Overall the competition has retained its three-tier format, with the Shield and Bowl remaining unchanged, however, a new Premier Cup structure, complete with a pool stage, will come into play in 2010/11.

This season the competing 36 teams from Premier 1, 2 and 3 have been drawn in nine pools of four with each team seeded according to the previous season's performance in league competition.

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The top seven winners of the pools will go directly into the Cup quarter-finals while the bottom two winners will play off for eighth place, with the eight teams progressing to the knockout stages.

All three finals will then come to a head on Cup Finals day at Murrayfield on Saturday 16 April.

Last season Ayr lifted the Premier Cup at the home of Scottish Rugby in front of 5616 crowd and a west stand bedecked in pink and black.

Club president, William McHarg, said: "The Cup final was a huge occasion for the club. I think the players got a bit of a culture shock on the day as many of them had never experienced an occasion like that - it really brought home what it means to play at Murrayfield.

"Getting to the cup final again is certainly one of the club's priorities for the coming season."

Scottish Rugby's head of community rugby, Colin Thomson, added: "League competition is our priority so, as part of this season's restructure, we began by allocating the best playing windows available to the league. However, we recognised that we also need to improve the standard of our cup competitions.

"The restructure means that all Premier teams will play a minimum of three cup games allowing Premier 2 and Premier 3 clubs to pit themselves against higher placed opposition."