HERIOT'S coach Bob McKillop has delivered a downbeat assessment of his side's 22-18 Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership win over Hawick, but insisted that the recent departure of several key men was not the cause of a lacklustre showing.
McKillop
was surprisingly negative given the five-point haul and a performance that featured spells of outstanding handling and support play in a match played at a high tempo throughout. Nevertheless, there was an obvious lack of a cutting edge at key times and a game that should have been killed off remained in the balance entering injury time.
The extent of the personnel changes that have taken place at Goldenacre – five players have graduated to the pro set up – combined with the impact of injuries was underlined when the home side that took to the field contained only seven of the 22-man squad that had contested the Scottish Hydro Electric Cup final in May. "It's a challenge for us but we have been working hard together now since the middle of June so there's no excuses there," insisted McKillop.
"Players like Marc Teague and Jim Thompson would be difficult for any team to replace. I'm not making any excuses on that front – we want these guys to go higher and we want to have to rebuild our team every year. We just didn't play well."
Another man tipped for a future in the full-time ranks is Chris Fusaro who had travelled to Bath with the Edinburgh squad for Friday's friendly and returned early on Saturday morning.
He started on the bench but a blood injury to Jamie Parker saw the youngster enter the fray and he made an immediate impact, taking a pass from Graham Wilson and racing in for the opening try of the afternoon.
The Borderers squared matters with a try by Colin Murray but McKillop's men assumed control and should have led by more than the 17-5 advantage they held at the break. Colin Goudie snapped up the second try when he blazed over from deep inside his own half and Michael Short grabbed number three – with Wilson converting – as the hosts threatened to run riot.
Hawick clawed back three points with a penalty by Craig Neish shortly after the restart but Heriot's responded when former skipper Jamie Syme – now returned from a spell overseas – combined with Graham Thomson to send Andy Douglas over for the bonus point try.
A failing that proved expensive for Heriot's last season was the inability to press home their superiority and that resurfaced on Saturday as they allowed a determined Hawick side to battle back into the match. Neish slotted a second penalty then added the conversion to a Rory Hutton try after 54 minutes to cut the gap to only four points.
That ensured a tight finale and it was a relieved McKillop who was left to reflect on a victory that should have been achieved more easily.
"It could have gone either way right up until the last minute of the game so I'm sure the neutrals enjoyed it but I can't say I did," he added. "Our set piece fell apart in the second half and that's disappointing. I can't really put my finger on what went wrong.
"We have talented boys, they are breaking the line and we are not finishing off the chances. We're not clinical enough. A few incorrect options and a couple of dropped passes could have meant a different score at half time, but then a couple of caught passes for Hawick could have made it a different score at full time."
However, the pace of the game showed that McKillop's men are fit enough to compete over a full 80 minutes and the open style they are keen to develop is well suited to the new laws.
On that front, he believes the main difficulty is convincing his men the changes should have little effect on how they play.
"I think they (the changes] have had an impact on the mindset of the players," he said. "One of the challenges in the pre-season has been to pull the players back in and say that the actual basics of rugby haven't changed."
On a more positive note, McKillop knows that he has experienced men including Dave McCall and Murray Strang recovering from injury and several challengers for a top team berth among his second XV, who dismantled Kirkcaldy on Saturday.
"The general feeling in the squad is that we didn't play particularly well and we have come away with five points.
"We are very aware we need to step up over the coming weeks," he said, before issuing a challenge to his top team players by adding: "We have a lot of talent in our seconds so there is plenty of competition for places."
Scorers:Heriot's: Tries: Fusaro, Goudie, Short, Douglas. Con: Wilson.
Hawick: Tries: Murray, Hutton.
Con: Neish. Pens: Neish (2).
Heriot's: C Goudie, M Sort, G Thomson, R Mill, A Douglas, G Rutherford, G Wilson, A Dymock, F Gillies, W Blacklock, P Eccles, I Nimmo, T McVie, J Parker, J Syme.
Subs used: S Burnett, I Brown, W Van Niekerk, C Fusaro, OJ Brown.
Hawick: G Johnstone, C Murray, R Scott, C Neish, K Hedley, R Hutton, K Reid, S Linton, H Scammell, G Scott, G Petrie, C Charters, D Lowrie, M Robertson, K Davies.
Subs used: S Anderson, N Renwick, S Robson, N Little, R Borthwick.
Referee: N Paterson (Dundee High School)
The full article contains 930 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
