A View from the Touchline – BT Premier League: 2.12.17.

Watsonians 45 pts (t 6, c 6, pg 1) v Currie Chieftains 31 pts (t 4, c 4, pg 1)

Ten minutes in, and the visitors were fourteen points in arrears; a position and deficit from which they never recovered. It appeared that half the team had other matters on their minds, and the rest looked as if they were at a training session, at least it seemed that way for the first quarter for the match. Thankfully it did get better, but only in patches. The stop-start nature of the game, particularly in the second half, as Watsons sorted out their injury problems, did not help the visitors’ cause. When the Chieftains looked to have the measure of their opponents, Watsons upped the tempo and intercepted a loose pass to cement their unassailable lead.

It was quite a pleasant afternoon with a reasonable-sized crowd looking forward to some competitive club rugby, after a four week break. We certainly got a feast of tries in a very entertaining game. Unfortunately, I doubt if the gate receipts would have been sufficient to cover the cost of electricity for the flood lights, let alone any other costs if this match was in the proposed SRU, semi-professional, Super-6 programme. There was no public address system, and if the very helpful schoolboy stewards had not been manning the gates, all volunteers no doubt, I suspect that a large portion of the crowd would have had free access to the match. However, the Murrayfield advisors will have all this covered!

Conditions were good for open play as the ball moved swiftly through both sets of backs, but the Chieftains’ defence was soon caught napping, and Ewan Fox was allowed plenty of room to dance through for a free trip to the line; Andrew Chalmers converted. In ten minutes they had doubled their score with Michael Allen bulldozing his way through a wobbly Chieftains defence; Chalmers had no problem with the conversion. Although Michael Vernel, Thomas Gordon, Rhys Davies and Jamie Forbes did their best to stem the Watsons advance, and gain a foothold in opposition territory, it was proving difficult. Watsons’ line speed was commendable and it took some time for Currie to get anyway near the opposition line. A neat Jamie Forbes penalty kick to touch, set up a platform for attack; the splendid Mike Vernel peeled off the lineout and crashed over. Jamie Forbes converted but Ali Harris cancelled this out with a Watsons’ penalty for offside.

The Chieftains were now in gear and looked good; they rapidly advanced 50 metres and when Rhys Davies was held up on the line, the referee went to an earlier infringement. Rhys Davies took a quick tap-penalty, and powered over for the try. Jamie Forbes added the conversion to put Currie in touching distance of their hosts. The buoyant optimistic mood of the travelling support did not last, and the visitors lapsed back into their earlier complacency. Watsonians rattled in two more tries from Ross Graham and Willie Thomson, both converted by Ali Harris. Once again a fourteen point lead had been established. Unfortunately Ross Graham and the replacement hooker, Sean Crombie, had to retire injured; all set scrums were now unopposed.

Halftime score – Watsonians 31 pts, Currie 17pts

Robbie Nelson soon had Currie on the front foot as he careered into the Watsons 22; a formidable defensive display kept the visitors out, and they finally cleared with a penalty that then went disastrously wrong. Thomas Gordon latched on to the loose throw and motored in from 30 metres. When Jamie Forbes made the difficult conversion, to make it just one converted try between the teams, the scenario looked good. But no, as the game progressed and more stoppages interrupted proceedings, the Chieftains’ momentum and their concentration appeared to suffer, allowing Watsons to make inroads and stretch away. Mark Bertram used his speed and bulk to run in a good try, and when the experienced, Rory Hutton intercepted, as Currie tried to turn defence into attack, the writing was on the wall – this was not going to be the Chieftains’ day. Ali Harris converted both these scores, but it was the visitors who finished a disappointing outing on a high note. Ruaraidh Smith showed his class with a wonderful 60-metre dash down the right wing. Jamie Forbes converted to give the Chieftains a valuable four-try bonus point. This was little consolation when we were all expecting more. There were a number of good individual performances, but Watsons put in the ‘team effort,’ and that is what the Chieftains must do next Saturday when we host Boroughmuir, who ran Melrose close this weekend. Please note - it is the Club’s Christmas Lunch on Saturday; purchase your raffle tickets at the clubhouse bar - KO will be at 2.30pm. I.J.S. 4.12.17.

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