Currie 37 - 17 Boroughmuir: Revived Currie show how they used to do it as champions crushed

CURRIE, champions two years ago, showed defending champions Boroughmuir how they used to do things with a vintage performance, bouncing back from a cack-handed opening day defeat down in the Borders to find a self-belief and cutting edge that carried them to an ultimately easy victory.

The visitors, everybody's favourites to win back-to-back titles, slumped badly and failed to find any of the free-flowing play that saw them run away with the title last season.

The rest of the teams in Division One will thank Currie for demonstrating that Boroughmuir are beatable and will share the sentiment of coach Ally Donaldson who spent the final ten minutes, with victory done and dusted, running up and down the touchline exhorting his players to "give them nothing".

And Boroughmuir did indeed come away with nothing despite opening the scoring in the third minute with a classic counter-attack after the Currie pack barreled its way inside the opposition 22 and presented the ball perfectly at a ruck only for the scrum-half to be posted missing. Boroughmuir No 8 Ben Fisher moved in to pick up the ball which was then booted upfield and when it squirted free from Richard Sneddens despairing dive, centre Malcolm Clapperton dribbled it to the line to fall on it for the try.

In 13 minutes Boroughmuir lock Ally Ness, back from long-term injury for his first game in two years, was yellow-carded for a wild punch and Currie full-back Johnny Smith kicked the three points. More importantly stand-off Mark Fusche grabbed a try before Ness was back on the pitch, putting the home side into a lead they were never to relinquish.

By half-time there were another two tries, created as the Currie forwards began to dominate with Ross Weston roaring off the back of the scrum like a runaway train to gain territory and put Boroughmuir constantly on the back foot. On one occasion he made 20 metres before they could bring him down, but not before he had off-loaded the scoring pass to centre Mike Norton.

And Weston was involved again as the ball was transferred through several pairs of hands up the right wing to give hooker Gavin Scott the try in the corner.

On the stroke of half-time Boroughmuir thought they had reduced the deficit when Neil Malloy went over while a lengthy stramash between several players was going on elsewhere. After a consultation between referee and touch judge, Boroughmuir flanker Angus Martyn was warned for an offence that ruled out the try and kept the score at 24-5.

There was a renewed urgency from Boroughmuir after the restart that saw only a couple of minutes on the clock before Clapperton snatched his second try, and then winger Tom Bury added another to the visitors' total.

But Currie kept the challenge at arm's length with a couple of penalties conceded as Boroughmuir became frantic and ill-disciplined at their failure to make any impression on the scoreboard. Tempers were fraying on and off the pitch as Currie replacement forward Alastair Hamilton was yellow-carded for blatant handling at a ruck, but the numerical advantage didn't help Boroughmuir and they kept spilling final passes or losing the ball in contact.

It was all wrapped up in 72 minutes as the game got increasingly faster and looser and Boroughmuir got increasingly desperate, flinging unlikely passes to try and open up space that just wasn't there. Currie cashed in when winger Douglas Fife intercepted a hopeful throw on the halfway line and no-one could get close as he strolled in under the posts for the bonus point try.

Scorers: Currie: Tries: Fusche, Norton, Scott, Fife. Cons: Smith 3, Fusche. Pens: Smith 2, Fusche. Boroughmuir: Tries: Clapperton 2, Bury. Con: O'Donnell.

Currie: J Smith, D Fife, K McShane, M Norton, B Skipper, M Fusche, R Snedden, A Reekie, G Scott, J Cox, S Burton, A Adam, J Thomas, M Cairns, R Weston. Subs used: A Hamilton, K Whalen, M Murphy, M Entwhistle, G White.

Boroughmuir: E Mills, C Keenan, M Clapperton, E O'Donnell, T Bury, M Cannon, C Cusiter, F Lait, N Malloy, B Ross, A Ness, F Pringle, E Matheson, B Fisher, A Martyn. Subs used: C Costigan, K Eseonu, S Waddell, G Cottrell, O Brown.

Referee: R Dickson.

Attendance: 600.