THE only two teams still winless in this Super6 campaign will look to break their respective ducks when Stirling County welcome Heriot’s to Bridgehaugh tomorrow [Sunday] afternoon.
Home head coach Ben Cairns has made just one enforced change to the backline with Tom Roche coming in at full-back in place of the injured Craig Robertson, who was arguably County’s best performance during last weekend’s narrow defeat at Watsonians.
In the pack, two players who have struggled with injury recently come in as props, with Lewis Skinner debuting on the loose-head and Murphy Walker on the other side of the front-row.
Academy prospect and recent Scotland Under-20s cap Max Williamson makes his debut in the second-row, and there is also a first appearance in this team for Callum Cruickshank at blindside flanker. Debuts off the bench lie in wait for Bradley Luney, Euan Cunningham and Ross McKnight.
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“It was another tough one to take last Friday night at Myreside when we saw lots of effort and some heroics in defence but ultimately discipline and accuracy cost us the match,” said Cairns. “We have worked hard to rectify those issues this week, and hope we can put them right on Sunday.
“Heriots are in a similar boat to ourselves and will be desperate to pick up their first win of the season. The scoreline did not reflect how close their game was last weekend and we know they will be coming to Bridgehaugh to right a few wrongs.
“It’s our first Sunday match live on Freesports and the whole of the Stirling County community is looking forward to the occasion.”
Meanwhile, Heriot’s head coach Andrew Kelly has changed his half-backs, with Nathan Chamberlain and Alex Ball starting ahead of Bruce Houston and Lloyd Wheeldon but retained the rest of the backline which started against Southern Knights last Sunday.
Loose-head prop Andrew Nimmo, second-rows Callum Marshall and Adam Sinclair, and No8 Jack Mann are all promoted from the bench to the starting pack.
“As a squad, we have not seen the execution and discipline standards that the players set themselves,” said Kelly. “The squad selected this week are motivated to meet these standards.”
“Both teams are striving for their first win of the season which means it will be an intense contest. We are looking forward to fixing our issues this week. Our focus is on performance.”
Stirling County (versus Heriot’s at Bridgehaugh on Sunday 15th August, kick-off 1.30pm): T Roche; S Hamilton, A Russell, G Hughes, L Trotter; A Goudie, K Kay; L Skinner, R Kennedy (captain), M Walker, M Williamson, J Pow, C Cruickshank, C Gordon, G Arnott.
Subs: A Fraser, G Breese, J Phelen, B Bowes, B Luney, E Cunningham, L Hayes, R McKnight.
Heriot’s: R Jones; R McMichael, R Kay, S Edwards, C Young; N Chamberlain, A Ball; A Nimmo, M Liness, D Gamble, C Marshall, A Sinclair, I Wilson, J McLean, J Mann.
Subs: C Fenton, J Scott, C Keen, R Leishman, F Hastie, J Gelderbloom, B Houston J Couper.
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