Dundee HS FP 17,
Edinburgh Academicals 6
DUNDEE High School FP have known the extremes in emotion this season.
Dejection through ejection from the national league's first division was
followed by elation in winning the Alloa Brewery Cup -- and a #5000
cheque -- by beating Edinburgh Academicals on Saturday at Meggetland.
Victory was also a farewell gift for David Leslie, Dundee's coach for
the past six years. The former international captain confirmed after the
final that he was stepping down, at least from the first XV. Lower
teams, however, will benefit from his expertise and experience in future
seasons.
Leslie suggested that Andy Nicol will probably come through as club
captain. It is a logical assumption when the scrum half is to lead
Scotland on the Pacific tour, and the coach saw this as the right time
''to step back and give Andy a bit of space.''
Saturday's final on a cool afternoon was not an outstanding match. The
result was hewn from a solid, uninspiring contest by hard labour and
consistent hammering on one tack. Yet it had a gem, a try that sparkled
in Nicol's sharp wit.
Dundee were leading 12-6, with less than 10 minutes left and
Academicals still occasionally threatening, when the Taysiders were
awarded a scrummage free kick nearly 40 metres out. Nicol snapped up the
ball, tapped it, and was away before the majority of Academicals even
realised they had been penalised.
Two opponents might have stopped him. Neither reached him, and Nicol
dived over for the score that tied up the result.
It was the only try of the match. The contest needed it, and the score
was also proof of the value of this season's law change that allows a
free kick or a penalty to be taken before all of the benefiting team's
players have retired behind the ball. Rarely, though, has it been
exploited as the international scrum half did on Saturday.
Other scores were all penalty goals. Jon Newton kicked four, though
failing with one as well as the conversion attempt from well out on the
right, whereas Rowen Shepherd was successful with only two out of seven.
Newton's scores took his cup tally to 75 points, the best by anyone in
the tournament. For that he received a special prize, two crystal
tankards, as did John Jardine, who led the tournament's try-scoring list
with seven.
A high proportion of the penalties in the match -- 20 against Dundee,
14 against Academicals -- were for offences with the ball on the ground.
It was that sort of negative game, but Johnny Bacigalupo, the Edinburgh
Wanderers referee, was merely trying to teach the lesson on how rugby is
a game for players on their feet, though he could have been more strict
in dealing with two instances of stamping as well as the punch that
broke Guthrie Batchelor's jaw late in the match.
As a rugby contest, it was not an entertainment.
Dave McIvor relished such a game, typified by his try-saving tackle on
Mark Lamont early in the second half, while Nicol combined with his
breakaways in tying up the close quarters and Paul Rouse and Nigel
Douglas blocked off the midfield.
Academicals had enough possession in the first half to have had a tidy
lead by the interval despite Stewart Campbell's towering dominance of
the early lineouts for Dundee. Here surely was one who ought to be going
on Scotland's tour to Fiji, Tonga, and Western Samoa -- Scottish rugby
needs to develop such promising talent.
Dundee led 6-3 at the interval, and more Newton penalty goals, in 52
and 64 minutes, took them seemingly to safety at 12-3. Shepherd's
second, however, immediately pulled the margin back within range, but
only after Nicol's try did Academicals expand their game. Simon Burns
escaped on the left, denied close to the line, and a penalty there would
have been more profitable had not Chris Simmers's pass eluded Gary Bowe
in the right corner. It was too little too late even though Bacigalupo
extended the match and the season with six minutes' injury time.
Dundee HS FP -- M Lamont; J R Jardine, P R Rouse, N Douglas, C R H
Newton; J R Newton, A D Nicol; J J Manson, B Cairney, D Herrington, S J
Campbell, A Baxter, W A Keys, N Ritchie, G M Batchelor. Replacement -- D
R Milne for Batchelor (74 minutes).
Edinburgh Academicals -- S A D Burns; G Bowe, C T Simmers, R J S
Shepherd, J F Swanson; B Hay-Smith, I Mclean; D J Wilson, M W Scott, S
Cully, A R Adamson, J F Richardson, D J McIvor, M J McVie, A Richardson.
Replacements -- R J Parrott for A Richardson (66), C Malcolm-Smith for
Cully (78).
Referee -- J C Bacigalupo (Edinburgh Wanderers).
* A PERSISTENT hamstring injury has forced Mark Appleson to withdraw
from Scotland's squad for the Pacific tour. His place has been taken by
a fellow London Scot, Nick Grecian.
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