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Stirling County vs
Stew Mel, 1/10/05
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Squad
The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Stirling County
on Saturday at Bridgehaugh, kick off 3 pm, is:
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15
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Richard Borthwick
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14
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David McCall
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13
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Sam Hendry
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12
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Matt Dey
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11
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Craig Joiner
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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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Stephan De Beer
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2
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Shaun McMurchy
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3
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Paul Wharakura (captain)
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4
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Ben Leathes
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5
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Alex Clarke
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6
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Stephen Dalgleish
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7
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Graham Lind
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8
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Phil Hendry |
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16
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Andrew Statham |
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17
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Neil Malloy |
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18
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Scott Riddell |
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19
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Ross Samson |
Only one change to the team that beat Boroughmuir last
week, with Ross Rennie out with an injured collar bone /
shoulder. He is replaced in the starting lineup by Phil
Hendry.
On the bench, Neil Malloy steps up from the 2nd XV that
beat Hawick last week because Kev Stuart is having problems
with his ankle. Scott Riddell is back from Newcastle this
week, so fills the space left by Phil on the bench.
Others still out injured include Andrew Easson, Struan
Samson, Zane Gardiner, Sandy Storrar and Gareth Flockhart.
We are keen to build on the excellent result last week,
and hope to see a lot of fans making the short trip through
to Stirling to cheer the boys on. Please note that, as we
are taking two teams through to Bridgehaugh on Saturday,
there are unlikely to be many free seats on the bus.
Malky
Riggers'
Review
If. It's becoming the most popular
word amongst us Stewart's Melville supporters after games
at the moment. If Borth or Dave had scored, when Borth created
the opening after five minutes. If we had taken advantage
of a stuttering opening by Stirling County, short of confidence
after losing their four previous games, when, by all accounts,
they could have won them. If we had turned our dominance
during the opening twenty minutes into points. If we hadn't
turned over so much ball. If we hadn't missed a couple of
easy tackles to allow Stirling County to score a three try
burst in a five minute spell. If we hadn't lost all confidence
in what we were doing and allowed Stirling County to grow
into a team. And the biggest 'if' of all - if only we'd
been playing at Inverleith.
I don't think anyone can put a finger on why we are struggling
so much away from home at present. Granted, playing at Inverleith
is a fantastic benefit, but Stirling's set up is excellent
- we'll be at many worse grounds than Bridgehaugh this season,
and have been in the past decade. So what is the problem?
Answers on a postcard, please ...
If we put the performance down to experience and hope that
it won't happen again, well, that's not good enough. We
did that after the Hawick debacle and, a month later, we're
back in the same position, looking down the barrel with
every other team in the league looking down at us at the
moment. When we left Bridgehaugh last season having been
put to the sword 47-0, it was in many ways accepted due
to the fact that Stirling were excellent that day and we
had a number of injuries. Stirling were better than us on
Saturday - the scoreboard doesn't lie to that extent - but
they never reached the heights against us on Saturday that
they did last season, and that is what makes the result
and the performance hard to take.
The players have to look to themselves, figure out what
is going wrong away from the comfort of Inverleith, and
sort it out. No time like next Saturday, when we take a
trip down to Ayr. It will be a long way home for Dalgy on
the night of his 21st birthday if we do manage to find the
answers ...
Riggers
Stew
Mel Stats
| Result |
Lost 41-10 |
| Sequence |
0-3,
5-3, 10-3,
12-3, 17-3,
20-3 (half time),
25-3, 27-3,
27-8, 27-10,
32-10, 34-10,
39-10, 41-10 |
| Tries |
Scott Riddell (58 mins) |
| Conversions |
Richard Borthwick 1 |
| Penalties |
Richard Borthwick 1 (15 mins) |
| Cards |
Lindy yellowed on 70 minutes for backchat to the
referee after County were awarded a penalty close
to our line - he had been warned!
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| Referee |
Rob Dickson |
| Single Sentence Summary |
Mindful that Emma MacColl wouldn't be
providing the 1st XV with their beloved post-match home
baking, Nosebag spent Friday evening toiling over a
hot stove to rustle up a batch of Rice Krispy cakes
for the players; after watching their dreadful performance
at Bridgehaugh, he gave the cakes to the 2nd XV ... |
| Leading Lion |
Tempted to withhold the award this week, but let's
look on the bright side;
David McCall was the best of our bad bunch,
setting up Scott Riddell's try with a great break
and almost claiming one himself early on - who knows
how the game might have gone if we had added that
to Borth's penalty
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| Bevvy Bulletin |
Forced to stick to the Magners in view of the pretty
rank beer at Bridgehaugh - does anyone really
drink Foster's these days? - then hit the Dark Island
at the superb Settle Inn up by the castle later on
- much better!
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| Pie Points |
The food is always good at Bridgehaugh, as you'd
expect for a club with strong farming connections.
This time around, our hosts had an impressive barbecue
set up that ran about half the length of the clubhouse.
Good pies, too - pastry was a bit overdone, but the
mutton inside was moist and tasty. Definitely the
highlight of my visit to Bridgehaugh, which is rapidly
becoming the new Scremerston.
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