Club rugby: Heriot’s and Currie on collision course

Heriot’s coach Phil Smith is eying a possible showdown with Currie Chieftains in the Tennent’s Premiership after the four semi-finalists were confirmed in Saturday’s penultimate round of matches.

Boroughmuirs Kerr Gossman scores after a run from his own half. Picture: Neil Hanna

Smith saw his side battle back to beat Boroughmuir 35-14 and climb into third spot, one point behind Chieftains. If both sides win their remaining match they will clash at Malleny Park in a reprise of a fixture that has produced a host of tight finishes over the years. However, any slip-ups on the final day could allow fourth-placed Melrose back into the top two. Ayr lead the way.

Smith was delighted with the second-half effort of his men who reached half-time 14-7 in arrears after Muir bagged tries from Jordan Edmunds and Kerr Gossman, both converted by Gavin Parker, in response to Rob Kay’s early touchdown for the hosts and a Ross Jones conversion.

The coach pinpointed his half-time substitutions as being key to the upturn in fortunes after the restart.

“We got a bit of speed in the game second half. We got a bit of energy and a bit of oomph and suddenly we could play. We played well eventually.”

Ian Wilson and John Rae bagged a try apiece before Jones, who landed all five conversions, snatched an interception effort to complete the scoring.

For Muir coach Peter Wright, it was a frustrating afternoon.

“I thought we played well in the first half and got a reaction after they scored. And for the rest of the half I thought we pretty much dominated,” he said. “The changes we made didn’t impact on the game the way we wanted them to.”

Chieftains extended their recent run of outstanding results with a 31-10 victory at Melrose that marks them down as the current form team in the league. Ben Robbins, Chris Davies, Matt Hooks and Vince Wright scored a try apiece and Gregor Hunter booted all four conversions plus a penalty as Mark Cairns continued his unbeaten run since taking over as coach.

Chieftains finish the regular season with a match at home to Edinburgh Accies, who will approach that fixture with confidence after ending the slender play-off aspirations of Watsonians.

Tries from Martin McGinley, Rory Simpson and Ronan Seydak, plus two Richard Mill conversions saw Accies home 19-14 against a Sonians side that had touchdowns by Josh Rowland and Rory Steele, with Lee Millar converting both.