Heriot’s Rugby v Boroughmuir Bears

Heriot’s flew out the traps after winning a line-out on the Bears’ 22. A crash ball taken from inside centre Cameron Hutchison allowed the hosts to set a platform from which he burrowed over with barely a minute on the clock.

Were it not for a forward pass, second-row Callum Marshall would have added a second three minutes later as the visitors tried to get the pace of the game into their system.

Both sides showed a willingness to throw the ball about, with Heriot’s peppering the Boroughmuir line following a neat kick to touch after 15 minutes. Having seen the ball held up on the line, the Goldenacre side forced a penalty from the resulting scrum – with Bears’ scrum-half Tom Wilson shown a yellow for his infringing efforts.

Heriot’s took full advantage as James Couper went over in the corner from the scrum penalty. Ross Jones again missed the tricky extras from out wide but there was more to come from Phil Smith’s charges.

After 20 minutes, skipper Iain Wilson got in on the act, stepping neatly as the line beckoned and weaving his way over the line. Jones went close with the conversion but to no avail and it remained 15-0.

The visitors got their first points on the board from the tee via Martin Cimprich to coincide with Wilson’s reintroduction, but it was a brief respite ahead of Heriot’s getting awarded a penalty try after 34 minutes for pulling a line-bound maul down.

Heriot’s Rugby nabbed a fourth when, to the delight of Hutchison, his support line to Rory McMichael afforded the centre a second of the afternoon, Ross jones converting for 29-3, where it stayed until the interval

HALF-TIME: Heriot’s Rugby 29-3 Boroughmuir Bears

The second period mirrored the first as Andrew Simmers ran a great support line to benefit from wing James Spencer’s offload and scurry over, again converted by Jones.

Boroughmuir Bears rallied and scored their opening try after 46 minutes when wing Jordan Edmunds dotted down straight from kick-off to offer hope to Graham Shiel’s men. Jack Steele converted to make it 36-10.

Charlie Jupp got in on the act close to the hour mark to make it 41-10, his close-range try coming moments before Duncan Hood, still a Stewart’s Melville school pupil, came on for his FOSROC Super6 debut at hooker to the delight of a healthy personal following.

With the game won, action at Goldenacre became stagnant and it wasn’t until the final knockings that Heriot’s sparked back into life, as first James Spencer and then substitute scrum-half Alex Ball crossed to make it nine tries and a record FOSROC Super6 scoreline in front of a near-1000 crowd.

FULL-TIME: Heriot’s Rugby 53-10 Boroughmuir Bears

FOSROC Player of the Match: Cameron Hutchison (Heriot’s Rugby)

Referee: Keith Allen

Heriot’s Rugby: 15. Harry Paterson; 14. James Spencer 13. Rory McMichael, 12. Cameron Hutchison, 11. James Couper, 10, Ross Jones, 9. Andrew Simmers; 1. Andrew Nimmo, 2. Ali Johnstone, 3. Josh Scott, 4. Charlie Jupp, 5. Callum Marshall, 6. Iain Wilson CAPTAIN, 7. Jack McLean, 8. Jason Hill.

Replacements: 16. Duncan Hood, 17. Martin Bouab, 18. Colin Arthur, 19. Ronan Seydak, 20. Adam Sinclair, 21. Alex Ball, 22. Ben Chalmers, 23. Scott Riddell.

Boroughmuir Bears: 15. Glen Faulds; 14. Cammy Gray, 13. Archie Russell, 12. Greg Cannie, 11. Jordan Edmunds, 10. Martin Cimprich, 9. Tom Wilson; 1. AP McWilliam, 2. George Shannon, 3. Dan Winning, 4. Ewan Stewart, 5. Callum Atkinson, 6. Scott McGinley, 7. Matt Walker, 8. Craig Keddie CAPTAIN

Replacements: 16. Toby Francombe, 17. Michael Downer, 18. Ryan Montgomery, 19. Will Inglis, 20. David Medjebeur, 21. Murray Johnstone, 22. Ronan Kerr, 23. Jack Steele.

