Arnold Clark Men's Premiership preview: Friday night lights at Malleny Park

02/13/2025 01:23 PM

CURRIE CHIEFTAINS will be keen to bounce back immediately from last week's defeat to Watsonians when they host Musselburgh at Malleny Park on Friday evening in the Arnold Clark Men's Premiership.

The fifth placed hosts will be looking to return to the top four – at least until Selkirk play on Saturday – while bottom side Musselburgh are now 16 points adrift of safety with six games left to play. Three sides will be going down from 12 and they know they have to get on a positive run soon to stand a chance of survival.

They make the short trip from East Lothian to play this one off the back of a 60-10 home reverse to Heriot's and Musselburgh skipper Rory Watt said:  "Obviously, Friday night will a big challenge for us, as is every game in the Premiership.

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"Currie are in fine form at the moment and are always a well drilled side, but we are confident that on our day we can get a result against any team.

"Hopefully we can pull together an 80-minute performance and get a result against the odds.

"We've had our struggles this season as a team in transition, but the spirits are still high and it's a very positive time for the club overall despite our league position."

And centre Watt is excited by the young talent coming through at Stoneyhill.

"After 10 plus years of playing senior rugby at the club, there's only a handful of the players still playing that I started with so it's brilliant to now play alongside some of these young lads," he stated.

"For example, Bruce Weatherhead and Murray McCowan, who will be in the backline for this game, are exciting talents and will be there to take us forward as a club in years to come hopefully alongside others."

The Lowdown for Friday Night Lights –

Currie Chieftains v Musselburgh

Venue: Malleny Park @ 7.30pm

Teams –

Currie Chieftains: J McCaig; I Sim, DJ Innes, S Robeson, R Daley; A Harley, G Christie ©; C Anderson, R Stewart, G Scougall, A Bain, C West, S Cardosi, A Fletcher, E Hasdell. Subs: R Vucago, J Ramsay, K Borthwick, W Nelson, C Lessels, A McCall, F Sayers.

Musselburgh: P Cunningham; R Smith, B Weatherhead, R Watt ©, M McCowan; D Owenson, J Rule; C Owenson, J Talac, H Meadows, J Arnold, J Haynes, A Mataitini, M Crawford, J Lister. Subs: Z Griffith, E Bonthron, N Su'a, B Heber, P Burns, J Longwell, M Outram.

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Team news –

Currie Chieftains: They picked up a few injuries last week with regular skipper Charlie Brett, Scott Clark and Rhys Davies all unavailable for this game. Up front, Archie Fletcher comes in to start at seven with Sam Cardosi shifting to six. In the backs, DJ Innes returns and will start at 13 in place of Matt Scott and Alex Harley is back and is at 10. James McCaig moves to 15 and Iain Sim comes in on the wing while Gregor Christie, who captains the side, is available again and starts at nine.

Musselburgh: Last weekend's fixture with Heriot's proved costly in terms of injuries and with a six-day turnaround Musselburgh have had to make some adjustments to the team. Craig Owenson starts at loose-head while Zak Griffith comes in as front-row cover on the bench. Also among the replacements, James Longwell and Max Outram return to the squad after lengthy absences to cover for the injured Paul Bogie and Finn Duraj and Nehemiah Su'a, who is on an exchange at Loretto School from New Zealand, comes in for Ross Brown.

What the coaches say –

"We're really looking forward to another Friday night game under the lights at Malleny. At the start of the season we invited teams to play these fixtures because they always create a great atmosphere and the players get the bonus of a free weekend. Musselburgh will be looking to bounce back after a tough result against Heriot's and we're in a similar position after last week's performance against Watsonians. We've taken a hard look at where we need to improve and, hopefully, we'll see that reflected on the pitch …" – Mark Cairns (Currie Chieftains)

"We knew this was going to be a difficult block of games for us playing championship contenders Heriots first up and the only side to topple Ayr, Currie, second up with a six-day turnaround. The pragmatist in me would say that these experiences are invaluable in the long-term as we navigate hard times as a squad and a club and I hope the learning and level of challenge we face in this block stands us in good stead for the future, particularly with where we are in the lifecycle of the team. Mark and Ally [Cairns and Donaldson, the Currie coaches] have developed a side at Currie who are ferociously competitive on the defensive side of the ball and savvy on the attacking side, too. We will need to be incredibly disciplined and are determined to take the game to Currie on Friday night and walk away with a performance we can be proud of …" – Derek O'Riordan (Musselburgh)

Verdict: Currie Chieftains may have lost their last game and picked up some injuries, but they defeated Musselburgh 69-26 at Stoneyhill earlier in the season and 52-10 the last time the sides met at Malleny Park in 2023-24 and will start as favourites. The hosts could be feeling a bit of pressure given that Selkirk are now above them and into the play-off spots, but there are still plenty of games to be played and it is hard to see past Currie here, although it will be good to see Musselburgh's batch of exciting youngsters getting another run out in the top flight and perhaps get a glimpse of Nehemiah Su'a, who recently played for Edinburgh Rugby A, off the bench.

Home win.

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