Combined Scottish Districts 6, South Africans 33
WITHIN the space of four days, Scottish rugby has revived itself. The
game's horizons are brighter after the two matches in the Scots' CIS
Insurance series against the South African tourists.
No brash promises, no wild expectations. It is simply that the
Scottish game has found itself again. Heads can be held higher,
reputations are prouder, and confidence is more secure that Scotland are
capable of ending a run of eight internationals without victory by
beating South Africa at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Here are the simple facts: on Wednesday, the second-string Scots beat
their South African counterparts, the tourists' midweek team, and on
Saturday at Old Anniesland, ringed by colourful temporary stands like a
jousting arena, a compilation from Glasgow and Edinburgh refused to be
submerged by essentially the team who will take on Scotland at
Murrayfield. Scots have not been swept aside as Swansea were.
Of course, an international is a different game, a contest at a higher
level, the rugby more intense, but the matches at Melrose and Old
Anniesland have not been irrelevant. Two Scottish teams have pointed the
way, especially with the quality of their rucking, and if even one of
the players from the pre-international matches comes through to the
ultimate flight, whether for the immediate future or the World Cup or
beyond, those games will have served their purpose. Those players will
be all the better prepared for the demands of international rugby.
Take Mark McKenzie as one example. Here was a stand-off who only 16
days ago made his district debut for Glasgow, and yet on Saturday he was
pitched in against a team who have been promoted as probable World Cup
favourites in their own land. Yet he was not overawed.
True, he made the odd mistake. Admittedly, he was occasionally caught
out by the pace of the game, and he kicked goals from only two of his
five penalty shots: his first miss was all that went wrong from the
Scots' short kick-off ploy designed solely to purchase a penalty. Yet he
was always ready to try, and the occasion was not too much for him.
Hugh Gilmour and Graeme Burns also earned plaudits for their tenacity.
So did Andy McRobbie, who confirmed his reputation as a tackler par
excellence. Gilmour and McRobbie did much to stem the flow when it
threatened to run away from the Scots in the third quarter, and even
though Sean Lineen's legs were tiring when he essayed a break late in
the game, he did much to hold together the younger backs around him.
Lineen's Boroughmuir colleagues, Grant Wilson and Stuart Reid,
enhanced their reputations among the forwards in the loose. One scything
tackle by Wilson on Uli Schmidt earned obviously genuine acknowledgment
from the downed hooker, and even though Shade Munro and Alan Watt could
not claim to have done enough in the lineout for enthusiastic
celebration of the return to their lock partnership, they had presence
in the loose.
Reid's back-row lieutenants, Bruce Ward and Gordon Mackay, promoted
themselves to levels that might otherwise have seemed beyond them.
No-one should forget that Mackay was not even first choice for Glasgow.
Yet here he was serving the combined XV as a competitive, aggressive
open-side flanker.
Mackay may never again achieve such heights. Nor may others. But to
have experienced such a game will be to the benefit of each if he ever
has to step up again.
While commendations are being passed out, the Welsh referee, Clayton
Thomas, cannot be omitted. His was the best refereeing performance I
have seen by a visiting Welshman for a long time, not only because he
had the bottle to threaten to send a South African off for persistent
infringement after the tourists had conceded four penalties in quick
succession close to their own goal-line during the cities' final flurry.
I have heard referees argue against such a sanction. Thomas, however,
had no doubt that it was his to command.
Afterwards, the South Africans were pleased only with their set-piece
game. Their scrummage put the screws on, though without subduing the
Scots, and Mark Andrews came through at the front of the lineout as the
dominant touchline force. His props' support satisfied Thomas and those
of us who had criticised the tourists for lineout lifting on Wednesday.
Outside the set-piece, however, the South Africans were frustrated by
the wet weather and the terrier-like Scots. Only two of the tourists'
tries were created by good open-field play -- when Chester Williams
chipped ahead for Pieter Muller to score, and Joost van der Westhuizen
zipped off mauled possession in the home twenty-two for Muller's second.
A turnover, when McKenzie was trapped, allowed Williams and the classy
Andre Joubert to put van der Westhuizen over for the opening try in four
minutes. Muller's first try, sandwiched by McKenzie's goals, was the
only other South African score before the interval.
All of the others were in the third quarter. Rudi Straeuli scored in a
pushover, and, as the Scots' worst defensive lapse, Kruger broke past
Reid and Mackay to go over between the posts before Muller had his
second. Joubert converted three, and his replacement, Gavin Johnson,
added the points to the last.
Even 27 points down, the cities refused to lie down. Their game
strengthened in the last quarter, Ward twice took on to lay back good
ball, and Mackay, Watt, McRobbie, Reid, Munro, and Lineen prodded
excitement from the game's embers. They deserved a try.
Combined Scottish Districts -- N R Mardon (Boroughmuir); H R Gilmour,
A R McRobbie (both Heriot's FP), S R P Lineen (Boroughmuir), captain, J
A Kerr (Watsonians); M McKenzie (Stirling), G G Burns (Stewart's
Melville FP); G D Wilson (Boroughmuir), D G Ellis (Currie), G B
Robertson (Stirling), A G J Watt, D S Munro (both GHK), B W Ward
(Currie), S J Reid (Boroughmuir), G T Mackay (Stirling).
South Africans -- A J Joubert; P Hendriks, P G Muller, B Venter, C M
Williams; H P le Roux, J H van der Westhuizen; J P du Randt, U L
Schmidt, T G Laubscher, M G Andrews, P J W Schutte, J F Pienaar
(captain), R A W Straeuli, R J Kruger. Replacements -- G K Johnson for
Joubert (60 minutes), J L Stransky for Venter (72).
Referee -- C Thomas (Wales).
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