Stew Mel vs Hutchesons' Aloysians, 27/10/01

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP team for the top of the table clash with Hutchesons' Aloysians is:

The team shows five changes from last Saturday, with Sam Hendry, last season's Scotland U18 stand off, coming in to make his debut at full back. It is a measure of how well Sam has been playing for both the 2nd XV and Edinburgh U19 that we had no hesitation in giving him his debut in such a big game. To make room for Sam, Mark Welch moves onto the wing to the exclusion of Scott Stewart, who is unfortunate to drop out of the squad, but, with Fraser Pollock sidelined by the rib injury picked up at Biggar, it was felt that a frontline kicker like Sam was necessary. Stuart Bartwicki also returns as Grant Smith is unavailable, and he will be trying to make it as hard for Grant to get back in, as Grant made it for him. Struan Samson retains the position of Inside Centre after he replaced Fraser with 20 minutes gone last week.

Up front, the only change in a pack that played well last Saturday is the return of Lee Crafar for Mark Paton in the 2nd Row. Mark played well for us last Saturday, and it is good to know he is available to step in when required. Into the squad for the first time this season comes Graham Lind, with the other subs having a settled look about them. Simon Rowan is desperate for action after missing out last week, and we will be looking for a big contribution when he takes the field.

This is a massive game for both teams, but we must win to stop falling 5 points behind H/A at the top of the league. The boys know a good performance will see them at the top of the league at the end of the of the first round of matches, and that has to be the goal.

Riggers

Match Report

Once again, Mr Rigby has beaten me to it, so sparing me the need to go into much detail about what was, to be honest, a fairly disappointing Stew Mel performance. Yes, H/A were probably worthy of the win, showing a real hunger for the game in taking most of the chances that came their way in the second half, but we never really stretched them, despite the fact that we were narrowly in the lead at half time. Here's how it went:

3.05
We're awarded a penalty near half way after H/A infringe at the game's first scrum. Sam Hendry gives the ball a good thump, it hangs in the air, but falls just short - a confidence booster, nevertheless?

3.10
As H/A attack in front of our posts, we stray offside. Nicky Barrett lands the easy penalty: 0-3.

3.17
Struan Samson makes a great break up the stand side touchline, and feeds Fraser Deeming, who has players in support and the line in sight. Fraser hangs onto the ball, and the move breaks down.

3.19
H/A miss a penalty after we're penalised for being offside once again.

3.25
A good spell of pressure from Stew Mel, with Twicki managing a half break through the H/A cover.

3.30
Jaffa kicks a penalty kick into touch in the H/A 22. We drive on from the lineout, then are awarded another penalty as H/A stray offside. From the resulting lineout in the corner, John Healy does a Smithy and dives over from close range. Sam misses the conversion from wide out: 5-3.

3.40
We nearly score again after John Healy breaks and feeds Struan, who ducks a tackle and feeds Fraser Deeming beautifully. Fraser looks to be clean through, but a great last-ditch tap tackle brings him down at the H/A 22.

Half time - and Riggers 'jogs' on with a bag full of Stew Mel change strips! Some passes had certainly gone inexplicably astray in the first half, though the only complaints I had heard had come from some of the H/A blaw ..... sorry, diehards.

Second Half

Si Rowan replaces Ben Searancke, who's gone off with a neck injury.

3.55
Twicki scores a great try, sprinting in from outside the H/A 22 to cap a flowing move that saw great running and support play from Si Capaldi and Struan, among others. Sam missed the kick, obviously struggling to get to grips with the swirling wind at Inverleith. 10-3.

4.03
Sky replaces Spike, who's definitely been struggling, making very few of his mazy runs and missing tackles that he'd normally have nailed.

4.04
It all starts to go pear-shaped as our defence crumbles, H/A winger Rory Watson touching down after Sam fails to hold him. The conversion is missed: 10-8.

4.05
H/A infringe at a scrum just inside their own half. Sam tries the 3 pointer, but the ball slips to the right of the posts.

4.07
Lindy replaces Richie Munro in the back row.

4.09
After H/A kick a penalty to the corner, their backs look to have fashioned a second try at the stand side of the posts, but ref Paul Burr chalks it off for crossing.

4.10
H/A are awarded a penalty near our 22 after we make a mess of our own throw on a lineout and infringe as we try to regain the ball. Barrett's kick falls short, and we manage to mark the ball as the H/A backs follow it up.

