Jed-Forest vs Stew Mel, 11/11/06

• Click here to jump to Malky's Musings
• Click here to jump to Stew Mel Stats

Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Jed-Forest RFC at Riverside Park on Saturday, kick off 3 pm (NB), is:

With Dave McCall and Andy Easson in action for Edinburgh against Newport Gwent Dragons and Richie Vernon benching for the Borders against Llanelli Scarlets tomorrow - not to mention Shaun's latest suspension - we have a few changes for the trip to Jedburgh.

Murray Allan replaces Andy in the centre, with Coxy outside him, while Adrian Duncan's fine performance last week earns him a start at hooker. Laing Robson starts again at Number 8 after also impressing against Cartha, while Rob Primrose starts at 9 after a good performance coming off the bench last week.

Riverside Park is never an easy place to visit, and it would be great to see a few familiar faces down there as we try to build on last week's resurgence. Anyone wanting to join us on what is sure to be another memorable road trip should be at Inverleith by 12.15 pm on Saturday. Please note the change in kick off time to 3 pm!

Malky's Musings

On Saturday we produced what was, arguably, our best performance of the season so far. The past three weeks have seen a renewed intensity to our training, and this has clearly started to bear fruit on match day. We started well at a sodden Riverside with our backs frequently forcing their way across the gain line and our forward pack dominating the early breakdown exchanges. The travelling support would also have been comforted to see that the set piece was functioning well, with young Adrian Duncan making his debut at hooker.

The opening score came after 9 minutes, when an intelligent midfield move in the Jed 22 created space for Richard Borthwick to score under the posts. Borth converted to take the score to 0-7. We continued to pressurise the home team, which was struggling to cope with the early pace, and, with 20 minutes on the clock, Stuart Clark forced his way over near the corner following a well driven line out. We missed the difficult conversion and the lead sat at 0-12. Jed were showing clear signs of frustration and the home number 8 was sin-binned on 26 minutes following a high tackle. Shortly after this, some quality phase play led to Alex Cox crossing for our third try, and, when Borth converted, the lead was taken to 0-19.

From the resultant restart we failed to clear our lines, and there were some familiar signs that we had allowed our concentration to slip. We allowed Jed to get their tails up and conceded what appeared to be a relatively soft try following a home team maul on the far side of the pitch. The Jed blindside flanker converted from the touch line to take the score to 7-19. With ten minutes to the break we lost Adrian Duncan to the sin bin for what was deemed to be a professional foul at the breakdown. At this stage the momentum was swinging in favour of the home team, and we were happy to enter the break with our lead still 12 points.

Five minutes after the restart, we leaked a second try following a missed tackle in the midfield which allowed Jed's left winger to scorch in from thirty yards down the touchline. The conversion was missed, but the score had narrowed to 12-19. The pressure was partially relieved on 50 minutes when Borth confidently struck home a penalty which had been awarded following an infringement at the breakdown. There was little in the way of flowing rugby during the next quarter, though it was encouraging to see some resilient and well structured defence from the Stew Mel team. During this period the Jed 6 was yellow carded for stamping. He returned in time to strike home a penalty from center field which took the score to 15-22 with only two minutes left in regulation time. The referee played six minutes of added time, but thankfully our defence held firm and we eventually ran out winners by 7 points.

This was an excellent victory over a characteristically stuffy Jed side. Although it is somewhat disappointing not to have secured a bonus point, given such a strong first half, the support will have been very pleased to have won again in the Borders. The whole team performed well, but special mention should go to Adrian Duncan for an assured performance at hooker, to Rob Primrose for a combative performance at scrum half and to Murray Allan, who seldom set a foot wrong during his return to the number 12 jersey.

We welcome Kelso to Inverleith this weekend for a 2 pm kick off. We hope to see a strong home support.

Malky

Stew Mel Stats

Return to 1st XV Fixtures page