Ayr v Hawick preview

Ayr welcome Hawick to Millbrae tomorrow in the third BT Premiership fixture of the season.  After two narrow wins for Ayr and two equally narrow defeats for Hawick, both sides will be looking to stretch their legs and get some points on the scoreboard.

It's also the first defence of the season of the Bill McLaren Shield for Ayr.

"It is great for us to be returning to Millbrae following our victory at Hawks last weekend with the Shield and this weekend's visitors make our defence of the trophy all the more special," says Ayr head coach Calum Forrester.  "We expect another tough encounter this Saturday."

Although the forwards have a fairly settled look to them, there are some changes in the backs due to injuries sustained by Craig Gossman, Ross Curle and Gavin Lowe.  However, it gives recent Glasgow Warriors signing Connor Braid a run-out in the pink and black.  The twenty-four-year-old Canadian has twelve fifteen-a-side caps for his country, as well as having represented them at the Commonwealth Games sevens tournament in Glasgow in July.

Braid's fellow Warrior Murray McConnell starts at scrum-half with Danny McCluskey moving to stand-off to make way for Braid at outside centre.

On the bench, there's a mix of youth and experience as Stuart Fenwick, Andrew Dunlop and Sylvain Diez take their places alongside Fergus Scott and David Armstrong.  Glasgow Warriors EDP James Malcolm makes his first start at hooker.


Ayr:

15. Grant Anderson, 14. Cammy Taylor, 13. Connor Braid, 12. Dean Kelbrick (capt), 11. Kerr Gossman; 10. Danny McCluskey, 9. Murray McConnell; 1. Nick Cox, 2. James Malcolm, 3. Fraser Watt; 4. Robert McAlpine, 5. Scott Sutherland; 6. Callum Templeton, 7. Will Bordill, 8. Blair Macpherson.

Replacements:
16. Fergus Scott, 17. Stuart Fenwick, 18. Andrew Dunlop, 19. David Armstrong, 20. Sylvain Diez.


Hawick:

15. Scott Peffers, 14. Nikki Walker, 13. Joaquin Domingues, 12. Lee Armstrong, 11. Scott McLeod; 10. Rory Hutton, 9. Greg Cottrell; 1. Shawn Muir, 2. Ross Graham, 3. Mathew Landels; 4. Michael McKee, 5. Finlay Simpson; 6. Garry Lowrie, 7. Rory Scott, 8. Bruce McNeil.

Replacements:
16. Lindsey Gibson, 17. Nicholas McLennan, 18. Stuart Graham, 19. Keith Davies, 20. Sean Goodfellow.


Kick-off 3pm!