4.15
More lacklustre Stew Mel defence allows the very impressive Anthony Posa to cross for the try after good work from the equally impressive Andy Plastow and his back row cohorts. Barrett converts to make it 10-15. Si Capaldi goes off with a nasty-looking head gash, having clashed heads with Struan in the lead up to the try, and is replaced by Zums. The scrums go uncontested; the more blinkered among the H/A faithful whinge a lot (see below).

4.20
After a kick hopefully aimed for touch is fielded by H/A full back Craig, he runs the ball half the length of the pitch back at us then feeds winger Andy Scott for a simple try in the far corner. The conversion is just wide from a tough angle: 10-20.

4.22
H/A lock Naismith is yellow carded for (I think) trying to trip Mark Welch after the latter chases up a speculative up'n'under. Sam lands the penalty nicely to take us into consolation point territory: 13-20.

4.25
H/A almost claim the crucial fourth try after Welchy fails to field a nasty up'n'under in our 22.

4.30
Posa tries to kill us off with a drop goal, but it goes wide.

A game of two halves, then, and one we could have won if we'd kept the pressure on after Twicki's try, when H/A heads were starting to go down. Twicki had a decent game, making some good breaks and kicking intelligently, but Jaffa, it has to be said, had an off day, with too many of his touch kicks falling short and allowing H/A to run the ball back at us. Our handling as a team was also uncharacteristically poor, with lineout ball, in particular, being a lot scrappier than we've become used to.

Bill McNie

Riggers' Review

The top of the table clash ended in mass disappointment for the Stew Mel team when we lost, rightly, to a better team on the day. H/A seemed a half yard quicker round the pitch and in reactions and deserved to leave Inverleith with the spoils. A bonus point was some consolation for the team as it could have been much worse, as H/A gathered momentum before the end and were looking good for a bonus point. Indeed, they might have received that bonus had it not been for being called back for crossing late in the game. The move had been pulled back in the first half and, thankfully, the referee pulled them up for it again.

From the Stew Mel point of view, a couple of players went into the game carrying a few niggles. Ben Searancke cricked his neck at training on Thursday night, and, although feeling a bit of pain, decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, he struggled to half-time and had to come off. Ben is a huge player for us and we certainly miss him when he's not on the pitch. He gives momentum to the forward drives and is strong in close quarter defence. Spike was also struggling during the week with a quad strain and, again, this gave way just after half-time, resulting in our Captain and most experienced and influential player having to depart the proceedings. We seemed to lose shape as a result of Spike's withdrawal and that was very disappointing.

Simon Capaldi also had to depart from the game with a nasty cut to the head sustained in a clash of heads with Struan Samson. Incredibly, some of the H/A faithful tried to claim this as a deliberate tactic to move to uncontested scrums, but I can honestly say we are not in the nature of asking our own players to injure each other deliberately! The major disappointment in losing Simon was that our dominance in the lineout suffered because two of our lifters were off the pitch, and the platform we were getting from catching and driving lineouts was removed. This had been a tactic which had been successful all afternoon until this point, with 10-15 yard lineout drives being a regular occurence.

Upfront, John Healy was rightly named our Man of the Match, just shading Andy Kelly, who continues in his rich vein of form. Sam Hendry settled well into the team at full back and, whilst his kicking return of 1 from 4 might seem disappointing, none of the kicks were easy in a swirling wind. Sam struck the ball very well, and certainly justified his inclusion in the starting XV. Struan Samson made a number of breaks and put in some telling tackles. He marshalled David Wilson well in defence all afternoon. Fraser Deeming is nearly back to the level he was before his injury, and, if he can get a run of games without injury, he'll just get better and better.

Overall, a disappointing day at Inverleith, but the news of Glasgow Southern's loss at Edin Accies eased the pain slightly, with us holding on to our second place in the league. Our next league game now takes on massive importance, away to Haddington. It seems a long time since the first game of the season, but the boys are still hurting from that defeat.

Next week sees Greenock Wanderers visit Inverleith in the Cup, and, having lost our last two games, it is important to get a win over a team going well in National 3. We have lost too many cup ties over the year against the likes of Strathendrick, Cumnock, Hawick Linden and Cambuslang to allow complacency to set in. It would be nice to have a prolonged cup run this season, but first of all, we must take care of Greenock Wanderers.

Finally, it is all too easy to criticise referees, but yesterday I thought Paul Burr from Glasgow University handled the game very well. He is a young referee and seems destined for bigger and better things. He is easily one of the better refs we've had in a number of seasons. It is only to be hoped that he can be left to develop without too much pressure being put on him by assessors, etc.

Riggers

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