Boroughmuir can move out of drop zone with win over Heriot's

Boroughmuir coach Peter Wright is urging his men to continue their improved recent form when the BT Premiership strugglers face Heriot's at Meggetland tonight (kick-off 7pm).

Boroughmuir head coach Peter Wright

A win for Muir will move them out of the bottom two and take them a step closer to securing top-flight survival.

The hosts have played some entertaining rugby throughout the campaign but have repeatedly failed to turn that style into league points and they find themselves in a four-way battle to beat the drop.

Wright, below, who has stuck with the team he picked to start last week’s postponed fixture against Glasgow Hawks, said of tonight’s clash: “A local derby under the lights – what more do you want on a Friday night? With two games left we are looking to keep our form from the previous weeks going.”

The visitors go into the game having had their play-off hopes shattered by a loss against Currie Chieftains last Saturday.

Coach Phil Smith has shuffled his team, with the changes including a move for Jack Turley into the second row in place of Adam Sinclair, and skipper Rory Carmichael returning at stand-off in a recast back division. Smith is challenging his men, who started the campaign with two defeats, to bounce back from Saturday’s loss and so prevent ending it with a three-match losing run.

“It’s a final opportunity for the boys to define their season. A Friday night under lights is always a great occasion, so hopefully we can reward the crowd with a top performance,” said Smith.

Watsonians welcome Ayr to Myreside tomorrow (3.30pm) in a match that will settle the play-off semi-final draw. The winners will travel to Malleny Park to face Chieftains and the reward for the losers will be a trip to meet Melrose.

The Sonians challenge has gathered momentum in recent weeks and they are unbeaten since going down at home to Melrose last November. That run has seen them progress to the last four of both cup and league competitions.

“It’s a massive match,” said coach Steve Lawrie.

“Ayr have a massive pack and a backline capable of scoring from anywhere. They have a whole host of club international experience throughout their team so we will need to be at our very best.”