Match reports

North Berwick Tournament 30th September 2001

On the 30th of September 2001 North Berwick Rugby Club hosted a tournament, which Stew Mel Lions attended.

In our group there were Haddington, Boroughmuir and Mussleburgh. These all looked to be tough matches. Our first match was against Haddington- we went 1-0 up after a very good try. Soon after we let our defences loosen off a bit and they pulled it back to 1-1. After high-quality rucking by the forwards and first-class running also from the backs we eventually won the match 4-1.

Our next match was against Boroughmuir who were a very good team. Their defence was excellent and their attack was admirable as well. It was a hard match but we found holes in their defence and in the end won 4-0. Even after they lost however the Boroughmuir players were still very sporting, cheering us off at the end.

Our final group match was against Mussleburgh. They had won all their matches so this was a win-or-lose match. If we won then we would progress to the final and if we lost we were out and we had to go home empty-handed. We started well, tackling hard and making all the breaks that we could. By half time we were 3-0 up. For some of us this went to our heads and halfway through the second half it was 3-2. We then got our acts together and kept our defence firm to win 3-2. Everyone was ecstatic to get to the final especially Charles Herriot because it was his first tournament for Stew Mel Lions.

In the final we were against Glasgow Accies. We had played them once before and lost 2-1, so we knew we had to play very well to win. We started off very well, putting lots of pressure on them but then, unfortunately we conceded a breakaway try. We held our heads up high though and tried again and again another breakaway try came from inside their own half.

Now it was their turn to pile on the pressure and although the backs played exceedingly well and the forwards excelled, we still conceded another try to bring the score to 3-0 at half time. In the second half it was much the same with us piling on the pressure and them scoring three more breakaway tries.

Even though we lost 5-0 in the final to a better side we still enjoyed ourselves and came home with a silver medal.

Murray Matheson P7

Stew Mel Lions Tournament 7th October 2001

On October 7th 2001 Stew-Mel Lions hosted probably the largest mini-rugby festival in Scotland. At the P7 age group 8 other very strong clubs came to enjoy an exciting day of rugby with the two home teams. The teams played in two groups of 5, both of which were equally tough. Stew-Mel Lions 1 played in a group including Marr, Currie, Duns and Musselburgh.

We knew these teams were well organised and skilful and we would need to be on our best form to do well in our home tournament. Our first match was against Marr who had beaten a Stew-Mel team at their own tournament but we went out determined to do well and were very soon 1-0 up. We continued to play with great rucking and mauling which gave us the chance to break through their defence and in the end we won 3-0. Our next game was against Currie who we had played recently and knew were a strong force. Once again our team played solidly in defence and we scored 4 magnificent trys to win 4-0. Our next match was to be against Duns but they scratched from the tournament as they had suffered too many injuries in their first two games and did not want to continue.

Our final match in the group was likely to be our toughest test as we have played Musselburgh on two or three occasions and the games were always close. Musselburgh went 1 up following a very good break but we dug deeply into our reserves and got 1 back before half time. In the second half we gave it our all with Murray Matheson scoring a great try to settle our place in the final close to the end. We were all really proud of each other having improved in each match and in this form we could not wait for the final.

We soon learnt that in the final we were to be up against Edinburgh Accies, our arch rivals who had given us many hard battles in the past. The first half was fairly even with no clear-cut chances, the two packs of forwards playing a tight game. In the second half Accies got a break to score an excellent try to put them 1 up. We did not let our heads go down as we knew we could still take something from the match provided we continued to play as a team and to our strengths. We dominated play for the remainder of the game with the majority of the play in their half but time was running out. We were awarded a penalty within 5 metres off the Accies line but the Accies moved off their line too quickly and while advantage was played it appeared that no advantage was being gained by us and another penalty was awarded. This proved to be the second last play of the match, the move was called but when Calum Goudie played the tap and pass I noticed a gap in the Accies defence and quickly played the ball out to Peter Gilfillan on the wing who ran in to score a well worked try. Shortly after the restart the referee blew the full time whistle, the honours being shared with Accies.

Callum Baynham receives the cup jointly with the Accies from Graeme Burns, Edinburgh and Scotland

We were all very happy after a hard days effort as we all received a gold medal and our club name will go on the cup again.

Calum Baynham P7

On the 7th October 2001 Stew Mel Lions 2 turned up for our annual tournament at Inverleith. We had been drawn against Stirling County, Melrose, Gala and Edinburgh Academy. These were all very strong teams and we all knew that we would have to play very well to beat any of them.

Our first game was against Stirling County who beat us 5-0. We weren't concentrating in the first half and gave away 5 tries. We played a lot better in the second half and didn't give away a single try.

We started the second game with new hopes and were pretty sure we had a fair chance against Melrose. We were desperate to win this game but due to an injury or two we didn't have everyone ready to play. We played well in the first half but were losing. We had our halftime talk with Ken Drew (our coach). He helped us look at the game in a more positive way which spurred us on to get back on the pitch and beat Melrose. The end result was a disappointing 9-0 defeat.

The third game, (against Gala) kicked off at 12.30. We were all getting quite tired by then. During the first half we kept running it down the backs and the forwards had a few charges but Gala continued to defend well and held off our attacks. We played a good second half as well but Gala's scores clocked up and the final result was 8-0 for Gala. The fourth and final match was against Edinburgh Academy. They were a formidable side with some very large players. They played a really good first half although we tried really hard to hold off their defences. But they kept breaking through our defences and the end result was 9-0 to the Accies. It was a hard day for our Team but we tried our best.

Conan Fraser P7

<< back to teams menu