Sonians take Route-66 back to the top
Watsonians will take a three-point lead into Super6’s mid-season break after going back to the top of the table with a commanding 66-7 victory over Stirling Wolves yesterday, writes STUART BATHGATE.
The Myreside men ran in nine tries, all converted by stand-off Lee Millar, who also added a penalty.
Full-back Dom Coetzer was named Man of the Match after a fine display of inventive, attacking rugby, but on the whole it was simply a case of a very strong squad against a demoralised one.
Stirling pushed Watsonians all the way in the Sprint Series earlier in the year, and were in contention to win the competition until the final play of the final game. But they appear to have lost their way badly since, and are now the only team in the championship without a win to their name.
Watsonians needed a strong performance after losing to the Ayrshire Bulls last time out, and that is precisely what they got right from kick-off against the Wolves.
They were firmly in control with no more than a dozen minutes on the clock and had the try bonus wrapped up by half-time.
Boroughmuir Bears had gone top on Friday night thanks to a 26-17 win at home to Heriot’s.
The Meggetland side are the mostimproved outfit in the competition this season, and head coach Graham Shiel was understandably pleased with a display that took his team to a fourth victory in five outings.
“We have come a long way in a very short time,” he said. “That performance, regardless of the result, was impressive and that was probably the most pleasing part for us.
Against really good opposition we were composed and accurate in a lot of the areas where we wanted to be.”
Just 6-5 up at the break, the Bears took control of the contest after the break with converted tries from Marcus Goodwin and Josh King. Heriot’s fought back well from 20-5 down and, with time running out, they were in bonus-point territory at 23-17 behind. However, a late penalty from Jack Bergin that took his personal tally to 16 points denied the visitors that consolation.
The Bulls, who are the defending champions, will have a chance to close the gap on the top two when they play their rearranged game against the Southern Knights at the Greenyards on Saturday.
The match between last year’s finalists had been due to take place yesterday but was postponed to allow the Bulls to play Glasgow Warriors on Friday night.