Heriot's have already marked their 125th anniversary season by finishing top of the Premiership pile but that will mean little to the Goldenacre club if the ultimate prize of winning the play-offs cannot be delivered.
On Saturday Heriot's took a vital step towards that goal with victory against Currie at Goldenacre in the semi final. Now Heriot's have three weeks to ponder and prepare before facing Melrose in the final of the play-offs, broken by what head coach Phil Smith thinks will be a useful trip to their rivals' ground this weekend.
"We've got the Melrose Sevens and that's good because it will give the boys something to focus on." said Smith, conscious that four days before the play-offs final Heriot's are scheduled to play the Barbarians. Just how Smith will incorporate this match into his team's preparations remains to be seen but, it would seem to be, at the very least, inconvenient.
Smith may also have worries over the fitness of his skipper Jack Turley who left the field, injured, shortly after scoring Heriot's first try. "If he hadn't gone off we'd have won by more because he's our main player." suggested Smith. The Heriot's coach, however, was able to bring on Russell Nimmo from the bench and in the event the second row, making his first appearance since recovering from an ankle injury, proved his worth.
For their part Currie. whose Glasgow professionals, Peter Murchie and Mike Cusack were influential, contributed hugely to a tense and exciting semi final at Goldenacre with a second half performance that threatened to upset the pecking order.
"We came back strongly in the second and that's testament to the character we have in the squad. We left ourselves with too much to do with the way we started the game. If you're chasing a team like Heriot's who are very good on the counter and with turnover ball it becomes very difficult." stated Currie's head coach, Ben Cairns.
Heriot's certainly showed their skills in the first half by complementing an attacking game that had both width and subtle off-loading with a defence that would have gone down well in NATO, the home side's pressure producing an early penalty by scrum half Graham Wilson to counter a successful strike from Currie's playmaker Joe Reynolds.
Then came Turley's short range try from a line-out drive and four subsequent phases, Wilson converting before Reynold again kicked a penalty goal.
Heriot's attacking ability always looked likely to yield points and when Colin Goudie angled his run perfectly to take a short pass from Jason Hill the winger had an unimpeded run to the line, Wilson's conversion giving the Goldenacre men a 17-6 interval advantage.
Hill's contribution was vital for Heriot's second try but throughout the match the back row, playing at lock on Saturday, was prominent, confirmation that Gregor Townsend has made a shrewd decision in involving the former Stirling player with Glasgow Warriors.
If Currie had been slow off the blocks then in the second half they atoned with hard uncompromising forward-led rugby that, at times, had Heriot's on the rack. The reward was a try by Reynolds after winger Ruaraidh Smith, who was impressive throughout, had made a cutting run off his blindside beat.
Reynolds converted and it seemed Currie were on course for a late win only for the Malleny Park men to squander several chances allowing Heriot's to emerge relieved , but over the piece, deserved winners.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article