Stewarts Melville 31

Peebles 6

Allan Beveridge at Inverleith

DISAPPOINTING to say the least.

It was a game Peebles wanted to win to keep up their hopes of avoiding relegation.

But it turned out to be a game which had the loyal band of supporters in the stand baffled.

In the first half, playing into the wind Peebles did well, but just could not get across the city team's try line.

It was Stewarts Melville who were under pressure and throughout that first period were rarely in the Peebles half.

Only their stout defence - often right on their try line - kept them in touch and it looked like it was only a matter of time before Peebles scored tries.

On five minutes Callum Anderson made a lovely break from outside centre and he took the ball into the home team 22 where their stand off Michael Hanning found himself on the wrong side of a ruck and he was penalised.

Greg Raebum opened the scoring with the kick.

Raebum added a another penalty in the second half before having to leave the field injured.

It was not until the 22nd minute that Stew/Mel found their way into the Peebles 22 but thankfully the visitors managed to clear their lines after being awarded a penalty.

Another penalty five minutes later saw Peebles kick into touch in the Stew/Mel 22.

Peebles secured the lineout and there were several pushes at the city lines by the three front row players Carey Togia, Ryan McConnell and James Cockbum but to no avail.

The home team were awarded a scrum five after Peebles were across the line but the ball was held up.

From that scrum Hanning made a lovely break out of his in goal area and he cleared the city team's lines. He was only stopped on halfway by a good tackle by Murray Brown.

The visitors had an opportunity to increase their slender lead in the 35th minute but a Raeburn penalty was wide.

However, Peebles never gave up attacking. Callum Anderson and Murdo Anderson were both stopped just short of the whitewash with surging runs. And just on half time Peebles should have scored with an overlap on the right but on this occasion their passing let them down and the ball went to ground.

Just on half time the home team did mount a serious charge to the try line but on this occasion it was Peebles who defended well.

Half time came and Peebles who had been dominant but had failed to add to that early Raeburn penalty headed to the shelter of the changing rooms for what the supporters would be an encouraging team talk.

Whatever was said did not work.

Within five minutes of the restart, Peebles, now playing with the meteorological elements slightly in their favour found themselves 14-3 down with tries from second row, Morrison and centre Rennie both converted by Hanning.

For some reason Peebles were now on the slide and a third try on this occasion by the city team's giant, long haired, Scandanavian, second row, Alexander Rappestad really put the game out of reach.

In the first half the lineouts and scrums were evenly contested, it could even be argued that Peebles had the upper hand.

This was definitely not the case in this second period where the city lads showed their muscle and their speed of handling.

They added a bonus point try to their haul in the 81st minute and finished by adding a further try in injury time.

Stewarts Melville ran out worthy winners but Peebles were without doubt the dominant team in the first half.