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Stew Mel vs Watsonians,
29/10/05
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Squad
The Stewart's Melville FP RFC team to play Watsonians at
Inverleith on Saturday, kick off 3 pm, is:
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15
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Andrew Easson
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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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Nicky Wood
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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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Paul Wharakura (captain)
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2
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Shaun McMurchy
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3
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Stephan De Beer
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4
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Ben Leathes
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5
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Stephen Dalgleish
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6
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Graham Lind
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7
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Ross Rennie
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8
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Richard Vernon |
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16
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Neil Malloy |
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17
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Alex Edmonstone |
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18
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Alex Clarke |
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19
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Matt Dey |
Riggers
Malky's
Musings
The omens prior to Saturday's match with Watsonians were
not good: Edinburgh had recruited the services of our influential
prop and captain Paul Wharakura; our prolific try scoring
wing, Dave McCall, pulled up with a hamstring injury during
the warm up; my employers were sponsoring the fixture; and
the 'Herald' had tipped us to turn over our city rivals.
I wish that I could report that we had turned in a strong
performance in spite of these factors, however, barring
the opening ten minutes, we looked a shadow of the team
which had defeated Currie, Boroughmuir and Melrose in our
past three home fixtures.
We started well, with the pack securing good possession,
and our opponents handed us the initiative by conceding
penalties through a series of breakdown infringements. Unfortunately,
we failed to capitalise on our opportunities, with some
indifferent handling letting Watsonians off the hook on
more than one occasion. With around twelve minutes on the
clock, we then gifted our visitors a try following a sloppy
lineout turnover. During the next twenty minutes, 'Sonians
took a grip of the game, scoring two further converted tries.
Each of these scores had been preceded by a debatable refereeing
decision, yet what was not in question was the quality of
our opponents' finishing. We pushed hard to gain a foothold
in the match prior to the break, though our only reward
was a Sam Hendry penalty goal.
We showed some glimpses of quality after the restart and
competed well during the third quarter of the game. During
this period we scored two tries through wingers Richard
Borthwick and Craig Joiner. In spite of these efforts, Watsonians
continued to stretch and break our defence far too regularly,
and we were sorely punished for missing first up tackles.
We also suffered through the sin binning of Shaun McMurchy,
who was deemed to have committed a professional foul when
disrupting a driving maul close to our own line. The final
stages of the match saw our visitors extend their lead,
and, when the final whistle came, we had been well beaten.
The team will take a number of important lessons from Saturday's
fixture, most notably the need to reduce our missed tackle
count and to be more ruthless when securing possession at
the breakdown area. The Watsonians back row was highly effective
at slowing down our ball, and we must be more clinical in
dealing with fringing players. Thankfully, alongside these
lessons, there were also a number of positives to be taken
from the game; most notably, we saw a solid performance
from Andrew Easson at full back and a battling display by
Alex Edmonstone, who deputised for Paul Wharakura at loose
head prop. Competition for places within the starting lineup
remains fierce, and it was excellent to see the second team
record a comfortable victory against GHA. We have work to
do on the training ground, but I know that this is a squad
with a strong resolve and am certain that we will produce
a much improved performance when we travel to Glasgow on
Saturday.
Malky
Stew
Mel Stats
| Match Sponsors |
ABERCROMBIE
Pension & Investment Planning Ltd
BAILLIE GIFFORD & CO
Investment Managers
F P D SAVILLS LTD
Estate Agents & Surveyors
MAXWELL BRUCE
Recruitment Specialists
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| Result |
Lost 18-47 |
| Sequence |
0-5,
0-7, 0-12,
0-14, 0-19,
0-21, 3-21,
3-24 (half time),
6-24, 6-29,
11-29, 11-32,
11-37, 11-39,
16-39, 18-39,
18-42,
18-47 |
| Tries |
Richard Borthwick (63 mins), Craig
Joiner (71 mins) |
| Conversions |
Sam Hendry 1 (second try) |
| Penalties |
Sam Hendry 2 (40 & 42 mins) |
| Cards |
Shaun McMurchy yellowed on 46 minutes for coming
in at the side of a maul; a 'Sonians winger was also
binned late in the game
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| Referee |
Andy Hepburn of Lenzie |
| Single Sentence Summary |
A massively disappointing performance
after the promise of the previous two weeks, and one
which showed just how far we have to go to become competitive
in the league |
| Leading Lion |
Only three players really emerged with reputations
intact on Saturday, but, for playing in his third
position in three weeks and holding things together
as much as he could when those in front of him weren't
doing the same, Andrew Easson
gets the nod again this week
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| Bevvy Bulletin |
The club house was heaving on Saturday after the
game and into the evening, and great fun. Plenty of
drink was consumed, and, with the Hockey Club social
taking place at Inverleith, there was some impressive
eye candy, too!
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