The rampant start to the season made by Boroughmuir faces its sternest test so far when they take on Ayr, who lie in third place, a side that that beat Currie, the champions last week, and hammered the Edinburgh club last season.

Boroughmuir, however, are a very different outfit this season with enough strength up front to suggest that they are unlikely to crumble in the way that they did a year ago, and the confidence of knowing that though only two places separate the teams, the important statistic is that they are 15 points apart.

Boroughmuir, who scored in injury time last week to defeat GHA, the bottom club in the Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership division one, are close to full strength while Ayr are expecting to lose A J McFarlane, the scrum half, and Paul Burke to injury and a swath of younger players to the Scotland sevens side heading for Singapore.

Melrose, who are lying second, will have been warned by that performance from GHA that although their Glasgow opponents have beaten only Heriot’s this season, they are still capable of springing the odd surprise and after the Greenyards men lost to Hawick last week, Craig Chalmers, the coach, is looking for a much improved performance.

Meanwhile Hawick, the surprise package of the season so far, have a trip up to Glasgow Hawks in store, aiming to put even more pressure on the city side that started the season expecting a top-three finish only to find themselves lying third from bottom. They have Colin Shaw, the Glasgow wing, back from professional duties but it is up front that they have struggled and Hawick are primed to take advantage of any weakness in that department.

In the other games, Watsonians have Bernard Hennessey, the utility, back from a professional stint in England and have also drafted in a New Zealand lock in Bradley Mitchell to bolster the pack for their visit to Stirling County, who are finding life back in the top division every bit as tough as they had feared. Dundee HSFP host Heriot’s in a clash of two teams that have failed to reach their potential.