Scottish Cup preliminary round: club season kicks into gear

Currie Chieftains v Biggar — Currie Chieftains on the break against Biggar. Image: Fraser Gaffney

HIGHLAND, Ayr, Currie Chieftains, Marr, Hawick and Musselburgh progressed through the preliminary round of the Scottish Cup at the weekend.

At Canal Park, Highland defeated Watsonians to get their 2019-20 season up and running with a bang. The home side are getting ready to begin their Tennent’s National League Division One league campaign away to Cartha Queens Park this coming weekend. That league will include the six Club XVs of the Super6 franchises – Ayr, Boroughmuir, Heriot’s, Melrose, Stirling County and Watsonians – so they will take heart from the 32-3 triumph over one of those traditional superpowers on Saturday.

The home side were 10-3 up in Inverness at half-time, the took advantage of a couple of yellow cards for the visitors to extend that lead after the break. “We are absolutely delighted,” said Chris Brogan, a member of the Highland coaching team.

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“We knew that Watsonians would be a tough side to beat, but the guys put into practice a lot of the structures we have been working on in pre-season and they came good. It gives us a bit of momentum now heading into the league season.”

Highland’s try scorers were Kevin Brown, Iain Chisholm, Euan Milton, Callum Carson, Murdo Paterson and Ritchie Dinnes. For Watsonians it was a disappointing result, but a number of young players gained invaluable experience in this one.

Meanwhile, the Ayr Club XV toughed out a 18-17 victory at Dundee HSFP, with Jamie Bova kicking a penalty in the final ten minutes to clinch it. The away team’s other points came through tries from James Pinkerton, Johnny McCorkindale and Seth Rae.

“This was the first taste of senior rugby for a lot of the squad and to dig deep like that every time we went behind is a testament to their character,” said Ayr skipper Gregor Henry. “Dundee are a big and physical team, but we managed to contain them well and take our opportunities. I couldn’t have asked for more from the boys.”

Captain Fergus Scott and Wallace Nelson were among the try scorers as Currie Chieftains defeated Biggar at Malleny Park, but the visitors from National League Division One pushed the Tennent’s Premiership side all the way.

“Credit to Biggar, they gave us a really good game and it was a good contest with the season just in its infancy,” said winning head coach Mark Cairns. “Our backline has quite a new look to it this year, but the guys all stepped up well to this level and it is good to see some homegrown talent playing in the first XV.

“We perhaps had a couple of lapses in concentration late on to let Biggar back into things, but in general pleased to be in the next round of the Cup.”

Greg Montgomery led the way with two tries for Marr up at Rubislaw against Aberdeen Grammar as the Troon men returned southwards with a 32-15 win in the bag. Richard Dalgleish, Ollie Rossi and Benedict Grant were the other try scorers for the victors, with Colin Sturgeon adding seven points with the boot.

Reports on the Hawick and Musselburgh wins over Melrose and Glasgow Hawks respectively were published on the website yesterday –