Heriot's geared to make a point for place in British and Irish Cup

Published on Monday 11 May 2009 22:52

JUST two days after their last- gasp Scottish Hydro Electric Cup victory over Melrose, Heriot's must shake themselves off and march into battle again tonight, for a match which is even more significant than Sunday's Murrayfield showdown.

A game which was initially considered by both competing sides as nothing more than an end-of-season inconvenience has suddenly become a matter of major importance for the Goldenacre men after it emerged last week that the top two teams in Premier 1 will qualify to play in the inaugural British and Irish Cup next year.

Heriot's are currently third in the table behind Boroughmuir on points difference, so they need at least a losing bonus point in tonight's match against Edinburgh Academicals if they are to join champions Ayr in the new competition – which will also feature a Scottish Academy side, the top 12 teams in the English Championship, the top six in the Welsh Principality Premiership, and development teams from Leinster, Munster and Ulster.

This match was originally supposed to be played at the end of January, but Raeburn Place was waterlogged, Heriot's then rejected a proposal to double up last month's Cup semi-final as a league match, and last Tuesday the game was postponed again because of a dangerously dry and hard pitch.

So as to avoid any more delays to the conclusion of the season, the game has now been switched to Lasswade, where the pitches were designed and built to a high specification two years ago, having been expertly maintained since then, and are considered to be among the best in Scotland. The match will kick-off at 7.30pm.

Heriot's coach Bob McKillop is hoping that his players will be able to carry on the momentum generated by Sunday's Cup success despite the bumps and bruises a lot of them will inevitably still be nursing.

"Had Scott Wight kicked that penalty on Sunday to win the Cup for Melrose it would have been really tough to pull the guys up by their bootlaces for this match, but instead they go into this game as Scottish Cup winners and that's bound to give them a bit of a buzz," he said. "I don't think we have any major injury concerns, there are a few guys with knocks but I think they'll still make it into the match-day squad, even if they don't start. We're battered and bruised but we'll just have to grit our teeth and get on with it."

Academicals are coming from an almost polar opposite perspective, having not played since being on the receiving end of a 50-8 demolition at the hands of the same opponents in the Cup 17 days ago.

Pulling a front row together has been particularly problematic, with Nick Lah and Mark Price having returned home to Australia and New Zealand respectively, and the SRU refusing to release Academy player Lewis Niven because he sets off for a summer playing in Auckland on the Macphail Scholarship tomorrow.

"It's a major inconvenience at this time of the season" said coach Ian Barnes. "Why the Cup match wasn't doubled up as a league game is beyond me. We're missing quite a few key players and it just shows the strength in depth we have developed at the club that we have managed to pull together a pretty decent side."

One Accies player who has plenty to prove this evening is Tom Drennan, who was dropped from the Scotland under-20 squad for the IRB Junior World Championship in Japan next month, having struggled to impose himself with limited game time during the age-grade Six Nations series.

He will be keen to make an impression against back-row opponents Chris Fusaro and Struan Dewar, who are both in the squad.