BT Premiership

MARR RUGBY 0

MELROSE RFC 43

MARR Rugby’s survival in the BT Premiership is now a very long shot as they went down to run away leaders Melrose whilst relegation threatened Boroughmuir did a Houdini act and won against Stirling.

The results leave Marr in a perilous position –with only two matches remaining and now no margins for any slip.

Playing in heavy and deteriorating conditions Melrose effectively dealt with everything Marr could throw at them. Marr’s effort and work-rate was huge but this wasn’t enough as Melrose’s defence was almost impenetrable.

Melrose soaked up any pressure and the early cry of “Yellow” that was the call to arms to form a defensive line that effectively strangled Marr out of the game. A blitz defence with first time tackles, double hits and close support play meant that more often than not Melrose forced Marr to attack from behind the gain line. Patience and pressure paid off as they forced Marr into errors and punished them as opportunities presented.

Melrose opened the scoring within five minutes as Austin Lockington scored in the corner. Ten minutes later try number two was added. This came after Marr were penalised and a kick to the corner provided the perfect platform for execution of a training ground catch and drive that ended with Melrose’s pack driving maul crossing the line with Russell Anderson at the bottom of the pile over as the ball was touched down.

On the few occasions Marr managed to make half breaks through the middle or out wide the cover defence quickly snuffed out the threat.

After soaking up 10 minutes minutes of Marr pressure, Russell Andrews added try number three.

Quickly following the start of the second half the bonus point try was added, courtesy of Ruaridh Knott. With Craig Jackson finally finding his mark the added points from conversions were added and Marr were left with an insurmountable challenge.

Valiantly they battled back but Melrose soaked up all that Marr could throw at them. In the final quarter Marr conceded a penalty try.

As the match drew to a close Melrose started to cut loose. They were rewarded by two further tries with Austin Lockington adding his second and this was followed in the final play with another try from Knott. Marr worked hard to try to break down the defence but there was scant reward for their efforts. Looking ahead Marr know they need the same effort and commitment for the remaining games and have to add the cutting edge that helped bring them to playing in the Premiership.

Man of the match: Kyle Hatherall

BT Reserve West Two

GREENOCK RFC 2s 24

MARR RUGBY 3s 25

MEANWHILE at Battery Park, Greenock, Marr Rugby’s 3rd XV enjoyed their first ever win against Greenock’s 2nd XV.

It was a scrappy affair. The match kicked off early at 12pm and by 12.05pm Danny Clark had crossed the whitewash to score, or so everyone thought until the referee disallowed the try for not grounding the ball properly. Not to be disheartened though about 10 minutes later a wide ball was fed out to Shaun Fallows making his 3rds wing debut where he made a barnstorming run up the touchline from halfway to score under the posts

A few minutes later Greenock were on the board due to some big ball carrying forwards and some slack defence from Marr.

Greenock scored two tries in quick succession and sensed victory in their grasp but with 20 minutes remaining and nine points behind Marr thought differently. Another try by Fallows on the blind side of an attacking scrum and a bullocking effort from Ali Walker on a crash ball put Marr a single point ahead.

With 10 minutes left, Marr tightened the game up and retained possession and close the match out.

Marr Rugby 3rd XV man of the match: Mark Allison.

Scorers

Tries: Shaun Fallows (2); Mark Allison; Andy Mathieson and Ali Walker