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As
coach Eamon John said in his post match interview "The Cup
is about being in the next round". That is about the best
thing that can be said about today's Edinburgh derby. The 38
- 8 scoreline might indicate an exciting game but this would
be a false impression as both sides struggled to retain
possession in blustery conditions. That Boroughmuir ran out
comfortable victors in the end was no less than they
deserved against an Accies side that were unable to adapt
when their stuffy, forward oriented game plan showed little
signs of success.
The
strong wind blowing in the capital had taken the worst of
the moisture off the pitch and conditions, whilst difficult,
where by no means the only reason for the poor fare on
offer. Accies are past masters at preventing Boroughmuir
from playing their normal, expansive rugby, but whereas in
the Semi-Final last year they had the guile to exploit
'Muir's mistakes, on this occasion they perhaps had one eye
on league survival.
Right from the start Accies signalled their intent; putting
the kick-off deep they forced 'Muir o kick for touch and
then tied the ball up in the forwards with a catch and drive
tactic which yielded little success but was repeated time
and time again. The soft underbelly of Boroughmuir forwards'
play which may have been evident in previous seasons is
nowhere to be found this term, and yet again the home pack
fronted up and refused to yield easy ground. Giving as good
as they got the 'Muir eight refused to be dominated and as
they game wore on it was they that gained the upper hand,
pushing Accies off their own scrum ball on more than one
occasion.
After 10 minutes 'Muir opened the scoring when Graeme
McCallum cantered in from 20 metres. Winning a ruck midway
inside their own half 'Muir cleared the ball for Greg
Cottrell, replacing the unavailable Calum Cusiter, to feed
Matt Cannon who shaped to kick. The Accies defence braced
themselves for the boot as Cannon dipped his shoulder and
sprinted through the gap to half-way. Ruddick took the pass
and linked with Charlie Keenan who made ground up the wing
before throwing a speculative pass inside. As ever, Angus
Martyn reacted quickest, snatched the ball and fed McCallum
to burst through and stretch away to score. Elgan O'Donnell
landed the conversion on what turned out to be a 100%
kicking day and 'Muir held a lead they would never
relinquish.
Almost immediately Accies struck back. After Cottrell
fumbled the kick-off the Raeburn side were awarded a scrum
inside the 'Muir 22. When Fergus Pringle was caught offside
at the breakdown the 'Muir defence stopped expecting the
punt to touch. Accies captain Dan Teague playing heads-up
rugby saw his chance, took a quick tap and dived over in the
corner. Bonner missed the conversion attempt but Accies were
right back in it at the quarter hour.
Despite much hustle and bustle the only scoring for the next
25 minutes was an exchange of penalties between O'Donnell
and Ruairidh Bonner and as the half drew to a close it
looked like 10-8 would be the turn around score. 'Muir may
well have been happy to accept that position having defended
well as Bonner used the wind at his back to regularly kick
for the corners and Accies tried to strangle the game with
forward power.
It
was a scrappy, stop-start affair with both sides guilty of
mistakes, which finally sprang back to life as the half drew
to a close. Angus Martyn went blind from a ruck and fed
Charlie Keenan to burst up the wing. The flanker overran his
support, getting in front of Keenan, allowing the cover
defence to put the winger in touch 5 metres short of the
line. After Accies cleared upfield 'Muir again stole ball
from scrum-half Gerry Tsang and Rory Couper beat this
opposite number Matt Couper for pace. He chipped ahead and
the foot race to the line saw the 'Muir skipper dive on the
ball but unable to clearly control it and the knock-on was
awarded by referee Ireland.
The
'Muir pack took matters into their own hands and pushed
Accies off their own ball. As 'Muir attacked the line Accies
replacement George Berthinussen was caught with hands in the
ruck and given a 10 minute rest. 'Muir took a scrum in lieu
of the penalty. Cottrell broke right and fed back inside for
Ben Fisher to power over form close range. O'Donnell
converted and 'Muir had clear daylight which gave them the
confidence to cruise away in the second period.
After a slow start to the second half as Accies tried to run
down the clock on the numeral deficit by sticking the ball
up their collective jumper, 'Boroughmuir captain Rory Couper
finally got the try he deserved. From a penalty close to the
Accies line where the now dominant 'Muir 8 again elected for
the scrum, Greg Cottrell fed Matt Cannon. With a Cup medal
in England playing for London Irish, Cannon seemed
determined to repeat the feat in Scotland when he found
Couper with a sublime inside pass. The express train, in off
his wing found the signals on green and sprinted through to
score under the posts. O'Donnell kept the scoreboard ticking
as he landed his third conversion.
With
the result now beyond doubt Accies went even more into their
shell and 'Muir were unable to maintain any consistent pace
and the undertaker could have been called to the dead game.
Despite a sin-binning for hooker Sean Crombie when caught
with hands in the ruck the game was a static, midfield
affair. With 4 minutes of normal time to go Accies refused
to chase the game and when scrum-half Gerry Tsang threatened
to release the ball from a driving maul his forwards could
be heard telling him to keep it tight.
Eventually, 'Gus Martyn stole turnover ball and as he went
to ground Greg Cottrell was on hand to run in from the 22
with the Accies defence unable to lay a hand on him. Further
salt was rubbed into the open wound when Couper grabbed his
second try just on full time. O'Donnell landed both
conversions and 'Muir completed a 38 -8 victory to move
comfortably into the sixth round.
Games of this nature are not attractive spectacles. The
weather played a part and the broken nature of the season at
this time of year meant that neither side had any rhythm.
'Muir were clearly the better team and thoroughly deserved
their victory but they will have to step up their
performance if they are again to grace Murrayfield at the
end of the season.
Boroughmuir: Stephen Ruddick;
Charlie Keenan, Malcolm Clapperton, Elgan O'Donnell, Rory Couper;
Matt Cannon, Greg Cottrell; Fred Lait Sean Crombie,
Cam Ward; Fergus Pringle, Graeme McCallum; Olly Brown,
Ben Fisher,
Angus Martyn. Subs Used Conor Costigan, Davie Cunningham,
Euan Matheson - Not Used: Tom Bury |
