Biggar face "pivotal" clash against Gala this weekend

The Hartreemill side – so cruelly denied promotion in the 2019-2020 campaign when their title win was null and voided by coronavirus – remain in the running this time with three fixtures remaining as last weekend’s 38-14 bonus point success at Boroughmuir moved them onto 75 points from 19 games.

From the same number of fixtures, Gala are on 79 points and second placed Heriot’s Blues are on 77 points, after both other title challengers recorded bonus point successes last weekend.

Biggar secretary Mike Booth told GlasgowWorld Sport: “The Gala game is a pivotal one, that’s the big one now. We’re expecting a big gate and all the proceeds from the gate are going to the Ukraine appeal.

"If we want to win the league then not only do we need wins, but there have to be other teams that don’t pick up points. But we’re still in the fight.

"I think we’ve got over the feeling of being cheated out of promotion two years ago but I think we do have something to prove.

"Even if we don’t get promotion I think we’ve proved that we should be living at the top of National 1 and pushing all the time for promotion to the Premiership.”

The victory at Boroughmuir saw Biggar take a 7-0 lead after 12 minutes when Andrew Orr dotted down and Euan Bogle added the conversion.

It wasn’t long before Robbie Orr crashed over for a score under the posts, with Bogle’s kick off target this time.

After Angus Thomson had sustained an injury and been replaced by Finlay Barr, a textbook lineout take and drive gave Andrew Orr the simplest of chances to score his second try. Bogle converted for 19-0 at half-time.

A Ewan McAra try increased Biggar’s lead – Bogle missed the kick – before two converted tries by Gavin Welsh and replacement Stevens for the hosts brought it back to 24-14.

But further Biggar tries by Josh King and Andrew Jardine – both converted by Bogle – gave the visitors a 24-point win.

Booth said: “We went to sleep in the middle of the match but it was pretty good all round.”