Heriot’s win secures home advantage for play-off semis, but Ayr retain title hopes

Heriot’s got the better of the Ayrshire Bulls in a hardfought contest that was both sides’ last match of the regular Super6 season, but on the balance of probability the teams will meet again in the semifinals later this month.

The identities of the top four was sorted before this game, but the last-four fixtures will only be known for sure once the outstanding game between Watsonians and the Southern Knights is played.

However, this result means that whatever the outcome of that match, Heriot’s will definitely be at home on Saturday 21 February, whether against the Knights or the Bulls.

“Our aim all along was to get a home semi and allow the club to build some momentum behind Super6,” said Heriot’s head coach Phil Smith. “The

Blues [the Heriot’s National One team] are playing Boroughmuir the same day, so we’ll try to make it a really big day for the club.”

A try by No 8 Jason Hill, inset, and a conversion by Ross Jones put Heriot’s 7-0 up at the break, and they stretched their advantage to a dozen points when Callum Marshall scored off a counter-attack. But after Hill was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on, Ross Thompson opened the Bulls’ account with a penalty, and when the full-back added a conversion to Blair Macpherson’s try, it was game on at 12-10.

Heriot’s weathered the storm, however, when good work by Jack Mcclean ended with Dan Nutton going over for a full score. Harry Paterson came off the bench and grabbed the bonus-point try two minutes later, and thompson took the tally to 26.

Hill was shown a red card for a second yellow two minutes from time, and Alex Mcguire had the last word for Ayrshire with an unconverted try.

The Bulls would themselves have been at home in the semi had they won, but head coach Peter Murchie saw enough to give them hope. “Our maul was pretty dominant, our scrum at times was pretty dominant, and we certainly had our chances,” he said.

“We had quite a lot of momentum when we got it back to a two-point game, but you’ve got to credit Heriot’s – they’ve stuck in there and managed to get the next score.

“There was a massive carrot there for us, in that winning the game would have given us a home semi-final, but now we’ve got three weeks to prepare really well, and that has to be our focus now.” SCORERS:

HERIOT’S: Tries: Hill, Marshall, Nutton, Paterson. Cons: Jones 3..

AYRSHIRE BULLS: Tries: Macpherson, Mcguire. Con: Thompson. Pen: Thompson.

HERIOT’S: R Mcmichael; J Spencer, R Kay, C Hutchison, J Couper; R Jones, A Simmers; A Nimmo, A Johnstone, J Scott, C Marshall, R Seydak, I Wilson (c), J Mcclean, J Hill.

Replacements: F Scott, M Bouab, S Cessford, C Jupp, A Sinclair, D Nutton, S Riddell, H Paterson..

AYRSHIRE BULLS: R Thompson; K Mcgovern, D Mccluskey, I Mcnulty, C Gossman; F Climo, H Warr; G Reid, S Kitchen, N Griffiths, M Sykes, F Hastie, G Bordill, P Mccallum (captain), B Macpherson.

Replacements: A Mcguire, M Scott, R Sayce, F Hastie, G Geldenhuys, D Armstrong, J Pinkerton, G Anderson.