Saturday 29th August 2009

Selkirk 24 v 29 Boroughmuir

Reporter: Simon Furnivall

There aren’t many who’ll come to Philiphaugh and win this season. That was the truism being passed around the Boroughmuir ranks after the final whistle had blown on their gruelling season opener in Selkirk. Last year there weren’t any who left the Borders town with a league win in their pocket. Traditionally this is not the sort of fixture in which Boroughmuir thrive, against a side who make it difficult to play and who relish the physicality of the game, but their line up, much changed from last season, showed that they had every ounce of fight needed to step up to the challenge.

Selkirk had put on a warm welcome for the support – free food is never going to go down badly at a rugby club, and it’s nice to see a club take on the challenge of getting people through the gates in financially difficult times – but on the pitch the players were afforded no such niceties with Selkirk running hard and fast at them from the first whistle. Much has been made of the players Boroughmuir have lost in the pack since last season, but from the very first scrum when they almost shoved Selkirk off their own ball, they were determined to prove that they were up to the job.

The first chance of the day came on just four minutes when centre James Fish stepped inside his opposite number, Ross Armstrong, and burst upfield. He arced his run outside fullback Fraser Harkness, but his pass inside to Malcolm Clapperton was fumbled by the veteran, giving the home side the scrum.

It wasn’t long before ’Muir opened the scoring, however, their new flanker pairing working well together with Ally McLeod scything down fly-half Gavin Craig and Joni Hare arriving in support to win the ball. Bronson Ross picked up and went into contact, but a dangerous tackle on the prop from Armstrong saw referee Gary Gordon award the penalty which full back Stephen Ruddick chipped between the posts.

Selkirk soon answered with a penalty of their own, Boroughmuir getting caught offside in midfield and centre David Cassidy – who left the field on a stretcher when these two met last season at Philiphaugh after taking a worrying knock to the head – eased the ball between the sticks to level the scores.

The biggest threat from the Selkirk backs was coming when impressive winger Lee Jones came in to stand at first receiver, but within a minute of Cassidy’s penalty, ’Muir gave a glimpse of their own potency behind the scrum. After Shaun McMurchy ripped the ball from scrum half Michael McVie at the breakdown – the new ’Muir hooker had a mightily impressive debut – it was quickly spread wide with Fish feeding McLeod, who took the contact. The ball was recycled quickly and Fish was again the link, feeding Clapperton who evaded the flying tackle of lock forward Rory Aglen and went over for the score. Ruddick added the conversion for a seven point lead.

’Muir had begun to use their big pack to their advantage, taking the ball into contact with hard running on good angles, sucking in the Selkirk defence and creating space for the backs to play. It was a ploy they used to create an opening on fifteen minutes, but winger Robert Cairns failed to hold a pass from Clapperton and Selkirk struck on the counter, Harkness getting the ball wide to Jones quickly, and he needed all his pace to beat Tom Bury to the line. Cassidy’s conversion attempt sailed through the posts to once again tie the scores.

’Muir were playing with the wind in the first half – Ruddick had been using that to his advantage with some massive kicks to touch – and knew they would need a lead to defend in the second half, so they redoubled their efforts and were eventually rewarded. On twenty-seven minutes, having battered their way up the field, they won a penalty when hooker David Grieve was too anxious to get up in defence and crept offside, and Ruddick again landed the three points.

Ruddick quickly won field position back for the visitors, his huge kick forcing Jones to touch down over his own line for a twenty-two drop out which McMurchy did superbly to charge down. With Selkirk now on the backfoot, they got the ball wide to Aglen on the wing, but the lock was far too forceful with his hand-off against Mike Stalley – in all honesty he could easily have found himself in the sin bin – and conceded a penalty which Ruddick nudged to touch.

The ball from the lineout was scrappy but Freddie Lait put body on the line to secure it when it popped loose from a ruck and won the scrum for ’Muir. Euan Matheson, the new club captain, was doing well in his favoured role at the back of the scrum and his pick and drive from the base took him close to the line. Quickly recycled ball meant that Lynton Brinck and Bronson Ross could drive for the line, before Lait had a charge stopped short and Matheson picked up and dived through a gaping hole on the open side to score. Ruddick kept up his 100% kicking record to extend the lead to ten.

That was chopped down just before the break when Cassidy landed his second penalty, but more significantly, the hosts hoped, when McLeod was sent to cool off for ten minutes after deliberately killing the ball under his own posts. There could be no argument in the award of the penalty nor the showing of the card as the hosts had been building momentum over a good five minute spell as they edged towards the ’Muir line and McLeod’s actions were certainly cynical as he prevented McVie from getting quick ball away.

