Kilmarnock vs Stew Mel, 30/10/04

• Click here to jump to Riggers' Review
• Click here to jump to Stew Mel Stats

Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Kilmarnock RFC in the third round of the BT Cup at Bellsland on Saturday, kick off 3 pm, is:

The side shows six changes from last week as we try to bounce back from the defeat at Stirling with a win in the Cup against Kilmarnock. Our hosts boosted their own season by beating Ardrossan last weekend to move them off the foot of their table.

From last weekend, Stephen Dalgleish (back) is replaced in the 2nd row by Stuart Clark. Dougie Rycroft (wedding) is replaced by available again Ross Rennie and Stuart Clark’s move to the 2nd row is covered by Phil Hendry, coming in for his first start this season.

Chris Bissett (back) is replaced by Richard Borthwick and Jed Gordon (hamstring) is replaced by fit again Michael Elliott, whilst Mark Welch comes in to cover for Borth’s move infield.

Nick Penny (hand) and Alex Edmonstone (shoulder) drop out of the squad. Paul Wharakura is still out with the injury picked up in the Peebles game, while Graham Shiel’s ankle is still causing pain, as is Struan Samson’s. Gareth Flockhart is out with a groin injury.

The team bus will leave Inverleith at noon on Saturday if any supporters would like a lift to Kilmarnock - your support would be very welcome.

Riggers' Review

A return to winning ways on Saturday - and some good tries scored as well - helped the smiles return to a few faces after the disappointment of the Stirling game. With a number of changes in the ranks, it was going to take a while to settle, but, once we got on the board through Richard Borthwick after twelve minutes of continuous pressure, we slowly started to get control of the game. A further couple of tries in the first half - from Sam Hendry and David Warwick (his first for the team) - saw us go into the break 21-0 and cruising.

The half-time chat focused on keeping control and increasing the intensity, as the first half had been quite lethargic. The next twenty minutes of the game saw us camped in our own half as we decided to play with little control and to reduce the intensity still further. Shaun McMurchy decided, however, to score a try, which, after him dropping the ball over the line at Haddington a few weeks back, was a good moment. Jed Gordon then added his seventh of the season before Graham Lind romped home from just inside his own half. This put the tie out of sight and, though Kilmarnock hit back to score, we were in no danger.

Sam added his second try of the day before Sky Laurie went over from a scrum pick up five metres out. Wee Clarky had set up this position with a great run, which he actually scored from, but the referee said he’d been held up over the line. The final whistle blew and we’d survived our first outing in the Cup, and, hopefully, laid to rest the bogey about teams with names ending in 'ck' beating us – Greenock, Hawick (Linden), Cumnock and Strathendrick. Add to that a 1 point win over Garnock and you can see a pattern!

A good day out, and, hopefully, some confidence has returned before we play Selkirk next Saturday in a crucial league game. It was good to see Mike Elliott, Sky Laurie and Mark Welch return to the team yesterday, and Phil Hendry came in and played well, too. Pete McLean also got a run in his new wing position and looks promising out there. Sam Hendry had a welcome return to form and brought up his 150th point for the 1st XV in his 19th game. Jed brought up his 50th points with his try - 10 tries in 19 games being a pretty good strike rate.

A 2 pm kick off next Saturday before the Scotland game at 5.30, and, hopefully, a continuation of our revival.

Riggers

Stew Mel Stats

Return to 1st XV Fixtures page