Sep
29
Boroughmuir Magic 2's v Watsonian 2's - 21 October
So, there are people out there that want rugby to be a summer sport as they feel that the Scottish and UK climate does not support a fast, open game........well they should have popped along to the warm and bright Myreside on Saturday where free flowing rugby was the order of the day in the delicious Autumn conditions. Let’s hope we get more days like this in late November and early December!
The game looked as if it could be a one-sided affair as the Watsons pack looked like Justin Gatlin had given them doping advice. Sometimes however, bigger is better and in the 2nd minute a silly penalty by the Muir forwards gave Watsons a kick to the corner and with the line-out won, 2 rucks and a drive over the line by the powerful pack they were 7-0 up. Another silly penalty on the 8-minute lark gave the Watson kicker 3 more points and a smirk was starting to show on the maroon and whites faces.
This was wiped off in the 13th minute when Watsons clearly came in from the side at a ruck. The penalty was put in touch on the 20-metre mark and with a catch and drive the Muir pack rumbled in playing the Edinburgh Rugby 'squatters' at their own game. Try awarded to hooker Stu Clark with Simpson missing the conversion.10-5 and all to play for.
Some great fast rugby by both teams ensued and the ball was spun wide on each side. Good defence from both teams stopped the scores going over with Boroughmuir particularity happy to hold up ex Muir player Darren Miller in the collapsed maul on our own 5m line. Sorry about that Dazza.
Muir were giving away too many silly penalties and missing too many line-outs which the coaches will look at this week through training. With 4 mins to play another penalty and Watsons took the points to go into the half 13-5 up.
The team talk was simple. Less penalties, hold onto ball and use the wind to push the defence back into their half. It seemed to have worked as straight d=from the kick off Watsons collected and the 'Massive Unit' that is Scotty Richards at 10 hit the attacker and forced the knock on. Don't mess with our Scotty!! Muir were in the ascendancy but kept making silly errors.
New boy and scrum half Euan McKirdy, an ex-Watsons player himself, did find a gap early on and made ground followed by a lovely 40m clearance which got us down the field only for Watsons to run it back through a couple of missed tackles. On the 21-minute mark the Watsons 9 found and exposed blindside and ran in almost untouched from half way. A good solo effort but, with a gap wider than the Grand Canyon left by the Muir defence I think even the B’muir coaching team could have made it through there.
Muir stuck in to the end but a scrum on our 5m line and a big strong pack in front of him meant that the replacement 8 managed to pick and go to make the final score 25-5 to Watsons.
A deserved win for them, but a point’s tally that certainly did not reflect the game. That said if you give away 17 penalties and lose 7 of your own line-out throws then you cannot expect to win. It’s great to have a young team with 5 players only 18 years old and learning more and more each week.
Good performances in the back line from new but McKridy at 9 and stalwart Richards at 10. In the pack the back row again played well with Rob Ure impressing us with a bit of fire in the belly and Dan Coulter getting the starting 7 berth back. Fin Field in the 2nd row is ready to play for 80 mins and push for 1st team selection and alongside the powerful 18 yrs. old German Felix Krause they looked useful together.
However, our MOM is the 18-year-old Callum McDevitt who just keeps getting better and better each week. Strong in Defence and a couple of cheeky passes and supporting roles allowed us some valuable front foot ball and opportunities to turnover ball. Look out John Hardie, MvDev is looking for a sniff at an Edinburgh game!
