Nov
19
RHC 2nd XV 32; Boroughmuir Bears 31
The Boroughmuir Bears, on the back of three league wins travelled the short distance to Union Park to face their bogey team of recent seasons RHC 2nd XV. In past seasons the games away to RHC have been dour affairs, short of tries and real entertainment. However, Saturday’s encounter was a different affair and served up a ten-try extravaganza, albeit one that the Bears were on the losing side of!
The Bears were bolstered by the return of two long-term injury absentees. In the back-row Liam Mitchell made his first start of the season at openside and in the backs Rory Scott lined up at outside centre.
It was a start to forget for the Bears, as they conceded two tries after hard running from the RHC forwards and midfield backs. The Bears were guilty of missing too many first time tackles and seemed to be shocked by the intensity that the home side were playing at.
Nevertheless, the Bears eventually got up to speed and after an opening penalty kick from Chris Evans, the Bears backs showed good handling to put Frank Yawayawe in some space up the right wing. He again showed his mix of pace and power to beat his opposite man and the full-back to score a great try. Evans missed the conversion.
When the Bears had possession they looked dangerous and it was good to see Liam Mitchell with ball in hand and causing the RHC defence some headaches. The Bears added another penalty kick to steal the lead from RHC and with thirty minutes to go Mitchell scored his own try, showing a clean pair of heals and a strong fend-off on his way. The conversion was missed again but Evans added a third penalty soon after.
Before half-time RHC responded with an unconverted try and although the Bears were leading 19-15, they were disappointed at half-time by their showing in defence. Coach Kev Robertson dealt out the tough words that were needed, focusing mainly on improving the defence which was unusually soft from the Bears.
RHC started the second half as they had finished the first and scored a try in the opening minutes to claim an early bonus point. This time it was converted and the Bears were back behind.
Again the Bears showed good character to get back into the game and their chance to steal back the lead was dealt a helping hand when RHC lost two front-rowers to the sin-bin in quick succession. During this period the Bears were able to score two tries.
The first was from Frank again, who scored his 11th try in six games, finishing well after a great sniping break from Derek Murray who had moved from centre to scrum-half in the second half. The try was converted.
The Bears returned to the RHC twenty-two soon after and this time it was hooker Ross Smith who went over. Loitering out on the wing, he was able to side step his way past a heavy footed forward to touch down.
The Bears, with a healthy nine point lead, looked to be heading for another victory. However, once RHC were back to their full compliment of players they were a different side. Playing into the wind the home side carried the ball instead of kicking and simply wore down the Bears defence, who did themselves no favours by spilling ball and making some bad decisions. RHC scored two unconverted tries to steal the game from the Bears, running out winners 32-31.
The Bears showed in this game that they are a really dangerous team in attack when they get good ball. However, the physicality of a big RHC team was too much in the end for the Bears who simply were not at the races when it came to defence. Much work has to be put in over the next couple of weeks before they face league leaders Edinburgh Accies Blues. All was not lost from this game thouh, as the Bears still picked up two bonus points and still share second spot in the league table.
Dick of the Day goes to Andrew Wildgoose who forgot his shorts and had to borrow a pair off one of the subs. He had his redemption after the game though, as he won the genius drinking game that the hospitable RHC team had put on!
The Man of the Match was Liam Mitchell, who not only scored a try on his return but was one of the few players that truly fronted up in defence, making tackles and slowing the RHC ball down at key times.
Tries: Frank Yawayawe (2), Liam Mitchell, Ross Smith ; Convs: Evans (1), Pens: Evans (3)
15. Chris Whitelock, 14. Cammy Leask, 13. Rory Scott 12. Derek Murray, 11. Frank Yawayawe , 10. Chris Evans, 9. Ed Zuiderent , 8. Andy Hood, 7. Liam Mitchell, 6. Andy Clark, 5. Graham Rex, 4. Rod Hutchison (c), 3. Andrew Wildgoose, 2. Ross Smith, 1. Richard Marshall
Replacements: Luke Worthington, Lee McDonald, Derek McLeod, Ewen Gaskell, Roy Stewart, Connor O’Hagan
