New boys Selkirk give Heriot’s fright

The win stunned Heriot’s coach Phil Smith, who admitted that his team had faced a tough challenge. “Selkirk dug in and put us under a lot of pressure,” he said.

“I think that we played well at times, but in many parts of the game we were dreadful.”

The game was also reduced to uncontested scrums when  Kieran Cooney left the field in the second half.

Heriot’s seemed to have had the game sealed after referee Neil Aitchison awarded the visitors two penalty tries in the first 21 minutes with the pack in total control, but Selkirk’s determination and resolve disrupted Heriot’s to the extent that the result was in doubt until the end.

Selkirk’s rugby director, Cameron Cochrane, said that the performance gave the players belief.

“We showed a lot of character and they realised what we have to produce to play at that level. We could have won the game. They are a confident bunch and the spirit was great.”

Selkirk were delighted to get a bonus with four tries, too, just one less than Heriot’s and actually won the second half 19-5.

Jack Turley and Liam Steele were shown yellow for Heriot’s in a dramatic second half.

Scorers: Selkirk – Tries: Cooney, Renwick, Wellman, Davies. Cons: Wellman (3). Pen: Wellman. Heriot’s – Tries: Penalty (2), Liness, Turley, McCallum. Cons: Wilson (4).

Selkirk: J. Welsh; L MacLennan, C Gregory-Ring, R Nixon, S Hendrie; D Wellman, M Davies; K Cooney, J Bett, C Gaur, Y Hartzenburg, A Renwick, E MacDougall, A Duckett, C Marshall. Substitutes: C Johnston, C MacDougall, R Wilson, D Byrne, M Gordon.

Heriot’s: C Simpson; H Boisseau, L Steele, C Ferguson, M Learmonth; S Edwards, G Wilson; M McCallum, M Liness, S Cessford, R Nimmon, R Van Heerden, J Turley, S Dewar, J Hill. Substitutes: S Mustard, M Boab, I Wilson, T Wilson, A Matthews.

Referee: N Paterson.