Rugby: Crombie’s dozen down to Muir’s team ethic

The hooker bagged four touchdowns on Saturday, taking his season’s tally to 12 in 13 games, and it could have been more had he not been one of four players shown yellow by referee Gus Tweedale, who also dished out a red card to Lasswade substitute Jack Forrester.

“It was a combined distance of about 12 metres but I’ll take it. A lot of them are coming from mauls and good pick-and-go play. I’ve just been lucky this year I seem to be on the end of them,” said, Crombie.

The age group cap’s current form suggests he could still advance to the professional ranks but, after spells with the Borders, Edinburgh and a brief stint at Newcastle Falcons, Crombie acknowledges that a full-time deal is now unlikely.

“I would never say never but I’m at the stage now that I’m not under pressure to go for a contract,” said the 25-year-old fitness consultant. “I’ve started my own business, it’s going well and hopefully it continues to. As that gets better, it becomes very hard for me to get something and walk away.

“Don’t get me wrong, if something brilliant came up, I wouldn’t say no. But it would have to be something substantial and on my terms. Boroughmuir have been very good by me and treated me very well, and I’m very happy here.”

The first of Crombie’s quartet came in five minutes. Ally Warnock converted, as he did when Jamie Swanson powered over five minutes later, just before the return of Lasswade prop Dale Robertson, who was sin binned within seconds of the kick-off.

The home club’s members had rallied to clear the pitch of snow, and the players rewarded their efforts when Niall Gray darted down the flank to score. That sparked a spell of pressure which ultimately proved fruitless and Crombie bagged his second before Ally Warnock claimed a well-executed score, which he also converted.

Crombie earned a yellow card just before the break and the hosts profited from their numerical advantage when Ian Wilson sprinted over to leave his side 26-12 in arrears at the interval. However, a quick fire converted double by Crombie shortly after his return to the fray killed the game as a contest. Lasswade enjoyed another spell on the attack although even with ’Muir down to 13 men after Johnny Latta and Greig Scott joined the roll call of sinners, they failed to add to their points tally.

Forrester’s red followed a crunching tackle on Mike Crawley which was deemed dangerous. And Sep Visser completed ’Muir’s win with a converted injury-time score to leave them well-placed to progress as best runners-up.

Lasswade coach Dave Cockburn said of his team’s efforts: “This group of guys are an amazing group of players. They never gave up once, their heads didn’t go down. I can’t say how proud I am about that side – they were fantastic.”

“What we have to understand is that the speed of the game is a lot faster at Premier 1. You expect to get beat by Boroughmuir. They are a good side and they’ve got people like Sean Crombie, who is an outstanding rugby player.”

Scorers:

Lasswade: Tries: Gray, Wilson. Con: Brown.

Boroughmuir: Tries: Crombie (4), Swanson, Warnock, Visser. Cons: Warnock (6).

Lasswade: J Blackwood, N Gray, I Wilson, J Elliot, K Smith, B Hennessey, R Gladstone, D Robertson, D Turnbull, M Billingham, G Turner, D Grant, R Borthwick, D Hearn, G Brown. Subs Used: J Forrester, G Cook, J Brown, A Elliot, R Noble.

Boroughmuir: S Visser, R Bradford, M Crawley, S Wilson, J Webster, A Warnock, S Johnston, C MacIntosh, S Crombie, J Latta, I Moody, A Davidson, A Rose, N Rodger, J Swanson. Subs Used: P Richards, G Scott, M Harvey, G Blackhall.

Referee: G Tweedale.