Chieftains head west to face GHA in Round 1 of the Scottish Cup.

COACHES COMMENTS ON SELECTION

Last week’s league match versus Ayr has taken its toll on the squad which has meant a bit of a reshuffle. However, the pack remains largely unchanged with Scott McGinley coming in for Thomas Gordon the only change. The backline sees Jamie Forbes revert to 10, while James McCaig and Adam Hall are given another opportunity to impress. Reece Patterson is joined on the bench this week by Campbell Wilson, Wallace Nelson, Gregor Christie and Chris Davies who will all be looking to have a big impact on proceedings.

COACHES COMMENTS ON THE MATCH

Last weekend was probably our best defensive effort to date and having made 230 tackles to Ayr’s 87 it had to be to get the result. More of the same is the message from a defensive point of view this weekend against the best attack in National 1. Clearly there is work to do on our attack having given the ball away pretty cheaply at times last weekend. We know how dangerous we are when we execute so the focus this week has been on executing more regularly.

GHA are really well coached, they have played some excellent rugby so far this season amassing the most points for in National 1, they are used to scoring and used to winning so getting our accuracy right will be key. The knock out aspect of cup rugby always provides a different challenge and mentally we must be right on it if we are to come away with the win.