When you think that in the last 15mins, they were camped in the home team 22 and over the Boroughmuir line on two occasions only for the referee to rule the the ball had not been grounded and the home team managed to clear their lines. In addition one of the Boroughmuir tries came from a charged down kick and another from a penalty which caught the visitors napping. They were also awared a debateable penalty which they kicked. Peebles had taken a quick penalty and Jack Harrison was clearly tackled by Boroughmuir who clearly had not retired the mandatory 10m. A ruck was formed after this tackle and the referee awarded the home team a penalty which they kicked. The Peebles committee are of the opinion that Boroughmuir got 17 points from errors, but they won and Peebles have no complaints.

The city side forwards were bigger and older that the Peebles lads, but, that fact did not make them better. The Peebles lads competed well in all aspects of the game. The scrums and lineouts were even and Peebles were in this scribes opinion very unlucky. Nobody in the Peebles team stood out. This was, despite the defeat, a good performance and was probably a good game to watch if you were a neutral.

Murray Brown opened the scoring in the 6th minute with a well stuck penalty from 30m. However the home side struck back immediately. Peebles failed to deal with the restart and the city side dribbled the ball for over 20m before it bounced up into the hands of the big No.7 who barged his way over the line for the opening try. The conversion was sucessful. At this stage Peebles were on the back foot and Boroughmuir were keeping them pinned in their own half. In the 13th minute the home team forced Peebles to concede a lineout on their 5m line. B'muir took a quick throw in, they passed the ball along the backs then back in to their forwards and their large No8 with the beard crashed over near the posts. Again the conversion was good. Peebles were down 14 - 3 at this stage.

As B'muir scored from one of their restarts Peebles did the same. Murray Brown kicked long into the home 22. The defenders tried to move the ball out of the 22 but the Peebles backs were up quick. Scott Halliday caught his opposite number and the ball went loose. Cameron Pye was quick to react and he picked up the loose ball. He was able to fend of two defenders to score near the posts . Murray Brown converted. 14 - 10. Peebles then took the lead. Peebles were in the 22nd minute given a penalty wide on the left 30 m out. Jack Harrison took a quick tap. He fed his brother Richard who drove another 10m and set up a ruck. The Peebles forwards cleared the ruck and Jack this time fed Scott Halliday who passed to Cammy Pye who was stopped just short of the line and Jack Harrison was on hand to pick up and dive over at the posts. Murray Brown converted again. 14 - 17

This lead stayed until the 6th minute of the second half when, it seemed as though Peebles were in charge of the proceedings when Murray Brown had a kick charged down on his own 10m line. Again B'muir dribbled the ball to the line and scored a converted try. 21 - 17. Ten mins later the Peebles defence were almost caught napping. The B'muir were awared a penalty inside the Peebles half. The home team No. 10 looked as though he was going to kick for the corner. He then quickely took a tap, and punted the ball high to his left wing where the winger cleanly caught the ball and cut inside the Peebles defence and scored a good converted try. 28 - 17.

However, Peebles never gave up and in the last 15 mins had a few chances. Sam Mathews reduced the score after good work by the forwards who were twice adjudged by the refeee to be over the line but the ball not grounded. Eventually the Peebles pressure did pay off and Sam Mathews finised off a good forward drive by scoring under the posts. Murray Brown again added the conversion. 28 - 24. This was then game on and the Peebles tails were up. The stuffing was somehwat knocked ot of the visitors when with only a few minutes of the game left, they weere awarded a penalty deep in their ow half. Jack Harrison took the tap quickly and had not gone any more then 5m before he was tackled. Surely a penalty and possiblly a 'yellow card' for the city defender. No and much to the annoyance of this scribe the referee allowed play to continue and from the tackle Peebles were amazingly penalised and B'muir extened their lead with a good kick from their No.10.

Beaten 31 - 24 but they did play well and deserved more. Peebles did make mistakes but into the bargin and let us not forget, this was a good B'muir team who were bigger and heavier in the forwards and probably prevented the visitors from setting up a good platform from which to get their backs into the game. Next appointment is into the bowl and this brings a home game against Dumfries Colts, 2:00pm K.O. Venue to be confirmed.

So if you want entertainment before watching the Scotland Italy game come and have a look at the local Colts.