Hutchesons' Aloysians vs Stew Mel, 8/12/01

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP team for the BT Cellnet Shield 2nd round tie with Hutchesons' Aloysians on Saturday, kick off 1.30, is:

The back division is slightly reshuffled from the one that played against Hillhead/Jordanhill last week, the fact that both Murray Thomson and Steven Reed are unavailable allowing fit again Fraser Deeming to return to partner Struan in the centre. Fraser Pollock, back on fine kicking form last week after recovering from the injury he picked up against Biggar, drops to full back, with Mark Welch starting on the wing once again.

Up front, the only change is the tactical addition of Marky P to the second row; with Willie Laidlaw unavailable for the must-win league game in Berwick next week, the H/A game is being used to give Mark a chance to bed back into the team.

The fine performances that Chris Bissett has put in for the 2nd XV of late has earned him a place on the bench, while Dougie Rycroft looks set to be a major player for Stew Mel in the next few seasons. Haddington apparently ran Hutchie pretty close in their last league game, so let's hope the Stew Mel boys can pull off a minor cup upset at Auldhouse on Saturday.

Any supporters wishing to travel on the bus through to Glasgow should assemble at Inverleith at 10.30 a.m. - following recent problems with traffic congestion in Glasgow, we're taking no chances this time.

Riggers

Match Report

The guys put in a superbly controlled performance on Saturday to overcome an H/A side that, while changed from the one that beat us in our first league encounter this season, still looked capable of running riot if given half a chance. But the thing was, they weren't given half a chance, as our defence was superb - rarely have I seen us so in control of a match this season. Here's how it went:

1.32
H/A are awarded a penalty as we stray offside while trying to recover the ball after a fairly poor up and under from Fraser Pollock. The kick is missed.

1.36
We're penalised again for handling in the ruck, with, I think, Si Capaldi the guilty party. In his defence, the ball was all but out - while the ref had an excellent game, he did tend to blow up for 'holding on' after very little time had elapsed. Anyway - the kick is right in front of the posts, and we are 3-0 down.

1.40
We pile on the pressure, the forwards recycling the ball well and the backs handling much better than they had done the week before against Hillhead/Jordanhill. The ref penalises the home team for holding on near the 22 in front of their own posts; Fraser Pollock slots the kick to tie things up at 3-3.

1.45
After a great break by Mark Welch and Mike Elliott, our mobile pack drive the ball on to near the H/A line. They're penalised for offside, and Fraser slots the easy kick: 3-6.

1.52
After we kick a penalty to near the H/A 22, Andy Cadzow makes a great catch at the tail of the lineout. The ball is shipped wide, and Fraser Deeming runs a great pattern through the home defence to score near the corner. Fraser P lands a great kick from wide out to stretch our lead to 3-13.

1.56
After H/A counter, we're penalised for offside. The home fullback's kick bounces off the outside of the right hand upright, and we clear our lines.

2.05
H/A continue to pile on the pressure, with their backs continually taking the ball at pace in our 22 to test our defence, but Spike manages to intercept the ball and hare upfield to alleviate the danger.

2.10
Si Rowan breaks free in our 22, and we assume he's about to embark on one of his trademark lugs-pinned-back runs up the field. Wrong: for the first time in recorded history, Si passes! Unfortunately, it isn't the best of passes, and the ball is soon being run back at us by H/A. Benzo eventually has to put in a great tackle in the corner to save the try after Twicki fails to pick up the runner.

2.15
After another great break from Welchy, Cadz does his tailgunner bit at the lineout once more, this time on the H/A throw. Fraser Deeming splits the home defence again, and closes in on the line. Welchy, steaming up on his left shoulder, will score if Fraser chooses to pass .... but he doesn't, being bundled into touch near the right hand corner flag.

Half Time

2.20
Another Cadz catch at the tail sets Mike Elliott careering off upfield. Si Rowan takes the ball on, and, with Spikey in support, a try looks imminent. Sadly, Si reverts to form and declines to pass, allowing the H/A defence to regroup.

2.23
Fraser misses his first kick of the day, after we're awarded a penalty on the H/A 22. Although it looks well within his range, the kick falls short.

2.25
H/A's No.3 is penalised for entering a ruck at the wrong side - not the first time he's done so today. We kick to the corner, but the move breaks down after H/A are awarded a penalty.

2.30
Mike Elliott launches a great Garryowen into the H/A 22, and leaps with the home fullback for the descending ball. He comes away with it, but is penalised for what seems to have been a deliberate knock on.

2.40
As H/A start to crank up the pressure, Fraser Pollock puts in a great touch kick to clear our lines. After some more slack passing from what I gather was H/A's second choice scrum half, it's Struan's turn to test the home defence, but to no avail. Shortly afterwards, the H/A backs finally breach our defence after some nice handling, but the move breaks down as the ball carrier chooses the wrong option with the line in sight.

