Bulls turn up the heat
The Ayrshire Bulls are now just two points behind Watsonians at the top of the Super6 table after beating the Southern Knights 31-5 in yesterday’s double-header at Millbrae.
The defending champions were a dozen points adrift of the Edinburgh club at the start of play, but their bonuspoint win against the Knights counted double after it was decided there would be no free weekend in which to play the
SUPER6 & PREMIERSHIP ROUND-UP
outstanding match between the teams at the Greenyards. That meant the normal five points for winning with four tries or more became 10.
Watsonians themselves got a predictable bonuspoint victory against Stirling Wolves on Friday night at Bridgehaugh, but they had to fight all the way before eventually prevailing 33-21. The Wolves, who learned last
week that head coach Ben Cairns is leaving at the end of the Championship, had lost 66-7 to Watsonians at Myreside just three weeks ago. But there was never the slightest threat of a repeat humiliation, as they fought back from an early deficit to take the lead in the second half before eventually conceding defeat.
In yesterday’s early Super6 match, Boroughmuir Bears fought back from 17-0 down after half an hour to beat Heriot’s 25-22 at Goldenacre.
“We didn’t impose ourselves on things in the early part of the game,” admitted Bears head coach Graham Shiel, whose team held Heriot’s up over the line in the last play of the game.
“Heriot’s were allowed to get on the front foot and we let them play the game they wanted, but things started to click towards half-time. We had a good chat at the break and we always felt if we got the ball moving and played the game we wanted then there were points out there for us.”
Boroughmuir are now six points clear of their Edinburgh rivals in third place, but both should make it into the play-offs.
In the Premiership, leaders Currie Chieftains beat GHA 43-40 at Malleny Park. The Glasgow side were up 26-5 at one point in the first half, but in a game where the lead changed hands seven times, the turning point came just before the break when GHA had a man sinbinned and the home team began their fightback.
“That was a great game of rugby,” GHA coach Trevor Carmichael said without much fear of being contradicted by any of the spectators.
“We got off to a good start but the (Chieftains’) score just before half-time didn’t help us and we got that yellow. We always knew that Currie would come back into the game, which they did against our 14 men, scoring a couple of tries. Then it was tit-for-tat but we have to take a massive amount from the performance of the boys today.”
Glasgow Hawks kept up the pursuit of the leaders with a 51-18 win at home to Marr, as did Edinburgh Accies, who won 24-20 at Selkirk. Hawick beat Heriot’s 52-21 and Jed-Forest defeated Musselburgh 43-34.
New Zealand put one hand on the Rugby Championship trophy with a convincing 40-14 victory over Australia in their Bledisloe Cup clash in Auckland.