Stew Mel 2nd XV vs Biggar 2nd XV, 22/9/07

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville team for Saturday's league game against Biggar at Inverleith, kick off 3 pm, is:

A few new faces this week.

Ross Grady makes a very welcome return to Stew Mel colours after a spell with Murrayfield Wanderers, while Phil Robson is Laing's brother. Pete Swan and Matt Targowski have joined us from Merchiston Castle School, while Darren Hoyland steps up from the 3s after impressing in their league performances so far this season. Details on Dave Roland to follow.

Welcome to them all!

Players are asked to meet at Inverleith at 1.45 pm on Saturday. Please bring shirt and tie for after the game.

Tubbs

Match Report

Saturday saw a much improved performance from a 2s team featuring a characteristically large number of changes from the previous week.

The kick off versus Biggar was delayed by five minutes owing to a no-show from the referee and the resultant negotiations necessary to pinch the whistler from the 3rd XV game. This delay did not knock the concentration of the home side, and it was clear from the early exchanges that the pack had the better of the visiting forwards at both the set piece and in broken play.

We repeatedly attacked deep into the Biggar half during the opening quarter of an hour, but we were frustrated by a number of small handling errors and turnovers. Our efforts were, however, rewarded on around 20 minutes when a well worked move allowed winger Darren Hoyland to cross the line.

Shortly after the restart, we scored again through Jamie Stevenson, and it looked as though opposition heads were starting to go down. We scored a further try prior to the half time whistle and entered the break leading 17-0. Biggar started the second period strongly and we were forced to defend for long spells during the opening ten minutes of the half. Our tackling was excellent, however, and it was clear that our visitors had run out of ideas when they opted to kick for goal from a penalty directly under the posts. We scored three further tries later in the half, with second scores for the impressive Hoyland and Jamie Stevenson (final score 36–3).

The most positive aspect of the game was a much improved display from the pack in broken play, with the back row of Andrew Fraser, Chico and Toby Hartley looking impressive. Our midfield also functioned well, with the centre partnership of Scott McEwan and Chris Bissett looking assured in both attack and defence.

All in all, a much better performance from a team which had been lacking confidence. We will get stronger over the course of the season as players return from injury, and we hope to use this victory as a springboard for the coming game away to Ayr. We also hope that the first team can follow our lead and beat Biggar at Inverleith on Saturday.

Malky

Stew Mel Stats

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