In the fourth round of the FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series, Boroughmuir Bears secured their first victory of the tournament away to Stirling County on Friday night [25-26]. Watsonians continued their unbeaten start by defeating Heriot’s [34-25] and Ayrshire Bulls won convincingly away to Southern Knights (12-62).

FRONT ROW
The props this week both put in fantastic shifts in losing sides. Callum Norrie gets the nod for a strong showing for County, particularly in the scrum where he made a big contribution in some dominant scrums for his side. Grant Sheills is also selected after being a standout for Southern Knights up front.

Scoring two tries and winning the FOSROC Player of the Match award, 18 year old Corey Tait, who has been trained with Scotland U20 where his brother Rhys was recently captain, goes into the side at hooker for his fantastic contribution to the Bears’ win on Friday night.

SECOND ROW
This week’s second row is an all Heriot’s affair. Ronan Seydak is included after a clever try for his side in the first half, noticing a gap at the back of a ruck and darting through it, and an all-round strong performance. He is joined by his captain, Ruairidh Leishman. The Heriot’s skipper actually played at blindside flanker, but is normally in the second row and his leadership from the front meant he just couldn’t be left out!

BACK-ROW
Heriot’s Jack Mann could well have made the team for the third week in a row, but unfortunately picked up an injury after a great start to the game. Instead, Ryan Sweeney is picked at blindside flanker after his FOSROC Player of the Match performance for the Bulls. At openside, Bears captain Scott McGinley led by example and showed great strength to drive over from close range for a try.

At Number 8 is Blair MacPherson, making it two back-row selections for the Bulls this week. Blair was an important cog in a Bulls pack that got the better of the Knights’ forwards throughout the contest on Saturday evening.

HALF-BACKS
It was young scrum-halves coming off the bench that showed their class this weekend. In a battle of the young Edinburgh 9s, Roan Frostwick and Jed Gelderbloom both showed their quality in the second half for Watsonians and Heriot’s, but it was Brodie Young coming off the bench for the Bears who’s service and speed of pass impressed most.

Christian Townsend controlled proceedings for the Bulls’ backs and contributed with a try of his own to earn his place in our team.

CENTRE
Robbie McCallum made ground with every carry and was a great source of front-foot ball for the Bears at inside centre, and he is joined in our team by Watsonians’ Lewis Berg.

Lewis just missed out last week, but his two tries and big contribution to a third score earned him the FOSROC Player of the Match award.

BACK-THREE
Jamie Sheddon’s hat-trick performance for the Bulls made him a stick-on for selection on the left wing, and on the right Ross McKnight’s display of lightning pace, best shown during his try for County in the first half, earned him a spot ahead of Angus Guthrie who made significant ground throughout the game for Watsonians.

Harry Paterson earns a spot in the team at full-back for the second week in a row after display his evasive running skills which meant he skipped through several Heriot’s tackles and got his side out of trouble on many occasions. He narrowly pipped Logan Trotter to the spot, who put in a similarly impressive display for County.

FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series Team of the Week | Round 4

15. Harry Paterson (Watsonians)*

14. Ross McKnight (Stirling County)*
13. Lewis Berg (Watsonians)
12. Robbie McCallum (Boroughmuir Bears)*
11. Jamie Sheddon (Ayrshire Bulls)
10. Christian Townsend (Ayrshire Bulls)*
9. Brodie Young (Boroughmuir Bears)

1. Grant Shiells (Southern Knights)
2.Corey Tait (Boroughmuir Bears)
3. Callum Norrie (Stirling County)
4. Ronan Seydak (Heriot’s Rugby)
5. Ruairidh Leishman (Heriot’s Rugby)
6. Ryan Sweeney (Ayrshire Bulls)
8. Blair MacPherson (Ayrshire Bulls)
7. Scott McGinley (Boroughmuir Bears)

*FOSROC Scottish Rugby Contracted Academy Player