Stirling County v Watsonians

Bottom-placed Stirling County put in a dominant second half performance against league leaders Watsonians in recording a second victory of the FOSROC Super6 this afternoon, scoring four tries in the process.

It was the visitors who opened the scoring in the top verses bottom battle.

With only two minutes on the clock, Watsonians broke up the park, inside centre Joe Reynolds was able to find winger Andrew Chalmers who ran in the try, with stand-off Lee Millar adding the conversion.

The men from Myreside extended their lead further when second row Brian Leitch was able to crash over from short range, Miller once again adding the extra two points.

With five minutes until the half-time whistle Stirling County were finally able to get on the scoreboard. Although they had been over the try line twice before, the ball had been either held up or knocked on both occasions.

On the third time of asking it was number eight, and FOSROC Player of the Match, Ali Mackie, who was able to secure the ball’s grounding over the whitewash.

The visitors were able to respond with a penalty just before half-time as the hosts were penalised for not rolling away, Millar expectedly slotting it between the uprights.

HALF-TIME: Stirling County 7-17 Watsonians 

With the second half underway, it took County only four minutes to score the first points of the half. Back row Mackie was able to rumble his way over from short range once again to take the hosts to within five points of the league leaders.

Watsonians were able to extend their lead almost immediately when centre Lewis Berg finished off a well-executed open play move to score under the posts with Millar once again adding the two points which stretched the visitors lead to 12 points.

Ten minutes later Watsonians were reduced to 14 men when first-half try scorer Brian Leitch was shown a yellow card for an offence at the lineout.

Stirling were able to capitalise straight away when Mackie grounded the ball over the try line to earn his hat-trick in his first FOSROC Super6 game, due to a pectoral injury sustained during pre-season.

With twenty minutes to go the visitors were still ahead by seven points before Stirling County winger Logan Trotter came off his wing and made a break up the park. Trotter was able to find centre Landon Hayes who ran in under the posts, Josh Henderson converting to make it 24 points apiece.

When Watsonians were penalised to the right of the uprights Stirling opted to scrum knowing it may not have been the best position in the park for Henderson to take such an important kick from.

With the scrum re-set a couple of times play came out to the left-hand side and when the visitors were penalised for not rolling away it was the hosts chance to take the lead for the first time in the game. With three minutes to go, Henderson stepped up and kicked the goal to put Stirling three points ahead of the league leaders for the first time in the game.

As the sound of the final hooter went, County kicked the ball into touch and celebrated an impressive second half performance where they were able to score 20 points against the men from Myreside.

FULL-TIME: Stirling County 27-24 Watsonians 

FOSROC Player of the Match: Ali Mackie (Stirling County)

Referee: David Sutherland

Stirling County: 15. Bruce Sorbie; 14. Caleb Korteweg, 13. Robbie Kent, 12. Landon Hayes, 11. Logan Trotter, 10. Josh Henderson, 9. Sean Kennedy; 1. Charlie Brown, 2. Reyner Kennedy CAPTAIN, 3. Murphy Walker, 4. Ollie Bartlett, 5. Jale Vakaloloma, 6. Dean Taylor-Menzies, 7. Connor Gordon, 8. Ali Mackie.

Replacements: 16. Angus Fraser, 17. Adam Wood, 18. Fergus Bradbury, 19. James Pow, 20. George Arnott, 21. Andrew Goudie, 22. Craig Jardine, 23. Ollie Horne

Watsonians: 15. Jamie Forbes; 14. Andrew Chalmers, 13. Lewis Berg, 12. Joe Reynolds, 11. Angus Guthrie, 10. Lee Millar CAPTAIN, 9. Murray Scott; 1. Harrison Courtney, 2. Cal Davies, 3. Jack Stanley, 4. Brian Leitch, 5. Jamie Hodgson, 6. Mesu Kunavula, 7. James Miller, 8. Morgan Inness

Replacements: 16. Campbell Wilson, 17. Sam Grahamslaw, 18. Jonny Gibson, 19. Mike Badenhorst, 20. Gregor Nelson, 21. Ali Harris, 22. DJ Innes, 23. Kody Mcgovern

Ayrshire Bulls v Southern Knights 

The Southern Knights earned their third bonus point win in as many weeks when they defeated third placed Ayrshire Bulls at Millbrae this afternoon.

