Heriot’s coach Mark Appleson was a contented man as his side got their RBS Premier B campaign off to a winning start on Saturday. The Goldenacre men travelled across Edinburgh to face Watsonians and secured a 20-3 victory.


Appleson said: “Premier B really is going to be a dogfight so the only thing that mattered to us was to get off to a winning start. It was a shame that we couldn’t go on and get the bonus point, but it gives us a platform to build on.”

Watsonians got off to the perfect start when scrum-half Brian Walls kicked a penalty after nine minutes. Heriot’s fought back, though, and they took a 7-3 lead into the interval after a converted try from centre Cameron Ferguson after 24 minutes.

After the interval, Heriot’s controlled proceedings and added to their tally with two tries from back-row Robin Cessford and scrum-half Graham Wilson. In the closing stages, Heriot’s had two men sin-binned, but Sonians could not break through their defences.

Glasgow Hawks are the early pacesetters in the division after a 45-8 thumping of Hamilton at Old Anniesland. Kerr Gossman led the way with two tries for the hosts with Ross Miller, man of the match Grant Strang, Davide Barbieri and Rory Hamilton also crossing. Hamilton’s try came from Chris Stannage with Owen McLeish also knocking over a drop goal.

Hawick needed a second-half try from winger Neil McColm to secure a home draw with Stewart’s Melville. The men from Inverleith took the lead in the first half when full-back Liam Steele scored a try converted by stand-off Mike Hanning, but Hawick fought back with an unconverted effort from McColm. In the second-half, Hanning’s penalty extended Stewart’s Melville’s lead before McColm’s try. Full-back Neil Renwick saw his conversion attempt come off the post and the game ended 10-10.

This article was posted on 16-Jan-2012, 07:32 by Hugh Barrow.