Rugby: Muir enjoy winning habit ahead of cup showdown

Tries by Keith Buchan and Stevie Wilson, both converted by Ally Warnock, who was also on target with a penalty, saw ’Muir into a 17-10 lead at half time. And, despite coming under intense pressure in the second period, Fergus Pringle’s men produced an immense defensive effort to limit the visitors to a third unconverted try and seal the victory.

The result has moved ’Muir into seventh spot in the table and means they go into the cup clash at home to Heriot’s on the back of a three-match winning run.

Heriot’s will also be buoyed by another impressive result. Having ousted Currie from the cup the previous Saturday, the Goldenacre men refocused their efforts on Premier B league duty with a trip to face Hawick, rivals for one of the two places in next season’s top flight.

And it was a fruitful outing for Heriot’s who returned with a 17-9 success under their belts and a four point lead at the top of the table. They trailed 6-0 at the break but edged into the lead with a try from Colin Goudie, converted by Graham Wilson who then exchanged penalties with Lee Armstrong before adding the extra two points after Max Learmonth had sprinted in for the clinching try.

There was further disappointment for Stewart’s Melville who suffered a second successive defeat when they went down 36-12 away to Glasgow Hawks. A try by Reece O’Leary accounted for the StewMel points as they reached the interval 24-5 in arrears. And things got worse in the second half, with O’Leary and Mark Wilson yellow carded, and a converted try from Angus Lean the only addition to the Inverleith men’s points tally.

That result leaves StewMel on the fringe of the race for the two spots in next season’s top ten, with no margin for error in their two remaining fixtures.

Meanwhile, Lasswade notched a second successive win in Premier 3 when they saw off Dalziel 30-15 at Hawthornden. Elsewhere, Dan Barber and Cal Davis had a try apiece as Haddington lost 34-18 away to GHA.