Saturday 24th October 2009

Boroughmuir 26 v 25 Dundee HSFP

Reporter: Simon Furnivall

As the game at Meggetland this afternoon passed into injury time there seemed an inevitability about matters. Barry Jones, the Dundee fly-half and widely regarded as one of the better goal kickers in the league, had had far from his best day with the boot, but with his side camped on the Boroughmuir line and six points in arrears, it looked obvious that he would redeem himself and kick the winning points. He was given the opportunity to fulfil that destiny when Scotland international Simon Webster arced through a gap and over the line with four extra minutes played, but Jones could not oblige, hooking his conversion badly right of the posts.

It wasn’t the first time that Jones had missed the sticks and, truth be told, had he been on form with the boot then it’s likely that Dundee would have left Meggetland with a pretty comfortable win in their pockets, their seventh of the season, and kept themselves right in the mix with Ayr, Currie and Melrose at the sharp end of the table. On the other hand, Boroughmuir had a more reliable boot with Elgan O’Donnell kicking fourteen points and Graeme Blackhall adding another two.

To describe this match purely as a battle between kickers, however, would be disrespectful to the fight that both sides brought to the table. Dundee throughout looked the more dangerous in broken play – in no small part to the hard running and quick feet of full back Aubrey Horton and centre Simon Webster respectively. The hosts though, put in an immense forward shift, one that has been missing in recent weeks, often disrupting the ball that Dundee won, and on more than one occasion winning crucial turnovers.

Boroughmuir showed their intent to get back on the winning trail in the first moments of the match, O’Donnell’s superbly flighted kick-off was won back and spread left for winger Ed Mills to attack. He was eventually knocked into touch, but it was a pleasing sight that immediately got the crowd interested in the game. Another attack on six minutes, this time O’Donnell taking a quick tap penalty before jinking his way deep into the twenty-two, was more sign of ’Muir looking to play their natural game, but as the game wore on, what was needed changed drastically.

Dundee had begun with the upper hand in the forwards, particularly at the scrum, where Edinburgh prop David Young – who counts both Leicester Tigers and Gloucester amongst his former clubs – was pitted against ’Muir’s eighteen year old loose head, Nick Fraser. Fraser has shown massive promise in his time with the 1^st XV since moving up from the Colts at the start of the season, but he was given a torrid time by Young from which he will learn a lot, before being replaced by the more seasoned Freddie Lait.

Young was, however, penalised on twelve minutes, perhaps trying to press his advantage too far when referee David Changelang pinged him for boring in at the scrum, and O’Donnell landed the first of his four penalties from forty-one metres out. The visitors were given the chance to get straight back level when, from the kick off, Fergus Pringle was penalised for handling on the ground and shown a yellow card, but Jones pushed his penalty attempt across the posts and the score remained in Boroughmuir’s favour.

As the first quarter ended, the home side extended their lead when Lynton Brinck, putting memories of a bad week behind him, put in a crunching hit on Dundee’s Andy Dymock, forcing the scrum half to hold on as ’Muir’s South African flanker got back to his feet and attempted to win the ball. Changelang quickly penalised Dymock, and O’Donnell sent another forty metre plus kick sailing between the uprights.

The visitors got their first points on the board just as Pringle was preparing to re-enter the fray, 'Muir's own scrum half, Stuart McGee, penalised for a deliberate knock on, Jones this time up to the task as he struck his penalty attempt straight and true, earning the three points.

The game was becoming ever more fractured, and perhaps against expectations that was suiting Dundee more as they took advantage of broken field play, but too often they were too careless in possession, particularly as they entered the ‘red zone’, with passes going to ground or straight into touch. They were also encountering a Boroughmuir defensive effort that had seemingly cured its ills around the breakdown and had a back row of Brinck, Mike Stalley and Joni Hare who were fighting for everything on the ground.

It was Dundee who grabbed the first try of the game though, and former Boroughmuir forward Fraser McKenzie who touched down. From the kick-off after Jones’ penalty, Danny Levison claimed possession and set off on a bullocking run – helped by a few weak tackles – and was in the ’Muir twenty-two before he was hauled down. Possession was quickly recycled and Brinck encroached offside in midfield. Spotting a gap down the left wing, Andy Dymock took a quick tap and flung a pass out to McKenzie who showed good pace to score in the corner. Jones couldn’t make it a seven pointer, but his side were in the lead for the first time.

It could have got even worse just moments later, and it probably should have, but again Dundee’s carelessness bit them. O’Donnell tried for a kick in behind the visiting defence, but instead landed it straight in the hands of winger Matt Smith. He and Horton attacked quickly up the right, with Webster supporting inside. The thirty-six times capped international drew the attentions of ’Muir full back Tom Bury before trying an overhead pass inside to hooker James Clark. Had it proven successful, Clark had a simple run in under the posts, but referee Changelang was quick on his whistle, the pass having slipped forward before Clark could claim it.

