Saturday 3rd October 2009

Boroughmuir 14 v 46 Currie

Reporter: Simon Furnivall

It is often difficult to know what to say in the the light of such a one-sided scoreline, and many words waiting to be spoken have accusations of sour grapes  hung like millstones around their necks. Following this afternoon’s game there is no such dilemma, the simple fact of the matter is that the better team – and quite possibly the best team that Boroughmuir have faced this season – won by a clear margin that their clinical play deserved.

The home side had looked good for the fight in the first twenty minutes, taking the lead through Malcolm Clapperton’s try and an Elgan O’Donnell penalty, though that was equalled by the same combination from Dougie Fife and Johnny Smith respectively. ’Muir regained their advantage with a further penalty from fly-half O’Donnell, but after Shaun McMurchy’s sin-binning, the floodgates opened in favour of the visitors as they ran in a further six tries before proceedings were finally called to a halt.

With captain Euan Matheson sidelined, it was the Coltish Clapperton who led Muir onto the field, but the game started in comical fashion for his troops, Lynton Brinck and Ally MacLeod running into each other as they both attempted to claim the kick-off, gifting Currie an early scrum.

Greg Cottrell put pressure on his opposite number, Richard Snedden from that set piece though, and soon ’Muir had their hands on the ball in midfield. Bronson Ross drove well into the Currie defence and quickly recycled ball saw O’Donnell find his inside centre, James Fish, who did what he does best, smashing his way through midfield defenders, this time Andy MacMahon and Chris Kinloch. As he approached the twenty-two, he drew the challenge of full back Smith before offloading to Clapperton, who had too much pace for youngster Fife and touched down in the corner.

O’Donnell couldn’t curl his effort far enough towards the posts across the swirling wind, and Currie had soon reduced the gap to two points, Neale Patrick penalised for holding onto the ball in the tackle and Smith knocking over the simple penalty.

’Muir were doing well to stop Currie’s potent attacking game, putting plenty of pressure on them by getting up quickly in defence, but they were failing to make the yards with ball in hand themselves, something that inevitably cost them in the end as they began to cough up possession. They did, however, edge their lead back to five when Joni Hare chased a kick superbly and caught Andrew Binikos on his own twenty-two, Smith forced to dive over the top in an attempt to secure possession and O’Donnell doing the necessary with his subsequent penalty attempt.

Currie were beginning to look far more dangerous when on the attack – no doubt helped along by the fact that Boroughmuir’s fringe defence had begun to fall apart – and on fourteen minutes they had their first try, through former Boroughmuir U-18 winger Dougie Fife. After a half break by Kinloch had been stopped ten yards out, Snedden quickly got the ball to Smith – standing in the fly-half role – and the New Zealander made a crucial break, beating the first defender before getting the ball out to Fife, via the hands of MacMahon, with plenty of space for the winger to get outside his man and touch down.

From the restart, Kinloch and Fife came close to tearing the Boroughmuir defence apart, but eventually Clapperton got across to make the important tackle, and when the ball was recycled, Ross Weston’s pass to hooker Alastair Hamilton went to ground. The hosts took that temporary reprieve and turned it into three points, another strong break by Fish providing the platform, and though they couldn’t force the ball over the line, they were awarded a penalty when flanker Mark Cairns was penalised for coming in at the side of a ruck just five metres in front of his own posts. O’Donnell added the easy points.

That, in reality, was as good as it got for Boroughmuir; just when they had awakened a sense of hope in a crowd who had perhaps expected the worst from the start given Currie’s imperious form this season, things began to go badly wrong. Currie were exploiting the gaps and miss-matches in the ’Muir defence, and their general tactic of attacking ‘one out’ from the breakdown was perfect for the conditions. They soon had themselves ten metres from the line and were awarded a penalty when Shaun McMurchy attempted to win the ball illegally at the ruck and the hooker was sent to the sidelines for ten minutes; a sense of injustice perhaps following him after Cairns had escaped similar sanction for a similar offence just minutes earlier.

Currie decided against going for the three points, opting to scrum against the weakened ’Muir pack, and showing just how clinical they were as Weston crashed over the line. Instead of going for the massive shove, the Currie pack merely held the scrum tight, allowing Snedden clear and quick ball from the back. The scrum half then peeled wide, taking the defence with him and leaving Weston in acres of space to take his inside pass and score the try in a manner so very reminiscent of Ben Fisher. Smith added the conversion.

That sort of killer instinct is the sign of a very top team, and with the game there for the taking Currie were not going to ease up. After Stephen Ruddick erred in putting the restart out on the full, Binikos made ground with a difficult, bouncing grubber kick which Ruddick failed to collect. The visitors now had front-foot ball deep in the ’Muir twenty-two, and as the home defence scrambled back into position, MacMahon drove to within inches of the line. The ball was recycled and another ex-Muir player, prop John Cox, was on hand to pick up and dive over. Smith again added the extras.

It was imperative that ’Muir scored next and they did when O’Donnell thumped a penalty over from twenty-five metres on thirty-five minutes, but in all honesty they needed a try to go with it and no matter what they tried they just couldn’t find one. Indeed it was Currie who again got over the line before the break, Binikos taking a pass from Weston and forcing his way over in the corner to secure the bonus point.

If Boroughmuir were to stand any chance of mounting a comeback in the second half then they needed to find their stride quickly, but too often they were attacking the ball from static positions, giving Currie’s defence every chance to get up and in their faces, which inevitably forced the errors. Currie as good as wrapped up the game on forty-eight minutes when MacMahon attacked the inside shoulder of ’Muir’s defence on a crash ball from flanker Stevie Burton and was met with little resistance.

From that point it was simply a question of how many Currie would score, and most predictions would have seen them top the fifty given that they had more than half an hour to play. That they only managed another two scores perhaps points to the fact that they took their foot off the pedal in the latter stages, Richard Snedden completing the hat-trick of former ’Muir scorers before Graham White rounded the match off, the late sin-binning of winger Willie Moala having little effect on proceedings.

That Currie put in a good performance and without doubt deserved to win will not have been hidden from the Boroughmuir coaches, however, the fact that there were areas of performance from the home side which were not up to scratch. To miss so many tackles against a side so potent in attack verged on the criminal, and they could certainly learn something from the way in which Currie scored nigh on every time they had the opportunity to. This was always going to be a rebuilding year for Boroughmuir, having lost so many players over the summer, but it doesn’t get any easier with another difficult test next week in the shape of Edinburgh Accies, who will be eager to bounce back from a disappointing defeat against Watsonians.

Boroughmuir : Stephen Ruddick: Tom Bury, MAlcolm Clapperton (c), James Fish, Ed Mills: Elgan O'Donnell, Greg Cottrell: Nick Fraser Shaun McMurchy Bronson Ross: Mike Stalley, Neale Patrick: Greig Scott, Lynton Brinck, Joni Hare. Subs Used: Freddie Lait, Fergus Pringle, Ally MacLeod, Stuart McGee - Not Used: Rob Cairns

Match Photos