With the wind now in their faces and with Selkirk determined not to let their proud home record slip, Boroughmuir were right to expect an onslaught in the second half. Cassidy began kicking to the corners to the same effect that Ruddick had in the first half, and the hosts would have had their second try of the match early on in the half had it not been for a stunning tackle from the ’Muir fullback. A blindside break saw Selkirk catch ’Muir light on numbers and Jones put Armstrong seemingly clear to the line. Ruddick arrived just in time, however, tackling Armstrong into touch just short of the line, and though the referee had been playing advantage and brought them back for the penalty, which Cassidy knocked over, it was far better for ’Muir to have conceded three points than seven.

Boroughmuir weren’t simply going to sit and defend their lead, however, for one it had never been big enough for that thought to enter their minds, and just before McLeod re-entered the fray, they won a penalty just outside the Selkirk twenty-two which Ruddick helped through the posts. They almost had a third try when Tom Bury came off his wing and made a superb line break, passing to Clapperton out of the tackle, but the centre flicked a quick pass out to the wing without looking and there was no one there to take it and finish off the move. They did get their lead back to ten points, however, with fifty-two minutes gone when Selkirk were penalised for dropping the scrum in front of their own posts and Ruddick landed his sixth successful kick of the day.

It was at this point that Selkirk really began to motor, on more than one occasion turning down difficult kicking opportunities to go for touch and attempt the driving maul. ’Muir were repelling that tactic well though, their counter maul often proving too strong for the hosts to deal with. With the game in its final quarter, Selkirk got the try they had been looking for, quick thinking from Harkness the key as he took a tap penalty and sent the ball out to Jones on the right, the winger racing in unchallenged for the score. Caissdy couldn’t add the conversion from wide out.

Cassidy did add a penalty to the score with fourteen minutes remaining, however, a truly monstrous effort, from fully fifty metres with the angle, which crept over the bar and cut the gap down to just two points. The vocal locals were getting ever more behind their team as they sensed the comeback was on, and at that point in the game, Selkirk looked the more likely winners.

They had the chance to take the lead on seventy minutes when Harkness chased his own chip through, but with Rob Cairns looking like winning the foot race, Ruddick took the Selkirk full back out of the equation and was rightly penalised. Cassidy dragged his effort across the posts, however, a feat which Ruddick equalled just three minutes later. ’Muir were awarded a penalty in the home side’s twenty-two when their entire defence was caught offside, but Ruddick couldn’t convert the chance, which did nothing to calm the jagged nerves of the travelling support.

He got the chance to redeem himself in short order, however, as for the second time in the match, hooker McMurchy charged down Selkirk’s twenty-two drop out. Harkness hoofed the ball clear in a hurry from behind his own line, but only as far as Ruddick on the twenty-two. James Fish then took it into contact, but Selkirk encroached around the side of the ruck and the penalty was given, Ruddick this time arrowing it straight through the posts.

There were five minutes plus injury time left, and Selkirk were clearly going to throw everything they had at the ’Muir defence. They spent all the remaining time camped on the Boroughmuir line, throwing wave after wave of attack forward, through both forwards and backs, but they could find no way through. Ruddick’s boot occasionally relieved the pressure as far as a lineout on the twenty-two, but it was little respite, and there was a feeling of inevitability about the hosts scoring. The ’Muir defence didn’t feel that though, and when their former prop Danny Moussa – now sporting Selkirk colours – dropped the ball in contact, Ruddick heaved his right boot through the ball, sending it sailing into touch and ending the match.

Whilst there will inevitably be darker days for a Boroughmuir side which has changed so much from that which won the league two years ago, and finished third last time around, this was a superb way in which to welcome the new regime. There were plenty of young faces in the ’Muir side, some who have come up through the youth system, others who have joined more recently, but it certainly bodes well for the future of the club that these players have shown they can stand up and be counted in one of the toughest games that Premier One rugby has to offer.

Boroughmuir : Stephen Ruddick: Tom Bury, Malcolm Clapperton, James Fish, Rob Cairns: Greg Cottrell, Stuart McGee: Freddie Lait, Shaun McMurchy Bronson Ross: Lynton Brinck, Mike Stalley: Ally MacLeod, Euan Matheson (c), Joni Hare. Subs Used: Fergus Pringle, Ed Mills - Not Used: Nick Wood, Nick Fraser, Graeme Blackhall

Match Photos