Hillhead Jordanhill vs Stew Mel, 14/10/06

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Hillhead Jordanhill RFC at Hughenden on Saturday, kick off 3 pm, is:

Delighted to report that our starting XV is unchanged this week, after the stirring victory over Accies last Saturday. There has been a slight reshuffle on the bench, where fit again Richie Vernon replaces Laing Robson and Rob Primrose comes in for Chris Bissett.

The bus for Glasgow will leave Inverleith at noon on Saturday for any supporters who fancy joining us - we have two teams playing at Hillhead Jordanhill on Saturday, but there should still be some spare spaces. If you're driving, Hughenden is here.

Malky's Musings

Saturday saw our second trip to Glasgow this season, and, unfortunately for the travelling support, it also saw the second defeat of the campaign to opposition from the west. Having fought back well to win against league leaders Edinburgh Accies, our young squad was perhaps overly confident when taking the pitch at Hughenden.

We started the game strongly and quickly forced a lineout deep in the Hillhead Jordanhill 22. A well worked peel round the front of this lineout created space for Shaun McMurchy to score in the corner. The tricky conversion was missed and we led 0-5. After the restart we allowed Hillhead to regather possession, however, and, after a sustained period of pressure, the home pack rumbled over from a driving maul. The conversion was slotted to leave us trailing by 2 points.

We were then gifted the lead once more almost immediately from the kick off, when a charged down clearance was gathered by captain Stuart Clark and he was left to cross the line unchallenged. Borth was successful with the conversion and he restored the lead to 5 points. Six minutes later, and with only a quarter of the game gone, we scored our third try of the match when winger Jed Gordon completed a swift handling move. The conversion was unsuccessful and we led 7-17.

At this stage most onlookers would probably have expected the Stew Mel team to press home their advantage, especially as our pack was starting to exert a good level of control in the set pieces. We allowed the opposition to fight their way back into the game, however, and we were guilty of gifting the opposition too much possession from breakdown turnovers and unnecessary penalties. Our cause was not helped when the referee saw fit to sin bin second row Alex Clarke for what he believed to be an infringement on the floor. The home team scored two penalty goals before the break and we entered half time with the score Hillhead 13, Stew Mel 17.

We failed to settle after the restart and the home team were clearly playing with renewed confidence, the Hughenden slope aiding their efforts. The referee then handed the home fifteen a numerical advantage for the second time in the match by sin binning our combative hooker, Shaun McMurchy, for handling in a ruck. Not content with this, he then sent second row Scott Brewster to join Shaun on the sidelines when he picked up ball, apparently without fault, following some excellent Stew Mel counter rucking.

We were having little luck in clearing our lines, and it was clear that the sin binnings were having a significant impact on our pack. Hillhead finally took the lead on 70 minutes when a missed tackle in the midfield allowed the home stand off to cross near the posts. The goal kick was successful and the score was taken to Hillhead 20, Stew Mel 17. We endeavoured to claw our way out of trouble, but, in spite of strong breaks from both Dave McCall and Richard Vernon, we were unable to deliver the telling final pass. Whilst fighting hard to get back into the game we coughed up possession to the opposition, who crossed our line for their third try to deny us a bonus point. Final score: Hillhead 25, Stew Mel 17.

This was a bitterly disappointing result, as there were signs on Saturday that, if we had played with anywhere near the intensity of the previous week, we would have won by some margin. The coaching staff and management are determined to do all that they can to prevent such a below par display again this campaign. It is now up to the players to demonstrate that they have the same level of desire.

Malky

Stew Mel Stats

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