Currie on a charge with second half-century

Currie took another step up the RBS Premiership Division One table with a second successive half-century points haul, this time away to Glasgow Hawks.

Ally Donaldson’s men now lie seventh after stunning the hosts with a whirlwind start that propelled them into a 27-5 interval lead that subsequently grew to a 51-12 final scoreline.

Barry Mansfield and John Cox snaffled a double apiece and the rest of Currie’s eight tries went to Ross Weston, Alan Whittingham, Richard Snedden and David Smith, while Jamie Forbes landed four conversions and a penalty.

Boroughmuir’s title challenge suffered a dent when they succumbed 42-29 to Gala at Meggetland. The sides reached the break locked at 15-15 but Boroughmuir passed up two scoring opportunities early in the second period and were powerless as the Borderers racked up three more touchdowns to leapfrog the hosts in the table.

Stevie Wilson crossed the whitewash in injury time to secure a bonus point for Boroughmuir after Rob Cairns had touched down and Sean Crombie had bagged a double, but coach Fergus Pringle saw that as scant consolation.

“On the day, we didn’t deserve to win,” he said. “We just didn’t hold onto the ball and that meant we couldn’t build any phases or build any pressure. Credit to Gala, they took advantage of that. They got a bit of momentum and played well in the second half.”

Edinburgh Accies slipped into the bottom three after losing 48-20 at Dundee High. Accies had only a Ruaridh Bonner penalty to show for their efforts as they reached the break 24-3 in arrears and, although Michael Liness and Nathan Pike had second-half tries, with Bonner converting both and adding a second penalty, the Raeburn Place men were left empty handed.

Stewart’s Melville sit atop Division Two after ousting West of Scotland 31-20 at Inverleith. The Capital side had a five-try haul, with Scott Riddell dotting down twice, while Liam Steele, Joni Hare and Scott Brewster scored the others, and Seb Trotter kicked two penalties.

That result, combined with a 31-22 win for Watsonians at home to previous pacesetters Hamilton, leaves Stew-Mel in pole position. Watsonians ran in five tries to claim a bonus point success that has moved them into the thick of the battle for a top-four position ahead of the league split.

In Division Three, Mark Billingham led the way as Lasswade took all five league points from their 31-12 win over Ardrossan Accies at Hawthornden. The prop touched down twice with Sam Foster, Graeme Cook and Doug Grant also scoring. Gavin Brown kicked the other points.

Haddington failed to build on their maiden win the previous weekend, taking only a narrow defeat bonus point from their 25-18 loss at home to Cartha Queens Park.