Strathmore vs Stew Mel, 9/2/02

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Squad

The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Strathmore in the BT Cellnet Shield Quarter Final at Inchmacoble on Saturday (kick off 2.30 pm) is:

It had originally looked as though this match would see the return of top try scorer Steven Reed after injury, but it now transpires that PC Reed has to work at the Hearts vs Rangers match at Tynie instead. This allows Gav Sharp to come into the backline for Mark Welch, who is unavailable due to work commitments.

Reedy will no doubt feature again in the team before long. After a much disrupted season, he is determined to enjoy the remaining games, and is keen to extend his advantage at the top of the club's try scoring charts.

If Spikey is unable to make the squad due to the recent arrival in the Milligan household, Sky Laurie will take his place on the wing.

The team are in no doubt as to how tricky this trip to Forfar is going to be. A similarly complacent attitude to the one we displayed in the cup tie with Greenock Wanderers earlier in the season will see us eliminated from this competition, and that is something we are determined to avoid.

After a couple of weekends' inactivity, the chance to build on the promising performance against Glasgow Southern is keenly awaited, especially with what is to come in the league. Strathmore are sitting top of their league and won last weekend by 40 points over Fife Southern, so a tough battle is expected. It is a step into the unknown for the team, with nobody having experienced the conditions in Forfar before. Benzo has, however, received some inside information from the Kelso boys who faced them in the first round of the cup, and this will be put to good use.

Riggers

Riggers' Review / Match Report

As any long time fan of Stewart's Melville knows, cup ties with opposition from 5 or 6 leagues below us are never usually foregone conclusions. Thankfully, on Saturday, the 'Stew/Mel heads' were well and truly left at Inverleith and a quite professional performance occurred at Strathmore.

We arrived at the picturesque Inchmacoble pitch to discover a couple of marquees, portaloos and a burger stall had been set up in anticipation of a big crowd turning up to witness a potential cup upset. Strathmore were looking at this tie with relish and thought they could turn us over. Al Christie quickly put the minds of the boys on the job at hand and certainly a very focused looking team went out for the warm up.

The pitch itself was very heavy in places and the going was set to be very tough. Part of the warm up focused on how we would get out of the bottom left hand corner; this area of the pitch probably wasn't playable, but it wasn't a great concern. For the first time that I can remember, we had neutral touch judges at one of our games, and we thought this would probably benefit us. The referee, Peter Carruthers from Boroughmuir, is a Premier 1 referee, so we were in pretty good hands - or so Al Napier told us, anyway!

We kicked off and took the game to Strathmore, playing with the wind at our backs. After a few phases of play we were awarded a penalty for offside which Fraser Pollock converted. This penalty award came at a cost, though, with Andy Kelly suffering a suspected medial ligament tear in his left knee, and this could force Andy out of action for four to six weeks.

Andy was replaced by Mark Paton and, no sooner than Mark had settled into the game, than we were 10-3 down. This was a very tough period for the boys, as Strathmore attacked with everything they had and the boys were penalised out of the game. Eight penalties on the trot were awarded against us, so it was difficult to generate any phases. The crowd at this stage were very vocal, and memories of places like Strathendrick and Cumnock came rushing to the front of the minds of myself and Black Al.

Thankfully, the riposte was quick and sweet. With Andy 'Scud' Cadzow throwing into the lineout with an accuracy not often seen from him, Willie Laidlaw was dominating at the front and the driving of the forwards was knocking Strathmore back at a great rate of knots. The only way Strathie were able to stop us was to infringe, and this allowed Fraser Pollock to kick us into the corner. From the lineout drive, Mark Paton emerged with the ball to score on about the 15 metre line. A similar scenario led to our second try a couple of minutes later, and this time Willie Laidlaw stretched out his long arm to get the touch down.

By this time, the forwards had decided route one was the approach to take, and, having trained in the Swamp during the week, the pick and drive routine in the mud had been perfected. The backs were being used to spread the Strathie team wide, then the forwards would arrive and drive through the middle where the defence was at its weakest. A penalty award 10 metres out was moved quickly to Ally MacLay, who bumped off a couple of defenders to score a well deserved try.

