WATSONIANS will clinch the 2022 Super6 Sprint Series title with one match still to play if they defeat Ayrshire Bulls at Millbrae tonight.
The Edinburgh have been unbeaten through their previous five rounds of this campaign and will start this contest as hot favourites having come out on top against the same opposition at the same venue in their last outing a fortnight ago.
But even if Watsonians suffer their first slip-up of the campaign, they will have another bite at the cherry when they host Stirling County in their final match next weekend.
“We’re really excited for our first playoff game and there’s no getting away from the fact that there’s a lot at stake,” said head coach Fergus Pringle. “The Ayrshire Bulls are a class outfit and a very tough team to play against, especially on their home patch at Millbrae.
“We are focused on being accurate and disciplined in everything we do and need to be more consistent across the whole game, if we are going to come out on top.”
The Watsonians pack has been bolstered by the release of Edinburgh duo Mesu Kunavula and Pierce Phillips, but Bills have been able to call on some professional expertise as well in the shape of hooker Grant Stewart.
Last weekend’s frustrating loss to Stirling County means that Bulls cannot now finish top of the table, but head coach Pete Horne stressed that playing for pride will be a powerful motivating factor for his team.
“The group were devastated at full time last week but as always turned up to training with the bit between their teeth, adamant to take the learnings and get better,” he said.
“Although our tournament is over, I know this group have too much pride to give anything but 100 percent against an unbeaten Watsonians.”
Ayrshire Bulls (versus Watsonians at Millbrae, Friday @ 7.45pm): Liam McNamara; T Glendinning, J Shedden, R Beattie, A Tait; M Minogue, C Jones; A Nimmo, G Stewart, M Scott, E Bloodworth, H Murray, Lewis McNamara, G Wilson, B Macpherson©. Subs: R Tanner, T Lambert, C Henderson, E Bulger, J Knight, F Callaghan, T Jordan, E Mcarra, C Townsend, E Mcara.
Watsonians: D Coetzer; L MacPherson, L Berg, L Millar©, A Guthrie; J Baggott, R Brand; S Grahamslaw, C Davies, B Bratton, L Ball, P Phillips, M Kunavula, S Cecil, I Moody. Subs: E Young, A McWilliam, G Scougall, K van Niekerk, K Main, B Young, C Young, G Cannie.
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 here