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There
are times when players must stand up and be counted. Times
when a team needs its experienced players to come to the
fore and lead them to victory. Today was one of those times,
and Ben Fisher was one of those players. With Dundee
threatening to pull away and claim a vital victory in their
battle for Premiership survival, Fisher grabbed his
team-mates by the bootstraps and hauled them back into the
match. His powerful performance from the base of the
Boroughmuir scrum saw him claim two vital tries to ensure
that ’Muir’s 100% record remained intact and their title
challenge on course.
It
has been said about both GHA and Edinburgh Accies this
season, that teams able to play with such style and quality
will not stay long at the foot of the table, and today
Dundee have certainly been added to that list. Boroughmuir
team manager Grant Wilson said after the game that the
Mayfield side had caused ’Muir more problems than any other
side this season. Therein, perhaps, lies the problem. There
are simply too many teams playing good quality rugby for
some of them not to be mired in the relegation battle.
Dundee could, however, have been forgiven for packing up and
going home with barely over a minute on the clock. Facing
the runaway division leaders, the last thing they needed was
to concede early, but when Olly Brown broke down the
blindside and James White played in Graeme McCallum, that is
exactly what happened. With Elgan O’Donnell unavailable,
Matt Cannon took over the goal kicking duties and was
accurate with his first attempt, sailing the ball between
the uprights.
Needless to say that no side coached by Ian Rankin would
ever give up any ghost though, and after a few minutes of
midfield ping-pong, flanker Stephan Dreyer profited from
turnover ball to score a try in the corner. An attempt to
run the ball out of defence between Cannon and Stephen
Ruddick saw the ball knocked on and Dundee were quickly onto
the front foot. Winger Mike Kerr spotted a mis-match against
McCallum and jinked past the lock forward. George Oommen was
up in support and it was he who put Dreyer over in the right
corner. Scrum half Barry Jones, often a highly reliable goal
kicker, pushed his conversion effort wide of the sticks to
leave Boroughmuir still in the lead.
The
hosts were by now having the better of the game, helped
admittedly by a high error count from Boroughmuir, and after
quarter of an hour they claimed a second try to jump into
the lead. A penalty on the halfway line was thumped into
touch by Jones, and on a looping run round the back of the
lineout, lock forward Chris Cumming battered his way through
Boroughmuir’s midfield. He was eventually brought down deep
in the twenty-two, but Kerr swung a long pass out to the
left and full back Aubrey Horton put hooker Kenny Watt over
for the score. Jones’ conversion this timed speared between
the posts.
Dundee were making all the running in the game, with a back
three who were solid under the high balls that ’Muir aimed
their way, they were making serious ground every time they
ran the ball back at the Edinburgh side. Boroughmuir’s
defence had to be strong to withhold the pressure, and to be
honest there were times when Dundee should have crossed the
line, but eventually a long range strike from Calum Cusiter
put ’Muir right back in the game.
Cammy Ferguson hammered a kick deep into the Boroughmuir
half, and from then the Mayfield crowd were treated to a
glimpse of the rugby that the Meggetland side have become
famous for. Stephen Ruddick, revelling in his new position
of full back this season, shrugged off the challenges of
Ferguson and Lindsey Graham and set Malcolm Clapperton on
his way. The outside centre, returning after missing last
week’s win over Hawks exchanged passes with Andy Hadden down
the right wing and then put Cusiter clear for the scrum half
to dive under the posts. Cannon’s conversion restored
Boroughmuir to the lead.
Jones soon turned that round with a penalty struck from in
front of the posts and saw another effort drop short, but
just as it looked like they would have to settle for a one
point advantage at the break, Dundee claimed their third try
of the match. The move began when Lindsey Graham reminded
’Muir of what he used to do in a green and blue shirt,
powering past opposite number Andy Hadden to set up the
attack. James White did well to stop Watt and Cumming
combining as the ball came out to Dundee’s left wing, but
when it returned to the opposite flank, Oommen fed Kerr and
the Kiwi player/coach’s dive saw him over in the corner.
Jones’ missed conversion attempt brought the half to a
close.
