Selkirk vs Stew Mel, 17/2/07

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Selkirk at Philiphaugh on Saturday, kick off 3 pm, is:

Any supporters wishing to join us on what is potentially our last Borders bus trip of the season should assemble at Inverleith by noon on Saturday.

Malky's Musings

On Saturday our young team were shown that it can be fatal if you underestimate the fight of any Borders outfit.

We travelled to Philiphaugh for the first time in three years full of confidence following three strong performances in our recent outings. Selkirk remain perilously close to the foot of the table, however, and they showed characteristic desire during the first 40 minutes of the game which completely knocked us out of our rhythm. We failed to gain our fair share of possession during the first half and we were frequently let down by some sloppy clearing work around the breakdown. Moreover, we also fell foul of a heavily one-sided penalty count and we found ourselves constantly pinned back by the huge boot of the Selkirk outside centre.

In spite of their significant advantage in terms of possession and territory, Selkirk will have been frustrated not to have had a lead of more than 6-0 after the first quarter of the game. Indeed, it looked as though the half time deficit might be very narrow when Stuart Clark crashed over from short range on 34 minutes during one of our few forays into the opposition 22. There was, however, enough time for the home team to score a further penalty and two tries before the break. Both tries were scored during a period when we had been reduced to 14 men, with Stephen Dalgleish having been sin-binned for what appeared, from the touch line, to be good rucking. Half time 21-5.

We had a mountain to climb in the second half, though the team knew that the first half performance was well below par and that we have come back from large deficits in the past. We continued to play in a disjointed manner for the opening 10 minutes of the second period, however, and left ourselves too much to do when some slack tackling let the Selkirk winger cross for his team’s third try of the game.

We then started to play some rugby, greatly tightening up our play around the breakdown area and producing far better ball for our back line. Phil Hendry and Areta, in particular, started to punch holes in the defence and so helped get us onto the front foot.

On 65 minutes, Colin Goudie showed excellent pace to outstrip the home defence and score our second try of the match. Borth converted and the gap sat at 26-12. We kept up the pressure and there were signs that the home defence was starting to creak. We scored again on 75 minutes, with Adrian Duncan touching down, but, with the conversion missed, it was to prove too little, too late. Final score Selkirk 26 – Stew Mel 17.

Selkirk deserved the win and look too good a side to be relegated to Premier 3. We need to take on board some of the lessons regarding ball retention and clinical play at the breakdown that we were taught on Saturday. We have a tough game a week on Saturday when Stirling travel to Inverleith. I strongly believe that our players can challenge any club team in Scotland, but they must remember to execute the basics well if we are consistently to produce good performances.

Malky

Stew Mel Stats

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