Stew Mel vs Dunfermline RFC, 25/1/03

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville team for Saturday's game with Dunfermline, 2.30 pm kick off at Inverleith, is:

The team for this crucial league encounter is along familiar lines, although the loss of stand off Scott Bowman to an injury picked up on Tuesday at GHA means a reshuffle in the back division, with Mike Elliott moving forward to take the number 10 jersey and Richard Borthwick being rewarded for his fine performance in the Cup with another run at full back.

Up front, John Healy returns to partner Paul Keith in the 2nd row, while the back row picks itself after the good individual and collective performance they gave on Tuesday.

The bench is strong again this week, with plenty of options available to the coaches.

Riggers' Review

How good was that, then? The real Stewart's Melville stood up on Saturday afternoon, and what a performance they put on. Once again, the 19 man squad all contributed heavily to the performance, and, once again, after the performances against Boroughmuir and GHA, it was the manner of the performance that was most pleasing. Scoring 84 points, including 14 tries, on a day when the wind was blowing a gale was a fantastic effort ,and some of the tries that were scored were pure class. The confidence is now oozing through the team, and, with promotion still very much in our own hands, we have everything to play for this coming Saturday.

There would be no better place than Inverleith to close the promotion issue, and the boys know any victory should help us on our way. A win over Accies will be enough to knock them out of the promotion race and leave East Kilbride as our main challengers, although they would have to take a maximum 5 points from each of their 4 remaining games to have a chance of pipping us at the post. We, of course, have two games in which to achieve the five points we need to assure ourselves of a return to Premier 2 rugby.

When Macca and Benzo took over, they asked the boys to move rugby as a priority up a couple of notches in their lives, stressing that, if they did that, then they would more than be rewarded. I think that the performances since the Hillfoots game have shown what this team is capable of, and the more we play at the level that we had to against the likes of Boroughmuir and GHA, then the stronger this team will become. Certainly, one of the key advantages we had over Dunfermline on Saturday was the match fitness we had picked up over the last few weeks, which saw us dominate from the first minute until the last.

We were helped on Saturday by the best refereeing display we have had at this level in a long time. We were lucky that Premier 1 referee, John Steele, needed a game before he takes charge of the Hawks vs Hawick cup tie next Saturday. The best thing that can be said about John was that you hardly noticed he was there, and that has not been the case with too many referees this season. John had a feel for the game and allowed advantage to played at every opportunity. On a day when the ball was being dislodged by our offensive defense, then we benefited greatly from this. As Macca has long told the boys, get the ball two passes away at the earliest opportunity and the gaps will be there if you have faith in the inside man.

Another hard week of training lies in store for the team this week. They don't need to be told that you only get out of life what you put in. If they want to secure promotion, they will work as hard as is needed this week. As Steve Jack, an ex-prop who played for us a couple of seasons back, was wont to say, 'You can't expect to play like Tarzan if you train like Jane'.

The great thing at the moment is the way the younger players have come in and started having a positive effect on the team. In guys like Ally, EK, Borth, Struan, Dalgy and Clarky, we have the nucleus of a team that can take us a long way. These guys have come in and raised the team to a level we were previously struggling to attain. They have made the more experienced players raise their game. They are all on their toes as they know there is competition for their places. That can only be good for the club, and, hopefully, the rewards will come this week.

This week is a massive week for both Stewart's Melville and Edinburgh Accies. Not only is the league game on Saturday, but the two school sides meet on Wednesday evening at Myreside in the semi-final of the Scottish Schools Cup. What a double header that would have been!

Not long now until 3 pm on Saturday. Cometh the hour, cometh the Stew/Mel man ....

Riggers

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