Stewart's Melville 33 - 44 West of Scotland: Judo training helps West wrest victory at Inverleith

WEST of Scotland coach John Beattie watched his men harvest eight tries on their way to claiming five crucial league points as they took a massive step towards securing their top flight status and attributed the success to the newly acquired martial arts skills of his players.

Explaining the measures the club have adopted to combat the inactivity caused by the extended shutdown, he said: "We've done a lot of work in the judo gym. We have a squash court turned into a judo ring. It's got the padding and stuff and it's fantastic. I can't begin to explain the improvement in ball retention. We kept a lot of ball and that's the best we've ever done at the breakdown."

The result has moved West into a cluttered mid-table and Beattie now wants his players to build on that success over the coming weeks and secure their position in the Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership top flight.

However, he conceded the overall performance had fallen short of the levels he expects from his players and offered sympathy to a relegation-haunted Stewart's Melville outfit that was the more creative of the two sides but paid the price for a woeful defence.

In the home camp, Beattie's counterpart Graeme Moffat was left ruing that frailty, saying: "Our forwards have been excellent since the start of the season and our defence has been excellent. Those were the two things that let us down.

"It's the first time we've scored 33 points this season and yet we've come away with nothing."

A win over their fellow strugglers was virtually essential for Stew-Mel's bid to beat the drop, and their desire was evident in the first-half when they played some attractive rugby and twice carved out an eight-point lead.

Stuart Ker steered a third-minute penalty between the sticks then added a second to nudge the hosts back in front after Jack Walker had plundered a try on West's first attack of note.

The Edinburgh team extended their advantage as Craig Marshall finished off a spell in the ascendancy when he sprinted over and Ker converted.

However, they allowed the visitors to respond with tries by Murray McConnell and Mark Jenkinson either side of a third penalty from Ker.

The basement side rallied and their skipper Richard Borthwick capped the best move of the match when he was on hand to take a scoring pass from Alex Cox and grab a converted touchdown, but McConnell crossed the whitewash for a second time then completed his hat-trick shortly after the break to push West into the lead.

Ker's fourth penalty enabled Stew-Mel to move back in front but their defensive inadequacies were cruelly exposed as Graham Fisken, Richie Dalgleish and Elliot McLaren claimed a try apiece in quick succession to make sure of the win.

If the hosts needed evidence their luck had run out, then it came when Borthwick darted between two defenders only to drop the ball over the line, then flanker Lewis Calder powered over the line but was held up by Walker.

The hosts did eventually clinch a third try, a long-range strike by Liam Steele, who raced down the left flank to touch down. Ker's immaculate boot added the extra two points but it was little more than a final defiant gesture by the Inverleith men who ended the afternoon empty-handed.

While the outlook is increasingly bleak for his side, Moffat insists that the players remain determined to battle for survival.

"The mood among the guys is still excellent," he added. "Now it's back to the drawing board and we'll start working away."

And he highlighted the area of greatest concern, saying: "We looked dangerous in attack. We made a lot of line breaks and opened them up quite well. But our defence let us down. They scored eight tries and six of them came from a pick and go around the side of the ruck and that's just not acceptable.

"It's difficult and frustrating – that was one that we really had to win and we haven't."

Scorers: Stewart's Melville: Tries: Marshall, Borthwick, Steele. Cons: Ker (3). Pens: Ker (4). West of Scotland: Tries: Walker, McConnell (3), Jenkinson, Fisken, Dalgleish, McLaren. Cons: Davis (2)

Stewart's Melville: R Borthwick; , M Doneghan, H Lingard, C Marshall, A Coxl S Ker, R Patterson; R Merrilees, S Blackwood, C Phillips, B Leathes, S Brewster, B Tweedie, L Calder, P Hendry. Subs Used: J Charles, C Mackintosh, J Kynoch, L Steele, E Clark

West of Scotland: B Wright; A Park, R Dalgleish, J Kerr, G Dempsey; C Davis, M McConnell; E McLaren, G Bulloch, C Johnston, M Jenkinson, R McAlpine, J Walker, D Young, G Fisken. Subs Used: I Keith, S Malone