Stew Mel vs Glasgow Southern, 29/9/01

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Squad

The team for the game tomorrow is:

1The side shows two changes from last week, with Kenny Milligan failing to shake off a knock picked up in the win over Edinburgh Accies and John Healy missing out due to flu. Whilst disappointed to lose these two players, we are more than confident that Scott Stewart and Steven Laurie will slot straight in and add to our recent performances.

Mike Elliott pulled his hamstring last Sunday, so it looks like we'll be without him for a couple of weeks, Stuart Bartwicki replaces him on the bench. With Steven Laurie promoted to the starting XV, Mark Paton earns a well deserved promotion to the bench and is desperate to get on and prove his worth.

Riggers

Match Report

StewMel made it four wins on the trot on Saturday when they edged out Glasgow Southern by 23 points to 20 at Inverleith, with a superb Fraser Pollock penalty struck from near the half way line proving to be the score that ultimately separated the sides.

Going into the match, the absence of Spike and John Healy from the StewMel team gave some cause for concern, although the presence of Kiwis Ben Searancke and Lee Crafer in our pack meant we still had a very good chance of giving our try-happy backline some quality ball to work with.

Things started off pretty tentatively on the rain-soaked Inverleith pitch, with some dodgy passes behind the scrum preventing our backs from really getting going. Mark Welch made some good breaks, though, then, 7 minutes in, Jaffa was taken very high by Southern flanker O’Reilly after he’d kicked ahead from a ruck near the half way line. Fraser Pollock slotted the kick beautifully to give us a 3-0 lead.

Southern stand-off Noonan missed a chance to draw level three minutes later after we were penalised at a ruck on our 22, then Fraser returned the favour by missing what looked like an easy penalty kick after the Southern backs strayed offside at a ruck close in.

The next action of note occurred on the 20 minute mark, when Andy Kelly’s failure to ship the ball led to the break down of a great passing move that seemed certain to end in the opening try. But it was only a matter of time, given the amount of quality ball our pack were winning in both tight and loose, the presence of Gordon McIlwham in the Southern front row still not enough to gain the visitors the upper hand. We were awarded a penalty for offside five minutes later, and, after Jaffa had kicked to the corner, our pack rolled the ball forward from the resulting lineout, then it was shipped left for Fraser Deeming to score near the posts. The other Fraser converted, and we were 10-0 up.

Scott Stewart nearly added another score five minutes later after another great backs move, then Jaffa extended our lead with a sweetly struck drop goal after more good work from the pack.

Only an apparently unforced knock on from winger Cochrane prevented Southern from opening their account on 35 minutes, after poor tackling had allowed the Southern backs to return a clearance kick to near our line, but, just before half time, Noonan finally got his team on the scoresheet after some concerted Southern pressure led to us going offside on our 22. His penalty made it 13-3 at half time.

Things had been looking pretty good for us thus far, but the sight on Ben sitting, ice pack held to his neck, on the bench as the teams came out after the break looked ominous, Si Rowan taking his place in the front row. The half actually began pretty well for us, with Noonan missing another penalty shortly after the restart when Benzo handled on the deck, then Steven Reed claiming our second try of the day. The move started near the half way line, with Kelly and Scott Stewart carrying the ball on until we were awarded a penalty close in anright in front of the Southern posts. Fraser Pollock tapped the ball and swung it left for Reedy to crash over. Fraser converted from a difficult angle to make it 20-3.

It was at this point that our players fairly obviously started to tire, allowing the Southern pack to shove us around and depriving our backs of good ball. Southern winger Loakman scored after 15 minutes following a great break from centre Edgar, then sub Bouncer touched down after a scum on our 22. Noonan failed to convert the first try, but managed to add the extra points the next time following a fortuitous deflection off the upright. That made it 20-15, and we were starting to sweat.

In between the two Southern tries, we made a couple of substitutions, Mark Paton coming on for Richie Munro, who’d put in a power of work and taken a fair old raking for his troubles, and Twicki replacing Grant Smith.

The saving moment for StewMel came on the half hour mark, after we finally managed to win a scrum on our own feed and were promptly awarded a penalty when Fraser Deeming was tackled high. Fraser Pollock calmly slotted the penalty from just inside the Southern half, despite Southern’s attempt to bat the ball away from the crossbar in Magne / Eales mode. 23-15, then, with maybe 15 minutes left. Southern were still very much in the ascendancy, though, and would probably have won the match if Si Rowan hadn’t had to come off injured two minutes later. That meant that Ben had to go back on if uncontested scrums were to be avoided, and his presence allowed the pack to compete once again in the tight with their formidable Southern counterparts. Southern still managed to add another unconverted try just before full time, but we hung on to record a priceless 23-20 win.

