Boroughmuir Under-16 – 80
Cartha QP Under-16 – 12
ALAN LORIMER @ BT Murrayfield
BOROUGHMUIR capped a vintage season for the Meggetland club at the younger of the two youth age-groups by sweeping to victory in the final of the Under-16 Cup with this massive win over Cartha QP.
The sizeable victory was vindication of Boroughmuir’s decision to set up a high-quality rugby academy at Meggetland this season and certainly the standard of rugby produced by the winners was further proof that investment in youth rugby pays off.
National Youth League Cup Under-18 Final: Stirling County power past Ayr
Steep learning curve for Scotland Under-18s against English counterparts
Boroughmuir, having won the Under-16 ‘Shogun’ Conference with an unbeaten run, came into the match as overwhelming favourites and fully justified this tag by scoring twelve tries in a display of powerful forward work, incisive running and intelligent support play.
Ten of Boroughmuir’s tries were converted by centre Stuart Dobson, who combined kicking skills which would have impressed Greig Laidlaw, with cutting centre play and, when required, strong defence.
Sadly, the game was a mismatch, the occurrence of which can happen with unseeded draws.
“I feel for Cartha after that match,” said Alan MacGregor, the Boroughmuir Under-16s coach. “They stuck in, however, and scored two good tries.”
“Hopefully what we’ve done today can take the club forward and give the younger teams coming through something to aim for. And hopefully this group can go on and compete well at Under-18 level,” he added.
Cartha can hold their head high
For Cartha, the Cup Final was a disappointing end to what had been a success story this season. They won the second tier ‘Galant’ Conference with an unbeaten run and then confirmed their growing strength by defeating Ayr in the Cup semi-final. But between the semi-final and the final, ill-fortuned weakened Cartha’s prospects.
“Unfortunately, we lost three of our midfield players to injury. The guys who came in did their best,” explained coach Stephen McCartney. “We‘re a bit of a fledgling youth club but we’re pleased with what we’ve achieved and hopefully we’ll be back next season at Under-18 level.”
Encouraging for Cartha was their ability to score two tries in the face of constant pressure from Boroughmuir, but that was perhaps small consolation for conceding twelve scores.
Boroughmuir set the tone of their performances with a brace of tries by winger Cameron Leadingham and one apiece by Dobson, number eight Mike Jones and wing Josh Howard to establish an unassailable 33-0 lead with just 21 minutes of the game played.
Fortunately for the game and for Cartha’s morale, the underdogs claimed their first points just before the break with a try by flanker Cameron Mackenzie and the conversion by stand-off David McCartney.
Thereafter, Boroughmuir returned to points accumulation with tries by replacement Sonny Reid, full-back Adam Jacques, centre Craig Stewart, replacement Ewan Bell, prop Callum MacGregor and replacement Charlie Farmer; before MacKenzie bagged his second for Cartha.
Then, with full time approaching, flanker Matthew Crawford rounded off Boroughmuir’s scoring bonanza on a day his club created a bit of history.
Teams –
Boroughmuir Under-16: A Jacques; J Howard, C Stewart, S Dobson, C Ledingham; J Dewar, A Samejima; C MacGregor, L Shields, F Small, D McConnell, A Faisal, M Crawford, D McDevitt, M Jones. Subs: S Reid, C Farmer, C Ricketts, F Hartree, C Brown, E Bell, D McArthur.
Cartha QP Under-16: D Adam; S King, C Elliot, A Mair, S Heasley; D McCartney, O McCallum; L Kirkwood, D Briscoe, G McDowall, M Dickson, J Russell, R McMullen, C MacKenzie, A Geddes. Subs: R Colquhoun, D Scullion, B Weir, H Mohammad C Ramsey, C Stewart, E McKinnon.
Referee: J Smith
Scorers –
Boroughmuir: Tries Ledingham 2, Dobson, Jones, Howard, Reid, Jacques, Stewart, Bell, MacGregor, Farmer, Crawford; Cons: Dobson 10
Cartha QP: Tries: MacKenzie 2; Con: McCartney.
Scoring Sequence (Boroughmuir first): 5-0; 7-0; 12-0; 14-0; 19-0; 21-0; 26-0; 31-0; 33-0; 33-5; 33-7 (h-t) 38-7; 40-7; 45-7; 47-7; 52-7; 54-7; 59-7; 61-7; 66-7; 68-7; 73-7; 75-7; 75-12; 80-12.
Man-of-the-Match: Amid the string of tries scored by Boroughmuir, Stuart Dobson’s goal kicking was hugely impressive. The centre, moreover, played a key role in his team’s midfield attack showing good skills with ball in hand.
Talking point: A mismatch is never satisfactory and especially so in the context of a cup final. How to avoid it? The organisers need to come up with either a return to seeding or a different format – a pool system perhaps?
BT Premiership play-off: Defence is best form of attack as Melrose barge past Watsonians
Great report Alan, I see youve not lost any of your reporting skills you learned at Craigroyston. Did not make it to the Final but the team obviously picked up their skills from me. Hope all is well and will hopefully catch up with you some time soon.