Stew Mel vs Stirling County, 3/3/07

• Click here to jump to Match Programme Notes
• Click here to jump to Malky's Musings
• Click here to jump to Stew Mel Stats

Squad

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

The league (and our promotion hopes) may be lost, but I would remind you that we have a rare Cup run to nurture. So a home win on Saturday is important to get us back onto the right track after the disappointing result in Selkirk last time out.

That, and the fact that we would rather that County didn't claim the league title on our turf for a second time - see you at Invers, OK?

Malky's Musings

On Saturday, Stirling demonstrated very clearly what it takes to win promotion back up to Premier 1 with a convincing display at Inverleith.

Although the Stew Mel team could not be criticised for a lack of effort, it was obvious from a relatively early stage that the visitors would likely take the spoils, given a superior level of control at the scrum and the breakdown, coupled with a steady hand behind the scrum in the shape of stand off Brian Archibald.

The game started promisingly as we gained possession shortly after the kick off and Jimmy Moran was unlucky to have a chip charged down when it looked as though Colin Goudie might be clear to follow up and score. It was, however, not long till a lapse of concentration at a scrum and some uncharacteristically sloppy talking allowed Stirling to break from deep and score up the stand side touch line. We fought back well, though, and were helped by some excellent work in the lineout and some good hard running by the back row around the fringes.

With around 10 minutes on the clock, we succeeded in stringing together a number of phases deep into opposition territory, and the stretched defence was unable to stop Phil Hendry from barging over under the posts. Jimmy Moran was successful with the conversion, and the scores were tied at 7 each. Shortly after the restart, we again found ourselves deep in the Stirling half, and a breakdown infringement handed Jimmy the chance to take us into the lead. Jimmy was again on target with the kick, and we led 10-7.

We unfortunately failed to capitalise further on the pressure created during this period, and Stirling started to turn the screw in the tight, most notably by placing our scrum under considerable pressure. Stirling then retook the lead after 20 minutes with a try which resulted from a lineout and driving maul on the far side of the pitch. Although the conversion was missed, the lead was stretched further 5 minutes later when Archibald slotted a penalty goal (10-15).

We were clearly under pressure, and our challenge was made all the more difficult when Pete McLean was yellow carded on the half hour for handling at the bottom of a ruck. Stirling scored a further unconverted try prior to the break following some clinical handling from their backs, and we entered half time trailing 10-20.

Archibald took Stirling’s lead to 13 points shortly after the restart with another well struck penalty goal. Our team continued to compete hard at the break down, but, by this stage, the Stirling pack clearly had the ascendancy in both the loose and, perhaps more tellingly, in the scrum. The visitors scored two further tries during the next 20 minutes, and, despite some spirited attacking, our only reward came through a late consolation try scored by captain Stuart Clark. Final score: 15-45.

This result underscored the hard work that we must undertake over the closed season if we are to have a serious chance of returning to the top flight. It will be important for us to strengthen in one or two key positions, and for the players to show a high level of commitment to improving their strength and conditioning. The spirit at the club remains high, though, and I am sure that our young squad will have taken a lot out of the current campaign.

Hopefully we will turn in another strong performance in the Cup a week on Saturday; I suspect that we have still not played our best rugby of the season.

Malky

Stew Mel Stats

Return to 1st XV Fixtures page