Dundee HSFP 15 - 24 Edinburgh Accies: O'Hagen hands Accies the edge in battle of the boot

Published on Sunday 1 November 2009 22:40

IT LOOKED like being a high-scoring spectacular when two swashbuckling tries were scored in the first ten minutes but it turned into a grim battle of attrition with the kicking duel eventually deciding it in favour of the visiting team.

Dundee have now lost six of the last seven games against Accies and have to go back to 2004 to find a win, yet they had no complaints after a wasteful performance when they enjoyed the bulk of possession but either lost the ball in contact or were turned over at the breakdown with the regularity of a metronome.

"Our off-loading game just didn't click the way it has done earlier in the season," said Dundee coach Ian Rankin. "In the second-half, I thought we were beginning to control the game but then we seemed to shoot ourselves in the foot and it got away from us."

The game got away as Accies' stand-off David O'Hagen, an Irishman plucked from the second XV because he was doing simple things well, displayed a Chris Paterson-style of consistency to land four penalties, neatly rounded off with a try and conversion as his team closed out the game efficiently.

By contrast, the confidence of Dundee's stand-off, Barry Jones, was shot after hooking a simple conversion early on, then badly sclaffing one easy penalty attempt, before being obliged to go for one from 45 metres as time ran out at half-time and no other option was open to him. Ironically, his reluctant attempt sailed between the posts to make it 15-11 at the break.

O'Hagen brought Accies back to within a point with his third penalty but Jones still wasn't sure enough of his boot when presented with a reasonably easy penalty that would have kept Dundee's scoring momentum going.

Instead, he chose to kick for the corner and set up a line-out. It was not the best choice because the set piece had been misfiring all afternoon. Inevitably, the line-out was lost, Accies cleared the danger and the home team's scrambling defence conceded a penalty at the other end which O'Hagen accepted gratefully.

The final try fell to O'Hagen as Dundee were obliged to force the game and an over-ambitious kick through proved easy meat for Accies as it was charged down, picked up and translated into seven points.

Accies coach Ian Barnes said: "We just didn't play last week when we were beaten by Glasgow Hawks, so we went back to basics: we win the ball, we keep the ball, and we go forward. That's what we did in what I thought was a pretty evenly contested match. The difference was probably that our goal kicker was better on the day than their goal kicker."

Barnes had dropped half the Accies team that capitulated so easily against Hawks in bid to restore their fighting spirit and demonstrate that no-one is guaranteed his place if he is not contributing. Alex Blair, the academy player many think should be used as a stand-off, would have been on the bench if he hadn't been brought in at full-back to cover late call-offs. He responded by scoring the first try within minutes of the kick off.

Barnes strategy of rumbling them up worked beautifully from the moment Blair touched down. O'Hagen stepped up to the mark, Ross Browne marshalled the line at inside centre, and Ed Stuart at lock caused all kinds of constructive chaos ahead of a back row living off rich pickings in the loose.

Kicking was also a failing when Dundee lost to Boroughmuir by a single point the previous week. If this can be sorted out, then they perhaps have the ammunition that might enable them to progress in the league. Full-back Harry Duthie, for example, is a lethal weapon who scored both his teams tries and broke the line every time he had hands on the ball.

Even by comparison to the assured O'Hagen or the rampaging Stuart, he was the best player on the pitch, head and shoulders above all others and posting notice that, despite Saturday's result, it is Dundee who remain the main threat to the league leaders if only they can recapture their early-season form.

Scorers: Dundee: Tries: Duthie 2. Cons: Jones. Pens: Jones.

Edinburgh: Tries: Blair, O'Hagen. Cons: O'Hagen. Pens: O'Hagen 4.

Dundee HSFP: H Duthie, M Smith, R Lemon, L Graham, B Jones, A Dymock, N Dymock, J Clark, S Tskhovrebashvili, C Cumming, R Hawkins, G Ryan, R Gray, S McKee. Replacements: D Russell, S Cessford, R Cessford, D Levison, D Sutherland.

Edinburgh Accies: A Blair, T Brown, I Berthinussen, R Browne, C Dickie, D OHagen, M Campbell, D McLeod, M Strachan, L Niven, E Stuart, G Campbell, R Snape, A Lamb, D Teague. Replacements: P Arnold, M Couper, J McSorley, J Raduva, M Stevens.

Referee: I Heard.