Gael Force 27 - 21 Oxford University: Gaels blow away students with a degree of comfort
The Scotsman reports


Published Date: 24 September 2009
By DAVID FERGUSON AT MURRAYFIELD
SCOTLAND'S new team of young talents marked their opening match with a victory over England's famous university students on a fittingly windy back pitch at Murrayfield yesterday.
The Gael Force team, a long-awaited opportunity to find game-time for fringe pros and academy talents, has been put together by the SRU to compete in the British and Irish Cup which kicks off in November, with Cornish Pirates, Exeter Chiefs, Newport, Plymouth Albion and Leinster's reserves their opposition.

With two teams playing their first games together, the match was scrappy but the win was still encouraging for Gaels coach Stevie Gemmell. He said: "The intensity at the breakdown was harder than perhaps the players thought it was going to be. Oxford University are a decent side. It took our players some time to get into the game, and there was a ten-minute period before half-time and a 20-minute period after where we allowed them to dominate the contact and the breakdown, but all credit to our players for coming back in the way that they did."

There was a good crowd of spectators, including Premier One coaches who turned up early to catch the action before attending a Murrayfield meeting, and several players impressed despite the fractured nature of the contest. No 8 Stuart McInally capped a strong display with a try, Andrew Easson showed a good turn of pace and power to score the opener near the half-hour mark and Andy Turnbull finished off a good score in speedy style.

Edinburgh stand-off David Blair coaxed two wide conversions through the wind, and after he suffered a hand knock and Oxford turned the tables with three second-half scores, Stephen Jones slotted a penalty and Kinloch finished the scoring with a late try to seal the result.

It was a tough run-out for the Gaels pack, but there were glimpses of potential, Neale Patrick and David Denton, in particular, forming a powerful second row blend. Oxford have swapped Penn State University and New York for Merchiston Castle School – through former Oxford scrum-half Brendan McKerchar now back as director of rugby – for this year's pre- season camp, and they fielded a mix of English students, ex- professionals from the Guinness Premiership and foreign caps from as far afield as Newport, Stellenbosch and Sydney.

No 8 Makoto Tosa was one of the latter, taking time out from the Japan national squad to study, and the 23-year-old was a thorn in the Gaels' side; 20-times capped Canada flanker Stan McKeen another. Ryan Grant was up against US Eagles tighthead Will Johnson, Oxford fielded London Irish and England U20s flanker Jamie Gibson while ex-Dragons and England U18s full-back Will Browne was a lively try scorer.

One negative for the Gaels was the loss of openside flanker Chris Fusaro with an arm injury.

Gael Force: S Jones (Edinburgh); C Kinloch (Glasgow), A Easson (Edinburgh), P Horne (Glasgow), A Turnbull; D Blair, R Samson; R Grant (all Edinburgh), P MacArthur (Glasgow), D Young (Edinburgh), N Patrick (SRU Academy/Boroughmuir), D Denton (SRU Academy/Edinburgh Academicals), F McKenzie (Edinburgh), S McInally (SRU Academy/Watsonians), C Fusaro (SRU Academy/Heriot's). Subs: D Orr (SRU Academy/Haddington), C Phillips (SRU Academy/Stewart's-Melville), S Dewar (SRU Academy/Heriot's), N Rodger (SRU Academy/Haddington), P Jericevich (SRU Academy/Glasgow Hawks), T Bury (SRU Academy/Boroughmuir), G Anderson (SRU Academy/Ayr).

Oxford University: W Browne; L Fenwick, S Morris, E Boyes, T Catling; R Swanson, V Klopper; R Luton, D Rosen (capt), W Johnson, K Outen, N van Zyl, M Tosa, C Davies, J Gibson. Subs: D Rogers, H Macdonald, I Kench, S McKeen, N Haydon, J Allfrey, R James.

Referee: C Rudkin (SRU).

This article was originally posted on 24-Sep-2009, 07:41 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 24-Sep-2009, 07:43.