Marr Rugby’s 1st XV’s away trip to Riverside Park brought home an important try bonus point and also a salutary lesson about the need to be fully alert and in top defensive form for the full eighty minutes. In the opening quarter of the first half they were punished as they failed to deal with turnover ball, quick counter-attacks and cleverly executed and perfectly weighted chip kicks that broke the defensive lines and allowed Jed-Forest’s pacey backs, in particular former Scotland 7s stars Lewis and Gregor Young to cause chaos and score some great individual tries.

The first five or so minutes started well enough for Marr but they quickly realised that unlocking Jed-Forest’s defence was going to be a tough challenge. The experienced back line, which included included former Barbarians capped player Fraser Harkness, was relatively solid. Jed’s big pack, featuring 22 stone man mountain Paulo Alves Ferraira, was ably marshalled by experienced Grant Stuart. Too often good Jed work at the tackle and breakdown secured turnover ball and quick counter-attacks exploited the spaces behind Marr’s defensive lines.

On eight minutes Lewis Young followed his own chip kick from half way to hack ahead twice before collecting the ball and completing a great individual effort. A penalty kick four minutes later extended the home lead.

On the quarter hour Marr managed to find some space as Colin Sturgeon fed Ben Johnston whose angled run opened the defence and he made 30 metres before the cover tacklers caught him. A penalty followed and Marr opted to kick for the corner but in the following move encountered stiff defence and lost possession.

Five minutes later Jed-Forest countered with another attack and as the approached half way another chip kick ahead landed in no-man’s land behind Marr’s primary defensive line. Harkness collected the ball and unleashed Gregor Young who raced in to score and open a 17 lead.

Marr responded well and lifted their game. Within five minutes they managed to open their account with a try in the corner from Scott Bickerstaff after some promising phases of play through the forwards was spread wide. Colin Sturgeon converted. Marr continued to press but more often than not the good work only took them into the red zone where they found Jed in no mood to give anything way and dangerous in the counter-attack.

Just before half time’s Marr’s perseverance was finally rewarded with two tries. The first involved Conor Bickertsaff (sponsored by CCL Logistics) taking a leaf from Jed’s book as Marr attacked out of defence. He launched a perfectly weighted chip into the pocket behind the home defence and with electric pace caught his kick, committed a tackler and offloaded to Rory McGee who ran in from 65 metres. The conversion was added. Just before half time Marr scored again and secured the lead. The score came off a Marr attacking scrum some 20m out. Grant Baird (sponsored by Colin Adam) who unleashed Scott Bickerstaff to powered his way through and score in the corner.

Jed’s half time team talk paid dividends as the came flying out of the blocks from the start of the second half. Their determined defence was even more assertive and disrupted Marr’s attempts to get into any descent rhythm. Winning a penalty they kicked to the corner and a classic and well executed rolling maul had an inevitable result as they scored in corner. Two minutes later there was further joy for Jed and misery for Marr as Gregor Young produced another solo piece of brilliance as he read Marr’s defence well and from near half way used his pace to create a hole and race home to score.

Five minutes later Marr got a golden opportunity as Jed were reduced to 14 men after Grant was yellow carded. In the ten minutes they were unable to capitalise on the advantage as the home side’s defence was even more resolute and continued to pose a real threat from quick counter-attacks.

With 20 minutes remaining Marr’s efforts brought them the bonus point try as off an attacking scrum Stuart Howie sliced through from midfield to race 25 metres and score.

In the remaining time as Marr chased to close the gap they were again punished by Jed-Forest’s pacey backs who relished the opportunities to launch counter-attacks from defensive turnovers. Two tries were added to give Jed-Forest a comfortable victory.

Marr’s single point reward from their efforts was well deserved and an important addition to their league tally as the midway point approaches.

Marr man of the match: Ben Johnston (sponsored by Jimmy Armour)

Marr scorers
Tries: Scott Bickertsaff (2), Rory McGee (1) and Stuart Howie (1)
Conversions: Colin Sturgeon (3)