Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Heriot's blow Musselburgh away

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Musselburgh 10

Heriot's 60

COLIN RENTON @ Stoneyhill

HERIOT'S took another significant stride towards securing a home play-off slot with a performance that showcased the Goldenacre men's set-piece strength and finishing prowess. It also offered an insight into Musselburgh's fighting ability although, unfortunately for the hosts, that came to the fore only after the result had been settled.

Heriot's coach Bob McKillop believed that the afternoon's work offered further evidence of the progress towards achieving the objectives he has set for his players.

"I'm pleased with the performance – 60 points away from home is something that I would definitely have been happy with this morning. I think, in the first half, some of our set play execution was really good. It good a bit untidy in the second half. On the whole, we were pretty clinical in the first half. We keep trying to move our game forward, so we'll accept the odd error here and there when we're trying things," he said.

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"Our line-out and our scrum have developed into quite potent weapons for us. Some of the set plays off our line-outs rather than just the power of our line-out drive were a bit different to other weeks."

In the home camp, assistant coach Andrew Clark admitted that the afternoon had been difficult, saying: "It was always going to be a tough challenge against a team that were 55 points ahead of us in the league and had scored 300 points more than us."

He did not want to use an injury-strewn first quarter as an excuse, but did admit that it had limited his ability to introduce fresh legs later in the game: "The guys on the bench were capable of stepping in and there were some tough calls over who was going to start and who was on the bench, but having to make those changes so early was never going to help.”

And of the current mood in the squad, he said, "We know that we're in a really tough position. The boys certainly haven't given up and a big positive for us is that the boys are sticking together."

The spate of injuries to which he alluded meant that three of the starting line-up were forced off in the opening 15 minutes, and a fourth would go by half time.

However, while that damaged the home side's hopes, it was the dominance of the Heriot's pack that created the foundation for the win, allowing the backs to deploy their pace.

The visitors never looked in any danger, dominating from the start. The first score, in six minutes, capped a spell of early pressure, with George Coull showing his finishing power to dot down in the corner.

The lead doubled five minutes later when Ruaridh Leishman stole ball at a line-out inside the Musselburgh 22 and Patrick Spence thundered over for try number two. And things worsened for the hosts when Freddie Gibson sliced through and offloaded to Thomas Glendinning, whose finish between the sticks left Dan King with a simple conversion.

The bonus point came inside the first half hour, when Coull appeared on the wrong wing and darted past one defender before flipping the ball to Zac Ross who finished in style. The scores kept coming and number five was again thanks to a Leishman line-out steal which allowed Christian Townsend to move the ball swiftly along the line to Coull who bagged his second of the afternoon, with King converting.

There were two more scores before the break, both stemming from line-outs. The first was a straightforward take and drive that ended with Michael Liness applying the final touch, then Leishman again pouched ball then offloaded to Jamie Campbell to finish the job, with King's conversion concluding the first half scoring.

Heriot's made several changes at the break, but it was more of the same when Jason Hill took the ball into contact and Campbell was again on hand to sprint in and leave Ross Jones with a simple conversion.

Musselburgh belatedly came to life with a break from deep that posed questions of the opposition defence for the first time, and ended with Sandy Watt showing his pace to race in at the corner. Buoyed by that score, the hosts were soon back on the offensive and a penalty to touch carried play to within striking distance where Jack Haynes gathered the throw and stretched over.

Heriot's struck back instantly and a multi-phase attack ended with Angus Munro crashing over and Jones converting. And the rout was completed by Hill, who thundered over following a scrum.

Musselburgh finished with a final defiant attack that produced a penalty and a yellow-card for the otherwise impressive Campbell, but they were unable to convert that last flourish into points.

Teams –

Musselburgh: B Weatherhead; T Foley, R Watt, R Smith, S Watt; D Owenson, J Rule; R Brown, J Talac, H Meadows, J Haynes, J Arnold, P Bogie, F Duraj, J Lister. Subs: B Stott, E Bonthron, A Mataitini, M Crawford, B Heber, P Cunningham, M McCowan.

Heriot's: D King; Z Ross, T Glendinning, F Gibson, G Coull; C Townsend, S Broad; C Keen, M Liness, S Cessford, P Spence, J Campbell, J Hill, S Wallace, R Leishman. Subs: A Johnston, A Munro, O Bowden, M Keough, R Kirkpatrick, S Smith, R Jones.

Referee:  S Turnbull

Scorers –

Musselburgh: Tries: S Watt, Haynes

Heriot's: Tries: Coull 2, Spence, Glendinning, Ross, Liness, Campell 2, Munro, Hill; Cons: King 3, Jones 2.

Scoring sequence (Musselburgh first): 0-5; 0-10; 0-15; 0-17; 0-22; 0-27; 0-29; 0-34; 0-39; 0-41 (h-t) 0-46; 0-48; 5-48; 10-48; 10-53; 10-55; 10-60.

Yellow cards –

Heriot’s: Campbell

Player-of-the-Match: George Coull was industrious and effective for Heriot's, while old warhorse Jason Hill was a big contributor, but Jamie Campbell just edged it for his performance at both set-piece and in open play, including a try double, with a late yellow card a rare minor blip.

Talking point: There's a feeling of inevitability about Musselburgh's plight but, to their credit, the Stoneyhill players remain a solid unit. The outcome for Heriot's seems equally certain, albeit at the other end of the table.

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