KIRK FORD’s dead-eye kicking – moving back to the top of the Premiership Golden Boot Leaderboard – and generally tidy play at the back for Hawick as the league leaders pushed past Marr at Fullarton put him in the frame for the No 15 jersey, but Ben Appleson’s telling interventions in attack as Edinburgh Accies put Musselburgh to the sword edges it.
Plenty of competition on the right wing, with Lewis Ferguson clinical when claiming a brace for Hawick, while Mason Cullen of Jed and Kody McGovern of Currie Chieftains also worked hard to make an impact and each got on the score-sheet, but GHA’s Luca Bardelli‘s sparkling solo try for GHA versus Selkirk gets him the nod, while Craig Robertson of Heriot’s Blues is on the left wing after claiming his 15th try of the season.
Glasgow Hawks’ outside centre James Pinkerton stepped up on both sides of the ball and but for his defensive excellence you suspect Currie Chieftains might have run away with a much bigger win than 34-17 at Malleny Park, so he is at outside-centre, partnering Selkirk’s Craig Jackson, who’s polished all-round performance featured two crucial touch-line conversions.
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There was some consternation down Malleny Park way that Gregor Hunter didn’t get TOL’s man-of-the-match award after four conversions, two penalties, a fine kicking performance, a strong defensive performance and plenty of creativity to get his backline moving after 12 months out with a shoulder injury, so his missing out on the Dream Team is not likely to go down well either, but Gary Munro was instrumental in Jed’s important win at Goldenacre, with his kicking on-point including the first drop-goal scored in the Premiership this season, so he is at stand-off.
At least Chieftains can take some comfort from replacement scrum-half Gregor Christie being named at scrum-half after stopping one Hawks’ score before grabbing the bonus point touchdown himself, selected just ahead of Selkirk’s Jack Hamilton, who took his try brilliantly and was strong throughout.
Into the pack, Shawn Muir‘s tireless carrying as part of dominant performance up front from Hawick gets him the No 1 jersey, Ryan Stewart hit his line-outs and got Chieftains on the front-foot in attack so is at hooker, and Paulo Ferreira‘s two tries for Jed sees him selected at tight-head.
Daniel Suddon of Hawick scored two tries, carried hard and relentlessly, and hit rucks like they were going out of fashion, so he is named in the second-row alongside the equally impressive Clark Skeldon of Jed-Forest, meaning the tireless Stephen Leckey of Glasgow Hawks and Charlie Jupp of Heriot’s Blues don’t make it this week.
Blair Jardine battled hard on both sides of the ball in a losing cause for Marr so is at blindside, Scott McClymont’s tackle-rate in a marauding back-row performance from Selkirk gets him in at openside, and Ruairi Campbell‘s strong carrying, disruptive hard-work in defence and bonus-point try means he is named at No 8, ahead of Monroe Job of Selkirk, Ali Johnston of Heriot’s Blues and Rhys Davies of Currie Chieftains.
15. Ben Appleson (Edinburgh Accies)
14. Luca Bardelli (GHA)
13. James Pinkerton (Glasgow Hawks)
12. Craig Jackson (Selkirk)
11. Craig Robertson (Heriot’s Blues)
10. Gary Munro (Jed-Forest)
9. Gregor Christie (Currie Chieftains)
1. Shawn Muir (Hawick)
2. Ryan Stewart (Currie Chieftains)
3. Paulo Ferreira (Jed-Forest)
4. Daniel Suddon (Hawick)
5. Clark Skeldon (Jed-Forest)
6. Blair Jardine (Marr)
7. Scott McClymont (Selkirk)
8. Ruairi Campbell (Edinburgh Accies)