Scottish rugby premiership round up

Watsonians 52-17 Aberdeen GSFP

WATSONIANS' prospects of winning the championship were given a boost when they overwhelmed a limited Aberdeen side who on this form look strong candidates for relegation.
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The Myreside side took their time to get into their stride relying on four penalties from stand-off Mike Ker in the opening 20 minutes before kicking into gear in a six-try romp.

A red card for Aberdeen centre Ben Spearitt ended the game as a contest enabling the home side to take total control in the second half. The home scorers came from centre Andrew Skeen (2), winger Matt Coupar (2), Danny Moussa and winger Alistair Rowe. Stand-off Mike Ker kicked four conversions and four penalties. The Aberdeen scorers came from prop Matt Quilty and flanker Rob Currie. Rod Seib kicked two conversions and stand-off Keith Oddie a penalty.

Ayr 20-22 Boroughmuir

THE seasiders broke the deadlock with a Nick Lavelle penalty in the sixth minute. But, despite a fluffed kicking chance by Ross Cook, Muir seized the initiative with through Angus Martyn.

The home troops replied in positive fashion to create a superb touchdown for Paul Burke. They stretched their advantage in the approach to the interval, thanks to substitute Colin White.

He made the break that led to Ally MacFarlane nipping over with ease. Lavelle bagged the extra points to put his team in a comfortable position.

The restart signalled a Muir rally with Cook slotting a penalty to ease their jitters. But they were on the back-foot again as Tippett ploughed over for Ayr's third try. The end-to-end action continued when Rory Couper went over for the visitors, Cook converting to set up a tense finale. And Cook was back in the spotlight to grab the decider.

Currie 42-13 Melrose

THE Currie bandwagon continues to roll and taken at face value the scoreline suggests the league leaders had a routine bonus point win. However the margin of victory tells only part of the story and it took three late tries to give the hosts a flattering if deserved win. They led 13-8 at the break with Ally Warnock scoring all of the points through a try, conversion and two penalties, with Scott Wight kicking a penalty for Melrose and Callum Anderson touching down. A try by Andy MacMahon immediately after the restart was converted by Warnock who also slotted a penalty. But Melrose battled back through a Wayne Mitchell try and the game was still finely poised entering the dying minutes. But the hosts showed why they are the league pace-setters as they raised their work rate to produce scores by MacMahon, Chris Browne and Ross Weston, two converted by Warnock.

Glasgow Hawks 28-05 Dundee HSFP

AT HALF-TIME the talk was of Hawks being back to their best as they led 25-0, having dominated in every phase of the game. By full-time the sparse Old Anniesland crowd were left wondering if it had been a false dawn.

It really was a game of two halves. In the first, Hawks scored three tries of a completely different nature. A third minute interception and romp from half-way by Murray Strang started the scoring, a catch and drive at the line-out put Greg Francis over after half-an-hour, and on the stroke of half-time prop Nick Cox burst over to touch down.

Mike Adamson rattled ten points from two conversions and two penalties, but the second period proved an anti-climax for Hawks who struggled to get into the Dundee half. But for all their territorial advantage, Dundee managed to breach the Hawks defence only once - Dougie McLaren nipping round a line-out.

This article was posted on 24-Sep-2006, 07:36 by Hugh Barrow.