In the traditional annals of club rugby, Melrose hosting Hawick would have been one of the big derby days of the year, but though it may still attract the biggest crowd of the weekend, with both knocking around at the wrong end of the Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership, events in Edinburgh will have more bearing on the title race.

There are three games in the city or its suburbs that will be crucial to the top of the table, though Ayr head for their match at Edinburgh Academicals with the comfort of knowing they can afford to lose and still stay top. Accies are one of the sides with the kind of game that could unsettle them, matching their big, robust pack and with plenty of running in the backs.

Many will also be watching the progress of Alex Blair, the youngest of the three brothers, who is restored to fly half for the home side and after two months of senior rugby is starting to live up to the hype that suggests he may turn out to be the long-term answer to the national side's problems in that role.

Across the city at Currie, Heriot's claim to be the side best able to chase down and catch Ayr is at stake. They are without Struan Dewar, the latest back row prodigy, but welcome back Marc Teague, their former captain, for a game they cannot afford to lose if they are to keep any sort of pressure on Ayr. After three wins on the trot, they look as though they are starting to peak but have too long a history of inconsistency to feel comfortable against anybody.

Watsonians, currently third but only on score difference, are also away, but will not see the Glasgow Hawks youngsters, who are second from bottom, as too much of a threat, though, like Heriot's, their own wildly fluctuating form could be.

At the foot of the table, Stirling County are already looking a side resigned to relegation. They host Selkirk, who will not expect to need their usual comeback heroics. In the third Edinburgh game, West of Scotland travel to Boroughmuir, with the hosts desperate for a win to restore their title challenge after defeat at Ayr last week.