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Stew Mel vs Melrose,
15/10/05
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Squad
The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Melrose at Inverleith
on Saturday, kick off 3 pm, is:
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15
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Sam Hendry
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14
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David McCall
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13
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Peter Jorgensen
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12
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Andrew Easson
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11
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Peter McLean
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10
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Graham Shiel
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9
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Euan Clark
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1
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Paul Wharakura (captain)
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2
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Shaun McMurchy
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3
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Stephan De Beer
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4
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Ben Leathes
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5
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Stephen Dalgleish
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6
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Graham Lind
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7
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Ross Rennie
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8
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Richard Vernon |
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16
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Alex Edmonstone |
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17
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Neil Malloy |
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18
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Phil Hendry |
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19
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Nicky Wood |
After our tough away trips to Stirling and Ayr, it's great
to be back to the relative sanctuary of Inverleith this
weekend for the visit of Melrose. The backline is the same
as the one that started at Millbrae last week, while, up
front, Shaun McMurchy and Ross Rennie are fit again and
return to the starting lineup.
Richie Vernon has also returned to full match fitness and
replaces Lindy at Number 8. Lindy switches to flanker, Phil
Hendry drops to the bench and James Constable will play
for the 2nd XV in their home tie against Melrose. Ben Leathes
is available again this week and returns to partner sober
again Stephen Dalgleish in the Boiler House.
It's vitally important that we win on Saturday to get our
league campaign back on track, so the boys and I hope to
see another bumper crowd at Inverleith for the 3 pm kickoff.
Riggers'
Review
The 'News Of The World' stated on Sunday that
our 44-17 victory over Melrose was 'Stewart's Melville's
best result in a decade'. Whilst, in terms of results in
Premier 1, that is factually correct, there have been bigger
winning margins in that time, and also some narrow victories
in important matches, some of which have saved us from National
League rugby.
What can't be understated, though, is the importance of
this victory in terms of this season. After two tough weeks
on the road, we had plenty to prove, not just to the supporters,
but also to the players themselves. We are lucky to have
a head coach whose belief in how we should play the game
has not wavered, and who has backed the players to produce
the game plan.
It was by no stretch of the imagination a perfect execution
of the game plan on Saturday, but it was a massive step
up on the previous weeks. We still made a number of unforced
errors and were lucky that we found a Melrose team not at
the top of their game. In the first half, especially, they
missed a number of tackles which one would imagine was uncharacteristic
of them, but, as before this season, we never put the points
on the board in the first half when we were dominant.
We managed one opportunist try by Dave McCall after Clarky
took a quick free kick and created the gap for Dave, but
we should have scored more. We all thought Dalgy had romped
home from the 22, but the touch judge correctly spotted
a forward pass and it was ruled out. A 13-3 half-time lead
was satisfying, but at 20-3 we would have felt more comfortable.
This comfort was quickly established in the first quarter
of the second half when we produced some of the best attacking
rugby of the season. Dave added a couple more tries to score
the first hat-trick by a Stew/Mel player since Stuart Clark
last season at Kelso. Interestingly, it was the first by
a back since Mark Welch scored three against Hillfoots in
the Cup during Macca and Benzo's first game in charge back
in 2002, and it was the first hat-trick at home by anybody
since Steven Reed romped in for five against Berwick in
2001. Happy with that, Bill?!
Richie Vernon also scored to secure the try bonus, and,
at 37-3, it was a fair reflection of our performance. Melrose,
however, managed to score two late tries whilst we were
down to 14 men, but the victory was never under threat.
Woody, on at Stand Off for Shiely, managed to win a kick
and chase to score our fifth try right at the death, and,
with Sam kicking all five conversions and three penalties
for a 19 point haul, we had got back to winning habits on
the green, green grass of home.
Next up is a trip to Aberdeen to face Grammar in what will
again be a tough encounter on the road. If the boys can
just bottle what they produced on Saturday and unleash it
at Rubislaw, we will have more than a chance of getting
something out of the game. I will, however, miss watching
my first Stewart's Melville 1st XV match since September
2000 - some 120 games on the trot - to attend the wedding
of a work colleague. No offence to the bride and groom,
but I know where my thoughts will be come 3 pm on
Saturday. Come on Stew Mel!
Riggers
Stew
Mel Stats
| Result |
Won 44-17 |
| Sequence |
3-0,
3-3, 8-3,
10-3, 13-3
(half time), 16-3,
21-3, 23-3,
28-3, 30-3,
35-3, 37-3,
37-8, 37-10,
37-15, 37-17,
42-17, 44-17 |
| Tries |
David McCall 3 (12, 57 and 62 mins),
Richie Vernon (60 mins), Nicky Wood (83 mins) |
| Conversions |
Sam Hendry 5 |
| Penalties |
Sam Hendry 3 (3, 40 & 52 mins) |
| Cards |
Alex Edmonstone given the 'Capaldi at Biggar' treatment
on 69 minutes for some mysterious ruck offence
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| Referee |
David Jack of Madras FP |
| Single Sentence Summary |
It may be a tad premature to start calling
Ross Rennie the 'heartbeat' of the team, but there's
no denying we play a hell of a lot better when he's
around - the dogged defence and willingness to make
the hard yards demonstrated by all the players during
this great victory was very much in the Rosco mould |
| Leading Lion |
Ignoring the cries of 'Woody!' from the legendary
George, we really have to go for
David McCall for his superb hat trick.
I'll let Riggers tell us the last Stew Mel player
to perform such a feat in a competitive game, but
Dave was awesome today - great hands, lightning pace
and dizzying moves. His tendency to do mad stuff in
defence still needs to be worked on, but ... we'll
let him off this week!
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| Bevvy Bulletin |
A five try horsing of Melrose, plus a Race Night
to follow ... yup!
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