Match Report – St Andrews Mens 1stXV vs Manchester Metropolitan Mens 1stXV
It is not often your team scores 48 points on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, you see some cracking rugby and yet you walk away feeling disappointed with the result. The mood amongst the Saints rugby fans was decidedly downcast, even shocked, as they left Uni park to go and watch the 2nd XV play Stirling. Although the atmosphere at the game had nothing on the amphitheater like Hive Stadium, a healthy crowd had gathered to watch the Saints open their BUCS Northern Premiership 2 account against Manchester Metropolitan (Man Met), a team who finished second last season and who St Andrews have never beaten.
St Andrews would play this fixture without some key starters: the losses of Archie McClusker, Sam Wright and James Murray would be accounted for by Dan McNamara coming in at tight-head, Mark McKay starting at open side flanker with captain Ferg Cato slotting in a hooker and Jamie Thompson starting on the wing. Such is the depth and togetherness of this team that these changes did not throw the preparation off track, or endanger the quality of performance.
The first impression I got of Man Met was how garish their kit was: a real eyesore on the pristine Uni Park pitch.
Straight off the kickoff, Joe Van Hoffen got stuck into the action, stripping the Man Met ball carrier to launch the Saints first attack. Much as last week the Saints attack had a shaky start. A looping pass was nearly picked off the by Man Met winger within the first few minutes. However, the attack clicked into gear off the first scrum, where a great line from Angus Mather set up a rampaging Oliver Finlayson-Russell coming round the corner. Ill discipline cost Man Met early on as their number 5 was shown yellow for a criminally late hit on Chris Schreuder, who put the Saints ahead 3-0 with his boot. The Saints would add three more points during the yellow card period.
However, St Andrews found themselves under pressure before long after a botched clearance from within the 22. The defence held strong as we got our first look at the Man Met attack. Oliver FR was everywhere in this opening set, putting in big hit after big hit, but ultimately the Man Met’s attack used a lovely inside ball move to get the first score of the game, their kicker adding the extra two to put Man Met up 7-6 .
Again the Saints gave Man Met the field position after failing to exit well during a spell of kick tennis, but a crucial line out steal by Ferg gave Schreuder another chance to clear, this time deep into the Man Met half. Some excellent line-speed in defence then caused a dropped ball and accidental offside. Ferg pointed to the posts and Schreuder did the rest. 9-7.
Man Met then proved how dangerous their attack could be from long range (something that would become a theme of the game), a try only being prevented by an incredible tackle from fullback Andrew Nash. Mark McKay showed his exhaustive work rate to race back and get a crucial steal, however the clearance only found the Saints 22 meter line. A strong maul from MMU led to the next score from their blind side flanker. The touchline conversion was missed. 12-9 to Man Met.
The Saints conceded again in quick succession due to a cheeky chip kick which was grounded by their chasing winger on the edge of the dead ball line. The extra two points were added by the Man Met fly half to stretch their lead to 19-9, except this time St Andrews had an answer.
A dropped ball gave the Saints the foothold they needed in the Manchester met half. First year winger Jamie Thompson made an excellent carry off the scrum, and then another down his wing to put St Andrews in the red zone. Powerful pick and goes from David Brown and Oliver FR gave Joe Van Hoffen the platform to muscle his way over from close range, and Chris added the extras in a try set up by the freshers. 19-16.
St Andrews then came alive. Campell Swanson showed off his lightning quick feet, receiving the ball from Nash and flying down the left wing. Man Met’s scramble defence did just enough to stop a try, but straight off their clearance Jamie Thompson beat their winger and made a break on the other wing, scramble defence preventing another try. Eventually this constant barrage of hard runners, physical carries and silky handling led to a try. In a beautifully orchestrated move, Ferg gave an inside ball to a motoring Dave Macrae who scythed through the defence before offloading skilfully to Mark who rampaged his way from the 22 to the try line, leaving a trail of defenders in his wake. Chris’ successful conversion ended the half, the Saints leading 23-19.