The pattern continued for the rest of the first half, and, whilst happy with a 22-10 lead, we felt we could do with more to make the second half against the wind more comfortable. From a series of good attacks by the backs, Benzo was found out wide, and he drew the last man to put the looping Simon Rowan in at the corner. Fraser missed the conversion and half time arrived with us 27-10 to the good.

The talk at half time centred around getting a good start and not letting Strathie into the game. They had stopped challenging on our throw at the lineout, so we knew we could build a good platform from there. Again, from experience, we knew that the crowd would be behind them and inspire them like never before.

The kickoff came deep to Ally MacLay in our 22 and he responded to the call from captain Pollock, who received the ball and cleared out of the mud and into the wind a good 45 metres to give a lineout to Strathie in their own half. As the forwards trotted up the line, you could see our pack heartened by Fraser's clearance, whilst the Strathie boys looked slightly dejected. A two handed take against the throw by Willie resulted in another awesome forward drive and the good start to the second half was Stew/Mel's.

Our fifth try wasn't long coming. Again a lineout 10 metres from the Strathie line was secured and Ben Searancke scored a comeback try. The game, by this stage, was in the bag, and a double substitution was made. Lee Crafar came off to ensure a knock didn't get any worse, to be replaced by Richie Munro. As Lee came off, he informed us that Ben was willing to come off to let Simon Capaldi have a run. We thanked Lee for his info and promptly removed Simon Rowan from the action. After all his time out, a hard 80 minutes in the mud was ideal for our Maori prop!

Our sixth try followed after a length of the pitch break out. The ball arrived in Simon Capaldi's hands as he stood in the outside centre position on the 22. He threw the dummy and off he went to crash over and take the score to 37-10. Strathie then scored a fortuitous try where a blatant knock-on was missed by the referee. At this stage, we were again being penalised for everything and anything, so it was no surprise when the ref quickly withdrew the arm he had raised to signal the knock on as Strathie scored. It was no less, however, than Strathie deserved for their enterprise and determination.

The best Stew/Mel score of the day was the final try, scored by the old warhorse Andy Cadzow, to complete the scoring for the front five. Again, the move came from inside our own half, started by new father Spike Milligan. He came off his wing and made 50 yards before linking with the support. From here a series of rucks occurred and the ball, once again, came into the hands of Si Capaldi. This time, Si did a 360 degree turn, dummying the pass to the looping Mike Elliott. The gap opened, and off Si romped again before being caught a couple of yards out from the line. The first Stew/Mel player there was Andy Cadzow, who picked up and told everyone in the ground that he was 'going to f**king score'. With the help of the backs, he was driven over the line.

So there we had it, seven tries, all by forwards, and only one by a back row player. When have we ever done anything like that before? Lee was getting some abuse, but, similarly to his 'I'm a listener, not a lover' approach with the ladies, Lee informed us that he was a 'grafter, not a scorer'. Smithy came on to replace Mark Mateer, and would surely have been the first back to score if, after hacking the ball into the dead ball area, he hadn't spectacularly gone for a stumble with no-one around and no-one to beat! Shortly afterwards, the final whistle sounded, and the jubilant Stew/Mel team celebrated with their support after getting to our first ever Semi-final.

A good performance, then, but still some work to do. We lost the ball in contact too many times to be totally happy with the performance. The forwards all played well, scoring the tries, but, without the backs playing as well as they did, the game would have been very different. After the inactivity, it was also good to get back out and play, and the final couple of months of the season look like being exciting.

We find ourselves in the Semis with Kirkcaldy, Stewartry and Glasgow Accies. A home tie on 30th March would do fine.

Thanks to Strathie for their hospitality. They were a wee bit disappointed with how they played, but that was mainly due to us. They are a good team with a number of very good players and should do well when promoted at the end of the season, as they surely will be. The players all enjoyed the biggest and tastiest bridies in the world, and a good few beers.

For us, the friendly with Aberdeen Grammar on Saturday will be a real test, but it is important to get another game under the belts before we head down to Stoneyhill in our next league encounter. Musselburgh will be disappointed to be out of the Shield, and, after their last league defeat at Biggar, are still in need of points to ensure their safety. A massive challenge looms, but every game is a challenge now, and we have to be up for them all.

Riggers

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