PREMIERSHIP ROUND UP
DAVID KELSO

GLASGOW Hawks will have to wait before claiming their third successive league title having shared the points with Aberdeen GSFP in Premier One's second draw of the season.

The game ended 17-17, though Hawks came agonisingly close to the fourth try that would have brought the crown.


Grammar were awarded a penalty try and scrum-half Luke Parsons crossed. Fly half Keith Oddie kicked both conversions and added a penalty.

Hawks' three tries came from Al Maclay, lock Mark Sitch and fit-again flanker Greg Francis, while Mikey Adamson managed one conversion in the freezing conditions.

Elsewhere, relegation-haunted Boroughmuir broke their recent bad run with a fighting win by 24-14 at home to Biggar but remain joint third bottom of the table.

The visitors had 75% of pressure and even had a 'try' ruled off for a forward pass. Muir displayed heroic defence, especially when they had both Peter Knight and Angus Martyn in the sin-bin together in the middle of the game. Crucially, they proved to be clinical on the break.

Muir got a dream start with a try in the first minute from winger Bob Cairns followed by one from scrum half Calum Cusiter, both converted by Ross Cook to let Muir turn leading 17-7.

The second half try came from winger Rory Couper and was again converted by Cook who also dropped a goal. Biggar, who are now stuck on the second-bottom rung, had a penalty try and one from Quintan Sanft who also kicked both conversions.

At Malleny Park, Currie took a huge step to safety when they overwhelmed bottom side Stirling County at Bridgehaugh 33-6, having been 10-0 up in four minutes with tries from full back Doug Flockhart and winger Chris Browne.

County hit back with a penalty from Brian Archibald but centre David Officer opened the second quarter with a touch down.

Archibald added a second penalty, but one from Currie's South African stand-off Dominic Raw let the visitors turn 18-6 ahead.

Although County, to their credit, continued to compete, they had no answer to the size and power of the visitors. Raw eased them further ahead with his second penalty before his fellow South African lock Paul Huntly was at the bottom of a driven line out for the bonus point try which Raw converted.

Showing no mercy, Currie racked up their fifth try with prodigal-returned winger Geoff Caldwell helping his pack roll over the line Shaun Lamont style.

At Inverleith, Stewart's/Melville, desperate to avoid the drop, recorded their sixth successive win, 21-13 at home to Hawick, but yet again failed to pick up a bonus point.

It all fell right for Dundee HSFP as they stretched their lead at the top of BT Premier Division 2. Not only did they run out comfortable winners by 43-3 over Jed at Mayfield, but closest challengers Cartha Queens Park went down 22-19 at home to Edinburgh Accies.

Dundee had the bonus point in the bag at half time with tries from Calum Rankin, Doug Gray, Neil McComb and Matt Groufsky with Rankin adding three conversions to give them a 26-3 lead, with Jed's only points coming from a Gary Hill penalty.

In the second half, Mark Jenkinson and Graham Thomson ran in tries for Dundee, Groufsky notched his second and Dave Parkhill claimed his first points for the club with a conversion.

Selkirk had tries from Martin Murray and Mike Jaffray with Michael Rutherford adding a penalty to give them a 13-10 win over Berwick, a result which plunges the Scremerston men deeper into relegation trouble, while Hillhead-Jordanhill's 22-9 win over Haddington at Hughenden did the visitors chances of avoiding the drop no good either.

In Division 3, two Stephen O'Donnell penalties in each half were just enough to give West a 6-5 win over Kirkcaldy.

This article was posted on 12-Feb-2006, 08:49 by Hugh Barrow.