2.42
Frasers P and C launch an attack upfield after more H/A pressure, fly hacking the ball into the H/A 22. The try looks on as the H/A defence struggle to get back in time, but a penalty is awarded against us.

2.45
Cadz does it again! Even Black Al Bin Napier is impressed, insisting that I note this for use in my match report. Done!

2.54
We pile on the pressure as the match draws to a close. After Lindy makes another great pick up at the base of a scrum near half way, Fraser Pollock kicks on but is caught late near the right hand touchline. He recovers to land a superb penalty to make the score 3-16.

2.57
Fraser is also involved in our last attack of the match, intercepting the ball in our 22 and steaming into the H/A half. Sensing he is about to run out of gas, he tries to angle a grubber into the path of Kelly, haring up the middle in support. It nearly comes off, but H/A recover.

As Riggers mentions in his review, this was very much a team performance, with no one player really standing out from his colleagues. The pack were superb, holding their own in the scrum despite the fact that the match was being played on an extremely muddy pitch. They also tackled like demons and showed great willingness to play the game at pace, providing the backs with a lot of quality ball then getting forward to support runners and clear out the opposition when moves broke down. Lee and Marky P were rock solid in the lineout, the front row did the business in the tight and the back row put in a power of work to stop the H/A backs getting up any sort of momentum.

It was the tackling of our backs that really caught the eye, with Spikey and the two Frasers putting in some particularly great hits, while our handling was significantly better than it had been against Hillhead/Jordanhill, with hardly a knock on or spilled catch to speak of. Twicki's passing was way better than last week, when he had a bit of nightmare, while Mike Elliott played a blinder at 10, kicking intelligently to turn the H/A defence and showing some real pace with the ball in hand.You can gauge Welchy's contribution from the number of mentions he got in the 'play by play' report above, while Fraser P and Spikey continue to dispel the myth that there's no place for old, baldy blokes in modern rugby.

I could go on and on, but better not get too carried away - we've won nothing yet, after all. But, if we play to anything like this standard against Berwick, then maybe, just maybe, that bloody Scremerston hoodoo can finally be laid to rest.

Bill

Riggers' Review

What a performance! Saturday saw us take the road through to Auldhouse in the 2nd round of the Shield and put in probably our finest 80 minutes of the season so far. OK, we never scored the points we did against Berwick or Accies, but to go to the team who were sitting top of the league and hold them to a solitary penalty (which was scored after 2 minutes) was a fantastic achievement, especially after the way they attacked us for the first 10 minutes.

Al Christie had challenged the team before the game to put in a performance where the reliance on Benzo, Fraser or Spike to do the hard work, to be the first in, to lead from the front was spread throughout the team. Without a doubt the boys responded to the challenge, with an intensity in performance which we have only witnessed from other teams this season. Dougie Wyllie was glad that this was an away match as his company would have needed 15 bottles of champagne as there was no way you single out any one player above anyone else for the Man of the Match award.

After the league encounter at Inverleith, where we lost 20-13 to a better team, the boys went out with a point to prove, especially up front, where we had been run ragged in the first encounter. I think the pack more than answered a few of the critics from that performance and, certainly, I don't believe H/A thought our pack could play like that. The scrum creaked on a few occasions, but Cadz, flanked by both Simons, worked very hard to ensure that a near stable platform was achieved for the rest of the game. In the back row, Lindy continually got over the gain line from No.8 pick ups and allowed the rest of the pack the luxury of going forward to clear out rucks.

Behind the scrum, there were was more depth in the attack, especially off second phase, and it had been an invaluable exercise to have watched a brief video of the H/J game on the Thursday evening. The video really focused the boys' minds in attack, and some of the lines of running and support were only thwarted by some excellent H/A defence.

So off to Berwick this Saturday for our final league match before the turn of the year. Berwick is a place which has proved difficult in achieving wins for Stew/Mel and, despite our excellent victory earlier in the season, the boys will know that a team hell bent on revenge will offer very stiff opposition. We should, nevertheless, go down there confident of achieving a victory, especially as some of our 'on the road' performances this season have been outstanding. To have gone to Glasgow twice and won and also to Dundee and won should be a great confidence booster. It was something we couldn't achieve last season, so maybe the Berwick game will finally bury our Scremerston hoodoo. It would also be disappointing not to build on the performance of last weekend. The boys had spoken of achieving standards which are acceptable and, at the very least, maintaining - if not improving on - them.

It would be great to see an improvement on last Saturday. That would be a great way to finish the year!

The team enjoyed a good night out at our Christmas Dance on Saturday evening, where the wine certainly flowed (it was free, after all!). Once again, Fiona Burns deserves our thanks for organising a successful function and, as she pointed out, we never lose when a function is organised. I think the last thing we need is a function every weekend as she suggested - I doubt either the bank balance or the liver could handle that! Thanks, Fi.

Riggers

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