The first half had been an attacking spectacle, and the question was could the Saints defence step up and win them the game as it had done against the University of Edinburgh?
It looked like the defence had returned to that elite level when an organised kick-chase led to a crunching tackle from Thompson, pinning Man Met in their own 22. However, the defence switched off and nobody folded round the corner leaving plenty of space for Man Met’s backs to exploit. Clinical passing sent their winger sprinting off down the wing, taking it all the way and scoring in the corner. The difficult conversion was missed to leave the score at 24-23 to Man Met.
With the defence falling in lapses such as this it was up to the attack to win this game. St Andrews answered straight from the kickoff, which was dropped straight into the hands of Van Hoffen who offloaded it to his second row partner John Paterson. Silky hands from these enormous men gave Thomas Russell space on the wing, and he danced down the touchline to score in the corner, showing off his impressive finishing ability. Schreuder missed his first and only kick of the game but St Andrews once again had the lead. 28-24.
Again it was a defensive error that allowed Man Met to score their next try. A disorganised defensive line with some players blitzing and others holding created a dogleg, which at this level spells disaster. It still took some superb hands from Man Met to beat the Saints scramble defence, but beat it they did, scoring in the corner and converting. 31-28.
The back and forth nature of this contest continued as it was St Andrews who scored next. Dominant carrying from the Saints forwards left many Man Met defenders on their butts and in offside positions. From the subsequent penalty Schreuder kicked St Andrews deep into the corner where Dave Macrae stepped the blitz defence and darted over the line. Schreuder converted to give St Andrews a 35-31 lead. A couple minutes later he added three more off the boot.
Then came the best moment of the game. A Saints attack was losing momentum, and Schreuder, deciding he’d had enough, causally slotted a drop goal from the ten meter line. The fans weren’t even that surprised, they know by now that Chris’ boot is most definitely magic. The Saints were now up 41-31.
This lead was quickly cut into by Man Met, who exploited a ragged kick chase line and burst down the right wing to score. The conversion was successful and the Saints fans were back on the edge of their seats. 41-38.
Straight off the restart some excellent breakdown work saw Man Met commit an illegal clear-out. Schreuder sent the ball to the five meter line and Dave Macrae showed quick handling to set up replacement centre Andrew Daly on a short line, who scored. The conversion was an easy one. 48-38.
St Andrews were unable to exit off the restart, handing a penalty to Man Met who returned to their maul and which was brought down illegally by the Saints pack. It was clear the mounting pressure was having an effect on the Saints defence and they gave away another penalty before Man Met crossed the whitewash.
Tension was high in the stands, with five minutes left to play the Saints held on to a 48-45 lead. Again Man Met were able to exploit the space on the wings to make serious headway into the St Andrews half. Desperate defence from Swanson on the Saints 22 was seen as illegal by the referee, and off went Swanson to the sin bin. Three minutes left and down to fourteen men with Man Met having a line out on the Saints five, this one was going to take some serious grit to win. In the end the pressure proved too great, and a large overlap was capitalised on as Man Met scored at the death to win this thrilling contest. Final score: Manchester Metropolitan 52 – St Andrews 48.
It was strange that a defence which was so dominant against Edinburgh struggled so in this fixture. Man Met were a dangerous side, but were they 52 points dangerous? The Saints were fine in 1 on 1 tackles: organisation the and folding seemed to be the issue. There were some positives that can be taken from this game however. The attack got into gear much earlier than it had against Edinburgh, and at times looked pretty much unstoppable. Freshers Jamie Thomson, David Brown and Oliver Finlayson-Russell all impressed. The bench was strong, the set piece solid and we won the kicking battle.
Moving into next week the question is how quickly can St Andrews recover that suffocating defensive identity that, as Chris Schroeder told us in his interview last week, gives even more life to their attack.
