Boroughmuir vs Stew Mel, 7/1/06

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Boroughmuir at Meggetland on Saturday, kick off 2 pm, is:

I am delighted to say that we are able to field a side largely unchanged from the one that defeated Biggar in our last game before the short Winter break.

The backline is as it was against Biggar, although, in the pack, some reshuffling has been necessary as Stuart Clark has been sidelined by a bout of food poisoning. Alex Clarke and Ben Leathes will therefore make up the boiler house for the 'Muir game, with Dalgy moving to the back row. Richie Vernon will provide cover from the bench this week.

As you may have seen from the article in last night's 'News', our hosts on Saturday are eager to gain revenge for the defeat they suffered in the first 'leg' of this fixture back in September at Inverleith. We know it's going to be a tough game, but our squad for Saturday is arguably the strongest we have fielded this season, and, with your support, we are well capable of getting the result that we need to continue our progress up the league table.

Malky

Riggers' Review

Happy New Year from HQ, and what a way to start. What would have been the odds of doing the double over Boroughmuir at the start of the season?

Well, the lifeline we threw ourselves against Biggar continues to grow. At the end of the day, all we can do is win, and the focus in the huddle after the final whistle at Meggetland was immediately shifted onto next Saturday at Inverleith. Saturday's result won't mean much if we lose against Stirling County.

Yesterday's game saw us exert pressure up front in the first twenty
minutes, but also saw a return to some of the 'Keystone Cops' play in the the backs. Indeed, referee Rob Dickson commented after the game that it was like there was a high voltage running through the ball, such was the unwillingness of any of our backs to keep hold of it for any length of time.

The game changed after twenty minutes with the sending off of Boroughmuir Second Row Greig Scott for apparent use of the elbow. I couldn't see much from where I was standing, and the feeling afterwards was that a red card may have been a bit harsh, but we'll take any breaks we can get.

The sending off seemed to kick us into life, and, for the next twenty minutes, we dominated proceedings. Paul and Shiely both went over and we were held up over the line on a couple of occasions, but perhaps the most significant factor of the sending off was that Ben Fisher, the powerful 'Muir Number 8, was
moved into the Second Row and his threat from scrums was diluted.

At 17-0 at half-time, the more optimistic of the Stew/Mel faithful were thinking try bonuses. Unfortunately, all I could recall was the Cup tie fifteen months ago, when 'Muir played forty minutes with 14 men, came from behind and snuffed us out of the game. Also, last time out, 'Muir had been 20-0 down before coming back to win 22-20 against Stirling. It was far from over.

And so it proved; in a disappointing half of rugby from a Stew/Mel point of view, we failed to string any phases of play together, and spent forty minutes mainly defending in our own half.

Having got to 39 minutes in the second half with the score 17-10, things looked to be going in our favour, and then the interception from Olo Brown threatened to destroy all our hopes. Thankfully, Dave McCall covered back to force the conversion out wide, and it was missed.

We then held on in injury time and managed to secure a victory that could mean much in the coming months. Let's hope so. It was a good all round performance yesterday, with many players standing up and producing when required.

Life just gets tougher with Stirling County visiting next Saturday, and, after our last two visits to Bridgehaugh and their Championship clinching win at Inverleith last season, it would be nice finally to get a win against them. A much needed win.

See you next Saturday to help cheer on the team in their battle to avoid the drop.

Riggers

Stew Mel Stats

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