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The Team

2XV Match Report: Game of two halves at Meggetland

2XV Match Report: Game of two halves at Meggetland

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On a blustery Saturday afternoon, Sonians hold on to victory despite second half comeback

Boroughmuir 2nd XV 14

Watsonian 2nd XV 20

2XV Team Manager Stan Buchan Reports:

The game kicked off in blustery conditions at Meggetland on the tight 2nd XV pitch. I have no idea who won the toss but we had the wind advantage in the first half! We looked confident with strong carries from the pack continually putting us on the front foot and the backs going through the phases. We held on to the ball for long periods but didn’t always use it effectively. Boroughmuir rarely had the ball and when they did they didn’t appear to trouble us unduly as our defence was in good shape. Eventually we got down to their 5 metre line and from the lineout, the forwards put together a cohesive drive and Ross, at hooker, scored our first try. Cunningham couldn’t add the conversion but soon afterward kicked a penalty to ease us into an 8 – 0 lead. The spectators on the touch line believed that eight points of a difference was never going to be enough against the strength of the wind and the coaching team managed to convey a sense of urgency to the team. Ferguson, leading from full-back came onto the ball at pace and picked a great line to go over in the corner and take the score to 13 – 0. Cunningham couldn’t add the bonus but we then saw a great break from Davidson who then put in a very clever kick for Henderson, but in the swirling wind he was unable to gather for what would have been a well-deserved score. The half came to an end with Watsonians comfortably in control but unable to convert pressure into points.

The half-time chat was quite relaxed with the coaches letting the players do the talking and in fairness what they had to say was exactly what was needed, patience, discipline and communication would get us through. McKill went off at half-time after getting through his allotted 40 minutes and Harris came on to replace him. Although we were up against the wind, Boroughmuir did not use the possession they had very well, their kicking was poor often giving us the chance to run it back and make ground. Our scrum was gaining in strength and we gained a foothold in their 22. From a ruck, a B’muir player slapped the ball out of our hands, but the ref merely awarded us a penalty. We went for a scrum and were awarded another penalty, we opted for another scrum and duly gained another penalty and this went on for another couple of scrums. We obviously thought that the ref would award a penalty try or at least issue a yellow card for persistent infringement but the man in charge had other ideas. Anyway it didn’t matter too much as soon after Hobbis crashed over for a well-deserved try which Cunningham converted and the score moved on to 20 – 0. We hoped a bonus point would be on the cards but instead, Scott was replaced by Richardson in the back-row and Harvey came on for Middleton in the 2nd row. We lost concentration and from a lineout we caught and gave it straight to King at 9 as we had done most of the game, King passed it out to Bell as we had done most of the game and the B’muir scrum-half read the play beautifully and intercepted King’s pass from our 5 yard line and fell over the line for a soft score. With the clock ticking down we still attempted Barbarians rugby from our own goal line in an attempt to get the fourth try and duly gave up another interception try. Boroughmuir converted with the last kick of the game.

The team were happy to get back to winning ways but showed a level of maturity in understanding where they had gone wrong. Hawick Force will present a considerable challenge at Myreside this coming Saturday and we will need to show better game management against them if we are to gain a victory. Two good sessions this week will go a long way to helping the team unite after injury difficulties and hopefully construct a disciplined performance for the full 80 minutes.

Man of the Match: Finn Hobbis

Team: Hobbis, Ross, Keenan, Watt, Middleton, Scott, McKill, O’Neill, King, Bell, Henderson, Cunningham, Davidson, Peters and Ferguson (capt)

Replacements (all Played); Harris, Harvey, Richardson, Farquhar and Mackenzie.