Currie 29 Biggar 24

Al Stewart

at Malleny Park

BIGGAR missed out on what would have been a fantastic Cup win as they just fell short of catching their Premiership opponents and hosts, Currie.

Having had their Super 6 bid rejected Currie ended up in a top four play off slot in the Premiership last season but still lost several players to the Pro game and to some of the Super 6 Edinburgh clubs.

They have undergone a deal of rebuilding over the close season and clearly have a way to go before they will be happy with their squad as they approach their 50th season.

Biggar will take lots of positives from this encounter, not least that they came off the match with no apparent injuries and can still look forward to the return, in the coming weeks, of at least five players who might have featured on Saturday.

Of note was the forward effort at scrum time when Biggar had the better of the play, halting any thought of Currie using that aspect to launch attacks.

In relatively dry but very windy conditions Biggar opened up with the wind on their backs and were very quickly on the attack.

Indeed their first foray into the Currie 22 ended with a great angled run by youngster Jamie Campbell who crashed over for the opening score.

Currie responded as swiftly and with their backs well directed by stand off Gregor Hunter, and running all manner of angles, they drew level with a try of their own after just seven minutes.

It was clearly going to be an entertaining afternoon.

Just short of the 20 minute mark Currie took the lead at 12-5 from a penalty try awarded for collapsing a maul and it looked as though this might be the half time score until a technical decision from referee Jonny Perriam gave Biggar a close five metre scrum when to most it appeared to be a Currie drop out.

A free kick against Currie was the trigger for Luhann Kutze who tapped quickly to dart over the home line.

A 12-12 the half time score was just reward for Biggar.

Biggar couldn’t have got off to a worse start to the second period when Kutze’s clearance kick from the restart was charged down giving Currie the simplest of tries and the lead at 19-12.

Worse was to befall the visitors as Hunter kicked a penalty and then converted their fourth score to put his side virtually out of sight at 29-12 – or so it seemed!

Biggar had different thoughts, and following a long stoppage for an injury to one of the Currie lads Biggar resumed with some real endeavour, taking the game straight to their hosts and causing them all sorts of trouble.

Biggar rang the changes to get their bench into the game and after another solid scrum the backs launched a great attack which saw Rowan Stewart and Robbie Orr combine well in the midfield and which ended with Orr crossing for a score.

Andrew Jardine converted for 29-19.

Clearly caught out, the Currie effort seemed to wane as Biggar’s increased and it was the visitors who scored again, this after another passage of play.

Another series of attacks saw Simon Horell squeeze in at the corner for a great try to make it 29-24.

Quickly back on the attack but with time running out Biggar were caught out as Currie employed a neat lineout tactic to catch Biggar napping and win a free kick.

This worked perfectly and gave them the opportunity to clear the immediate danger.

A second free kick at the next scrum was also crucial and as a result Currie ran out winners.

Having matched Currie try-for-try however there was no real major disappointment within the Biggar ranks.

Preparations now begin in earnest for the main act, the National 1 league programme which sees Biggar host Boroughmuir in their opening match.