Wright in the wars

BILL LEITH

Heriot's FP 21 Boroughmuir 30

Set upon by an entire Fijian 10-a-side team, who were promptly sent off en bloc, less than 48 hours earlier, Peter Wright leapt from frying pan to fire when he retired hurt during Boroughmuir's hard-earned victory over Heriot's FP at Goldenacre.

The Scotland and Lions tight-head prop quit with a knee strain three minutes from time to reflect on an eventful weekend culminating in his club taking advantage of the slips by the leading pair, Melrose and Watsonians, to climb back into the title race.

It had been touch and go whether Wright would make it to Goldenacre. His flight from the Cyprus Tens, where he played for the winning select side, had been delayed. Three hours before kick-off Wright arrived back in Edinburgh and details began to emerge of an extraordinary fracas.

Wright said: "We were leading a Fijian club side 35-0 in the quarter- final when their frustrations got the better of them. They were a bit fiery and, after I collected the first punch, all hell broke loose and the referee decided to send the lot off."

Such trips may be out-of-bounds for club players soon. "I can see players being tied to their clubs as early as next season," Wright added. "Soon club, district and international teams will be the only ones the top players are allowed to play for.

"Teams like Barbarians will suffer but it will ease pressure on players who don't like to say no to invitations and maybe even play through niggling injuries rather than pull out."

Watsonians may be wishing contracts were already in place, for their A international stand-off half, Duncan Hodge, suffered an ankle injury in Cyprus and was forced to watch as his side crashed to a 31-23 defeat while Melrose were going down 26-27 at home to Stirling County, for whom Kenny Logan scored two tries.

Heriot's FP: Tries Officer, Lang; Conversion Aitken; Penalties Rahui 3. Boroughmuir: Tries Stark, Beveridge; Penalties Easson 6; Conversion Easson.

Heriot's FP: S Lang; D Officer, A Glasgow, G Lawrie, C Aitken; T Rahui (D Fowler, 16), F McMillan; M Livingstone, K Milne, S Paul (capt), C Humphries (C Turnbull, 76), P Young, F Shand (J Bryce, 73), T McVie, G Dall.

Boroughmuir: D Macrae; D Stark, D Laird, S Lineen, I Tukalo; B Easson, G Beveridge; G Wilson, N Dickson, P Wright (capt); L Graham, 77), D Burns, D George, A Cadzow, S Reid, G Dickson.

Referee: G Borreani (France).