HERIOT’S remain on course to add the league and cup double to the Charity Shield they won at the start of the season - but they left it extremely late before snatching a dramatic victory over Currie in this Premiership play-off semi-final.
The lead changed hands five times at Malleny Park - four times in the second half - as the home team tried to put an end to a run of nine games in which they have failed to beat Heriot’s. They thought they had done it, too, when, defending a one-point lead with time running out, they kicked to touch in their own 22.
But there was still time for Heriot’s to take the lineout and attack again. They did that in composed fashion, setting up a firm position in front of the posts from which substitute Gregor McNeish scored the winning drop goal to put his team through to the final against Ayr in three weeks.
“I think they misheard the ref, but they’ve obviously made an error,” Heriot’s coach Phil Smith said of the Currie kick to touch that gave his team new hope. “I hate getting beat in the semis.”
This was a second win at the penultimate stage in successive weekends for Smith’s team, even if last week’s BT Cup semi in fact ended in a 10-10 with Glasgow Hawks 10-10. The Edinburgh team went through by virtue of being the away team after extra-time had failed to divide the sides, and for a long time this match also threatened to take longer than the 80 minutes to produce a winner.
Currie began the game at a high tempo, taking an early lead with a try from a driving maul after they had kicked a penalty to touch. The Heriot’s defence was unable to stop the drive, and No 8 Ross Weston touched down, with James Semple converting.
The stand-off added a penalty at the end of a quarter-hour in which the home team had been dominant, but Heriot’s fought back and eventually got off the mark when hooker Michael Liness breezed through a gap in the defence. Tom Wilson added the conversion to reduce his team’s deficit to just a point, then full-back John Semple made it 10-10 with a penalty.
There was still time before the break for Heriot’s to take the lead for the first time, with a sustained lineout drive ending with Russell Nimmo touching down. John Semple missed the conversion to leave the score at half-time 10-15, and Currie were more glad of the break, having faded after that bright start.
They went back on the offensive at the start of the second half, however, and equalised with half an hour to play when Chris Logan made use of an overlap to score out on the left. Semple converted to put the home team back in the lead, but, with 20 minutes to play, a Hugh Fraser penalty gave Heriot’s a one-point advantage again.
McNeish added a drop-goal to give his team some breathing space as the game went into its last ten minutes. Currie still had something in reserve, however, and another penalty kicked to touch produced a lineout drive from which Weston scored again. Semple’s conversion attempt drifted wide, and that left Heriot’s with a glimmer of hope as stoppage time approached.
Currie’s attempt to run the clock down failed when they kicked to touch, and that set the scene for McNeish’s last-gasp winner.
CURRIE: Tries: Weston 2, Logan. Cons: Semple 2. Pen: Semple.
HERIOT’S: Tries: Liness, Nimmo. Con: Wilson. Pens: Semple, Fraser. Drop goals: McNeish 2.
Referee: M Adamson.
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