Meggetland suffered defeat by a single point
in their first home league game of the season, agonisingly
going down 5-6 to Dalkeith. As the scoreline suggests, it
was not the most riveting of encounters, although the
outcome was always in doubt, so the sizeable crowd had
plenty to shout about.
There was no scoring at all in the first
half, with Meggetland running the ball at every opportunity,
instead perhaps of showing the tactical know how that their
opponents were to display in the second period, by kicking
everything that came their way to make full use of the
strong westerly breeze. Indeed, the busiest players on the
pitch in that second half were the Meggetland back three,
who were constantly having to retrieve and return ball and,
to their credit, they did that pretty well.
The lineout also will be a source of concern
to the coaches, with ball being spilled far too often and a
streetwise Dalkeith pack devouring it to deny Meggetland any
real platform from which to build.
Kevin Robertson, playing at stand-off, opened
the scoring with a well-worked try early in the second half,
but Dalkeith replied with two penalties, the second of which
was a particularly good strike from wide out and, in truth,
deserved to win, if only because they played the conditions
much better when they had the wind advantage.
This was a learning experience for Meggetland
who simply could not break down a well-organised and
committed Dalkeith team. We will meet many such sides in
this league, teams who do the basics well. How different the
result might have been if Meggetland had been able to use
the wind in that first half!
After the match, Team Manager Mike Bailey
said "Dalkeith were fired up
and well drilled but we did have plenty chances to win the
game, however our failure to use the conditions in the first
half playing with a very strong wind in our favour cost us
dear. With
no scoring in this half it was a big ask to pull off a
victory but despite 100% effort from every player we just
failed to snatch the vital score. The biggest lesson to
learn is that league rugby is a different ball game,
whatever the level, and we will have to fight and scrap for
every point."
