Rugby: Young ski star gives Muir squad timely lift

And that's highly appropriate considering their fifth straight win, by 29-18 against Stirling County at Meggetland, featured the top team debut of a player being tipped for Olympic recognition in his other sporting pursuit of freestyle skiing.

Murray Buchan, 18, came off the bench for the final ten minutes and brought with him into the scrum-half role a dexterity and athleticism honed on both the artificial slope at Hillend and the snow of Switzerland where, in 2008, he was declared British senior champion.

Only a dislocated elbow sustained playing rugby prevented Murray defending his title but he was back again this year, eventually finishing third.

Clearly there are conflicting sporting interests but so far Murray is combining both - he spent the eve of Saturday's game doing somersaults and back flips on artificial snow conveyed from the Bearsden ski dome to Stirling University for an annual Freshers Week competition - and a Muir debut marked the start of an exciting month.

"Sometime in October, a decision is expected on whether my skiing discipline will be included in the 2014 Winter Olympics," said this former Austrian Open champion while still attending Firrhill School in Edinburgh.

He added: "I'd love for it to happen and for me to gain selection.

"Meantime, I'll continue combining both as best I can although, come Christmas time, I'm off to the USA for a couple of months of skiing before returning to hopefully help Boroughmuir to the title and play some seven-a-sides.

"I know I was only promoted to the squad against Stirling County because of injuries but it's a start having thoroughly enjoyed working my way up from the colts through the 3rds (where dad, Mike, is coach) and 2nds.

"I'd love to figure in the premiership again and, while I'm not the biggest, I feel my skiing has given me a core strength and flexibility that I can draw on - ski training permitting."

One of Murray's favourite tricks - his discipline involves travelling around 200 metres down a hillside being judged on the technical expertise of those jumps - is called a "360 kebab".

Again this is appropriate because much of the latest Muir win was to quality rugby what the High Street kebab is to haute cuisine.

Too often, possession was gifted through errant kicks and a normally reliable line-out spluttered throughout.

There were upsides, too, such as a reasonably strong defence while the finishing was sufficiently clinical to have brought a bonus point-winning four tries from as many chances.

To their credit, Muir knew it. Murray Buchan summed up the mood by saying: "The boys were a bit frustrated at the end but a win's a win - we'll take it."

Equally inclined to see the glass as half-full was skipper Malcolm Clapperton in acknowledging that they now enter a potentially more demanding series of games starting at champions Currie on Saturday with a lot of their powder still dry.

"There's certainly more to come from us," said Clapperton.

"I don't think any of us feel we have performed to our max. We've had the ideal start to the league with 24 points from a possible 25 - but there's definitely more to come.

"We knew Stirling would be full of confidence after scoring 50 points the previous week and in absorbing a lot of their attacks we had some good goal-line defence and turnovers.

"Maybe we didn't clear our lines well enough or play out of the 22 with ball in hand but we'll work on that."

From backs coach Phil Smith came another candid assessment.

He said: "We couldn't figure out how to get out of our 22 and couldn't get the people we wanted to into the game.

"Credit Stirling for their part in preventing us doing what we wanted to and, in all honesty, I don't think they will leave thinking they have played a team who look like winning the league.

"That said, our defence was rock solid.

"Also, we'd have taken the points return we have achieved so far if it had been offered to us at the start of the season. Really, that's the bottom line."

Such introspection will stand Muir in good stead and they did have their moments.

Notably, Rob Cairns scored a super chip-and-chase try when hemmed in against the touchline while there was a notable first start for Andrew Rose capped by a try achieved in a ferocious drive for the line.

Young props Robin Hislop and Nick Fraser again stood their ground against older opposition and Sam Johnson worked hard at scrum-half, although the all-round star of the show was lock Ally Davidson with a voracious work-rate.

Muir started oozing authority and went 7-0 ahead in three minutes, Ally Warnock converting his own try after a short-range dart through weak tackling.

The try with which Tyler Edwards replied came from one of a host of careless punts upfield and, despite Hislop notching his first touchdown for the club, Muir were grateful the league's top scorer, Stuart Edwards, had left his kicking boots behind in turning 14-5 ahead.

Cairns' try provided a cushion against a Johnny Hope penalty before Rose claimed the bonus point and in the closing moments Edwards and Harry Leonard exchanged three pointers as a prelude to Robbie McGowan crossing for Stirling in the final play.

Altogether, a nondescript encounter unsympathetically refereed by an official who appeared to spot every conceivable infringement but - ironically - who missed a flashpoint involving Muir's Derek O'Riordan taking matters into his own hands when impeded by Stirling's Ben Addison. The incident did rugby no favours and, to be fair to the whistler, he appeared badly let down in that instance by a touch judge ideally positioned to spot both provocation and retribution.

Scorers:

Boroughmuir: Tries : Warnock, Hislop, Rose, Cairns; Cons: Warnock (3); Pen: Leonard. Stirling: Tries: T Edwards, McGowan; Con: S Edwards; Pens: S Edwards, Hope.

Boroughmuir: S Ruddick, R Neil, M Clapperton (c), S Wilson, R Cairns, A Warnock, S Johnson, R Hislop, S Crombie, N Fraser, T McColl, A Davidson, A Rose, J Doubleday, C Fusaro. Subs: C Mackintosh, J Latta, D O'Riordan, M Buchan, H Leonard.

Stirling: R McGowan, G Lindsay, D Gilmour, J Hope, B Addison, S Edwards, S Kennedy, M McDonald, A Moffat (c), G Mountford, T Edwards, G Gilchrist, C Eadie, C Deacons, T Clarke. Subs: J Graham, C Black, S Robertson, B Archibald, G Calder.