Currie vs Stew Mel, 26/9/09

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Currie at Malleny Park on Saturday, kick off 3 pm, is:

Not too many changes for the short trip to Moff and Muiro's old stamping ground in Balerno this week.

In the pack, Stuart Clark drops out due to injury, but the return of Scott Brewster from suspension conveniently allows him to slot back into the second row. Paul Voy therefore starts in the back row alongside Blair and Ross after impressing, once again, against Melrose.

The only change among the backs sees Michael Doneghan starting on the wing, where his attacking prowess will hopefully pose Currie a few questions. Congratulations to him on his first start for the 1st XV.

Congratulations must also go to Colin Phillips, who featured in the Gael Force squad for their game against Oxford University on Wednesday. Colin is also sporting some shiny new gnashers after taking a bit of dental damage at Melrose - seems to be a bit of a theme for our players this season!

Borth starts on the bench this week, alongside a familiar trio of forwards and a new recruit called Jamie Allan - more about Jamie on the website shortly!

Hope to see some familiar faces at Malleny Park on Saturday - please come along to cheer the boys on as they try to build on last week's encouraging performance.

Mike Sims

Ek's Epistle

Saturday saw us head to Malleny Park to play against an unbeaten Currie side who were looking, even at this early stage, like strong contenders for the league title. The Stew Mel lads are, however, starting to gel together, and, although that elusive win is yet to come, we went into Saturday looking for another improved performance.

The game started with a fast pace, and it was Stew Mel who seemed to have adapted to the tempo better. Hayden made an early break before being tackled wide on the opposition 22. Currie were judged to have slowed the ball down at the resulting ruck and Stu Ker needed no second invitation to get the score board ticking over with the first penalty of the day.

It took a while for the game to settle down, with a couple of penalties being exchanged to give an early score of 6 each. The penalties all seemed to come from players trying to slow the ball down at the ruck, perhaps an indication of how fast the game was flowing.

The first try came for Currie around the 20 minute mark. A missed tackle by a forward in the midfield allowed Currie to heap the pressure on the Stew Mel line for the first time in the match. The Stew Mel defence seemed to stay secure but the referee had already blown his whistle for an infringement seen by the touch judge. Scott Brewster was the recipient of the day's first yellow card, for what was decided by the spectators to be some ruck foul play. The resulting scrum led to a try for Currie.

The men in Black and Gold didn't rest on the early lead and went straight back on the attack. A sustained period of pressure resulted in the referee awarding a penalty try for persistent ruck infringements by the Stew Mel pack - two tries scored while we were down to 14 men!

Stew Mel didn't let the heads go down, and were able to string together some nice phases of possession. Rob Patterson made a good break through the middle and was somehow able to get the ball to Blair Tweedie. But when things aren't going for you, it seems that nothing you try will come off - a chip into the corner was misjudged and went directly into touch. On another day it would have bounced infield and resulted in a try! From the resulting lineout we once again found ourselves defending our line. Michael Doneghan and Seumas Mackenzie tackled well out wide and Alex Jessop made some decent cover tackles to hold Currie at bay.

The second half started with a good pace again, and it seemed anything good which was done by Stew Mel came from speeding the game up. Euan Clark and Rob Patterson did well to get the game moving by taking quick penalties and letting our players run with the ball. Some good possession only resulted in us getting a penalty, with Stu Ker landing the three points. His reliable boot is becoming an essential weapon as we come up against teams who are hard to break down.

After a period of concerted pressure on the Stew Mel line, Currie were able to increase their tally with a try out in the wide channel. They were able to exploit overlaps as it was taking two or three Stew Mel players to bring the Currie players down. Instead of going low and chopping them early, we seemed set on going high. The cries of "take their legs!" from the Stew Mel support were not listened to, which allowed Currie players to remain on their feet and make offloads. To their credit, they were very good at it, and it was good to see a team throwing the ball around and making use of the good conditions and firm pitch.

Currie were asserting their dominance, and it was always going to be difficult late on in the game as Stew Mel had defended for so much of it. Currie had a good phase of play where they played the length of the pitch. Some good cover tackles from the Stew Mel back line could only halt them for a short time. It took a professional foul by Ricky Simms to stop the try being scored by Currie. The referee had spotted it and it meant a yellow card for the Stew Mel back row. Currie again made good use of the extra man and scored easily off the resulting scrum.

The game was effectively over, but the boys showed some good spirit and were able to get the try they'd been looking for in the last couple of games. We showed that we, too, were able to keep the ball for a long period of time. The forwards looked after it well and gave the backs the platform they were looking for. After sucking them in the overlap was screaming - and so was Richard Borthwick, who got the ball out in the wide channel to score his first of the season.

The team did well to get a try so late in the game, but Currie were, unfortunately, not finished. The things that come off when you're at the other end of the table were demonstrated with a speculative chip over the Stew Mel try line. The scramble for the ball resulted in a Stew Mel player taking out a Currie player who perhaps could have scored. The ref decided it was enough to grant the second penalty try of the game, which brought an end to a good, fast flowing game of rugby.

A strange one again today. It was obvious to the spectators that Currie were the better team, but Stew Mel again showed some good things during the match. When the ball was sped up, Currie had to give away penalties to stop us. Our back three tackled well, but unfortunately didn't get much of the ball to show what they could do. Stu Ker distributed well and kicked his goals and Hayden made a few good breaks.

In the pack Paul Voy carried well, while Ben Leathes and Blair Tweedie scrapped well in the ruck and maul area.

My one criticism would be the inability to tackle low. If we could have made more of our first up tackles, we would not have invited so much pressure onto ourselves. Our goal line defence was mostly good, but we need to defend every area of the pitch like our lives depend on it. Other teams do it, so, until we do, we will struggle at this higher level.

We meet Selkirk next week in what will have been earmarked as a must-win for both teams. As the home team we need a result, and I'm sure the boys will work hard all week in order to get it.

Ek

Stew Mel Stats

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