BT Premiership round-up: Ayr overcome Heriot’s at the death

BT Premiership round-up: Ayr overcome Heriot’s at the death

Heriot’s 18-23 AyrAyr delivered two sucker punch tries to defending BT Premiership champions Heriot’s at the end of each half to win a scrappy encounter at Goldenacre.Heriot’s were coming off the back of an opening day defeat in the BT Premiership to Watsonians as they faced fellow title tips Ayr at Goldenacre. The first-half was a dis-jointed penalty riddled affair which resulted in a point separating the teams, two penalties from Alex Hagart combined with a try from Gavin Parker for Heriot’s, while a score from Craig Gossman added to a Frazier Climo penalty for a 11-10 half-time score.After the interval, Heriot’s conceded two penalties which Climo converted to put Ayr in the lead before Heriot’s responded on the hour with a try from Hagart who converted his own score.Ayr pressurised in the closing stages, stealing a line-out in prime position to find flanker Will Bordill on the break, who sent prop George Hunter on a charge up the middle, David Armstrong with the final say under the posts before Climo added the extras to seal the win.Heriots: Tries: Gavin Parker, Hagart. Cons: Hagart (1). Pens: Hagart (2). Ayr: Tries: Gossman, Armstrong. Cons: Climo (2). Pens Climo (3). Referee: Keith AllenGlasgow Hawks 17-37 MelroseThe visitors made a promising start with Murdo McAndrew finding space for Austin Lockington to go over in the 7th minute before Jason Baggott added the extras.George Horne nailed a responsive penalty minutes later but Melrose continued to probe and were rewarded with two successful penalties from George Horne. Moments before the interval, Fraser Thomson kicked over the defence for George Taylor to collect and race towards the line, Baggot converting.Taylor countered a minute into the second-half, with a restart ball spilled from Hawks, the Melrose centre made his way over the line under the posts for Baggot to once again capitalise.Hawks reacted through a line-out drive, Grant Stewart charging for the line before Horne converted.Nick Beavon saw yellow for Melrose after pulling down the maul and Hawks were rewarded a penalty try minutes later for Melrose interference at the scrum, Horne slicing the sticks.However, the Borders side regained momentum and in the 80th minute lively Ross McCann broke free to score under the posts and secure the bonus point.Hawks: Try: Stewart, penalty try. Con: Horne (2). Pen: Horne. Melrose: Try: Lockington, Taylor (2), McCann. Con: Baggott (3). Pen: Baggott (4). Referee: Graeme OrmistonCurrie 23-28 GalaCurrie started brightly with a penalty from Graeme Clow after five minutes with Gala responding with a penalty of the own, Gregor Hunter successful moments later.Gala held off early Currie pressure and hit them on the counter; with the home side in retreat the visitors made merry. The agile Gala backs impressed and scored two well-taken tries, Craig Robertson with the first and Ross Combe following with the second. For all their early promise Currie could only glean a couple of consolation penalty goals, the second coming after 20 minutes through Clow.Currie looked a more cohesive unit at the start of the second-half, and a well-organised drive resulted in a pushover try for Hamish Baine.Some brilliant defensive work again turned the tables on the hosts who could not stop a flowing move in the opposite direction, Robertson with his second.Playing with considerable confidence, the visitors moved the ball wide and carved their way to the Currie line for the bonus-point try, courtesy of Josh Irvine.It may have been late in the game, but finally the Malleny team impressed with some handling of their own; two tries from Matthew Hooks in two minutes set the alarm bells ringing in the Gala camp, and if an overlap pass had connected, the visitors could have been robbed of a hard earned victory.Currie: Tries: Bain, Hooks, Gray. Con: Clow. Pens. Clow (2). Gala: Tries: Robertson (2), Combe, Irvine. Con: Hunter. Pens: Hunter (2). Referee: Fraser BrownBoroughmuir 35-28 Stirling CountyBoroughmuir secured their first win of the BT Premiership season with a solid second-half performance against Stirling County at Meggetland.County started the game brightly, scoring the first points through a Jonny Hope penalty strike in the 7th minute before Peter Wright’s men equalised with captain Chris Laidlaw nailing a penalty opportunity. Ruaridh Leishman bagged the first try of the game for County, after the forwards made ground in the Boroughmuir 22, with Hope converting. Laidlaw then reacted for the visitors with a neat break to dance his way over for the try and add the extras.County scored again through Alex Taylor after the pack made an impression on the defence before a penalty from Laidlaw settled the scores at 15-13 to County come half-time.Boroughmuir came out fighting after the break, Matthew Tweddle barging his way over after a knock-on from the visitors presented ball. Laidlaw converted.County secured a penalty through Hope before Laidlaw nailed another penalty for the home side to go into the lead. Around the 60 minute mark, Boroughmuir found space through a magical offload from Mark Hare which saw Dougie Hearn over with Laidlaw collecting the points. However, County soon responded with a try from Adam Nicol, converted by Hope to edge play closer once again.Jordan Edmunds made a break and received from Grant McConnell to go over in the corner for the bonus-point try. County responded through a Hope penalty but the hosts had already secured victory.Boroughmuir: Tries: Laidlaw, Tweedle, Hearn, Edmunds. Pens: Laidlaw 3. Cons: Laidlaw 3. Stirling County: Tries: Leishman, Taylor, Nicol. Pens: Hope 3. Cons: Hope 2. Referee: Graeme Wells Hawick 9-24 WatsoniansWatsonians claimed their second win of the BT Premiership season with a fast start proving the initial momentum was in favour of the visitors.The opening try came courtesy of Nathan Borel after Reiss Cullen probed effectively; Andrew Chalmers added the points to cement an early lead. Hawick responded through two penalty attempts from Ali Weir to put the scores within a point of one another at half-time (6-7).Watsonians went down to 14 men after Sean Crombie received a yellow card for pulling down a maul, Weir capitalising on the opportunity with the boot to put Hawick in front.A penalty from Ewan Scott and a try from Viliami Fihaki pushed Watsonians into the lead once again, which Scott also converted.Moments later, DJ Innes made his way through the Hawick defence, eventually finding Scott for the score before the stand-off converted to record the Edinburgh club’s first away win of the season.Hawick: Pens: Weir (3). Watsonians: Tries Borel, Fihaki, Scott. Cons: Chalmers, Scott (2). Pen: Scott. Referee: Mike Adamson 

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