Rugby Union: Lucking in demand for club and country

Heriot's FP 3 Currie 10

Andy Lucking set aside the dilemma of whether to be Scottish or English for rugby purposes to share in a late Currie awakening on Saturday which maintained realistic hopes of coming from two points adrift of the leaders in the second half of the programme to lift the Tennents Premiership title.

In the space of 24 hours last week, Lucking, a 20-year-old line-out jumper, discussed his future with Scotland's director of rugby, Jim Telfer, then headed south to take up an invitation to train with the England squad at Bisham Abbey. Lucking, a medical student at Edinburgh University, was born in Yorkshire but will soon become eligible for Scotland on residential grounds. Perhaps wisely, the 6ft 8in lock is keeping his counsel and doing any talking on the pitch.

Lucking was at the heart of a Currie side which dominated possession and territory yet failed to break through until three minutes from the end, when the outside-half Ally Donaldson battled over for a try then quickly doubled his points tally with a conversion and penalty.

That Heriot's held out for so long was due largely to Derrick Patterson, a scrum-half who definitely knows where his allegiances lie. Capped twice by Scotland, Patterson was making his Heriot's league debut after moving back across the border from West Hartlepool in what was the first transfer deal involving a Scottish club.

The extra exposure may well help Patterson, believed to have cost his new club pounds 5,000, rekindle international prospects, especially if Heriot's can move away from the bottom of the table. Heriot's gave a further indication of their ambitions by confirming they had put in an offer for the Scottish- born international rugby league player Alan Tait, who has, however, decided to join Newcastle.

Heriot's FP: Penalty Ross. Currie: Try Donaldson; Conversion Donaldson; Penalty Donaldson.

Heriot's FP: H Gilmour; D Proctor, D Stoddart, G Lawrie, S Walker; G Ross, D Patterson; A Binnie, D Timms, J Bryce, A Dall, D Paton, S Elliot (J Bell, 59), T McVie, G Dall (capt).

Currie: M Thomson; G Keen, M Craig, D Wilson, D Officer; A Donaldson, D Rogerson; C Boyd (capt), A Glen, A Watt, A Lucking, M Blair, B Ward (P Simpson, 40), D Clark, S Hardie.

Referee: R Dickson (Madras).