Rugby: Donaldson pleased by Currie win

Currie coach Ally Donaldson saw his side post an impressive 34-13 win over London Scottish at Malleny Park last night and declared himself happy with the Premiership champions' readiness to launch the defence of their title.

Currie started with a familiar side that featured many of the personnel who delivered the silverware last season, sprinkled with talented youngsters including Fergus Scott, Fraser Strachan, Alan Whittingham and new signing Tom Brown.

The hosts reached the interval with a slender 10-8 advantage but raised the pace in the second period to run in a total of six tries - with Whittingham bagging two, while there was one apiece for Richard Snedden, Jamie Thompson, James Johnstone and Chris Kinloch - as they dominated the match for lengthy spells.

While the visitors are still in the early phase of their preparations for the English National League campaign, they offered stern opposition and had tries from David Howells and Ian McInroy to show for their efforts.

"That was a pretty searching examination", said Donaldson. "I'm delighted with the result. It was a real physical test for us.

"We took off a couple of guys who had knocks - nothing serious and they should be fine for next week."