Stew Mel vs Edinburgh Accies, 7/10/06

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Edinburgh Accies at Inverleith on Saturday, kick off 3 pm, is:

A number of changes from the team that lost at Braidholm last week, with one of them being forced on us due to injury.

With Nicky Wood likely to be out for a couple of months due to the knee injury he picked up in the GHA game, Colin Goudie moves from 15 to 10. The other backs reshuffle to accommodate this change, while fit again Alex Cox returns to the squad at Outside Centre.

Andrew Easson is unavailable this week, having come off worse (by some way) in a clash of heads with one D. McCall during an Edinburgh training session this week. Thanks, Dave!

In the pack, we welcome our new Kiwi prop, Areta, for his 1st XV debut. He replaces Sean Mackenzie, who has headed south this week to begin his studies at Oxford. Phil Hendry replaces Lewis Calder in the back row, with Laing Robson taking Pip's place on the bench after impressing for the 2s in recent weeks.

Hope to see a good crowd down at Invers on Saturday to welcome our old adversaries from the other side of Inverleith Park.

Nosebag

Riggers' Review

At 12.06 pm this afternoon, I received a text from Malcolm Rennie, quoting ‘Our men have given everything and left nothing unturned’. It is a very fitting statement to sum up a highly competitive local derby in which we managed to clinch victory 24-17 thanks to the best 40 minutes of rugby produced by the Stewart’s Melville team this season.

Arriving at Inverleith to find the wind blowing like only it can coming round the stand, the prospects of an open game of rugby looked remote, which, given what we’d heard about Accies, would suit them fine.

And so it proved. Despite playing with the wind in the first half, we could not exert any pressure on the Accies team in the scrum, and their effective use of the maul meant that we struggled to generate any pace in the game. Indeed, if Dean Richards was looking for a playing comeback, he'd feel right at home in the Accies pack. The one area where we were enjoying some success was on the Accies throw at the lineout, and good work by Stuart Clark, Alex Clarke and Stephen Dalgleish saw us stealing ball on a number of occasions before the threat of another forward drive loomed large.

The scoring was opened by the Accies scrum-half after about 25 minutes when he took a quick penalty and caught the defence napping to score in the corner, although, to be fair, it was what Accies deserved. Things went from bad to worse when Accies continued to exert pressure up front, and, when the forwards repelled another surge, the ball was moved out to the Accies full back who managed to evade our stretched defence and score the second try. With half-time fast approaching, things were not looking good, as the possibility of Accies kicking ball deep in the second half meant we would be up against it.

Half-time came, and, without knowing what was said in the huddle, it looked immediately effective. The team looked sharper, had a bit more urgency and were cleaning rucks out much better whilst also controlling ball in the contact situation. Added to this was the sight of the Accies backs attempting to run the ball out of defence instead of using the wind, and, suddenly we felt we had a chance. This soon materialised when Stuart Ker scored near the posts to close the gap to 10-7. When Dave McCall set off on a mazy run which ended with a speculative Phil Hendry pass being intercepted, it looked just a matter of time before we would once again cross the Accies line. Indeed, after kicking a penalty to touch, the ball was driven on by the pack, and, when the backs were eventually released, enough space was created for Pete McLean to crash over in the corner to put us ahead 12-10.

The lead was, however, short lived, as Accies again exerted pressure up front, and, with yet another maul being set up, it inched its way towards the Stew/Mel line. With defence becoming more desperate, referee John Steele decided to intervene and award Accies a penalty try, which was duly converted to put them back into the lead 17-12. With plenty time remaining, there was no panic, and, indeed, with the Accies pack visibly tiring, you felt that, if the pace of the game could be increased, then more chances would duly come. And they did. A Phil Hendry break from a line out was carried on by the pack before Murray Allan made a dart forwards; Pete McLean then took the ball on but was felled just short of the Accies line. With the forwards arriving in numbers, the ball was picked up and driven over by new recruit Areta Tanoai to endear him immediately to the Stew/Mel faithful. With Borth adding the extras, we were back in the lead 19-17.

There remained around 10 minutes of play at this stage, and it was all to play for. Accies' backs still tried to run the ball out of defence, and this was creating opportunities as the accuracy of their passing in the wind was very poor. The Stew/Mel defence was also applying much pressure on the Accies back division, and, from another loose pass, the ball bounced up into the arms of Alex Cox, who raced clear to score the bonus point clinching try. Borth couldn’t quite add the extras, and, with only 7 points between the teams, the Stew/Mel support were in for another nail-biting finish. Again the Stew/Mel defence excelled, with plenty of pressure being applied, and, finally, John Steele blew for full-time and plenty of rejoicing from the sizeable crowd.

So another win, and a much improved second half which can hopefully be used as a catalyst for the remainder of the season. The pack fronted up in the face of adversity and the backs, whose average age is 19 years, again showed how dangerous they can be when given the chance. Next week we travel to Hillhead/Jordanhill, and, if we can take the intensity we showed in the second half today through to Hughenden, then there must be every chance we can return with the points. See you there!

Riggers

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