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Watsonians 2XV v's Aberdeen GHS 2XV.
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Date: Saturday 6th October 2007 KO 3 pm.
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Venue: Myreside, Edinburgh.
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I concluded last weeks match report eluding to the fact that we were unbeaten during September and how we must continue this, maybe that was a jinx as we huffed and puffed our way to a lame defeat to the hands of Aberdeen Grammer.
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As the Indian summer continued the game kicked off at 3 pm in the most gorgeous of weather conditions (again) perfect for open rugby, as one of the philsophers on the team stated, "if you can't play rugby in these conditions you'll never be able to play rugby." mmm.....
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Prior to kick off there was a minute(ish) silence to remember the late Bruce Hay of Bouroughmuir, Scotland and the Lions.
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We kicked off through Woody who posted a lovely high, deep kick off into the heart of the Aberdeen pack resulting in early Watsonians pressure, the ensuing lineout take by Beattie provided clean ball and an attacking mid field move. At the breakdown the Aberdeen lads got a bit to over eger and within 2 mins the antipodean referee blow for offside. Robbie B stood up and clamly missed the 3 point chance.
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A short time later Aberdeen again found themselves on the wrong side of the ref who penalised them for offside. We opted to kick for the corner this time however made a hash of the lineout but a second bite at the cherry made sure we made no mistake, setting up good ball which was swiflty distributed to Woody at 10 who held up two defenders, sensing this like all good predators was Stuart Mac, playing at centre, made a tremendous angled run and took his score really well to dot down virtually under the posts, nicley concluded by Robbie for the seven, 7- 0 to Watsonians .
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Number 8 Craig Buchannan fielded the ball from the following kick off and set off on a typically bullicking run ghosting through (or was it over) several Aberdeen tackles making a good 30 metres, for a moment it seemed he'd totally lost his support however Freddie Main worked really hard in support and was able to take the off load, Main continued the move however the ball was lost forward in contact as he tried to keep the ball alive.
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For what ever reason we were unable to sustain the early territorial advantage and at times put ourselves under pressure, this was typified in Aberdeens opening try which started with a promising Watsonians back move on mid field, the move broke down and in a flash the Aberdeen 13 hacked the loose ball up the park, he collected his own kick and passed nicely to his supporting left wing who crossed with ease, we now knew we were in for a game as the Aberdeen players went wild at the score. The conversion was good suddendly it was 7 - 7.
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Watsonians were slopply penalised at the lineout for wrong numbers, the Aberdeen 10 (who to be fair had a big boot) went to clear his lines however right wing Dave "Turny" Turnbull had different ideas and althetically prevented the ball from going into touch kept the ball alive but his efforts came to nothing. Another swift Watsonians back move saw left wing Gary Dempsey cut in off his left wing off an inside move from fly half which was again well read by the busy Mac, but in this occassion he just over ran the ball and the off load from Dempsey was deemed to be forward, yet another frustrating end to a promising build up.
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Mid way through the first half Aberdeen took the lead with their second try, disappointingly it started with a Aberdeen line out and conclued with their right wing doting down in the corner all within the space of about twenty seconds, it was frustrating as it was off first phase and secondly up to that point we'd had the lions share of the possession and territory, it seemed that Aberdeen had been in our half twice and had scored twice it was now 7 - 12.
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For the next 10 minutes or so the play ebbed and flowed, but we ontinued to give away silly penalities for high tackles and failing to release the ball, which was frustrating the players.
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Just before half time Robbie B made a trade mark sniping run which lead to a long period of play resulting in numerous players getting their hands on the ball, this at last give speedy winger Dempsey some room and he made good yards into the Aberdeen half, we didn't score from this phase of play but it gave us some impetus and right on half time Dempsey scored a good try out of nothing much, gathered the ball up and scorching his opposite man on the outside to dot down and bring it to 12 - 12 and the half time whistle. Unfortunately during this play full back Ewan "Robbo" Roberstson was tackled some what off the ball, he came crashing down on his shoulder and re aggrevated an old injury to his AC joint which ended his match, get well soon mate.
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Coach Stavie (Ian Leslie) back this week after missing the Muir game was positive but cautious at half time fully aware that the Aberdeen lads were no mugs, stern words were dished out by captain Scott.
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The second half saw blind side Frazer Boyd being subsituted for fitness coach/utility forward Josh Gabriel - Clarke in a straight swap, Josh was a bit worried about his match fitness prior to coming on but soon forgot all about it when word filtered down from the club house that England had beaten Australia in the World Cup, "Thats made my day that has." he was heard to say.
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On fifty minutes the "Big Show" stole a rare ball from the Aberdeen lineout, however the ref gave Watsonians a free kick for a crooked throw and the quick tap taken by Robbie fissled out into nothing as Watsonians were unable to captailise or impress on the game dispite their best efforts. As the game wore on you could sence that we weren't going to get things our way. The referee was very fickle and on to many occassions we let this get to us venting our frustrations verbally which is often the way in the heat of the battle.
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The game was still in the balance and Aberdeen showed good intent to attack and in the process spilled a few chances due to sloppy handling. Mid way in the second half tight head Phil Mowat showed nice close handling skills and in an attempt to keep a good move going was unlucky when his pass was intercepted however nothing came of it.
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With around 20 minutes to go Stavie made a few changes, loose head and skipper Gary Scott took a breather to be replaced for the the school leaver Eddie (sorry i don't know your surname) who incidently is 27 years his junior! can you believe it? (you can do the maths) Lock Jonny Beattie was hampered with a leg strain so Rich Latimer had his fifteen minutes or so in the sun, alas these changes failed to change the end result, in the last quater Robbie slotted a nicley struck penalty to take the score to 17 - 15 and the win looked on dispite the mediocre performance.
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With literally minutes remaining Aberdeen had the thown in to a neutral line out around the Watsonians ten metre line which they caught and drove well, they shipped the ball from right to left and their full back came onto the ball at pace and dispite a commited tackle broke free and powered his way over the try line for what turned out to be the winning score, it was clear to all present what that try ment to them.
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Watsonians had to much to do in to little time and soon the game was over and we'd been beaten.
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Needless to say post match the changing room was not its usual happy place, a few of the senior players said a few words followed by a short period of reflection and the chapter was closed. The boys are away to Hawks this weekend and we'll need to quickly bounce back.
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Final score Watsonians 17 Aberdeen Grammer 20
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Tries: Mac 1, Dempsey 1
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Con: 2 Robbie B
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Pen: 1 Robbie B.
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Richard Latimer.
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