MIKE Ruddock still considers stand-off Willie Walker his number one in the 10 shirt, despite the encouraging progress of Calum MacRae.

The former Edinburgh utility-back was a steadying influence when switched from full-back to fly-half following an injury to George Crook in the LV Cup game in Llanelli.

However, Ruddock insists Walker remains top dog, but is full of praise for the impact MacRae has had since earning a one-year deal after impressing on trial in pre-season.

The Warriors rugby director said: “We signed Calum as a utility player first and foremost and he has probably not done enough as of yet to replace Willie. He has only started to go back into 10.

“He is a smashing lad, a great leader with a lot of experience. He has dropped into the group superbly and the boys respect him hugely.

“He is a quiet operator, but he has a presence about him. People have noticed that he has good leadership skills.

“As he grows and gets more comfortable in the squad, he will be able to put pressure on players in the senior shirt.

“If he is going to put pressure on Willie, he needs to play a few more games — that could be starting for the ‘A’ team at 10. It was good to get him a bit of game time at Scarlets, he didn’t look out of place considering he hardly had any preparation time.”

The same cannot be said of young scrum-half Ollie Frost, who endured a torrid time at Parc y Scarlets before being withdrawn at half-time.

However, Ruddock remains confident the up-and-coming half-back can make the grade.

He explained: “I sat Ollie down at half-time and said ‘look this is not quite going to plan for you so I’m going to introduce Jonny Arr, who is a little bit more experienced’.

“I spoke to him about a few things after the game and I have taken him through a review on video as well and, basically, most of the things we talked about are down to experience. He is a smashing lad with a big future and he will come back stronger for the experience, even though by his own admission it didn’t go as well as he wanted it to.”