WHO would win in a fight between a drove of bulls and a sleuth of bears? It sounds like the sort of question which would have barstool experts debating long into the night, but as far as Scottish rugby is concerned the answer will be reached at around 4.45pm this Saturday afternoon, when the Super6 franchises playing out of Ayr and Boroughmuir complete their round two clash at Millbrae.

Both sides will be keen to kick-start their campaigns after opening weekend defeats, with the home pack having a point to prove after being fairly comprehensively steamrollered by Heriot’s last Sunday, while the visitors will be keen to create a few more opportunities for their dangerous outside backs than they managed against Stirling County on Friday night.

The Bulls will be wearing their new change strip which advertises their recently formed partnership with local charity Whiteleys Retreat, who provide vital therapeutic respite breaks to children, young people and their families with cancer or other life altering illnesses. The charity package includes signed match strips, a table at a pre-match lunch, meet & greet and fundraising opportunities at home matches and events. So far, nearly £1500 has been raised for Whiteleys Retreat through the partnership. The limited-edition jersey will be available for purchase from both the Ayrshire Bulls and Whiteleys Retreat online shops, with the profits being shared equally between Whiteleys Retreat and the Ayr Community Rugby Trust.

The later game on Saturday afternoon [4pm kick-off] sees Stirling County host a Southern Knights side smarting from their late collapse against Watsonians last week. Having seen his side battle to victory against the Bears in week one, County head coach Ben Cairns will be looking for a slightly more polished performance this time out, but without sacrificing any of the grit his team showed at Meggetland.

This week’s Sunday match sees Heriot’s and Watsonians put their winning records on the line in ‘The Rumble in the Goldie Jungle’, which looks certain to be a fiercely contested Edinburgh derby. Heriots’ pack power was crucial to last weekend’s impressive scalping of the Bulls at Millbrae, but stand-in head coach Phil Smith has not been cautious about mixing it up this week with youngster Dan Gamble replacing stalwart Struan Cessford at tight-head, while skipper Iain Wilson (shifting from blindside to No 8) will be the only member of the pack to have started both games.

AYRSHIRE BULLS v BOROUGHMUIR BEARS

Venue: Millbrae @ 3pm

TEAMS –

Ayrshire Bulls: O Smith; T Lewis, D McCluskey, S McDowall, R Hughes; F Climo, D Armstrong; G Reid, S Kitchen, R Sayce, L Morrice, F Hastie, G Bordill, P McCallum©, B MacPherson. Subs: L Anderson, M Scott, N Griffiths, G Geldenhuys, G Wilson, H Warr, R Thompson, I McNulty.

Boroughmuir Bears: G Parker; C Gray, J Steele, A Russell, J Edmunds; C Laidlaw©, T Wilson; M Downer, G Shannon, D Winning, E Stewart, C Atkinson, B Flockhart, T Gordon, C Keddie. Subs: T Francombe, G Thornton, M McGinley, W Inglis, G Cannie, K McGhie, M Cimprich, A Mncube.

TEAM NEWS –

Ayrshire Bulls: Eight changes to the team which lost the season opener at home to Heriot’s last weekend, with Ruaridh Sayce, Fraser Hastie, Lars Morrice, David Armstrong, Tom Lewis (formerly of Durham University, Waikato University and England Student 7s) and Ollie Smith called into the starting XV, alongside Glasgow Warriors pros Stafford McDowall and Rory Hughes. George Bordill moves from the second-row to the back-row.

Boroughmuir Bears: Eight changes here, too, evenly split between forwards and backs. Gavin Parker, Jack Steele, Archie Russell and Tom Wilson are added behind the scrum, while Michael Downer, and Ewan Stewart join the tight-five, and Glasgow Warriors pros Bruce Flockhart (who came off the bench last week) and Thomas Flockhart are in the back-row.

KEY BATTLE: Stafford McDowall versus Archie Russell

STIRLING COUNTY v SOUTHERN KNIGHTS