Arnold Clark Men's Premiership: Marr stay in the fight for survival with win at Musselburgh
Yesterday at 20:03
Musselburgh 26
Marr 39
LEWIS STUART @ Stoneyhill
MARR gave themselves a Premiership lifeline when they eked out a bonus-point win at basement club Musselburgh to make sure the arithmetic says they can hold onto their top-flight status. In a thunderous clash, they scored when it really mattered and scrambled effectively to keep their noses in front at crucial moments.
Musselburgh, to their credit, shrugged off knowing relegation was inevitable to put up a strong fight and, with a bit more consistency and self-confidence, might have pushed their opponents even closer — even though the result mattered only to their visitors.
For Marr, the problem is that their fate depends on going on a winning run over their final four games, all at home, but they also need rivals to drop points. Despite that, head coach Kenny Diffenthal was adamant the battle can be won. "The attitude across the board is first-rate, everybody's working as hard as they can. That result just shows the kind of commitment that the boys are putting in," he said after the game.
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"The first job was to win and then get the bonus point. Week in, week out, we can only worry about ourselves. Yes, we need other teams to help us too, but we can't worry about what we can't control. We can only control what we can do. We just have to worry about ourselves at home and try to put on a show for the crowd."
They had their work cut out from the start as the home side got off to a flying start, winning a penalty in the opening minute and keeping the pressure on until they created a gap for winger Sandy Watt, who showed superb footwork and pace to get through for the opening score.
It didn't take Marr long to hit back, with the backs showing their running ability as Scott Bickerstaff broke around the outside, found Logan Jarvie on the wing to take play to the home line and find full-back Calum Inglis on his shoulder to take the scoring pass.
They couldn't convert from the touchline, but Colin Sturgeon, the fly-half, soon added a penalty to edge his side in front and set them on their way. They could have added to the lead, but hooker Blair Jardine was held up over the line after another Bickerstaff break before the centre was again at the heart of a move that ended with flanker Michael Kirk forcing his way over from a couple of yards out.
Despite both sides losing players to the sin-bin after an off-the-ball melee — Sturgeon for Marr, hooker Robert Stott for Musselburgh — neither side could add to their score before the break.
After the teams returned, however, Musselburgh were again the ones first out of the blocks, working the ball to full-back Tom Foley, whose pace took him past the first line of defence before his sidesteps completed the job.
Again, the threat to Marr didn't last, with the visitors electing to take a scrum from a penalty in a kickable position. They were under pressure, but scrum-half Grant Baird escaped to the blindside, working with wing Jake Jacobsen to get him free to score in the corner.
Marr did briefly retake the lead with their third try, set up by a 50-22 from young fly-half Bruce Weatherhead, with Stott there to drive over after the maul had been held up and the ball was recycled into midfield.
Again, the lead was short-lived as Musselburgh were driven off their own scrum ball, Bickerstaff found space, and Baird completed the job.
There were plenty of near-misses from Musselburgh, but it was the visitors who showed the clinical edge as Baird again found space directly from a scrum and this time found No. 8 Ben Johnston on his shoulder for the scoring pass.
The men from the west soon put the result to bed with centre Alex Bryden capitalising on excellent build-up work from wing Jacobsen, but there was still plenty of fight in Musselburgh, who camped on the visitors' line until they eventually managed to create enough space for winger Oli Byass to squeeze in at the corner flag.
They almost grabbed a second bonus point as time ran out, with replacement Jason Talac racing away on a 60-yard dash to the line, but the support was a bit slow getting to him when the defenders eventually closed him down, and Marr were able to see out the rest of the action.
The final near-miss just about summed up Musselburgh's season — plenty of effort and flashes of brilliance, but somehow not quite having what it takes to close out results. Despite that, assistant coach Andy Clarke was upbeat about the club's future, highlighting the youngsters who featured so prominently in the best bits of their performance.
"We've not backed down this year, we've kept on going, facing the challenges coming our way," he said. "The real bonus for us is that the boys have stuck together when it would have been easy for there to be a split in the group. They have kept working week in, week out.
"We've had a lot of changes to the squad, but that's allowed these young boys to come through. A lot of them were brilliant in this game. The final two games will be about enjoyment and trying to get what we can from them. Then we'll regroup and figure out where we're going next season. Though we're getting relegated and we're bottom of the league, there are a lot of positives for next season."
Teams –
Musselburgh: T Foley, O Byass, M McCowan, B Heber, S Watt; B Weatherhead, D Owenson; R Brown, B Stott, E Bonthron, J Haynes, A Mataitini, D Jakeman, M Crawford, J Lister (C). Subs: Z Griffith, C Owenson, M Thomas, J Talac, J Anderson, J Arnold, F Craig.
Marr: C Inglis; L Jarvie, S Bickerstaff; A Bryden, J Jacobson; C Sturgeon, G Baird (C); S Khan, B Jardine, C Miller, D Andrew, C Young, M Kirk, A Orr, B Johnston. Subs: G Dick, A King, C Steel, A Bowler, J Scott, R Anderson, G Beckwith.
Referee: Chelsea Gillespie
Scorers –
Musselburgh: Tries: Watt, Foley, Stott, Byass; Cons: Owenson, 3.
Marr: Inglis, Kirk, Jacobsen, Baird, Johnston, Bryden; Cons: Sturgeon, 3; Pen: Sturgeon.
Scoring sequence (Musselburgh first): 5-o; 7-0; 7-5; 7-8; 7-13; 7-15 (h-t) 12-15; 14-15; 14-20; 19-20; 21-20; 21-25; 21-27; 23-32; 21-34; 21-39; 26-39.
Yellow cards –
Musselburgh: Stott
Marr: Sturgeon
Player-of-the-Match: Both sides were full of commitment and there were plenty of strong showings from the Musselburgh youngsters but there were two players in the Marr ranks who controlled things with centre Scott Bickerstaff showing all his experience only to be shaded by Grant Baird at scrum-half, who's distribution and electric running were key for his side.
Talking Point: All credit to Musselburgh who could have been forgiven for checking out of this season's campaign early but instead are clearly intent on fighting all the way to the end and could still have something to say about the final league table.
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