RUGBY matches are scheduled for 80 minutes but this Scottish Hydro Electric Cup final was over after just 40. Melrose racked up four first half tries, every one of them expertly converted by fly-half Scott Wight, to give themselves a 28-0 advantage a
t half time that Heriots' never looked like overcoming. It was Melrose's first silverware since 1997 and the long wait only made victory all the sweeter.
The city side was hopelessly outplayed and when their fightback finally came with four tries after the break it was all too little, too late. Tam McVie drove hard in the forwards, Marc Teague ran hard on the wing and centre James Thompson showed some glimpses of what Edinburgh can expect next season but otherwise too many of the Heriots' side's big game players were anonymous.
Melrose made light of the absence through suspension of John Dalziel and Kieran Cooney. They kept the tempo of their play high and in Scott Wight they had a fly-half with his hand firmly on the tiller. He is a little like his coach, an unfussy but quietly effective playmaker whose progress will be worth watching. He can kick some too, with four conversions and one penalty to his credit.
Melrose dominated the early exchanges and grabbed the first try after just five minutes. Using one of their favourite moves David Whiteford popped up to make the extra man in the midfield and the field opened up for the leggy winger who did well to pick out fullback Jordan Macey with an inch-perfect pass. Wight slotted over the touchline conversion and the Borderers were 7-0 up while some latecomers were still finding their seats.
Whiteford was playing junior rugby with Ross Sutherland just a few short years ago but he proved his abilities beyond doubt in this final. If he was the facilitator for the first try the speedy winger showed his finishing ability just nine minutes later after latching onto a loose Heriots' pass around the halfway line and racing under the posts without a finger laid on him.
Bizarrely, both kickers – Wight for Melrose and scrum-half Graham Wilson for the city side – fluffed their lines in front of goal with both attempts rebounding off the uprights.
They weren't the only points that went west. Melrose should have extended their lead even more after fly-half Wight made the difficult bit look easy before messing up the last pass. He caught his own chip kick and, had he off-loaded to Macey, the fullback was under the posts. Instead Wight backed himself to score and was tackled just shy of the line by the covering Teague. It was a vital intervention from the Heriots' skipper because a three-try lead would have effectively ended this match.
The vast majority of this match was being played in the middle of the pitch between the 22-metre lines and, on the odd occasion that Heriots' got themselves into an attacking position, their handling or their discipline inevitably let them down. Their passing was wayward and Craig Simmonds was lucky to stay on the pitch after what looked suspiciously like a head-butt on Melrose's Wayne Mitchell.
Faced with this sort of incompetence it was hardly surprising that Melrose grew in confidence as the match progressed, always looking the sharper and more dangerous of the two sides in thought and deed. A third try looked likely and when it arrived seven minutes before half time it was a beauty, started by one wing and finished by the other.
Whiteford again wandered off his left flank and Wight unlocked the Heriots' defence with a deft inside pass. Jamie Murray took the ball on before it went out to Macey and inside to Callum Anderson who dived over the line. Heriots' misery was complete when Mitchell took revenge for that earlier indiscretion to score when his forwards drove the wee man over the line. Wight's conversion, his third success from the right touchline and his fourth overall, proved the last kick of the half and no one from Goldenacre could complain about the 28-0 score line.
The second half was always likely to prove a damp squib after the fireworks in the first half and so it proved. Wight added an early penalty to the Melrose score before the Edinburgh side woke up. Heriots' couldn't play quite as badly again and sure enough they didn't. They dominated large swathes of the second half and grabbed four tries themselves. The first arrived on 55 minutes from Cameron Goodall, another went to Innes Brown five minutes later. The third touchdown was claimed by reserve fly-half Oliver Brown with seven minutes on the clock and the final try was scored by Thompson in the last move of the match. It was not enough.
It will be a shame if the rumours prove true and this match is the last ever national cup finals day; the men from Melrose will certainly hope to defend their trophy next year.
Melrose: J Macey, C Anderson, J Murray (Capt), G Stewart, D Whiteford; S Wight, S McCormick; A Gillie, W Mitchell (G Innes 47 min), R Higgins(N Beavon 31 min), G Dodds, A Clark, S Johnson, W Wallace, R Miller.
Heriot's: C Goudie, M Teague (Capt), J Thompson, R Mill, C Goodall (J Alston 65 min); M Strang (O Brown 60 min), G Wilson; B McNeil, N Meikle (S Mustard 55 min), W Blacklock (I Brown 34 min), P Eccles (R Gray 60 min), G Noonan (G Anderson 70 min), T McVie, C Fusaro (J Parker 55 min), C Simmonds.
Scorers: Melrose: Try:Macey, Whiteford, Anderson, Mitchell Conv:Wight (4) Pen: Wight
Heriots: Try: Goodall, I Brown, O Brown, Thompson Conv: Wilson (2) Pen:
Referee: John Steele.
The full article contains 984 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