The
impression was that the first score in the second half was
going to be vital, and the manner in which Boroughmuir
coughed it up must have been disappointing to coaches Eamon
John and Stuart Reid. After patiently winning the ball back
following a series of Dundee forward drives, ’Muir tried to
attack quickly, only for Hadden to pop a pass into the hands
of home number eight Danny Levison who fed Kerr, and the
winger was in at the corner. Jones’ cause wasn’t being
helped by the tries all coming on the wings, and he watched
as another conversion flashed across the face of the posts.
Cometh the hour, cometh the Fish however, as Boroughmuir’s
number eight signalled his intent to change the flow of the
game with a storming run from the base of a scrum. His
efforts could have been rewarded with a score for the side
had Clapperton’s hurried pass to Cusiter not drifted
forward.
It
wasn’t too long before the try came ’Muir’s way as they
began to force themselves back into the match. Rory Couper
and Freddie Lait began a move fifteen metres inside ’Muir’s
half which saw Ruddick burst clear down the left wing. The
full back had Angus Martyn in support and timed his pass
perfectly between two Dundee defenders. Martyn showed his
strength to hold off Ferguson’s challenge and dot the ball
down over the line. Cannon’s missed conversion was the only
time he erred in front of the posts all day, and left ’Muir
six points down.
Confidence was visibly flowing through the ’Muir side now
and breaks by Fisher and Ward brought them within just a few
feet of the Dundee line. James White almost put Cannon in
and Lait’s pick and drive saw him stopped just short, but
when Stephan Dreyer was judged to have come into the ruck
from in front of the back foot, referee Andrew McMenamy
chose, much to the consternation of the Dundee bench, to
show the flanker a yellow card.
’Muir took immediate advantage of the situation, Fisher
pirouetting round Jones off the back of the scrum and diving
over for the score. Cannon added the conversion from ten
metres in on the right, and from being on the verge of
falling away from Dundee, they now held a single point lead.
The
joy of that lead lasted but two minutes, however, as ’Muir
again gifted Dundee a score. Having wheeled a Dundee scrum
on the ’Muir twenty-two, Cusiter fed Cannon. The fly-half
wound up for a big kick downfield, but didn’t factor in the
ever tenacious George Oommen who stretched every fibre to
charge his kick down and race over the line to dive on the
ball. Jones again failed to convert from the touchline, and
the momentum ’Muir had gained looked in danger of
evaporating.
There were still some fifteen minutes remaining though, and
plenty of time to turn the result around. And the spirit
evident in the ’Muir side meant that they were going to try
everything they could to effect that change. Cannon came
close when White flicked him a pass on the right, but a
superb tackle from Horton bundled him into touch.
Boroughmuir were now completely dominant in the game, with
Jones and Ferguson only able to thump the ball downfield and
failing to make touch, allowing the potent ’Muir back three
– now with Hadden in place of the injured Ruddick at full
back – to run the ball right back. There was a sense that
the try had to come, and finally it did through none other
than Fisher. Having won a scrum that perhaps should have
been awarded the other way after Lait was turned in the
tackle, Fisher broke from the base and was clear to the
line, touching down to the cheers of his team-mates. Cannon
converted to put ’Muir three in the lead, and when
McMenamy’s whistle sounded four minutes later, that gap
remained.
This
was the third consecutive game that Boroughmuir could have
lost but came through to claim victory. Having struggled to
beat Edinburgh Accies and Glasgow Hawks in previous weeks,
the spirit shown to shoot down Dundee was fantastic. It is
this spirit which will have to be called upon in the tough
games against Heriot’s and Watsonians that lie just ahead,
but first relegation battlers Stirling County must be
dispatched when they visit Meggetland next week.
Boroughmuir: Stephen Ruddick;
James White, Malcolm Clapperton, Andy Hadden, Rory Couper;
Matt Cannon, Calum Cusiter; Freddie Lait, Sean Crombie,
Cam Ward; Euan Matheson, Graeme McCallum; Olly Brown, Ben Fisher,
Angus Martyn. Subs Used Conor Costigan, Stuart Waddell, Greg Cottrell.
Not Used: Davie Cunningham, Robert Cairns |
