Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Error-prone Edinburgh Accies succumb to Selkirk's strength

01/25/2025 01:52 PM

Edinburgh Accies 14

Selkirk 41

IAIN MORRISON @ Raeburn Place

THIS was an entertaining contest with two teams playing far more rugby than the cold, wet conditions should have dictated. The sides could not be separated in the first half but Selkirk flexed their muscles after the break, scoring four additional tries to go with the two they claimed in the first 40 to take full points away from home.

"They are a dangerous side," said Selkirk coach Gordon Henderson after the match. "We made some changes at half-time because we were hindered by a few small errors in the first half.

"At the break we just asked the boys to concentrate on three things: keep the width in attack, concentrate on getting the contacts right and keep supporting the ball, because we felt that we could get around their defense and so it proved.

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"I thought we deserved that win if only because we brought a lot more energy than them to that second-half performance."

There was not a huge amount between these two teams, but an accumulation of small things added up to a lop-sided score at the end of 80 minutes. Accies' discipline let them down as time and again Selkirk were handed easy metres simply by waiting for Accies to cough up a needless penalty which was never far away.

Handling was tricky in the conditions but that didn’t stop both sides from moving the ball at every opportunity. Although there were plenty of errors from both sides, Accies seemed to be pushing their luck a little harder than was strictly necessary.

Perhaps Selkirk's biggest strength was making yards after the initial contact. All too often the first Accies tackle would be a little half-hearted and no one benefited more than Selkirk winger Ben Pickles, who seemed almost impossible to stop once he got up to speed. He benefited most, but all the visitors made more yards than they should have with the ball in hand.

And when Accies were struggling for possession, namely most of this match, they were pretty quick to cough it up. Twice in the opening 40 the home side made a brave turnover only to lose the ball at the very next breakdown through a lack of support or accuracy in the contact zone.

Selkirk dominated the first 40 in terms of possession and territory but they had little enough to show for all their efforts. Two tries from Accies, each one book-ending the half, meant that the two teams were level pegging 14-14 at the break.

Accies opened the scoring after just eight minutes when they turned over a Selkirk lineout. The ball went wide to the left, where Robbie Kent drew the last defender expertly to send full-back Max Wallace over the line. Vincent Hart dissected the uprights with his inch-perfect conversion.

Selkirk were stung into action, although they were unable to match the slick handling of the home team. The visitors spread the ball left, right, left and right again before skipper Andrew McColm crashed over near the posts following an excellent half-break by centre Brodie Allan.

With one try assist to his name, Allan went one better a little later, scoring himself, again following a long build-up that started with Accies kicking long and failing to put an effective chase together. Faced with a disjointed defensive line, Selkirk executed the best move of the match, starting inside their own 22 and not giving up possession until Allan had Selkirk's second try.

It looked as if the visitors might run riot, but to their credit the home side upped their game and dominated the last ten minutes of the first half after turning over a dangerous Selkirk lineout drive five metres from their own try  line.

Accies went the length and would surely have scored but for a foot in touch from winger Gavin Welsh. Still, they used the high field position to exert some pressure on the visitors, opted for a scrum when awarded an attacking penalty, and number ten Hart skipped down the blind side to score from the scrum before converting expertly from the same place as the first try.

Selkirk were happy to kick the ball off the field and get into the dressing room at the break and they came out much the more purposeful of the two teams. Having weathered a mini-Accies storm at the start of the second half, the visitors bossed the remainder of this match with the difference being that this time they made it count on the scoreboard.

Four second-half tries, from replacement Blake Cullen, winger Pickles, Liam Cassidy, another subby, and Cory Tait, a hooker by trade but playing with a six on his back, made sure of this one.

Selkirk were aided by an Accies team that were visibly tiring and also by a yellow card flashed at flanker Guy Napier after a dangerous tackle around the 66-minute mark.

"We lacked accuracy and execution," said a somewhat despondent Accies coach Iain Berthinussen after the game. "We looked good in parts when we played to the space that was on the field, but we kicked poorly and their four tries in the second half all came from turnover ball."

I suggested that the kicking was good, but the chase was poor?

"It's all part of the same thing," replied Berthinussen. "If we don't know we are going to kick the ball, we probably won’t have much of a chase organised!"

Selkirk scrummy Hugo Anderson rounded off the scoring with 11 points to his name after four conversions and one, lone penalty midway through the second half.

Teams –

Edinburgh Accies: M Wallace; G Welsh, N Armstrong (capt), C Allan, R Kent; V Hart, B Grainger; C Imre, F McAslan, C Crookshanks, G Davies, S Whittaker, G Napier, R Purvis, T Drennan. Replacements: G Shannon, P Hayes, C Bain, W Cattarall, S Johnson, L Loomes, N Brown.

Selkirk: C Anderson; B Pickles, A Grant-Suttie, B Allan, J Welsh; Aaron McColm, H Alderson; L Pettie, J Bett, B Riddell, Andrew McColm (capt), J Fisher, C Tait, T Wilson, K Westlake. Replacements: C Cochrane, C Smyth, R Joyce, L Cassidy, O McClymont, B Cullen, E Wilson.

Scorers – 

Edinburgh Accies: Tries: Wallace, Hart. Cons: Hart 2.

Selkirk: Tries: Andrew McColm, Allan, Cullen, Pickles, Cassidy, Tait. Cons: Alderson 4. Pen: Alderson.

Scoring sequence (Edinburgh Accies first): 0-0; 5-0; 7-0; 7-5; 7-7; 7-12; 7-14; 12-14; 14-14 HT; 14-19; 14-21; 14-26; 14-29; 14-34;14-36; 14-41.

Referee: Scott Cubbitt.

Man of the match: Vincent Hart kicked pretty well for the home side, especially in the first half, and was excellent off the tee. Flanker Rory Purvis also caught the eye making his return from injury and only 18 years old. However the real contenders were sporting dark blue. Cory Tait looked lively throughout. Full-back Callum Anderson was never less than competent but both wingers, Josh Welsh and Ben Pickles, were the standouts for Selkirk, with the latter edging this award.

Moment of the match: Accies scored late in the first half and were squeezing Selkirk immediately before the break. Another try to take a lead into the break would have made this game a lot closer. As it was Selkirk won a turnover and then a penalty and were able to hoof the ball off the field to end the first half.

The post Arnold Clark Men’s Premiership: Error-prone Edinburgh Accies succumb to Selkirk’s strength appeared first on Scottish Rugby News from The Offside Line.