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Richard Latimer surprises the Ed. this week by reporting a different score from the one that the Ed. saw on the wall board in the Clubhouse. There is no doubt in the Ed.'s mind that Latimer has the correct score as the points were not exactly piling up on the day:
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Watsonians 2nd XV v's Boroughmuir 2nd XV
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Venue: Myreside.
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Date: Saturday 8th December 2007 at 1:30pm.
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Watsonians 2nd XV took on Boroughmuir 2nd XV in the local derby. This fixture is always a grudge game and to the winner comes the spoils. In this particular contest it was Boroughmuir who crossed the line first to win by 10 point to 6.
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Regular readers will be aware of my inability to remember the finer details of the game. Finding it difficult to keep tabs on who scored and when. However there should be no such difficulties here as the game yielded only one try which came from Boroughmuir mid way through the second half.
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The weather on Saturday afternoon was horrible. Cold, windy and with a sleety rain sweeping across the pitch. A perfect advert for summer rugby if you ask me!
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The home team were showing a few changes (again). 3rd XV No 8 Andy Learmonth was called up very late on. Andy was returning from a few weeks lay off with shoulder trouble and was probably wondering "Why me?" as he slotted into No 8. Prior to the game Gary Scott patiently talked him through line out calls and various other bits a pieces.
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Josh (pocket battle ship) took us through the warm up with his usual gusto and enthusiasm. The forwards split and practised line outs. This must have been a shock to second row elect Fraser Boyd. Boydie woke up on Saturday morning thinking he was playing for the thirds at Lasswade only to be told he was playing for us. Clearly a complete breakdown in communications somewhere in the chain of command. However to his credit Fraser played his socks off in his typical tireless fashion.
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Given the conditions and the quality of the opposition it would be clear the game would not be high scoring.
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Boroughmuir kicked off, the ball was taken cleanly, settling any early nerves. We played most of the early rugby. There was a fair bit of foot table tennis early on as both sides sussed each other out, as well as trying to create the unforced error. However our full back Rob Tweedie was more than equal to any high balls and played very steadily from the back.
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Incidents of indiscipline crept into by both sides. The referee was very strict about any cynical play. He made an example of Andy Learmonth. Sending him to the sin bin for a ten minute cool off (literally) for handling in the ruck I believe. One his return to the field one of the boys asked him how his ten minute breather was, Andy simply replied "Cold."
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We took the lead through a well hit penalty by fly Half Scott Kennedy. It's hardly surprising but he seemed to be having trouble teeing the ball up in the muddy conditions. That didn't put him off a single iota as he coolly (could it be any other way?) made it 3 - 0.
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Our defence was fantastic and Boroughmuir couldn't find a way through. It was fairly scrappy at times with both sides making uncharacteristically poor handling errors. On the other hand there were some flashes of inspiration. Centre Neil Tweedie (sibling of Rob) ran some good strong angles and had his opposite number on toast making some telling breaks. However despite his efforts we were unable to capitalise.
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The remainder of the first half ebbed and flowed and was committed rugby by both sides but also pretty turgid with plenty of unforced errors by both teams.
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Our line outs functioned well in the circumstances, getting a good supply of ball. Boroughmuir mauled a few of their line outs and managed a few times to get it moving only to be thwarted by our committed defence.
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At one point pacey left wing Gary Dempsey got the ball in a bit of space. He did what he does best and went for the corner. He made a good dash for the line only to be hauled down short by a good covering tackle.
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At half time it was 3-0 to the home team. A real old school scoreline, it was obvious it would be tight. Andrew Kerr (deputising for Stavie who is currently on holiday) spoke in his normal calm manner about the need to keep doing what we were doing and to cut out the high penalty count.
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We kicked off the second half and much to our amusement one of the Boroughmuir forwards must have seen the ball late, either that or he's the worlds most uncoordinated man as the ball landed directly on his head, it was a real slapstick moment. I think we were awarded the put in to yet another scrum.
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We continued where we had left off the previous half. We enjoyed an ample share of the possession. Hooker Danny Moussa, who had a big game, was really intent in getting the ball in his hands and attacking his opponents. A pivotal moment in the game came when he was judged by the ref to have been held up over the line. It was a tough call but one we had to accept. The big man literally dragged about two or three players over with him. It looked as if he was stopped, then still carried on only to be held up.
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The only try came from the Boroughmuir No 8 who linked well with his scrum half to score virtually under the posts. It was a soft score coming from an unforced knock on at the base of our previous scrum. Handing the ascendancy straight back to Muir. It was a real pity that such a soft score was conceded. They made the conversion good. It was now 6 - 7.
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It seemed when ever we got into good positions to score we'd give away penalties. Which their full back (who had an enormous boot) would send the ball raking back deep into our half. Wreaking any good field positions we had established.
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As the game went into the final quarter we were getting desperate to score. We panicked a little. However the fear of losing meant we started to throw the ball around with precision. At one point lock Richard Latimer gathered a 22 drop out from Kennedy and ran up field, off loaded to blind side Craig Adams to keep the move alive. It didn't materialise into points but gave the weary legs a bit of a lift in the heavy under foot conditions.
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With time slipping away from us the Muir full back slammed a penalty kick to make it 10 - 6, which effectively sealed the game. With minutes remaining we adopted the run everything approach. We threw our lot into attack to no avail as the Muir snuffed us out.
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The ref blew for full time and the relief was clear on the Boroughmuir players faces as was the disappointment on ours. We had lost at home for the second time this season and it doesn't get any easier.
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There wasn't a great deal said at full time. Next week we move onto Aberdeen away, which I know is a greatly anticipated away trip.
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Full time score: Watsonians 6, Boroughmuir 10.
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RL.
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watsoniansrugby.com
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Published: 10/12/07
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