- Ayr were simply too good for Boroughmuir at Meggetland. Strong players all over the park – fast, aggressive, skilful, and well organised – they work to a basic but ultra effective paradigm, which is unlikely to be seriously challenged prior to their crunch trip to the Greenyards on 15th December. That will be some game!
- A glorious Autumn afternoon at the Greenyards and a brilliant display of attacking full-back play from Fraser Thomson as Melrose dissipated any lingering disappointment from last week’s defeat at Millbrae with a comfortable bonus point victory over Stirling County. Club rugby at its attractive best!
- It was not perfect, but Currie Chieftainsmade the statement that they needed to make thanks to Robbie Nelson’s late match winning try against Heriots at Goldenacre in what Colin Renton described as a ‘humdinger of a clash’. Too many mistakes for Ben Cairns’ liking – but his set-piece stacked up, his back-row showed up well, Gregor Hunter reasserted his credentials at fly-half, and Jamie Forbes continued to look comfortable at the back – not too bad shape as they await the visitations of Watsonians and Melrose next week and the week after – when Malleny will be buzzing for two big, big matches.
- One that got away so far as Phil Smith and Heriots are concerned. They were in the box seat against the Chieftains when an Andrew Simmers try gave them a 23-20 point lead with nine minutes left to play – but a couple of bad calls surrendered the initiative and their opponents took full advantage. You win some – you lose some.
- You can only beat what is put in front of you – and that is exactly what Watsonians did comprehensively in the first hour of their game against Glasgow Hawks at Balgray. But 45 points to the good, they stopped playing and ended up losing the second half by 24 points to 19 – a statistic Stevie Lawrie cannot be happy about, no matter how many bonus points they already had in the bank.
- Boroughmuir gave it their best shot against Ayr, but they were always on the back foot. Constant debilitating pressure exposed a couple technical short comings which were punished mercilessly – but Peter Wright was pleased with his side’s overall application – so much so that he somewhat exuberantly declared himself ‘cautiously optimistic’ of maybe making the play-offs!
- Melrose at the Greenyards always felt like a tough ask for a youthful Stirling County squad – and so it proved. Unforced errors and tactical naivety are frustrating bedfellows for talented youngsters learning their trade in a tough league – but incremental gain rather than a quick fix might be the preferable approach to a problem many clubs would be happy to take on board.
- Having seen his young Glasgow Hawks side ship some 120 points in the past fortnight, and only add some respectability to their score against Watsonians once their visitors had switched off, Finlay Gillies is not unreasonably concerned about the suggestion that Murrayfield is apparently open to moving the Super 6 goal posts yet again by reintroducing relegation for the current season – a hypocritical hypothesis which threatens the very core of his club’s well worked development programme – and which adds considerable consequence to next week’s away fixture against fellow strugglers, Edinburgh Accies.
- Hawick did what they needed to do against Edinburgh Accies and got the monkey off their back, but it was tight – particularly after losing tight-head prop Ruaridh Macleod to a broken ankle. Lee Armstrong is a big player for them when the mood takes him but his move up to stand-off had to be seen as something of a calculated gamble – which paid off handsomely when he topped off a solid all round performance by snatching the winning bonus point try minutes before ‘no side’.
- Edinburgh Accies lost a game they could very easily have won and face a psychologically important match at home to Glasgow Hawks next week – when they will be encouraged by the form of their two young South Africans, George Spencer and Robbie Davis – but will need to mix their game up better than they did against Hawick – and they will need a more significant contribution from their bench than they got at Mansfield.
This week’s Tennent’s Premiership match reports –
Tennent’s Premiership: Hawks coach Gillies calls for relegation clarity after loss to Watsonians
Tennent’s Premiership: Melrose teach youthful Stirling County a lesson
Tennent’s Premiership: late show as Currie Chieftains defeat Heriot’s
Tennent’s Premiership: Boroughmuir are latest victims in Ayr’s relentless march
Tennent’s Premiership: Hawick edge past Edinburgh Accies for first win