Saturday 10th November saw Murrayfield Wanderers 2nd XV travel a short distance to local rivals Forrester in an Edinburgh derby match on a drizzly winters day . The 2nd XV went into this match with a vicious attitude for two reasons: last week they were handed a close defeat by the hands of league leaders Kelso'A' which effictively ended our winning run; in this fixture back in August the 2nd XV were on the end of a harsh defeat, this made us even more determined to win this fixture. A number of changes again from last week: Cameron Hughes came back in to Lock as Federico Annoni was called up to the 1st XV and John Lee was out injured; Barry Turnbull, Michael Fletcher, Ally Borland, Michael Robertson and Alex Godsmark were all in the squad adding 1st XV experience; Aussie Cameron King made his Murrayfield debut at 8.

Forrester kicked off and straight away came out all guns blazing as their number 8 collected the ball. For 5 minutes Forrester battered Murrayfield but seemed to run out of urgency on the ball and Duncan Hebson made a cracking turnover in midfeild. From the moment the ball was in the away sides hands it was clear for all to see that they had more about them than the home side. They just had to prove that on the scoreboard this time. The first try was not long in coming. The ball was shipped through the backline and Barry Turnbull managed to kick between the Forries fullback and winger and outpace them to the ball, diving on it over the try line, Callum Gauld converted - 0-7. The next 10 minutes the ball spent most of its time in breakdowns. It was during this period that one of the more comical moments of the match happened as Cameron King took the ball into contact a Forrester player managed to pull his strip over his head, trapping the ball inside the strip. They then tried to move the ball through their backs with the number 8 shirt wrapped around it. The ref stopped proceedings and Cam got his jersey back.

The 2nd Xv continued to pressure the home side and Peter Walker made a good break up field only to be tackled inside the 22. From this the 2nd XV had many phases of play in an attempt to get over the try line. Eventually aftersome nice hands through the back line set Ally Borland to go over from close range for a converted try 0-14. It was clear as early as the kick off that Forrester were looking to use their number 8 as a hard runner to try to gain yards, however this did not go to plan as he was absolutely smashed 3 times by Cam King which rattled the home side and they began running out of ideas in attack and began kicking away possession. This however gave MWFC more chances to run the ball and Ewan Elay made a half break before unleashing Barry Turnbull down the wing where he again kicked over the fullback, the fullback mysteriously touched the ball down at least 5 metres short of the try line and Ally Borland pounced knocking him back over the Touch line. Everyone was still attempting to work out what had just happened when Duncan Hebson reacted and dotted the ball down for the score. Conversion missed 0-19. Forrester managed to get on the scoreline just before half time, opting to kick a penalty at goal as they were having no luck cracking the strong hard-hitting Wandies defence, 3-19.

HT Forrester 2nd XV 3 MWFC 2nd XV 19

After a good first half, the 2nd XV started the 2nd half making 3 changes: Michael Fletcher, Chris Rhodes and Alex Godsmark replaced Andrew Thorburn, Callum Gauld and Ally Borland. Substitution did not strengthen or weaken the side, but just gave it different options. The 2nd XV now started this half all guns blazing running absolutely everything and keeping Forrester on the back foot. Kyle Barbour was held up over the line only for from the resultant scrum to be turned over and number 8 Cameron King picking up and going over for a try on his debut. Chris Rhodes missed the conversion, 3-24. Against the run of play Forrester managed to score a try, a kick in midfield was charged down and bounced nicely into the arms of their 13 to run the 30 metres for a converted try, 10-24. Terry Leddy and David Clarke replaced Peter Walker and Duncan Hebson 12 minutes into the half. Alex Godsmark made was now set to make his mark next by firstly setting up Terry Leddy to go over on the right: drawing the fullback and making a nice pass, and next making a great break up field dazzling defenders with his footwork before offloading to Cameron King in support who then sent Rick Howes over on the left for a great team try. Only one of the conversions was successful from Rhodes, 10-36. Ally Chalmers replaced a hard working Michael Robertson 20 minutes into the half. The 2nd XV dominance continued and Scott Fraser was unlucky not to finish off an excellent team move as the ball slipped free of his grip just short of the line. Then, just when Forrester managed to finally regain possession their 10 kicked the ball straight into Barry Turnbull's hands. He sent the ball skyward with a fabulous Garry Owen. A lesson in back play was then dished out. Forrester’s full back opted not to catch the high ball and control it with his foot, unsurprisingly it wasn’t successful and Barry collected the resultant ricochet. A man with his pace isn't going to be caught in open space and he went over for an unconverted try, 10-41. The remainder of the game was still filled with pressure and good play from Wandies only careless knock-ons and stray passes caused by the slippery conditions stopped the away side from adding even more misery to Forrester. Rick Howes secured DOTD, with only 5 minutes left on the clock he made his second kicking mistake, completely scuffing the ball giving us a giggle or two on the sidelines - unlucky for him as he had been disruptive in the lineout stealing ball all game.

FT Forrester 2nd XV 10 MWFC 2nd XV 41

A great performance from the 2nd XV. Scrums were dominant towards the end of the match, line-outs were mostly good, turning over a lot of opposition ball and also misfiring a few times on our own . The backline were superb, the centre partnership of Kyle Barbour and Ewan Elay proves to get better and better each week and with danger outside them they will continue to be a nightmare for any defence. This win was needed to get the 2nd XV back to winning ways almost immediately and of course to dominate a rival club: in drier less slippery conditions you couldn't help but wonder just how many more points they would have been able to add. Some great man of the match performances from a lot of guys: Scott Fraser was excellent all game and just seemed to be the right guy in the right place on more than one occasion; Barry Turnbull was absolutely lethal down the wing and looked dangerous every time he was on the ball and topped it with 2 tries; Duncan Hebson was immense turning over a lot of ball, making great tackles and got himself on the score sheet; Cameron King made a fantastic MWFC debut with huge bone crunching tackles which helped crush Forrester confidence with the ball in hand, he was a nuisance in the break down, strong in attack and topped it all off with a try.
As always keep up the hard work at training and try to make yourselves available every weekend from now to the end of the season, as with everyone available who knows what could be in store for us this season.
Team: 1.Heasley; 2.Fraser; 3.M.Robertson; 4.Howse; 5.Hughes; 6.Thorburn; 7.Hebson; 8.King;
9.Gray; 10.Gauld; 11.Turnbull; 12.Barbour; 13.Elay; 14.P.Walker; 15.Borland

Replacements: 16.Chalmers; 17.Fletcher; 18.Clarke; 19.Rhodes; 20.Leddy; 21.Godsmark

Chris Anderson