Premiership Dream Team for weekend of 24th September

Outside centre DJ Innes is the only Currie Chieftains players to make the side this week after a close shave against GHA. Image: Ian Gidney

ANDY MCLEAN of Glasgow Hawks produced another all-action performance and couldn’t have done much more to push his claim for selection to the Dream Team at full-back for the third consecutive week, but he was pipped at the post on this occasion by Chris Hyde, who was a star turn for GHA as they pushed league leaders Currie Chieftains all the way at Malleny Park.

There was plenty of competition on the right wing, with Andrew Ramage taking his try brilliantly for Marr against Hawks, while Logan Gordon Woolley, James Ferguson and Sam Graham showed up well for Hawick, Musselburgh and Glasgow Hawks respectively. But ultimately it came down to the two super-subs, who each came off the bench to score two tries and turn the game in their team’s favour, with Mason Cullen of Jed-Forest edging out Harvey Cameron-Barr of Edinburgh Accies.

On the other wing, Scott Bickerstaff dotted down twice, with the second an absolute corker from inside his own half which brought up his double-century for Marr, so he is selected ahead of Hawks’ Harris Mitchell.

This week’s Premiership match report:

Premiership: Currie Chieftains get better of GHA in 13-try thriller

Premiership: Jed-Forest down Musselburgh with second half resurgence

Premiership: Glasgow Hawks bully their way past Marr

Premiership: Selkirk stunned by Edinburgh Accies’ second-half fighback

Premiership: Hawick claim a unique hat-trick with big win over Heriot’s Blues

DJ Innes, making his first appearance of the season after injuring himself playing Super6 with Stirling Wolves in the spring, gave Currie Chieftains some valuable go-forward as they battled to victory in that 13-try thriller versus GHA so it at outside-centre; while Selkirk’s Ryan Godsmark was a real fulcrum for Selkirk so edges out Musselburgh’s Finlay Thomson and the evergreen Brendan McGroarty of Glasgow Hawks at inside-centre.

It is a strange old weekend when a side which lost contributes four players to the Dream Team, but GHA deserve all the credit they receive for pushing Chieftains all the way, and their second representative in this selection is teenage stand-off Aminio Bogidrau, who is highly entertaining to watch and must be a nightmare to play against given his fearlessness and his skill-set.

At scrum-half is Eric Davey of Hawks, who tackles heroically and grabbed his team’s bonus-point try with a classic No 9 snipe, meaning another GHA man in George Baird misses out on this occasion.

All three of Hawks’ starting front-row of Mike Downer, Paul Cairncross and Gary Strain could easily have been selected as the Balgray men took the game to the vaunted Marr pack at set-piece and around the park, but Archie Falconer‘s “dream afternoon” which featured two tries for GHA means he gets the nod at hooker, while Nicky Little‘s brace for Hawick means he is at tight-head, so Downer is the only one to make the cut. Hard luck to Cairn Ramsay of Chieftains, who played the full 80 minutes at tight-head with no discernible drop off.

The hard-working duo of Jake Mills of Edinburgh Accies and Clark Skeldon of Jed-Forest are selected in the engine-room just ahead of Hawick’s Dalton Redpath and hard-hitting Jack McLean of Hawks.

It was tempting to select a GHA tag-team of Jamie McEntegart and Dario Ewing on the flanks. One play in particular, late in the match, when Ewing brought down the Chieftains player with a trademark chop tackle and McEntegart got over the ball to win the turnover, seemed to sum up their afternoon. But it is hard to see past that old warhorse Stephen Leckey, who was so instrumental in Hawks getting the better of champions Marr, at openside flanker, with an honourable mention also going to Jed’s Max Outram.

Jae Linton was man-of-the-match for Hawick and edges out the consistently impressive Ruairi Campbell of Edinburg Accies at No 8.