Arnold Clark Men’s Premiership Play Off Semi-Final Preview: Currie Chieftains v Heriot’s

After finishing in second place in the table with 57 points and 11 wins across the season, Currie Chieftains have earned themselves a home semi-final.

Heriot’s, who had a tough start to the campaign with three back-to-back losses, managed to turn their season around when it mattered most to claim third place with 52 points and nine wins across the 18 rounds.

The Edinburgh sides previously met in Rounds 3 and 12 of the competition where Currie edged a 24-19 win at home and a more convincing 24-39 win away, so with a place in the final at stake, it’s all to play for at Malleny Park this evening.

It’s winner takes all, so both head coaches will be finalising their game plans as we get closer to kick off.

Heriot’s Head Coach, Bob McKillop said: “Having been rooted at the bottom of the league after the first few rounds and having used close to 60 players, we are really happy to have made the semi-finals. It’s a transition year for us with a few ups and downs along the way but I’m really proud of the way the boys have stuck together and gotten us to third place in the league.

“Heriot’s and Currie games are always full-on and physical, and I’d expect this game to be a tense and tough battle. Currie have obviously won both regular season games, but the game at Malleny Park was a close one and hopefully on this occasion we can do one better.”

Currie Chieftains Head Coach, Mark Cairns added: “We’re really pleased for the players, they’ve set themselves a goal at the start of the year to achieve a home semi-final and we’ve done that. They’ve worked hard to achieve that but we’re definitely not stopping there.

“We’re really looking forward to challenging ourselves against Heriot’s this week and gaining ourselves a spot in the final after we came up just short last year. We’ve been working really hard to make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity to fall on the right side of the result against Heriot’s tonight. Our players know that we’ve got a responsibility to inspire as well and hopefully we put a performance that the club and fans are proud of.”

Elsewhere in the Arnold Clark Men’s Premiership this weekend, a win for GHA against Glasgow Hawks means they will leapfrog Watsonians to move into fourth place and secure their first-ever semi-final place which will be played against last year’s champions, Ayr RFC.

Arnold Clark Men’s Premiership fixtures

Friday 27 January
Play Off Semi-final
Currie Chieftains v Heriot’s Rugby Men (7:35pm kick-off)

Saturday 28 January
Glasgow Hawks v GHA RFC (3pm kick-off)