DESPITE playing some of the most attractive rugby at Sunday’s Peebles Sevens tournament, Selkirk’s players found themselves nursing more than just wounded pride after their interest in the competition ended in dramatic fashion at the semi-final stage.
The slick Souters easily disposed of Watsonians and West of Scotland in the opening two rounds, before coming up against host club Peebles in the semis. With ex-Philiphaugh star Scott Nichol lining up opposite his successor, Guy Blair, the stage was set for a classic encounter - and so it proved.
After slipping behind 7-0, two tries from Simon Murdoch - one a real peach, after scrum-half Fraser Jack broke clear from his own line and kicked cleverly into space - saw Selkirk go ahead 14-7 with only seconds left on the clock. However, Peebles slipped through for a last-gasp touchdown, and Nichol’s conversion took the tie into extra time.
Controversy surfaced shortly after the restart when Darren Hoggan appeared to be held back by his jersey, but play was waved on. Worse followed when Simon Murdoch pulled a hamstring and lay immobilised on the ground as Cam Twigley clinched the all-important score for the home team.
It looks as though Murdoch’s hamstring tear will keep the Christchurch speedster sidelined for up to a month, but true to form the 22-year-old Kiwi livewire was in optimistic mood this week.
“The leg is well strapped and the ice packs I’ve been putting on it
appear to be doing their job. I’ll be back before the end of the sevens
circuit, just you wait and see!”
In fact Murdoch hasn’t had such a serious injury in his career to date,
and is the only Selkirk player to have appeared in all 24 of the team’s
15-a-side fixtures this season (click on Statistics for full stats
round-up).
Selkirk team at Peebles Sevens — Simon Murdoch, David Cassidy, Guy
Blair, Fraser Jack, Scott Jeffrey, Michael Jaffray, Darren Hoggan.