SUPERSUB Ed Mills today revealed how Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership rugby champions Boroughmuir are fuelling their back-to-back titles bid with a determination to deny those opponents who are intent on knocking them off their perch.
Helped by
Irishman Mills grabbing two of their six tries 'Muir launched their defence with a 34-14 win over Edinburgh Accies at Meggetland in a match much closer that the scoreline suggests.
Acknowledging that Accies, who ran out of steam after closing the gap to 17-14 around the hour mark, had made Boroughmuir fight hard, utility back Mills said: "There was chat in our dressing room beforehand about us being the team to beat in a lot of people's eyes, and we were able to use that positively by preparing even better so as not to let them get one over on us.
"We were ready for Accies, although I think they will be a hard team for a lot of other sides to deal with."
If the rest of the season continues in this vein then Scottish rugby fans are in for a treat.
While there were plenty of mistakes that could be attributable to early season rustiness play flowed from end to end with each of the eight tries better than the preceding one.
For a long time the outcome lay in the balance and perhaps the key moment came when Mills, who had come on at full back for the injured Stephen Ruddick, got across to produce a brilliant cover tackle on flying Accies debutant, Alex Blair.
The younger brother of Edinburgh stars Mike and David gave a mixed performance at stand-off with some stray kicks feeding 'Muir's eagerness to counter from any range. The teenager still looked every inch a top prospect though, for the way he utilised support runners while ball-in-hand he was always ready to back himself when making breaks.
Had he eluded Mills then Accies might have used the momentum to carry them to victory, which is why the former Munster academy member took more satisfaction from his vital tackle than his try brace.
"Tries have a tendency to come themselves, but if you work on your defence, that wins games," said Mills, whose emergence from an apparent injury-jinx has delighted 'Muir coach Eamon John. "Ed is very quick on his feet and that's what we saw after a run of injuries caught up with him last year," said John, who was delighted to be off the mark with a bonus point.
"Thankfully a bit of experience pulled us through in a match where we turned over too many balls. From turnover possession ourselves we can be deadly but we were all fingers and thumbs at times, but in game one that is to be expected."
Where Boroughmuir had a decisive edge was in the line-out through Fergus Pringle and Greg Scott. It was a day when Accies badly missed ex-pro jumper Nathan Pike.
To compensate, they had to show extra inventiveness in the backs. Iain Berthinussen was a rock at centre and Matt Coupar got through a power of work in supporting in-field from his wing berth.
It was from one such foray that Coupar sent Paul Loudon thundering through and, as always, Dan Teague led by example in providing sterling support to the ball-carrier.
What price a clubs' international cap for back rower Teague at last this season? Accies innovation did not go unnoticed by Eamon John. Paying tribute, he said: "Accies have some really good young players.
"They'll probably have to think about what style of play they adopt with the sort of ammunition they have in the backs where Iain Berthinussen and Paul Loudon stood out."
Despite Accies carrying a threat through the middle, the irony was that 'Muir centres Malcolm Clapperton and Greg Cottrell also looked sharp in bagging a try apiece. The homesters' have-a-go approach was summed up by a long-range effort from Calum Cusiter.
The score had its roots in one of the several loose tap backs which characterised the Accies line-out, and when Angus Martyn was on to the loose ball in a flash the platform was set for Calum Cusiter to gallop 70 yards to the corner.
It was carelessness like that which caused Accies coach Ian Barnes to wear a perplexed look as he pledged to change traditional practices.
"I'm not a great one for watching videos after a match but I might make an exception to try to see how we lost by 20 points," said Barnes. "If we had scored at 14-17 I think we would have gone on to win, but a couple of things didn't go our way while it's probably true to say we ran out of gas a wee bit.
"There were too many mistakes from us in the first half and then we didn't cash in on second half chances. Our line-out cracked and we weren't solid enough in the set-pieces.
"Boroughmuir are really dangerous off turnover balls and our tight play wasn't good enough to prevent them using that.
"At the end of the day, though, they are the champions and people will look at the score and think we were humped. We weren't. We played some good rugby, but we did make some terrible mistakes as well."
Appropriately, the first try of 'Muir defence fell to captain Fergus Pringle in battling over from a ruck after Angus Martyn had been held on the line. Thirteen minutes had elapsed when Malcolm Clapperton took a pop up pass from Matt Cannon to slice through, and it seemed Accies might be blown away. To their credit they responded with a copybook try when Iain Berthinussen and Paul Loudon set up Alex Blair for a try that he also converted. Half-time arrived with 'Muir adding to their advantage through Cusiter's sucker-punch effort.
After some shaky goal-kicking on both sides Accies seized the second-half initiative through Loudon cruising home, but it was Boroughmuir who roused themselves for a stronger finish.
Rory Couper's beautifully-timed pass sent in Mills for his first touchdown out wide before Cottrell capitalised on a break by fellow centre Clapperton for try number five.
'Muir, who gave a debut from off the bench to Edinburgh University flier Kelechi Eseonu, had the last word when Mills sidestepped through thick cover, and while many might feel the scoring spree had much to do with the introduction of several new laws, it appeared more a case of positive attitudes prevailing than any tinkering. It was coupled with some common sense refereeing from full-time official Andy MacPherson.
Certainly, Eamon John felt players were still familiarising themselves with being allowed to bring down mauls, add unlimited numbers to line-outs and stay five metres back from scrums.
"I think it will be a few weeks yet before the new laws come into play," said John.
The omens are good, however, although there is a familiar sight to Division One today with Boroughmuir on top, just as they were for almost all of last season.
Scorers:Boroughmuir: Tries: Mills (2), Pringle, Clapperton, Cottrell, Cusiter. Cons: Cannon (2).
Edinburgh Accies: Tries: Blair, Loudon. Cons: Blair (2).
Boroughmuir: Ruddick, Keenan, Clapperton, Cottrell, Couper, Cannon, Cusiter, Lait, Malloy, Ross, Scott, Pringle (captain), Mathieson, Fisher, Martyn.
Subs: Costigan, Rutterford, Cameron, Mills, Eseonu.
Edinburgh Accies: Kinloch, Coupar, Loudon, I Berthinussen, Rattray, Blair, Campbell, Niven, Price, Marsh, Stuart, Lovat, J Berthinussen, Teague, Drennan.
Subs: Arnold, Bonner, Henderson, Callander, Browne.
Referee: A MacPherson.
The full article contains 1276 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
