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Dunfermline vs Stew
Mel, 17/3/07
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to jump to Riggers' Review
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Squad
The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Dunfermline
in the sixth round of the Cup at McKane Park on Saturday,
kick off 1.30 pm, is:
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15
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Richard Borthwick |
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14
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Gavin Sharp |
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13
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Murray Allan |
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12
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Craig Joiner |
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11
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Stuart Goudie |
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10
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Stuart Ker |
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9
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Rob Primrose |
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1
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Areta Tanoai |
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2
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Shaun McMurchy |
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3
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Andrew Statham |
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4
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Scott Brewster |
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5
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Jebb Sinclair |
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6
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Stephen Dalgleish |
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7
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Pete McLean |
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8
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Stuart Clark (captain) |
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16
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Andy Davidson |
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17
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Adrian Duncan |
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18
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Niall Shannon |
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19
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Sky Laurie |
The bus for Dunfermline will leave Inverleith at 11.30
am on Saturday if any supporters would like a lift; players
are asked to get to Inverleith for 11.15 am sharp.
If you're driving, directions to McKane Park are here.
Please note the early kickoff - this will allow us to cheer
the boys on to victory, then watch the France vs Scotland
match in the Dunfermline clubhouse afterwards.
With our webmaster shamefully absent on international duties
on Saturday, any digital camera shots from McKane Park would
be gratefully received - if you can take your camera along,
please email your photos to Bill at the usual address.
Nosebag
Riggers'
Review

With both teams missing a number of regulars
due to Scotland age group call ups, it was two teams that
bore little resemblance to the normal starting XVs who took
the field for this Round 6 tie in the Scottish Cup. Dunfermline,
on the back of a fantastic performance down at Melrose in
the previous round (where theirbasketball style
of rugby was not appreciated by the locals), can look back
on this game and think that they should have won it - and
they would probably be right. It is, however, our name that
goes into the next round of the Cup, and who knows what
can happen from here.

A storming start by the Stew/Mel pack saw us on top in
the early exchanges, and, despite playing into the wind,
we were turning ball over and counter attacking at every
opportunity. From one of these breaks, Richard Borthwick
was sent clear and scored his ninth try of the season; this
put him only one try behind Alex Cox in the battle to become
our leading try scorer for the season. Borth secured the
extras from out wide, and, from the restart, the pack continued
to play well. Getting a foothold in Dunfermline territory
enabled the pack to build up a maul in the 22, and, with
good patience and driving, Shaun McMurchy was eventually
pushed over the line. Borth couldnt add the extras
from out wide in the swirling wind, but it looked mighty
close.

As has been the case this season, instead of pushing on
and putting more pressure on our opponents, we lost a bit
of ball and started having some issues at the set piece.
When Graeme Lowe and Scott Swankie scored tries within four
minutes of each other, both converted by Chris Richards,
it was game on at McKane Park. Thankfully, some composure
returned to the Stew/Mel performance with promptings from
Craig Joiner, and, again, the forwards managed to build
a platform which saw Stuart Clark driven over to give us
a 17-14 half time lead.

Where the first half had been an open running contest,
the second half became more of a war of attrition. Dunfermline
quickly equalized the score with a drop goal from stand
off Alasdair OConnor, before Borth had a chance to
get us back into the lead with a penalty in front of the
posts - which, incredibly, the touch judge failed to give.
To make matters worse, the same touch judge then saw an
incident which apparently merited a yellow card for Aidy
Duncan. Whilst down to 14 men, Dunfermline played good rugby,
pressurizing us in the scrum, and, through a good break
and patient use of possession, they created an opportunity
for Ross Gribbons to score an unconverted try that took
Dunfermline into a 5 point lead.

The next 15 minutes of rugby saw Dunfermline comfortably
handling all that we threw at them, but we were then awarded
a penalty in a similar position to the one that was missed
earlier; this time, it went straight through the middle
of the posts, and we were only two points behind. For once
we were using the conditions to our advantage, with Stuart
Ker and Murray Allan both putting in lengthy clearing kicks
to ease Dunfermline pressure. Finally, having built up a
series of phases in the Dunfermline 22, the ball came back
to Stuart Ker, who coolly slotted a drop goal to put us
into the lead with just over 5 minutes on the clock.

As the result shows, we held on to the narrow lead, but
not before Chris Richards had missed two long range and
highly ambitious penalty attempts; they were worth a shot,
though, and certainly kept the crowd enthralled in the contest.
Finally the whistle to end the game arrived, and we had
made it to the Scottish Cup Quarter Finals, which is not
something we have done very often in the history of the
competition. The next round is scheduled for April 7th,
so the season is prolonged by another few weeks.
Next Saturday sees us take the trip through to CQP to play
our final league game of the season. Let's hope we can build
on our hard fought Cup win and gather some momentum for
the Quarter Final.
Riggers
Thanks to Gary Gritter for providing photos from this
game
Stew
Mel Stats
| Result |
Won 22-23 |
| Sequence |
0-5,
0-7, 0-12,
5-12,
7-12, 12-12,
14-12, 14-17
(half time), 17-17,
22-17, 22-20,
22-23 |
| Tries |
Richard Borthwick (8 mins),
Shaun McMurchy (14 mins), Stuart Clark (30
mins)
|
| Conversions |
Richard Borthwick 1 (first try)
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| Penalties |
Richard Borthwick 1 (68 mins) |
| Drop Goals |
Stuart Ker 1 (73 mins) |
| Cards |
Aidy Duncan yellowed during the second half - nobody
in the close vicinity is sure what the card was for,
but it was given, all the same, on the touch judge's
recommendation
|
| Referee |
David Jack of Madras College FP |
| Single Sentence Summary |
A match deprived of about ten of Scotlands
brightest young prospects still turned out to be a real
thriller which, ultimately, swung our way - but could
easily (and justifiably) have gone the other |
| Leading Lion |
A number of contenders, with Dalgy and Clarky both
very much to the fore during our storming start to
the game. Stuart Ker also deserves a mention for having
the presence of mind to take the winning drop goal
opportunity when it arose. But, despite only playing
for about 60 minutes, Shaun
McMurchy gets this week's award after scoring
a try, making some bustling runs, defending well and
proving how important he is to our scrummage.
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| Bevvy Bulletin |
The Stew Mel tour party were mostly enjoying a rare
break from the bevvy while the Cup game was taking
place - scary rumours still persist that the beer
at the Stade De France is sans alcool - but
that is unlikely to have been the case in dear old
Dunfy ...
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| Pie Points |
There were pas de Pies en Paris - shame, as
the cheesy hotdog baguettes we had at the Stade were,
frankly, pretty minging. Here's hoping for a return
to Pie-radise at Dumbreck on Saturday!
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