Rugby: Victory puts Stew-Mel in mood to fight drop

Published on Thursday 5 November 2009 08:52

STEWART'S-MELVILLE skipper Richard Borthwick believes the Inverleith men can use last weekend's win over Capital rivals Watsonians as a springboard to Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership safety.

After pushing champions Ayr all the way then coming within a score of toppling Heriot's, Stew-Mel made the breakthrough last week with a solid performance that offered a hint that those who have already written off the Inverleith side may have done so prematurely.

Reflecting on the 20-13 victory that broke Stew-Mel's duck in their Scottish Hydro Electric campaign, the 25-year-old said: "We have felt over the last few weeks that it has been coming.

"We were disappointed not to pick up a win against Heriot's or Ayr. Watsonians had lost three on the bounce and we knew it was one to target. We felt if we got stuck in there was a result to be had."

Borthwick is a Scotland age group cap and represented the club international side in 2006, as well having a spell with New Brunswick Black Spruce in Canada.

And his experience has proved invaluable as Graeme Moffat's side have battled to come to grips with the pace of the top flight. He led by example when he claimed one of his side's two tries and is now focusing on building some momentum for the second half of the league programme.

"It's easy to get into a bad habit of losing. After coming so close and not picking up anything, to win that game reasonably comfortably is a big confidence boost," he said.

"Boroughmuir is another game we are targeting and then there's a lot of teams we should look to turn over in the second half of the season." Borthwick admits that a reliance on talented youngsters may not have helped the club's cause in the opening weeks of the league programme, having earned promotion last season as runners-up to Dundee High.

But he believes that, with the maiden success now under their belts, the youthful line-up will grow in confidence.

"It's classic Stew-Mel that we have a young, inexperienced team and we seem to lose a few games before we realise that we can actually compete at this level," he added.

"We got blown away at the start of the season against teams like Hawks but I think now a lot of the young guys see themselves as Premier One players."

The extent to which Stew-Mel have progressed will be put to the test at Meggetland on Saturday against a 'Muir side that is also struggling to find some consistency. Both sides are desperate for the points although in the case of Stew-Mel a victory is vital to prevent them becoming detached at the foot of the table going into the second half of the season.

Borthwick believes that the calm approach that has seen them gradually raise their game since making a poor start to the league programme can pay off again.

And pointing to the contribution of Moffat and his coaching colleagues to the steady improvement, he added: "They have tried to keep things positive and upbeat and the guys have been pretty composed.

"We made an effort to stay relaxed and confident. Against Watsonians, it was probably the most relaxed we've been all season. There was a kind of underlying confidence that we knew we could do it and maybe free ourselves of a bit of tension."

However, while last weekend's breakthrough has shown the Stew-Mel players that they can win, they remain rooted to the foot of the Premier One table and still facing a battle to beat the drop.

Borthwick has been in the same situation before having been a member of the last Stew-Mel side to be promoted and suffer an immediate return to the lower division. And he will ensure that the players around him do not allow their performance levels to dip.

"Everybody knows there is a lot of hard work to do," he admitted before underlining the readiness of the Stew-Mel players to battle all the way when he added: "It's only one win but there is no reason why we can't pick up from here."