BT Premiership: Team-of the-week (round 11)

EVERY member of the Ayr pack was in with a decent shout for team-of-the-week after their first half performance against Glasgow Hawks on Saturday, but in the event only second-row Blair Macpherson and tight-head prop Steven Longwell made the cut, with number eight Pete McCallum, blindside flanker Tommy Spinks and loose-head prop Robin Hislop particularly unfortunate to miss out.

Along with Spinks, Michael Maltman of Heriot’s also made a strong case for selection at blindside flanker, but Guy Graham gets the nod as part of a Hawick collective which finally secured a first league win of this season.

James Milller just shades it open-side ahead of the consistently excellent Grant Runciman of Melrose and the continually improving George Stokes of Ayr.

Grant Shiels of Melrose is handed the number one jersey ahead of both Hislop and Nick Fraser of Watsonians; while Callum Marshall and Jack Turley, both of Heriot’s, and Dalton Redpath of Hawick, pushed Euan Dods of Watsonians and Macpherson all the way for selection in the second-row.

Behind the scrum, Brendan McGroarty’s hat-trick gets him the number thirteen jersey, and he is joined by Hawks team-mate James Couper, who grabbed two.

Hawks full-back Bobby Beattie also made strong case for selection with some exciting broken play running, but ultimately misses out to Grant Anderson, his opposite number from Saturday, who is an unsung hero of the Ayr backline.

15. Grant Anderson (Ayr)

14. Patrick Anderson (Melrose)

13. Brendan McGroarty (Glasgow Hawks)

12. Craig Jackson (Melrose)

11. James Couper (Glasgow Hawks)

10. Ewan Fox (Watsonians)

9. Tom Wilson (Heriot’s)

1. Grant Shiels (Melrose)

2. Michael Liness (Heriot’s)

3. Steven Longwell (Ayr)

4. Euan Dods (Watsonians)

5. Blair Macpherson (Ayr)