BT Premiership

MARR RUGBY 12

BOROUGHMUIR RFC 20

Words: Kevin Quinn

Pictures: Ken Ferguson

THE battle to avoid relegation got more difficult for Marr on Saturday as they swapped places with Boroughmuir following this demoralising defeat.

With four league matches remaining, Marr can still pull themselves out of the mire – but with visits to play Ayr and Currie and a home tie against top of the table Melrose things don’t look promising.

It was another day when Marr were left to rue missed chances to convert good possession and field position into points.

Too often they tried to force play and consequently lost possession through unforced errors or turnover from great defensive work by Boroughmuir who wasted few chances and more often than not their first time tackling was sound.

Marr opened the scoring on ten minutes after a sustained period of pressure leading to Mackenzie Pearce crashing through from short range. Rory McGee added the conversion points. Marr continued to press but Boroughmuir slowly but surely started to get onto the front foot. Just after the half hour mark their effort was rewarded with a try as Aubrey McCube pounced on a loose ball as it was squirted back out from a breakdown as Marr tried to clear their lines. This was quickly followed by a successful penalty conversion to give the visitors a single point lead at half-time.

Marr got off to a great start in the second half.

Dominance in the set piece scrum saw them camped deep in Boroughmuir territory. Determined defence kept Marr at bay and thwarted several promising breaks. Eventually through Marr got reward as Samuela Vunisa smashed his way through to touch down. Boroughmuir immediately hit back with a try scored after the charges down a clearance kick and Archie Erskine raced through to score.

During the final quarter Boroughmuir gained a player advantage as Marr’s Ben Johnston was given a ten minute rest for pulling down a maul. Boroughmuir capitalised on this as they counter-attacked from deep as a loose penalty kick from Marr failed to reach touch. In a good running move they carved Marr’s defence open and took play near to Marr’s line. After several phases of possession Archie Erskine smashed through from short range. This gave Boroughmuir an eight point advantage and they managed to hang on to this as the clock wound down.

Marr Rugby 1st XV scorers

Tries: Mackenzie Pearce and Samuela Vunisa

Conversion: Rory McGee

Marr Rugby next fixtures, Saturday, January 20

1s – Away v Ayr

2s – Away v Hawick

3s – Home v Dalziel 2s