From the outset it was evident this would be a nip and tuck battle with the Southern Knights looking to make amends for their defeat to Ayrshire Bulls at home in November.

Scoring opened on the fourteenth minute when referee Sam Grove-White awarded the Knights a penalty try. Bulls Blair Macpherson had brought the maul down, as well as letting in seven points he was also shown a yellow card and sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.

With the hosts down to 14 men they retained possession of the ball, hooker Sam Kitchen was able to gather it at the back of the maul and secure the ball over the try line to level the scores.

Bulls were able to stretch ahead by three points when Knights second row Angus Runciman was penalised for being offside. FOSROC Academy Stage 3 stand-off Ross Thomson slotted the ball confidently between the uprights.

Just after Macpherson returned to the field Bulls were back down to 14 men again when scrum-half David Armstrong high-tackled Knights winger Patrick Anderson.

Immediately after, Knights had a chance to level the scores once more when Bulls were penalised for tackling the player without the ball. Southern Knights scrum-half Struan Huchinson kicked the goal from straight in front of the posts.

With five minutes to go until the half-time whistle, Bulls sneaked ahead with another penalty by Thomson.

Southern Knights responded straight away, prop Grant Sheills spotted the loose ball and kicked ahead, number eight Neil Irvine-Hess was able to gather it and dive over the try line, with Hutchinson adding the two extra points on offer.

HALF-TIME: Ayrshire Bulls 13 – 17 Southern Knights 

After a long break in play, due to an injury to Knights try scorer Neil Irvine-Hess, both teams were keen to get moving again.

Ayrshire Bulls attacked the Knights try line relentlessly only to come up against a black wall of defence. After multiple pick and go attempts at the line Sam Kitchen was able to get over the try line to cement himself at the top of the FOSROC Super6 top try scores table, scoring his seventh try of the season so far.

With Knights looking to get back in front they mounted their attack. Replacement prop Conor Young spotted a gap at the ruck and ran in their third try of the game with Hutchinson adding the further two points.

With ten minutes to go until the final whistle there was only four points separating the two teams. At the breakdown Knights replacement scrum-half Bruce Colvine put in a box kick, fullback Fraser Thomson chipped it ahead and winger Ciaran Whyte dived on it over the try line.

Despite a valiant effort by the Bulls it was the Knights that came out on top in this Sunday afternoon battle.

FULL-TIME: Ayrshire Bulls 20 – 29 Southern Knights 

FOSROC Player of the Match: Fraser Renwick (Southern Knights)

Referee: Sam Grove-White

Ayrshire Bulls: 15. Grant Anderson; 14. Matt Davidson, 13. Tyler Beary, 12. Tom Jordan, 11. Craig Gossman, 10. Ross Thomson, 9. David Armstrong; 1. Michael Scott, 2. Sam Kitchen, 3. Nicolas Griffiths, 4. Marshall Sykes, 5. Lars Morrice, 6. George Bordill, 7. Peter McCallum CAPTAIN , 8. Blair Macpherson.

Replacements: 16. Lewis Anderson, 17. Ruairidh Sayce, 18. Ewan Davies, 19. Fraser Hastie, 20. Graham Geldenhuys, 21. Isaac McNulty, 25. Alexandar McGuire, 23. Harry Warr

Southern Knights: 15. Fraser Thomson CAPTAIN; 14. Ciaran Whyte, 13. Joe Jenkins, 12. Gavin Wood, 11. Patrick Anderson, 10. Tom Galbraith, 9. Struan Hutchinson; 1. Grant Shiells, 2. Fraser Renwick, 3. Ewan Mcquillan, 4. James Head, 5. Angus Runciman, 6. Ruaridh Knott, 7. Dylan Taylor, 8. Neil Irvine-Hess

Replacements: 16. Finlay Scott, 17. Conor Young, 18. Shaun Gunn, 19. Calum Crookshanks, 20. Iain Moody, 21. Bruce Colvine, 22. Iain Sim, 23. Michael Mvelase-Julyan