DAVID KELSO REPORTS IN TODAYS HERALD

Glasgow coach Wright insists that future is bright despite suffering defeat to EdinburghCommentFallen giants Glasgow Hawks suffered yet another defeat as they were swept aside 32-17 by Edinburgh Academicals at Old Anniesland.

Peter Wright, the Glasgow coach, however, insisted his young side are heading in the right direction. "A lot of the things we've done in training worked and I can see the improvement," he said.

"The results will come. Bringing in the sports psychologist was positive. A point he made was not to worry about things you can't change. They know to concentrate on what is in front of them."

A first-minute try by Craig Gossman should have steadied Glasgow, but they couldn't cope with the pace, power and poise of the visitors.

Scores from Mark Price (2), Paul Loudon and Matt Couper gave Edinburgh victory, with Jonno Wright pouncing for the Hawks tries.

Ian Barnes, the Edinburgh coach, said: "We have won three out of four, but ironically the only game in which we really played well, we lost to Boroughmuir. On our day, we'll beat anyone in the league - the trouble is there are a lot of sides who can play well on their day."

Watsonians bounced back to form with a well-merited 38-12 victory over West of Scotland at Myreside.

West, without Gordon Bulloch, were always under the cosh as Mike Ker, Tupu Saena (two each) and Guy Hills breached their defence.

West's efforts in vain were snapped up by Peter Horne and Graham Fisken, the former also converting one.

Bruce Aitchison, the Watsonians coach, wasn't entirely satisfied, however. He said: "We deserved it, but we could have put more points on the board. We made a lot of errors. We were over anxious at times - and too patient at other times when we needed a bit of urgency."

Dave McLean, the West assistant coach, said the best side won: "We were caught by the pace of Watsonians and we were exposed on the counter attack. It was a lovely surface and these guys used it to the maximum. Our fellows gave a great effort, but 'Sonians were in a different class."

Kevin Barrie admitted it was almost a relief for his Selkirk side to suffer their first defeat since being promoted to the top flight when Hawick scored a clinical 42-15 win at Mansfield Park. "We knew this would be a particularly tough match - and we knew we had to lose at some stage," said Barrie. "It has happened and now we can get it out of our system and move on. We actually took positives from the experience and it is definitely not a case of going back to the drawing board."

Jocky Bryce, the Stirling County pack coach, had mixed emotions as he looked back on his side's 13-13 draw with Currie at Malleny Park.

For much of the contest, the visitors looked set to snatch a precious win on the road but in the end had to depend on Brian Archibald's late penalty to level the contest. Bryce said: "We have to be happy with the outcome, though we could have come out on top.

"I believe we were unlucky not to score two or three more tries and that would have made all the difference. We are lacking a bit of strength in depth on the bench, so I suppose we can't be too disappointed."

Ally Donaldson, the Currie coach, added: "We were behind on the scoreboard, but not in terms of territory. We had a lot of the ball but we were not accurate. We had to make changes in the back line and moving Jonny Smith from 15 to 10 worked for us."

A dramatic interception touchdown by Angus Martyn inspired champions Boroughmuir to a 27-20 success against Melrose at the Greenyards.

The initial damage to the Borders side had been inflicted by Bronson Ross, who notched two tries.

This article was posted on 22-Sep-2008, 07:44 by Hugh Barrow.