BOROUGHMUIR BEARS secured their second successive win in the FOSROC Super6 Championship with a bonus-point victory over a Southern Knights side that displayed character in posting a promising performance after a damaging opening match against Watsonians last weekend.

Fortunately for the Knights there was not a repeat of the carnage that ensued last Saturday when six of their team limped off injured, and over the piece the home side must have gained some satisfaction from the way they were able to challenge Boroughmuir Bears after a torrid opening half-hour.

Boroughmuir looked efficient for major parts of the game and always looked liked winners, albeit the Knights were able to mount a late charge to narrow the scoreline gap.

“I thought the driving maul went well for us. And some of our defensive shifts were very good,” suggested the Knights’ skipper Fraser Renwick, who acknowledged that it was not easy going into the match against the Bears after the events of last weekend.

He said: “The injuries we picked up last weekend made training difficult this week. But that’s not an excuse, however. It was hard, though, for the boys stepping in.”

Boroughmuir’s wide game suggested a plethora of tries might result but instead quarter of an hour had passed before any points were on the board. The opening try when it came was the result of constant pressure from the Bears that forced Southern Knights into the trenches, and into the role of defenders.

Bears made their breakthrough after turning the screw with two successive line-out drives, the second pulling in the Knights’ defenders in tight, before the ball was moved wide. Tom Brown did the initial damage with an arcing run to the line, and the move was finished off by a close-range surge from Corey Tait. Stand-off Bergin converted.

But after almost non-stop defending, the Knights secured a foothold in their opponents’ 22m area following an attempt by Bears to run the ball from near their goal line. And they  made the best of their new leasehold with a driven line-out that produced a try for Renwick.

Bears, however, quickly hit back with powerful forward drives near the Knights’ line before a quick release of the ball to the pacemen allowed Brown to lay on a perfect pass for Callum Ramm to romp over in the corner for his side’s second  try.

Before the first half concluded, Bears were able to score a third try, this time from a lineout drive that ended with flanker Josh King plunging over, Bergin’s second successful conversion kick giving the visitors a 19-5 interval advantage.

Knights started the second half looking like a side invigorated and used their newfound zest to produce a further try from their now effective weapon, the driving maul, Renwick again the scorer.

Not to be outdone, Bears showed their mauling skills, setting up a siege on the Knights line which achieved no immediate result but which did spectacularly when the ball was released from the frontal wrestling match to Bergin, whose long pass put Joe Jenkins speeding in for the bonus-point try.

Knights might have capitulated at this point, but instead, after making changes, attacked their opponents, and were finally rewarded with the try of the match by Cameron Scott created by a scintillating break from Struan Hutchison, which, if not turning round the game, at least gave the Knights a late shot of confidence as they contemplate their trip to Stirling.

Teams –

Southern Knights: D Colvine; A Cross, P Anderson, C Scott, B Wara; S Hutchison, D Crawford; G Shiells, F Renwick©, I Brace, J Campbell, A Ferrie, S Derrick, W Nelson, H Borthwick. Substitutes: R Anderson, C Bowker, A Rogers, J Miller, C Anderson, O Melville, B Pickles, K McGhie.

Boroughmuir Bears: T Brown; C Ramm, R Kerr, T Lanni, J Jenkins; J Bergin, R Swan; C Smith, C Tait, M Goodwin, J Fisher, C Atkinson, J King, T Andrews, C Keddie©. Substitutes: J Blyth Lafferty, B Sweet, M McGinley, I Carmichael, P Bogie, M Johnstone, C Anderson, A Scott.

Referee: R Campbell

Scorers –

Southern Knights: Tries Renwick 2, Scott.

Boroughmuir Bears: Tries: Tait, Ramm, King, Jenkins.  Cons: Bergin 2.

Scoring sequence (Knights first): 0-5, 0-7, 5-7, 5-12, 5-17, 5-19 (ht) 10-19, 10-24, 15-24.

Man-0f-the-Match: Bears stand-off Jack Bergin looked a classy player throughout with his overall control and neat footwork. Certainly the Aucklander gave the Bears backline a poise that suggests they have the weaponry to produce a fast game.

Talking point: Early days in the Championship, but Boroughmuir Bears are beginning to look like a side that can play decent rugby, being able to attack through both forwards and backs and complementing this side of their game with good defence. For Knights the 4-3 try score represented a bounce back from last week and perhaps hope that they can recover from a difficult start.

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