The game was in danger of running away from Boroughmuir, but with perfect timing they grabbed their first try, and with it got themselves back in the lead. The forwards were trying to suffocate any quick ball that Dundee looked for – and proving successful in doing so – but they also provided their own side good momentum, from which came Redha Guedroudj’s first score for the club.

With O’Donnell briefly in at scrum half, Ed Mills came off his wing to cover the fly-half position and let go a superb crossfield kick, bouncing five metres in from touch. Dundee winger James Fleming seemed caught in two minds, allowing Guedroudj to pounce, the Boroughmuir flyer hacking the ball into Fleming before collecting it as it bounced up and racing in the last thirty metres to score. O’Donnell’s conversion pushed ’Muir five points clear.

There then followed a cameo appearance from Dundee prop Alan Brown, on a day which he would later describe as ‘probably one of the worst of my career’. Within sixty seconds of coming onto the field in place of Neil Dymock (who was himself having a difficult afternoon against the scrummaging strength of Justin Va’a), he had ploughed into a ruck from so far round the wrong side that Changelang was left with little option but to send him for a ten minute rest. To make matters worse, O’Donnell thumped the resultant penalty straight between the posts. O’Donnell repeated the dose two minutes later when Dundee were caught with their hands in the ruck, giving his side an eleven point lead. The Kiwi was forced from the field just before half time, however, the result of a crunching, but perfectly legal, hit by winger Matt Smith as he went on one of his jinking runs. Graeme Blackhall took his place on the field.

There was little chance that Iain Rankin would let his side settle for the position they were in, nor that he was happy with the indiscipline which had got them into such a position, and they came out for the second half with a point to prove. Brown didn’t return when his sin-binning was up, Neil Dymock staying on the field instead, but it was through the backs that they got themselves back into the match, Matt Smith touching down in the corner for a simple try. From reasonably static ball, Dundee worked the ball right, Horton slipping a pass to Smith and the big winger turned on the afterburners, just evading Bury’s tackle and crossing for the try. Jones converted – his final points of the game – to close the gap down to four.

Alan Brown’s ‘worst day’ was completed thirteen minutes into the half. Having only returned to the pitch five minutes before hand, he took a fierce hit and left the pitch in real pain, having torn a muscle between his pectoral and bicep. The change didn’t effect his side’s momentum, however, and just after the hour mark, another former ’Muir stalwart, Lindsey Graham, crossed in the corner in a near carbon copy of Smith’s try, though this time Jones couldn’t add the extras.

With the flow of the game firmly in Dundee’s favour and the game becoming more open, it was vital that Boroughmuir retaliated quickly to having let their lead slip. Calum Cusiter had come on for his first appearance of the season, replacing Stuart McGee, but it was James Fish who barged his way over for the try that handed ’Muir back their advantage.

A searing break by Malcolm Clapperton, fed by an excellent long, flat pass from Blackhall, gave them field position, and it looked like Shaun McMurchy would cross on the left wing, but the Kiwi hooker slipped as he attempted to step inside Fraser McKenzie. The ball was recycled well though, and Blackhall dipped a shoulder to make a half break inside Jones, tying up the defence and slipping a pass out to Fish, the folically-challenged centre crashing through Scott McKee’s challenge and grounding the ball over the line. Blackhall added the extras before ceding the fly-half role back to the returning O’Donnell.

As if the Boroughmuir pack hadn’t made enough tackles in the game already, they were forced to make a whole lot more in the final fifteen minutes as Dundee threw everything they had to push for their fourth score. The defensive effort by all in a Boroughmuir shirt was huge, and it was only found wanting four minutes into time added on when Webster – who should be given much credit for the effort he put in on his return from injury – took sloppy ball just inside the Boroughmuir twenty-two and turned it into something special, arcing his run between two ’Muir defenders and diving over for the score. It left Jones with a kick to win the game, a kick that he couldn’t manage, and when, after the restart, the visitors knocked on in their own twenty-two, referee Changelang blew the final whistle to rapturous applause from the home support.

Looking back on the match, Dundee will certainly feel that they did enough to deserve the full five points from the game, rather than the two that they took back to Mayfield. Boroughmuir, however, will point to the massive effort from their forwards, as well as the kicks from their fly-half and the final scoreboard to press their own case. In the context of their season it could be a massive win for the Meggetland men, ending a run of three defeats (and only one win in six) whilst those around them in the lower half of the table all lost. It may not be the success that is forever hoped for at Meggetland, but this afternoon certainly proved that, if Boroughmuir are in a scrap at the wrong end of the table, they are very much up for the fight.

Boroughmuir : Tom Bury: Redha Guedroudj, Malcolm Clapperton (c), James Fish, Ed Mills: Elgan O'Donnell, Stuart McGee: Nick Fraser Shaun McMurchy Justin Va'a: Greig Scott, Fergus Pringle: Mike Stalley, Joni Hare, Lynton Brinck. Subs Used: Freddie Lait, Cammy Orr, Calum Cusiter, Graeme Blackhall - Not Used: Greg Jones

Match Photos