REIGNING CHAMPIONS EASE CLEAR AT MEGGETLAND

Boroughmuir coach Iain Paxton pointed to the outstanding performance of his flanker Angus Martyn as one of the few positive features of his side’s 54-23 win over GHA in the BT Premiership clash at Meggetland. Martyn, who turned out at Under 19 level for his native South Africa before representing Scotland Under 21s, celebrated his 24th birthday with two of ‘Muir’s eight tries, as the champions edged closer to the sides ahead of them in the league table.

“He is playing a very good open side game”, said Paxton. “He just seems to be able to be with the ball and he does the right thing. There was one incident where he was about to pass and saw that someone was coming and he set the ruck up.” That foresight was a key component in an efficient ‘Muir back row in which skipper Ben Fisher was at his rumbustious best. However, Paxton was not happy with other aspects of the performance in a match where the visitors competed well in the opening half hour, then drifted out of contention after having two men yellow carded. “Last week we underperformed in the second half. This week we underperformed in the first half,” he said. “Although we scored tries, we weren’t by any means playing well.” “It was a scrappy game and there didn’t seem to be any continuity about it at times. We scored a couple of nice tries in the last quarter but it didn’t seem to flow.”

‘Muir started well, and within a minute Rory Cooper bagged the first of his three tries. Graeme Kiddie converted and ‘Muir looked set for a comfortable afternoon. However, Jim Noonan reduced the leeway with a penalty then Kiddie was yellow carded for what referee Iain Heard felt was a professional foul, and the visitors moved ahead when lock James Eddie powered over for a try converted by Noonan. GHA could have stretched their lead but winger Stephen O’Donnell was held up over the line. ‘Muir stand off Alan Sievewright restored parity with a drop goal and, as tempers became frayed Noonan was dispatched to the sin bin for punching. Kiddie stroked over the resultant penalty then, with GHA prop Calum Hastie having joined Noonan for ten minutes on the sidelines, Chris Capaldi sent Cooper racing over for his second try then set up Martyn for the first of his brace.

A penalty by O’Donnell left the half time score at 23-23, but Calum Cusiter stretched the gap and secured the bonus point with try number four within a minute of the restart. Noonan clawed back three points with a penalty, but ‘Muir remained in control and Martyn scored his second try then Cooper completed his hat trick before replacement full back Andy Pow sliced through for the score of the match then set up James Reilly to bring up the half century. The visitors had the final word with a try by Scott Cowan, but it was ‘Muir’s day, even if Paxton remains insistent that his side is still not operating at full capacity. “We did have a few changes and that didn’t help,” he admitted “But there are still guys that are not performing as well as they should, and we still have a lot of work to do.”