Nine-try ‘Sonians maintain push for promotion
With this match being rescheduled twice, the teams were glad to finally catch up with their backlogged fixtures, leaving them both with one postponed match each and three scheduled matches before the end of season play-offs.
However, as the opening line indicates, one of the teams was a lot ‘gladder’ than the other….
It wasn’t a great start for the visitors as they had wing, Keiran Scoular, carded in the first minute for taking out a player in the air, but this seemed to galvanise Accies into action and they put a great deal of pressure on the Watsonians defence, being awarded with a eighth minute penalty from No. 10, Will Stephen.
They continued to press, but lost possession deep in ‘Sonians half, giving the home side a chance to clear. The kick went deep, but full back, Matt Coupar let the ball bounce, giving No 11, Scott McKean time to make ground. Then the shape of the rugby ball went to work and the ball bounced away from Coupar, McKean picked up and raced away for the first try of the day. Andrew Chalmers then successfully converted to give Watsonians a 7-3 lead just before the second quarter.
Watsonians were then struck with the ‘penalty just after the restart’ bug, giving Stephen the chance to close the gap to 7-6.
‘Sonians then went on a, nearly, successful offensive into the Accies 22. Strong running by No. 8, Rory Drummond – who was to prove a thorn in Accies side all match – gave the home side good field position and, from a ruck, Reiss Cullen got the ball out wide to second row, Romain Denonin on the five metre line. He then crashed over the line with several defenders in tow, but was stripped of the ball just before grounding. No try….
But, a few seconds later, it was a penalty and with Chalmers slotting the ball home, it was 10-6 to ‘Sonians with about 15 minutes of the half to play.
By now, Watsonians were very much in charge of the match and their second try was scored following a classic switch from one side of the pitch to the other, centre, DJ Innes, going over in the right corner for a 15-6 score line with five minutes left in the half.
Accies came back with a third penalty, but, on the cusp of half time, wing, Mark Bertram, scored in the same corner as Innes, stretching the score at half time to 20-9.
But could the Myreside team maintain their dominance in the second half? Oh, yes…..
Six second half tries put the table topping side out of sight of their opponents, both score- and play-wise, with the visitors struggling to maintain any sort of decent possession or field position. 10 player and positional changes in the 20-man squad couldn’t have helped, but it was a side at sixes and sevens that finished the match.
The first try came from a Bertram battling run, when he shrugged off four tacklers to dot down for 25-9.
Less than five minutes later, with just seven minutes played, Bertram scored again from deep, intercepting a loose pass for an easy run in under the posts. Chalmers converted this time for 32-9. Then, the other wing – not to be outdone – McKean scored his second try less than two minutes after Bertram’s, for a 37-9 score, Chalmers kick then glancing off the inside of the post to make it 39-9.
There was a brief hiatus in the scoring as Accies made an attempt to progress, but, in the 18th minute of the half, Chalmers touched down and converted for 46-9. McKean crossed the whitewash again two minutes later, but he was pulled back for a forward pass, giving a bit of breathing space for Accies. This didn’t last, however, and another two tries in the final minutes, from Bertram – for his fourth – and McLeod, added to by Chalmers’ conversion of Bertram’s try, took the final tally out to 58-9 and posted a warning to the other teams in the Division, that Watsonians were serious about promotion. Let’s hope it lasts.
Images from the match will appear here over the next few days.
