Tennent’s Premiership week 5 round-up

Leaders Marr maintained their superb start to the campaign with a bonus-point win over Hawick at Mansfield Park in a game that saw the visitors pull away for a 31-3 half-time advantage that was never going to be reined in. A happy Head Coach, Craig Redpath, was wary to not get too carried away, however, noting: “Hawick came strong in the end, but the game was done by then. We did the simple things right in the first half, took our chances and played most of the rugby, and we are coming together a lot more.

“We need to keep focused, and if we don’t, any team can beat us in this league.”

Selkirk nabbed a late win over local rivals Jed-Forest at Philiphaugh to move up to fourth in the table, with Henry Bithray crossing deep into injury time to seal victory. Scott Wight’s men also benefitted from a late bonus point for a fourth try, something the Head Coach knows could prove vital in such a congested division: “It was very important we got the win when you see how tight the league is.

Selkirk haven’t beaten Jed home or away over the last three years. We showed great character and could have easily lost when they scored with three minutes to play to go 20-19 up but we showed great character and composure to score five minutes into injury time. I thought the subs made a huge impact for us this week and that was the difference.”

GHA won the all-Glasgow encounter against Hawks at Braidholm after a sensational comeback that belied a red card and substantial points deficit. A last-gasp crossing from prop Michael Fox got the hosts quite literally over the line, with Director of Rugby Rangi Jericevich understandably delighted with the 26-20 final scoreline: “Hawks defence had put us under a lot of pressure all afternoon and they were deserving of their lead going into the last quarter as the game looked to be slipping away from us. However, our players showed tremendous character with three tries in the last 15 minutes after being reduced down to 14 men to secure the win at the death.”

Edinburgh Accies’ fifth straight away game, due to the ongoing transformation work at Raeburn Place, resulted in a 31-12 reverse at Currie Chieftains, with coach Iain Berthinussen admitting that his side are up against it: “It’s tough for us because we are on that road all the time – we’ve just got to keep going. We will be back and playing somewhere in Edinburgh for the second half of the season. But we need to look at our away form – that’s two defeats on the bounce.”

Finally, Aberdeen Grammar’s fine form continued as they got the better of Musselburgh in a 10-try feast at Stoneyhill. It was a third consecutive win for the Rubislaw men, whose Head Coach Ali O’Connor said: “We are very happy to get a win down at Musselburgh as we have struggled there in recent years. The guys played the conditions well but we conceded 32 points so our accuracy in defence must improve before next week.”

Tennent’s Women’s Premiership: Round 6 review

There were only two fixtures over the weekend in the Tennent’s Women’s Premiership after Watsonians’ home game with Corstorphine was postponed on account of a waterlogged pitch (this match has been rescheduled for Sunday October 27).

In the games that went ahead, Cartha Queen’s Park beat Stirling County 36-24 and Hillhead Jordahill kept on the pressure at the top of the table with a 56-10 success at home to Ayr.

Victorious Jordanhill Head Coach Aird Jardine gave his thoughts on his side’s performance, saying: “We’re happy for the players to get back to winning ways. It was a hard-fought win as Ayr put up a really good fight and didn’t stop for the 80 minutes. We got off to a brilliant start by scoring within the first minute of the game but our momentum slowed due to the number of errors and penalties we gave away.

“The players did well not to let this continue into the second half as they refocused and started taking control of the game again. There was some brilliant individual performances with the players’ hard work allowing us to win the game. We’re looking forward to another good week at training and building on this week’s win.”