Peebles 7

Biggar 25

By Allan Beveridge and Al Stewart

at the Gytes

WORTHY champions Biggar were presented with their trophy at the Gytes on Saturday.

For several weeks the destination of the championship has been all but certain.

But the club’s 11th promotion in their 44-year history was confirmed following their game with Peebles.

The South Lanarkshire side got their revenge on Pees, who are the only team to defeat them this season.

And it was done in front of a packed crowd, which included one of the biggest away followings in the league this season.

The home side gifted their neighbours 14 points from two interception tries in both halves of the game.

But to be fair Alan Warnock and Ross Bradford, still had to run more or less the length of the pitch to touch down.

The Pees also could have also scored early in the first half but the last pass went forward.

However, it was Biggar who drew first blood.

Biggar No. 13 Matthew Stewart, who looked dangerous with the ball in his hands all afternoon, opened the scoring on 15 minutes with a well taken penalty.

But they were dealt a blow with an injury to prop Donald Voas, whose contributions both at scrum time and in the loose this season have been nothing short of immense.

However, the next score came from club captain Warnock – a former pupil of Peebles High and no stranger to Peebles as he played at The Gytes for several seasons.

He got on the end of a great Biggar attack to score a try. Matthew Stewart was unable to convert.

Peebles looked as though they had hit back when the left winger James Dow was clear with the ball in hand in the Biggar 22.

But nobody was surprised when the referee blew for a forward pass.

But just before that half time whistle, Biggar’s Matthew Stewart made up for his missed conversion when he landed a second penalty to make the score 0-11 at half time.

The second half was not much different from the first.

Peebles tried hard but could not get behind the visitors’ defence.

And that was despite Biggar being reduced to 14 men when scrum half Davie Reive was yellow carded after Biggar had given away a number of penalties in their own 22.

Desperate to score, the home side did attack, but two interception tries by wingers Ross Bradford and Gregor Stewart, who both had 60-70 meters to run put, paid to any chance Peebles might have had.

The first saw Bradford race past Donald Anderson from halfway.

While Gregor Stewart’s was particularly sweet. In a season when his younger brother has scored a club record 20 tries, it was the centre’s first of the season.

Matthew Stewart added the two conversions before Peebles’ No 14 Scott Stoddart ran from his own 22 to score almost on full time.

The conversion by Anderson was successful and as Biggar believed that referee Gardner’s whistle signalled full time, there was much celebration from the squad who were joined on the pitch by the bench.

However, this was short-lived as the whistle was in fact to signal a penalty restart to Peebles on half way.

But Biggar’s celebrations were able to take place moments later, when the whistle eventually went.