Rugby: British & Irish Cup draft announced

PLAYERS from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Scotland 7s have been drafted to the four British & Irish Cup teams, ahead of the cross-border competition that begins on the weekend of 11-13 October.

Chris Cusiter has been drafted to the Ayr squad. Picture: SNS

At the beginning of the season the same players were distributed among the ten RBS Premiership clubs. A further re-draft has now taken place to split them among Ayr, Gala, Stirling County and Edinburgh Accies. The British & Irish Cup falls on the same weekend as the Heineken Cup, so players are subject to availability and liaison between the professional and club coaches.

With the RBS Premiership falling on the same weekend as the first two rounds of the British & Irish Cup, the league draft takes priority over the cup.

AYR

Mark Bennett, Fraser Brown, Chris Cusiter, James Eddie, Chris Fusaro, Finlay Gillies, Ryan Grant, Dougie Hall, Stuart Hogg, Ruairdh Jackson, Ed Kalman, Al Kellock, Sean Lamont, Pat Macarthur, Nikola Matawalu, Byron McGuigan Gordon Reid, Josh Strauss, Scott Wight, Ryan Wilson and Jerry Yanuyanutawa.

EDINBURGH ACCIES

Ben Atiga, Wicus Blaauw, Alex Black, Tom Brown, Jack Cuthbert, David Denton, Struan Dewar, Dougie Fife, Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist, Roddy Grant, Robin Hislop, John Houston, James Johnstone, Lee Jones, Sean Kennedy, Chris Leck, Aleki Lutui, Michael Maltman, Robert McAlpine, Stuart McInally, Lewis Niven, Ross Rennie, Scott Riddell, Matt Scott, Alun Walker and Russell Weir.

GALA

Ollie Atkins, Dimitri Basalaia, Sean Cox, Geoff Cross, Nick De Luca, Alasdair Dickinson, Michael Fedo, James Fleming, Piers Francis, Grayson Hart, Gregor Hunter, James Hitherbrand, Greig Laidlaw, Steven Lawrie, Harry Leonard, Tomas Leonardi, WP Nel, Perry Parker, Mark Robertson, Greig Tonks, Andrew Turnbull, Tim Visser, Nikki Walker, Isak Van Der Westhuizen, Gregor Young and Lewis Young.

STIRLING COUNTY

Gabriel Ascarate, Kevin Bryce, Mike Cusack, Alex Dunbar, Jonny Gray, Colin Gregor, Rob Harley, Tyrone Holmes, Peter Horne, Moray Low, Sean Maitland, Peter Murchie, Leone Nakawara, Henry Pyrgos, Tom Ryder, Tommy Seymour, Colin Shaw, Tim Swinson, DTH Van Der Merwe, Richie Vernon, Duncan Weir and Jon Welsh.

The British & Irish Cup fixtures for season 2013/14 are as follows:

Weekend of 11/12/13 October

Edinburgh Accies v Pontypridd

Munster A v Stirling County

Gala v Aberavon

Jersey v Ayr

Weekend of 18/19/20 October

London Scottish v Edinburgh Accies

Stirling County v Plymouth Albion

Leeds Carnegie v Gala

Ayr v Cornish Pirates

Weekend of 6/7/8 December

London Welsh v Edinburgh Accies

Stirling County v Nottingham

Bristol v Gala

Ayr v Ulster Ravens

Weekend of 12/14/15 December

Edinburgh Accies v London Welsh

Nottingham v Stirling County

Gala v Bristol

Ulster Ravens v Ayr

Weekend of 10/11/12 January

Edinburgh Accies v London Scottish

Plymouth Albion v Stirling County

Gala v Leeds Carnegie

Cornish Pirates v Ayr

Weekend of 17/18/19 January

Pontypridd v Edinburgh Accies

Stirling County v Munster A

Aberavon v Gala

Ayr v Jersey