Bulls set to face Watsonians in their title defence
Ayrshire Bulls will defend their Super6 title next Sunday when they meet Watsonians in the final at the DAM Health Stadium.
But they had to fight all the way yesterday before eventually booking their place in the showpiece occasion with a 17-0 semi-final victory over Boroughmuir Bears.
Just 7-0 up at the break after a try from Andrew Nimmo was converted by Richie Simpson, the home side had to withstand a heap of pressure from the Bears in the early part of the second half.
Shortly before the hour mark, however, captain Blair Macpherson touched down from a five-metre scrum to steady the ship.
Simpson converted that try, then right on full-time his replacement Will Hunt added a penalty.
Watsonians, winners of the Sprint Series earlier in the season, had a comfortable 31-12 win over Heriot’s in Friday night’s first semi-final.
The Myreside men took control of the contest with three tries in the opening quarter, and had stretched that lead to 24-0 by half-time.
The second half was not quite so one-sided, but an improved performance by Heriot’s was still not enough to challenge their old rivals.
In the Premiership, Edinburgh Accies lost their place at the top of the table after going down to a shock 26-29 home defeat by Heriot’s Blues.
Accies had only lost one match before yesterday’s derby, while Heriot’s had only won one – but that win has breathed new life into the Goldenacre club according to their head coach Phil Smith.
“We got some confidence from beating Musselburgh last weekend and we grew in confidence as this game went on,” he said.
“We had a pretty simple game plan, but we did it really well.”
Hawick took advantage of that slip by Accies to reclaim the top spot with a 29-12 win over Glasgow Hawks.
Currie Chieftains are also still well in the hunt at the top after bouncing back from a big defeat at home to Hawick last week with a 20-29 win yesterday at fourth-placed Selkirk.
“We’ve got a bit of a chip on our shoulder now,” Currie coach Mark Cairns declared after the hard-fought win in the Borders.
“We always perform better when we feel the world is against us. We have good strength in depth and that could be important at the end of the season.”
Jed-Forest won the highest-scoring game of the day, beating champions Marr 32-31 at Riverside Park thanks to a last-gasp penalty from Finlay Scott. And GHA won 20-25 at bottom club Musselburgh.