Currie 40 - 20 Watsonians: Gentle giants prevail

There was a time when four yellow cards and a player facing a ban for being sent off would inevitably add up to broken bones, rivers of claret and nefarious deeds aplenty.

Yesterday at Malleny Park, however, it simply meant a fairly run-of-the-mill game disfigured by a mix of sly Watsonians infractions and a torrent of increasingly pedantic whistling from referee Jean-Marie Burel.

There was, in truth, more malice and bad-temper from the disgruntled punters in the stand than there was from the well-behaved gentlemen out on the pitch. Indeed, the only time any player did anything that could be construed as foul play - when Currie stand-off Andy Bikinos took an entertainingly effete slap at Watsonians lock Dan Gorman in full view of the main stand - it was rightly waved away by the man in the middle.

All of which contributed to a slightly surreal contest. Not least among the strange goings-on was the fact that within moments of Watsonians scrum-half Michael Ker getting his marching orders for a second yellow card (the first for killing the ball, the second for interfering with his opposite number) a run-in by Jamie Forbes after a break down the wing by Simon Webster brought the visitors back to 25-20 behind with just 20 minutes to play.

With stand-off Andy Bikinos in uncharacteristically pugnacious form, Currie had started brightly, with two early penalties from Matty Scott and a fabulous team try from blindside Mark Cairns after a series of punishing forward drives.

Watsonians' efforts to stay in touch were not helped by yellow cards for wing Dougie Brown for his familiar fault of not using his arms when tackling, and Ker which kept the visitors on 14 men for the whole second quarter.

Bizarrely, given that they were second best all afternoon, in terms of sheer muscle, Watsonians actually had the edge. At one stage they shoved Currie off their own scrum ball with embarrassing ease, and shortly before the interval, when they were down to 14 men for the second time, they launched a series of bruising forward sorties that took them to within inches of the Currie line.

That particular bit of whitewash wasn't a place Watsonians visited very often, even if they did manage to score two penalties on their three excursions to the home 22 in the first half.

They made up for it straight after the restart when centre Andrew Skeen ghosted through midfield for an excellent solo try shortly after Currie hooker Fraser Scott was sin-binned. So, when Forbes scooted over with 20 minutes to go, it looked like one of the most remarkable comebacks might be in the offing.

Currie, though, have been here before and with a palpable increase in intensity, they began to exploit the gaps in the Watsonians back division created by the red-carding of Ker.

After a Scott penalty, two classic wingers' tries from Currie flier Dougie Fife finally saw the home side stretch away for a 20-point win that was no less than they deserved but far more than they looked like getting with just ten minutes to play.

Scorers: Currie: Tries: Cairns. Pen Tries: Cox, Fife 2. Cons: Scott 3. Pens: Scott 3. Watsonians: Tries: Skeen, Forbes. Cons: Ker, Forbes. Pens: Ker 2.

Currie: M Scott; A Whittingham, J Johnston, A MacMahon, D fife; A Bikinos, R Snedden; J Cox, F Scott, A Hamilton, R Wilson, G Temple, M Cairns, M Entwhistle, R Weston.

Watsonians: A Nash; D Brown, A Skeen, J Blackwood, S Webster; J Forbes, M Ker; S Laird, N Hart, K Coertze, D Gorman, D Seed, S Ursache, A Porter, H Grant.

Referee: JM Burel.