Currie 29-24 Biggar: Hartreemill men knocked out of cup

Biggar Rugby Club’s first competitive fixture of the new season saw them defeated 29-24 at Premiership side Currie in the National League Cup.
Biggar's Rowan Stewart in action at Currie on Saturday (Pic by Nigel Pacey)Biggar's Rowan Stewart in action at Currie on Saturday (Pic by Nigel Pacey)
Biggar's Rowan Stewart in action at Currie on Saturday (Pic by Nigel Pacey)

The Hartreemill men started well and their first foray into the Currie 22 on Saturday 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.

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A Currie penalty try made it 12-5 before a free-kick against Currie was the trigger for Luhann Kutze who tapped quickly to dart over the home line and make it 12-12 by half-time.

Biggar couldn’t have got off to a worse start to the second period when Kutze’s clearance kick off 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 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 which Andrew Jardine converted for 29-19.

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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 which had the Biggar backs causing all sorts of problems for Currie.

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 Currie the opportunity to clear the immediate danger.

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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 opener this Saturday, kick-off 3pm.

Competition for a starting place in the Biggar XV will be huge and will give the coaching team a real headache.

Sunday sees the club’s annual Mini Festival with around 350 players.