Stew Mel vs Jed-Forest RFC, 22/1/05

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Jed-Forest RFC at Inverleith on Saturday, kick off 2.30 pm, is:

A couple of changes to last week's winning XV. With Ross Rennie playing tonight (Thursday) for Scotland U19 against Wales, we have been asked / told / requested that he doesn't play a full 80 minutes on Saturday, meaning he has to make to do with a place on the bench this week. Dougie Rycroft steps into the back row in his place.

In the backs, Sam Hendry has recovered from the knock that meant he missed the Dundee game and he comes back into the team at the expense of Chris Bissett, who drops down to the bench.

Also benching this week are fit again Gareth Flockhart and Andrew Statham. Andrew is a young prop who joined us from Royal High Corstorphine in December and is a most welcome addition to the club.

I don't need to spell out the importance of this game to our supporters, and look forward to seeing a healthy crowd at Inverleith to cheers on the Lions on Saturday.

Riggers' Review

A dominant performance from the Stewart’s Melville team yesterday afternoon saw a comprehensive victory over Jed-Forest. The five tries to one victory doesn’t really reflect the amount of possession we enjoyed or the territorial advantage we held throughout. At the start of this encounter we would, however, have taken any sort of victory, and to earn one like we did was just reward for the amount of effort put in by the squad over the last month.

Talking of effort, I should also thank Tony Wood, Andrew Keith, John MacColl and Malky MacColl, as well as Benzo and Macca, for pitching up early, garden forks in hand, to help ensure that this eagerly awaited encounter beat the elements and went ahead. The fact that the pitch is kept in such good condition anyway meant it was a lot easier to deal with the sharp frost which accounted for so many club games yesterday.

So what did we achieve yesterday? Well, we have opened up a six point lead over Jed-Forest and, with five games to go, the destiny of the rest of the season is in our hands - on the pitch, at least. It’s five cup finals for the boys, and, if they can raise themselves to the levels shown against Dundee and Jed over the last two weeks, then second place in the league is ours for the taking. Any reduction in this intensity and the opportunity will be there for Jed and Haddington to claw back our advantage.

It is difficult to single any players out for individual mentions after a performance like that. From number 1 to number 19, everybody contributed. In fact, supporting on the touchline were a number of fringe players who should bask in the glory of yesterday’s performance. It has certainly helped having a near clean bill of health, with only the long term injured Sandy Storrar and the relocated Mike Elliott unavailable for selection. It certainly helps if you can replace a former captain of the Scotland Sevens team with a former Scotland A player during the first half. Experience which counts for much at this level.

We go on our travels again next week, down to the Gytes in Peebles for our first competitive encounter down there for many years. Peebles are the only team who have been to Inverleith this season and not been dispatched with a bonus point by the Stew/Mel team. The first encounter was won narrowly 16-9, so, down on Peebles' own patch, a hard battle is expected.

It was a great crowd who turned up for the game yesterday and the £1500 raised for the Tsunami Appeal was a great effort. Let’s hope it can make some sort of difference.

Riggers

Stew Mel Stats

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