Aberdeen GSFP vs Stew Mel, 13/3/04

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Aberdeen Grammar School FP RFC at Rubislaw on Saturday, kick off 3 pm, is:

The team sees a number of changes from the one that defeated West in our last league game. Tyronne has returned home to New Zealand after an excellent season for the Club, so Borth switches to Full Back and Dave Sutherland comes in on the wing to make his 1st XV debut.

Up front, Stuart Clark returns to the 2nd Row to partner Dalgy as Stephen makes his 25th appearance in our 25th game of the season - a fine achievement. This lets Paul Wharakura, fresh from a week of training with the Edinburgh Gunners, return to his customary Front Row berth.

The bus for Aberdeen will leave Inverleith at 10.30 am on Saturday for any supporters requiring a lift - hope to see you there.

Riggers' Review

I never thought that my 25th and final review of the season would be the hardest to write, but, after being in Aberdeen yesterday to witness the mauling we took, it is anything but easy. Firstly, I should start by saying that Aberdeen Grammar were quite simply far better than us. They were stronger, they were more dynamic, they had more pace and they made the game look easy. We more than matched them in the set piece, took one against the head, won plenty of their lineout ball, but we just couldn’t cope with them in contact situations. The amount of times they turned us over in contact was frightening.

All of the above deficiencies can, however, be rectified by the team that went out on the pitch yesterday. If they commit to working with Graham Ellis over the summer, then we should be in a position to further our game next season. It is really up to the boys to decide what they want out of the game. They have now seen at first hand the level you need to reach to be in the top two to three teams in the country. It is a fantastic opportunity for them to grasp and to say to themselves that there will be no more March 13ths. When they are, as we hope, shifting steel over the summer, remembering what happened to them out on the pitch at Rubislaw should give them the desire to better themselves for next season.

Make no mistake, we have a lot of work to do, but, when you look round the team, they are a young bunch of men, whose better times are ahead of them. The one thing that you and I can’t give them is heart, desire and spirit. They don’t need that. They have plenty of that already. It’s quite strange to watch a game where you are being slaughtered and still feel pride for the way they keep on fighting. It certainly made the hair on the back of the neck stand up when our faithful band of supporters who had made the trip north applauded the team off the pitch. With support like that, with belief in us like that, we can achieve whatever we want.

If it hadn’t been for a disastrous start to the second half, the score line would have been closer. We certainly weren’t going to win, but three tries in a five minute burst, taking the score from 17-0 to 34-0, really knocked the stuffing out of the team. To their credit, they regrouped and made Aberdeen fight for the rest of their points. To be fair, in Rod Seib and Kasey Mitchell, Aberdeen had easily the two best club players we have come up against in many a season. Just a shame neither of them are Scottish.

All in all, though, a season that I think most of us would have settled for back in August. A top four finish in Premier 2, having beaten all the teams in the league except Kelso, shows we have the ability. We just need to take it on from here. I would just like to thank a few people for their help over the season. The two physios, Linda and Felicity, have worked hard all year, and I hope they know that their efforts are very much appreciated. Ian Morrison provides invaluable assistance and is great to have around and the work that Allan and Al put in is just fantastic. Macca, Benzo and Shiely have really taken the coaching forward at the club and, hopefully, will continue to do so for years to come. I’m sure they will get the rewards they deserve.

And, finally, the players. 46 of you have played over the course of the season, from Dalgy, who played in all but 20 minutes of the season, to Dave Sutherland, who made a fine debut yesterday. Thank you for some of the performances you have put in over the season; there have been many that have been a privilege to watch, and I look forward to more of the same next season.

See you next season.

Riggers

(As ever, our thanks are due to Gordon for the many, many hours he devotes to the Club over the course of the year, and, in particular, for his weekly Reviews, which - along with those of Yoss and Nosebag - very much form the backbone of the website - Bill)

Stew Mel Stats

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