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Had
one been forced to bet on the result after twenty minutes of
this afternoon’s match at Meggetland, such a one-sided
affair would likely have been the last thing to spring to
mind. Stirling had just kicked the first points of the game
through centre Brian Archibald, and though it was
Boroughmuir’s inability to string phases together that was
at the heart of the scoreline parity, there was little to
suggest that they might stop making such careless errors in
time to squeeze out a win, let alone rack up a score.
Those first twenty minutes would not have been enjoyable to
watch for a neutral, and they certainly weren’t for the home
fans. ’Muir could have fallen behind in the first minute but
Archibald’s penalty attempt was pushed wide, and though they
had plenty of opportunity to make things happen, they turned
over so much ball that County’s forwards must have thought
Christmas had come early.
For
all Stirling’s huff and puff, however, they barely
threatened to break through the Boroughmuir defence and were
always going to have to rely on kicks to get themselves on
the board. Archibald eventually got them ahead, an
impressive penalty goal from thirty-five metres out, and the
visitors must have felt that they could be on for the shock
of the season.
In
actual fact, all County’s penalty served to do was kick
’Muir into gear. Within five minutes they crossed the line
for the first try of the match, and two minutes after that
they had gone over for a second. It was ’Muir eventually
getting their ball retention right that led to the first
score.
The
forwards drove their Stirling counterparts back into their
own twenty-two, and when the ball was swung right, Matt
Cannon showed great strength to get within a yard of the
line. It was perhaps to be expected that Angus Martyn would
be the one to bag the try, the flanker ended up with three
in the match to take his tally to sixteen for the season.
This was the shortest run he needed to make though, picking
up from the back of the ruck and diving over for the score.
Elgan O’Donnell resumed kicking duties on his return to the
side and sent his effort between the posts.
What
Boroughmuir have been praised for most this season is their
ability to strike from anywhere at any time, as County found
out to their cost from the restart. Full back Stephen
Ruddick boomed a kick upfield and an excellent chase from
himself and winger James White put the pressure straight
back on the visitors. The return kick failed to make touch
and Cam Ward fielded it well. The ball was quickly moved
left to Rory Couper and the winger did what he has done so
often in a Boroughmuir shirt, skinned his opposite number on
the outside and touched down in the corner. O’Donnell’s
missed conversion would be his only failure with the boot
during the match.
Boroughmuir were now getting into their stride and looking
for opportunities to break wherever they were on the pitch.
They could have had the game wrapped up by the half time
whistle, but had to settle for just one more try, an
opportunist score by Martyn. Stirling had won a scrum when
the flanker knocked on in the visitors’ twenty-two, but the
resultant play was loose, and when a pass was thrown to
no-one in particular, Martyn pounced and beat the defence to
the line; O’Donnell ensured a sixteen point half-time lead.
The
first score of the second period was clearly going to be
vital, and once it came to Boroughmuir, County’s heads
dropped and their game fell apart. It was ten minutes into
the half that the try came ’Muir’s way, and then only when
referee Ted Coutts was forced to intervene, penalising
Stirling time and again for dropping a scrum five metres
from their own line. Coutts’ award of the penalty try gave
O’Donnell the simplest of jobs to convert, and from
twenty-three points down, there was no way back for County.
’Muir had their fifth try just minutes later. Cannon broke
through the Stirling defence ten metres inside their own
half, and when he was finally closed down deep in the
twenty-two, and though he initially seemed to have picked
the wrong option in passing inside to O’Donnell rather than
outside to Martyn, Fred Lait stormed the ball to within a
yard of the line from where Ben Fisher drove over to claim
the try. O’Donnell again added the extra two points.
The
only question now was just how many Boroughmuir would score,
and the answer was to be that they would add a further four
tries. After a period of pressure from Stirling, ’Muir’s
superior fitness began to show in the closing stages. A
Stirling attack up the right wing saw the ball drop loose on
their own ten metre line. On hand to pick up and put in a
barnstorming run was ‘Fearless’ Freddie Lait and the prop
slipped a pass to Couper for the captain to score his second
of the day.
It
would have been fair to say that Angus Martyn had been
hunting his hat-trick score for much of the second half, and
it finally came in a wonderful closing period from ’Muir.
From a lineout in the County half, Fisher found his back-row
colleague, and Martyn sliced through the Stirling defence
with ease, touching down under the posts to make O’Donnell’s
conversion simple.
Stirling simply couldn’t contain ’Muir in these closing
moments, and try number eight came straight from the
re-start. Lait and Greg Cottrell started a break down the
left wing and a flowing move across the backline ended with
substitute winger Andy Hadden racing onto Malcolm
Clapperton’s pass and in under the posts.
There was time for one final score, and it deservedly went
to Fisher. Cottrell, on at fly-half for Matt Cannon, spun
the ball out to Couper. The ’Muir captain bounced up after a
high tackle and making the most of the advantage played by
Coutts, the ball was recycled and Fisher drove over on the
left. To add salt to the wounds, O’Donnell converted from
the touchline with the final kick of the match.
It
is becoming harder and harder with each passing week to
deflect talk of the title, but the coaches’ attitude of
simply taking each match as it comes is clearly paying off.
On that note, all minds must be fixed firmly on next
weekend’s encounter with Watsonians and what will no doubt
be a difficult match. Confidence will rightly be sky high
going into it though, but it will take all that and more to
return from Myreside victorious.
Boroughmuir: Stephen Ruddick;
James White, Malcolm Clapperton, Elgan O'Donnell, Rory Couper;
Matt Cannon, Calum Cusiter; Freddie LAit, Sean Crombie,
Cam Ward; Stuart Waddell, Fergus Pringle; Olly Brown, Ben Fisher,
Angus Martyn. Subs Used Conor Costigan, Nigel Drapper. Euan
Matheson, Greg Cottrell, Andy Hadden |
