Ayr v Melrose preview

Ayr host Melrose at Millbrae for the second time in a few weeks, kicking off at 3pm on Saturday in the third round of the BT Premiership.

This will be the fourth time in the calendar year the two teams have played each other, after the BT Premiership final, the BT Cup final and the BT Charity Shield, but fans are still not getting sick of seeing the men in pink and black and the men in black and yellow going head-to-head, as an exciting, entertaining match is guaranteed.

It has been a good week of training for the home team, and head coach Calum Forrester is looking forward to seeing his troops back out on the pitch after last week's loss.

"The players were hugely disappointed with their performance against Glasgow Hawks but the great thing about the BT Premiership is that we have another opportunity to go out this weekend and make amends."

There is a reshuffle in the backs, with Danny McCluskey going to the wing and Scott Lyle partnering up with Stafford McDowall at centre, and Harry Warr taking over from an injured David Armstrong at scrum-half.

Jonathan Agnew starts in the second row, and Robbie Smith moves back to hooker, with Steven Longwell returning to tighthead prop after three months of playing in Australia.

Ayr 1st XV
15. Grant Anderson; 14. Danny McCluskey, 13. Stafford McDowall, 12. Scott Lyle, 11. Craig Gossman; 10. Frazier Climo, 9. Harry Warr; 1. Ryan Grant, 2. Robbie Smith, 3. Steven Longwell; 4. Robert McAlpine, 5. Jonathan Agnew; 6. Blair Macpherson, 7. Tommy Spinks, 8. Pete McCallum (c).

Replacements
16. Lewis Anderson, 17. Adam Prentice, 18. George Stokes, 19. Paddy Dewhirst, 20. Jamie Bova.

Kick-off 3pm. Follow the scores live on Twitter.


After a fantastic 41-19 win against Glasgow Hawks last weekend, Ayr 2nd XV go into their BT Reserve 1 match with Melrose Storm at Millbrae with two wins from two, but the visitors always pose a threat home or away.

Backs Johnny McCorkindale, James Armstrong and James Pinkerton all return to the squad, as does second row Adam Paxton.

Ayr 2nd XV
15. Sam Gray; 14. Cameron Taylor, 13. Sam Graham, 12. Zac Howard, 11. Euan Hamilton; 10. Johnny McCorkindale; 9. Lewis Young; 1. Ben Paterson, 2. Stuart Collier, 3. Fraser Miller; 4. Alan Miller, 5. Michael Badenhorst; 6. Craig Brown, 7. David Young, 8. Cameron Reece.

Replacements
16. Ruairidh Sayce, 17. Mandeep Samra, 18. Adam Paxton, 19. Seth Rae, 20. James Armstrong, 21. James Pinkerton.

Kick-off 3pm. Follow the scores live via the Ultimate Rugby app.