Premier Cup: Harris defends Watsonians team hammered at Whitecraigs

WATSONIANS president David Harris defended his club's team selection after the Myreside club suffered a 58-0 hammering in the Premier Cup at the hands of Whitecraigs from two divisions below.

Harris claimed several front-line players had gone to a stag night in Yorkshire instead of turning out for the team in Glasgow. Harris insisted: "I frankly don't care what people might think when they see this result.

"If they accuse me of bringing the competition into disrepute or question my integrity, they will get short shrift. After losing to West of Scotland, we could not qualify for the advanced rounds of the cup, and apart from the fact that we had guys away at Stevie Lawrie's stag, we wanted to take the opportunity to blood some of our younger players at that level. It had been our plan to do that in December and January, but the weather prevented us from doing so. The team we took to Whitecraigs was the strongest available and there was no question of us showing disrespect to the tournament or the opposition club."

For a Premier Three club to score over a half century of points over a Premier One club added to Whitecraigs' victory over Premier Two Kirkcaldy seven days previously. Ross MacDonald and Steven Whittet were the stars for the home side, scoring two tries apiece. Other scores came from Stuart Henderson, Stuart Pollock, Ryan Moffat, Ian Laidlaw, Jamie Howarth and Graham Fisher. Moffat converted four tries to give 'Craigs a famous win.

West of Scotland topped the pool after a comfortable 31-0 win at Kirkcaldy. Melrose finished top of pool C, but not after Biggar had given them a good test at the Greenyards. Club International captain John Dalziel bagged a hat-trick of tries as the hosts eventually won 27-11.

Dundee HSFP have also finished top of their pool after they brushed aside Falkirk 43-5. This meant they beat Gala into second place in pool D. The Borderers finished their campaign with a 48-31 win at Musselburgh. Heriot's finished in pole position in pool E, but had to battle hard to see off Hillhead/Jordanhill 36-31 at Balgray.

Glasgow Hawks were the main men in pool F after they won 33-10 at Jed-Forest, meaning that Edinburgh Accies' 40-15 away to Dumfries was in vain. Steven Anderson scored a hat-trick of tries to help Hawick top pool G with a 53-22 win at Morgan Academy. Selkirk won 20-0 at Kelso. Currie had to fight to win 23-14 at Howe of Fife in Pool A.

• GLOUCESTER head coach Bryan Redpath hailed his team's new-found determination on the road as they climbed into the top four with a hard-earned 10-9 win over Wasps at Adams Park.The Cherry and Whites had racked up a 10-0 lead by the break thanks to a try from wing James Simpson-Daniel and a conversion and penalty from fly-half Nicky Robinson.Robinson's kicking boots deserted him after the break as he missed three further penalty attempts, but Dave Walder's three successful kicks were not enough for the hosts.