Stirling County

After defeat last weekend at Millbrae, Melrose returned to winning ways with a bonus point victory over a Stirling County side poorly rewarded for their attacking approach.

Currie Chieftains were on fire to defeat Glasgow Hawks at Malleny Park in the Tennent’s Premiership, the hosts battling back from 21-12 down to win emphatically 71-28.

A barn-storming second-half show, in which they scored 26 unanswered points, carried Ayr to victory – even though the hosts were lucky to still be in the contest at the interval.

Watsonians rode their luck against Stirling County to go in at half-time with an unlikely lead that they then stubbornly held on to over the full 80 to record a first win in the first game of the new season.

Watsonians recovered from a slow start to score three tries and win the first game of the new season as Stirling County fell just short on the day.

Stirling County gave themselves a massive confidence lift ahead of next weekend’s Tennents Premiership kick-off by acheiving victory over Melrose in the BT Charity Shield match at the Greenyards.

Scottish Rugby has placed Grand Slam hero Sean Lineen in charge of pushing through its Super 6 strategy to revamp the club game.

Scotland’s Super Six franchise clubs will face the top six in the Welsh Principality Premiership as part of a new cross-border competition.

Response to this week’s news about the SRU’s “Super 6” must surely be “we’ll have to wait and see”. No doubt the members of the panel, chaired by Sir Bill Gammell, who had the task of assessing the twelve bidding clubs, and selecting the Six that will set sail on the uncharted ocean of officially approved semi-pro rugby, will have adhered scrupulously to the criteria they were handed. Nevertheless, it seems wrong – even ridiculous – that three of the “chosen six” are Edinburgh clubs, that there is no Glasgow one, and that Stirling County is the most northerly club selected. For years we have bewailed the narrow base of Scottish rugby. Now Ayr is to be the only Super 6 club more than a drive and a chip from Murrayfield. This is a weird way to grow the game.

The Scottish Rugby Union ignored its own compliance guidelines when it awarded three of its Super 6 franchises to clubs in Edinburgh, The Scotsman has learned.

The winning bids may now be known but lots of questions remain over what impact, positive or negative, the watershed creation of the Super 6 will have on the landscape of Scottish rugby.

Rob Chrystie did a pretty good job of being magnanimous in victory after his team had dismantled Stirling County on Saturday to add the Scottish Cup to the BT Premiership crown they claimed three weeks ago, but there was no disguising the gulf in class between the two sides.

The players of Stirling County
are embracing the opportunity to attain legendary 
status by becoming only the second team in the club’s 
history to win a piece of major silverware as they look to upset the odds in today’s 
BT Cup final against hot favourites Melrose.

There was no disguising Peter Jericevich’s sense of anticipation for County’s first BT Cup final appearance after his side demolished Hawick with eight tries.

Stirling County booked their place in the BT Cup final with a spirited display that saw them rout Hawick in style.

The SRU has received 12 applications from clubs to form franchises in the new part-time professional Super 6 league which is due to launch in the 2019/20 season.

Marr did what they had to: secured the bonus-point win they needed, but, with Melrose losing at Hawick, it wasn’t enough and they will go back to National League 1 next season.

In a match that meant little to either side in terms of the BT Premiership, Melrose had enough power to eke out yet another home win.

Boroughmuir coach Peter Wright emerged from the dressing room after his players dismantled a bewildered, tactically poor Stirling, relishing the knowledge that victory had earned them a shot at survival in the Premiership with three games left to play.