Backs put on a show of pace as Cairns foresees title bid

● Currie forwards meet physical challenge to set up convincing win over capital rivals

Currie Chieftains coach Ben Cairns acknowledged that his side still have flaws to be ironed out. But he believes that he has a squad capable of challenging for the BT Premiership title and, on Saturday’s showing, few would argue.

Against a Watsonians side wounded by a heavy defeat on the opening day and bolstered by the inclusion of three professionals, Chieftains had to withstand a physical contest up front before unleashing a back division bristling with pace. They did so with aplomb and ended the afternoon with a six-try haul.

“A big part of the way we need to play is with real tempo and I thought we managed that at times,” said Cairns. “I feel that if we get that tempo and spaces start to open up, our back line will just cut teams open. We managed that well but the most pleasing thing for me is the way we coped with their physicality.

“They are a big team, very good in the setpiece – that’s an area we need to work on, certainly, but I still felt we coped with their physicality pretty well which then allowed us to

0 Currie’s Charlie Shiel evades the challenge of Watsonians’ Willie Thomson. play with a bit more width.” In the away camp, Steve Lawrie is still finding his feet as a head coach and, after a tough opening two weeks in which his side conceded 100 points, he has pinpointed key weaknesses.

“We need to look at certain areas of our game and we will need to work hard.” he said. “Defence is clearly an issue but equally, we need to be better when we’ve got the ball.”

Ben Robbins topped and tailed the Currie try-scoring effort starting with a converted touchdown in seven minutes. Watsonians levelled when DJ Innes crossed and Andrew Calmers converted before Glen Faulds marked his first start for Chieftains with the second try and Rhys Davies added a third.

However, a Michael Fedo score just before the break and a penalty by Chalmers early in the second half kept Watsonians in the match. And, even after Thomas Gordon bagged the bonus point score, the visitors battled back with a converted Michael Allen score that left the gap at six points.

But an impressive finale yielded scores for Harvey Elms and Robbins, with Jamie Forbes adding a penalty and both conversions for a 15-point personal haul.