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Watsonians 5 v 15 Boroughmuir Bears
Reporter:
Mark Greene
Following a
midday pitch inspection Watsonians declared the
pitch to be playable for the 1st Bears game in 2
months. The game got off to a perfect start for the
Bears, after some early attacks, in a move that
started inside the Bears own half, Richards and
Harris released the ball out to the back line where
Valle and Tito expertly drew in the defence before
releasing Aly 'slow motion' Wood. Aly kicked the
ball down the line just as the defence was closing
in, the perfectly executed kick put the defending
winger in all sorts of bother and his botched effort
to control the ball allowed Wood to pick the ball up
and touchdown in the corner.
The Bears
continued to put pressure on Watsonians but despite
some last ditch tackling, the Bears made the mistake
of giving
Watsonians some space allowing them to score in the
corner. Watsonians started to employ a good kicking
game, Stuart Clarke ignoring the conditions had an
excellent game at full back but as a team the Bears
struggled to get much ground with their clearance
kicks. Fortunately our own twin peaks of Vinny
Fitzpatrick and Jamie Scott won a lot of the
'Sonians lineout ball to ease the pressure.
The Bears
regained the lead when Jamie Scott blocked a
'Sonians clearance kick. Vinny Fitzpatrick was first
to the ball and he scored in the corner. At half
time Head coach MacCallum asked the team to cut out
the mistakes. The second half was more dismal than
the first, the conditions had worsened since the
start of the match and the errors rate was high from
both teams. Watsonians started to crank up the
pressure however the Bears tackling was particularly
effective and 'Sonians struggled to get any
continuity.
The Bears
suffered a slight setback when both Scott Richards
and Roddy Mackenzie had to leave the pitch with hand
injuries but both were ably replaced by Elliott
Kempsell and Sean McNicol, Elliott managed to sack
his inexperienced opponent on a regular basis. They
were followed soon after by Napoleon Harris to be
replaced at the helm by the impressive Craig Valle.
In the last 5 minutes the Bears managed to get some
continuity with good phase play and having returned
to the pitch after a long rest, Paul Richards
charged over the line for the final score of the
game.
Man of the
match: It was a good team performance today,
Jamie Scott, Stuart Clark and Scott Richards had
good games but the coaches man of the match was the
'Highland Bull', loosehead prop Bruce McConachie.
Bruce used all his farmers strength and legal mind
to provide a good platform at scrum time and he is
beginning to impress in the loose, he has only
managed to play a handful of games this season but
his game and confidence has improved with each run
out. The scrum was rock solid today.
Referee
Watch: The referee was surprisingly youthful and
obviously went to an expensive school but he proved
to be a good judge on the pitch. His decisions were
fair and he used the advantage law well.
Unfortunately he has no respect for his elders as he
singled out Captain Hutchison for being on the wrong
side of the law on a few occasions. One possible
issue for his 'Pathway' referee development, he may
be deaf, despite all the assistance from the vast
crowd of bears fans, he managed to ignore all their
advice.
Coaches
Mccallum and Buchan will be pleased to start the new
year with a victory especially given the enforced
winter break. The Bears were rusty and at times they
used the backs to attack from phase 1 ball instead
of tying in the defenders using the forwards, in
defence they would have been very stretched if the
opponents has been more aware of what was in front
of them.
Chocolate
Club: There were a couple of new entrants today,
Scott Richards and Roddy Mackenzie and Napoleon
Harris were forced to leave the pitch, club
president Vinny Fitzpatrick’s treatment to remove
mud from his eye did prompt head coach McCallum to
ask if it was chocolate in his eye. Fortunately
Roddy Mackenzie confirmed that his hand was not
broken because he has a Challenge Cup match next
week. Declaring his self importance, Napoleon Harris
set a team precedent when he sought
post match treatment from stand in physio and former
WAG Ruth.
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