week and we are expecting a very tough and physical match. With last weeks disappointing performance from the Bears, tomorrow evening will be a real test for the group where we must find ways to compete with the Bulls as we aim to make improvements to our performance, finding consistency in our games week in and week out at this level of competition.”

Pat MacArthur (Ayrshire Bulls): “The players are really looking forward to the game against Boroughmuir Bears with several players looking to make a statement. We were happy with the performance against the Watsonians, the team showed improvement in a number of areas we are working on. We will look for another strong performance this week against a Bears team that will be hurting from their game against Southern Knights.”

Sarurday 4 May: Heriot’s Rugby v Edinburgh A
KO 3pm

How to Watch
Highlights of the game will be here on Monday.

Be There
Tickets are available from Heriot’s Rugby HERE.

Match Officials 
Ref Hollie Davidson
AR1 David Young
AR2 Stephen Ward

Team Selections

Coaches Comments
Ben Cairns (Heriot’s Rugby): “A few changes to the side that underperformed against a strong Wolves side last weekend. Lewis Wells rotates in for Sam Pecqueur, Angus Hunter and Wallace Nelson earn their first starts of the season at the expense of Fergus Wood and Jason Hill and Cammy Fenton comes in for the injured Michael Liness. On the bench, Sinjin Broad makes his first appearance of the season as 9 cover, Lawson Porter returns from injury and debuts lie in wait for Pat Spence and Ross Dunbar, who has come in from Edinburgh Accies to provide us with Emergency Cover.  

Last week was a big wake up call to the group, we hadn’t really been tested since our semi final defeat to the same opponents and we did not react well to the extra pressure Stirling Wolves put us under. 

The games don’t get any easier with a massive test against Edinburgh A who have gone unbeaten for a number of years.  

The guys have rallied this week and everyone is really excited to welcome the pro outfit to Goldenacre and put in a performance we can be proud of.”

Kris Burney (Edinburgh A): “We were really pleased with our first performance against Southern Knights. It was great to see some of the lads that haven’t had a huge game time recently find some form and grow into the game really quickly. Particularly pleasing was the performance of some of our younger lads, with Nairn Moncrieff playing his first senior game and 18 year old Sam Leweni also massively impressing. At the end our backline were largely teenagers so to keep performing how they did was a fantastic sign for the future. They were able to take a lot of learnings as a group. 

A real positive for us this week is that we have been able to maintain a relatively consistent squad going into this game. We’re minus a few who have been unfortunate enough to pick up some niggles but on the whole it’s a very similar side. The opportunity to see some of those combinations again is obviously something we relish.    

Only a few changes for us with Connor Boyle coming in to skipper the side in the back row, we know exactly what he will bring with his high energy and physicality. Fin Burgess comes in at 9 and it will be good to see how he links up with Cammy Scott who was excellent in the first half last time out. Angus Williams comes in at tighthead. On the bench Harri Morris and Robbie Deans come in as front row replacements, it will be good to see them in an Edinburgh shirt.  

We have pro-academy prop Ollie Blyth-Lafferty available, however we’ve made the decision to allow Ollie to play for Currie Chieftains in Sunday’s Premiership final, having played for the Malleny side throughout their campaign. 

The Premiership final is a vital fixture in the Scottish Rugby calendar, and Ollie featuring in a game of that calibre will be massive for his development. Our thanks to Glasgow for allowing Callum Norrie to feature in his stead, to cover at tighthead.  

Plus Max Wallace, who joins us from Edinburgh Accies, and Fin Doyle, who made his Scotland u20s debut in the Six Nations, joins us from Loughborough University. 

We know that Heriot’s will provide a tough challenge. They play an expansive brand of rugby that is exciting to watch but also clinical. They finished top of the Championship earlier this season for a reason, they’re a strong side. We know they’ll be disappointed with last week’s result so will be looking to bounce back, which is something we are prepared for. I expect it will be a great game to watch and we’re excited to get back out there as a group.” 

Friday 4 May: Southern Knights v Watsonians
KO 5pm

How to Watch
Highlights of the game will be here on Monday.

Be There
Tickets are available from Southern Knights HERE.

Match Officials 
Ref Ruairidh Campbell
AR1 Samuel O’Neil
AR2 Alistair Watt

Team Selections

Coaches Comments
James Head (Southern Knights): “We’re excited to go again this weekend against Watsonians. Building on the performance we put in upfront last week versus the Bears is a key focus for us. Watsonians will bring a physical pack, so we need to make sure we’re on it from kick-off.”

Fraser Brown (Watsonians): “We travel away again this weekend expecting another tough battle down in Melrose. Southern Knights were impressive last week in their win against the Bears, particularly dangerous from broken field situations. It’s a different style of play to what we faced last week against Ayr, Knights enjoy moving the ball to width, exploiting space on the edge and are happy to attack from anywhere on the pitch.  
 
We will need to be much improved with our set-piece to give us opportunities to control possession and get a foothold in the game, we’ll need to be more clinical with ball in hand particularly inside the opposition’s 22.”