While the Maxxium Famous Grouse Man of the Match award went to Fraser Pollock for his crucial penalty, we had many contenders for the award. Willie Laidlaw and Lee Crafer were superb in the lineout, winning most of our throws and pinching a lot of the balls lobbed in by Southern hooker Bennett. Fraser Deeming continues to impress at centre, while Mark Welch basically comes across as a mad Aussie bastard in his fearless pursuit of the up-and-unders he hoists. Chris Bissett really bossed the game for us at 10, putting in some beautiful touch kicks in the first half, while the entire back row ran themselves into the ground and turned over a lot of Southern ball in the loose. Oh, and special mention must go to Benzo for a very streetwise display in the second half - for a fit guy, he sure takes an age to get up off the deck when the opposition are awarded a penalty!

Bill McNie

Riggers' Review

I think the phrase that sums up the team's performance on Saturday is 'they showed character'. Having established a lead, we were holding on at the end against a very good Glasgow Southern team. Without doubt, if we are to challenge for promotion, then we will look back on Saturday as a day when we proved that we could 'guts' one out if we needed to. It is an unaccustomed position we are in, certainly a different type of pressure from mid to bottom of the table. The players deserve much credit, many attitudes have changed for the better over the summer and they seem willing to work harder than they might previously have done. It also helps that the 2nd XV are training hard, winning and putting pressure on almost every position. Bottom line, though, is, while we have won four games out of five, there are thirteen to be played and we are still a long way off achieving anything. The challenge is on the team to keep producing performances that they are happy with. As long as they don't let themselves down, they should get what they deserve come the end of the season.

On Saturday, the scrum was under serious pressure late on, but, with the lineout functioning superbly, on both our and Southern's ball, we managed to keep ourselves in contention. I think the front five forwards deserve enormous praise for the way they have come onto a game in the last few weeks. What a differnce they have made to the team. They have set the platform for the back row to work off and, once again, Stewart Bennet was outstanding in close quarter work. The back row of Benzo, Sky, John Healy and Richie Munro have been a revelation so far this season. It is amazing to consider how far Richie Munro has come since he moved from the luxurious position of stand off/ centre at the beginning of last season. He has been outstanding in the games so far, putting his body where he never would have dared when he was a back!

The backs continue to play well. Jaffa is getting better and better with every game. His kicking out of hand on Saturday was first class and he is starting to control games. It is easy to see why he has been the Young Player of the Year over the last couple of years, and now he even has a position to call his own. Welchy spent much of Saturday morning watching an old school mate play in the Aussie Rules Grand Final and took great inspiration from his display ('Mad Aussie Bastard' might be a bit extreme, but I know what Bill was thinking).

Young Scott Stewart deserves a mention as well, coming into the team at late notice and playing very well indeed. Scott has not had much rugby so far this season, having been on the bench a couple of times, but it is good to see that there is a winger waiting in the wings if Spike or Reedy is unavailable.

Dundee High School this week will be tough. We all still remember too clearly what happened last season, when we had a good lead but a number of injuries in the last 15 minutes led to our downfall. One of those injured at Dundee, Scott Bowman, has arrived back in the country from a summer in NZ, and, now officially not a Nail, hopefully he'll develop into a fine young man!

Scott should be available for the 2nd XV this Saturday, and that team is getting harder and harder to get into. Murray Thomson will play this week and David Hunter should also be available. A number of new faces arrived at the club last week, with the 1st XV winger from 3 years ago, Buster Douglas, only managing to make the bench for the 4th XV. Heady times, indeed, down at Stew Mel.

It is hoped to get four teams out this Saturday, one of which will be a star-studded over 35 team to play the visiting Biarritz over 35 side, on a quick tour to follow the European Cup match between the Gunners and Biarritz. It's great to see such a glamour fixture taking place at the club, plus three other teams turning out, and it will be a fantastic effort by Tony Wood, Yosser and Alan Archibald if they manage it. These guys put in a power of unthanked work at the Club and it is maybe time that the players showed their appreciation to these guys on a Saturday.

Riggers

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