Stew Mel vs Hawick, 11/2/06

Inverleith Angle

Welcome to Inverleith for today's rearranged BT Premier 1 encounter with Hawick. To Billy Murray, the Hawick President and the rest of the Hawick committee and supporters, welcome to Inverleith.

There will be an air of sadness around today's encounter with the very sad news that ex-President Alastair Burr passed away on Monday evening. Alastair was at his vocal best last Saturday afternoon down in Melrose, cheering the team to victory, and his smile at the final whistle said it all. I've been told that the same smile was very much in evidence at Murrayfield 24 hours later.

Alastair was President of the Club in seasons 1996/97 and 1997/98, and, whilst not being the most successful in the Club's history, Alastair never lost faith in the team's ability and was our most ardent supporter through tough times. After his Presidency, Alastair stepped up to the Championship Committee with the SRU, a position he still held. Alastair also continued to act as the liaison for the Club with our team of Doctors, ensuring their availability each week. Alastair will be much missed by all at the Club.

There will be a minute's silence before the game in Alastair's honour and memory.

As mentioned, the 1st XV had a great win down at Melrose last Saturday to stretch the winning run to five games. Al Napier described the performance as one of the best he had ever seen, and, considering how many games Al has seen, that is some feat. This followed on from the victory over Ayr, when we were solid if unspectacular in securing the points.

The games continue to get tougher, and Hawick will provide us with our toughest challenge to date. It will take a vastly improved performance from the team compared to the one at Mansfield Park earlier in the season, but, with the way they are playing now, we have every chance.

History in this fixture is also against us, with only one win ever being recorded by Stewart's Melville in league fixtures with Hawick. That happened to be 25 years ago, with an 18-15 victory at Inverleith. Dougie Morgan was the hero that day with a drop goal to secure the win, after being fed the ball by Jim Calder from a lineout. What are the chances of Dougie's son-in-law, Graham Shiel, being the match winner this afternoon?

The 2nd XV game last week fell victim to the weather in Melrose, but they are in action this afternoon in a rearranged league match with Biggar, and, with four matches now in hand, face a busy spell throughout the rest of the season.

The 3rd XV bandwagon continues to roll on. After Heriot's called off their league game two weeks ago, the team had an outing against Edinburgh Northern 2nd XV and had a comfortable 80-12 victory. Last week they resumed league action against Edinburgh University and secured a 44-0 win, which means they are almost home as champions. Their next league fixture is not until 4th March, but they take on Edinburgh Northern 1st XV at Inverleith Park today.

The 4th XV have also seen action over the last couple of weeks, with a fine performance against Portobello two weeks ago when a 62-7 victory was recorded. French visitors from Lyon provided the opposition last Saturday, and were beaten 21-0 by the 4th XV. Worrying for our social rugby players is the news from Lindsay Ross that a couple of the Lyon team hailed from Armenia, and they are looking for a Stewart's Melville team to go over and play in Armenia later in the season. If you're interested, let Lindsay know …

Congratulations must go to the School 1st XV, who won the Bell Lawrie Schools Cup 32-0 against Robert Gordon's. To Ross Rennie, who scored the winning try for the Scotland VII in the Bowl final in Wellington, NZ against Canada. To David McCall, Andrew Easson, Colin Goudie and Richard Vernon for representing Scotland U19 over the last couple of weeks. And to our 'associated' players, Craig Smith and Ally Hogg, for their part in Scotland's win over France.

Finally, congratulations to Richie Munro on his engagement to Marie-Clair McManus last Saturday evening.

Riggers

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