Currie make it six on the bounce with latest victory

Currie coach Ally Donaldson praised the effort of his players after the Malleny Park men extended their winning run to six RBS Premiership matches and for the third time in that spell clocked up more than a half century of points when they cruised to a 62-18 success at Hawick.

Currie led only 17-6 at the break, having lost the services of Mark Cairns, Richard Snedden and Adam Best. However, they clicked though the gears in the second period to demolish the struggling hosts.

Barry Mansfield took his touchdown tally for the campaign to 11 when he bagged a hat-trick and there were doubles for Dave Smith and Fergus Scott, while John Cox, Mike Entwhistle and Ross Weston had one apiece, as Currie moved into third place in the league table.

“We had a lot of disruption, so I’m pleased with the result and the performance,” said Donaldson.

While Currie are now back in the title race, the outlook is bleak for Heriot’s, who are embroiled in the bottom four after a 23-14 defeat away to Aberdeen Grammar. Converted tries by Neil Dymock and Fraser Brown handed the Goldenacre men a 14-0 interval lead. However, the hosts overturned that deficit in the second half to leave Heriot’s in the lower reaches of the table and almost certainly facing a survival battle after the league split.

Should that prove to be the case, they will meet a buoyant Stewart’s Melville, who harvested another five league points from their 29-18 win at home to Hillhead/Jordanhill in Division Two to secure their spot in the eight-team promotion play off.

Stew Mel bounced back from conceding an early try, and a late score by Rob Patterson sealed a bonus-point victory that, combined with defeat for Jed-Forest, leaves them ten points clear at the top.

Watsonians are also well placed to join the promotion play off group after taking all five points from a 43-21 win at Falkirk that featured seven tries for the visitors in the opening 30 minutes.