By Steve Scott, rugby correspondent

The body language of the Dundee HSFP players as the Boroughmuir team accepted the BT Cup and their medals from the Princess Royal at Murrayfield on Saturday spoke volumes.

All the talk from neutrals of their impressive contribution to a free-scoring (39-25) final, the acknowledgment of ’Muir coach Bruce Reekie that he had turned “pure white” when Jon Alston’s try seven minutes from time had made the score 31-25, and the applause of their travelling support seemed to do little to console the team.

They will feel this was a golden chance for the proper culmination of their cup exploits of the last three seasons, and therefore one missed. While they gave their all at Murrayfield for the second year in a row and, like last year’s final against the Hawks, were only subdued by a breakaway injury-time try, they potentially had the beating of the favourites from Edinburgh.

With their formidable pack, possibly the best such unit in Scottish club rugby, Dundee should have imposed themselves more on the game than they did. Boroughmuir needed to play it open and loose and succeeded in doing so, particularly in the first 20 minutes that were the key to the game.

After an interminable wait during the pre-match niceties, Dundee started encouragingly with a big maul, a penalty won and converted into three points by Barry Jones—a clear statement of intent that they intended to play the game on their terms.

However, instead, the next 20 minutes were played on Boroughmuir’s terms, while tries by Calum Cusiter and Angus Martyn and a 14-3 lead were no more than they deserved for their opportunistic style of rugby.

Dundee’s more structured game paid dividends before half-time, shoving Boroughmuir clear off their own ball at a scrummage for Alan Brown’s try, but the glaring turning point of the game came just before the break.

Mark Jenkinson pinched a lineout at the tail, broke the first tackle and carried tacklers with him over the line, appearing to spear his way to the ground, but referee Graeme Hannah judged that ’Muir centre Steve Ruddick had held him up.

It was a marginal decision, very much like that suffered by young Colin Goudie for the High School in the schools cup final back in January, and it meant that ’Muir held on to lead at half-time when trailing, after dominating the first 20 minutes as they did, might have been a dagger to the hearts.

To their credit, ’Muir roused themselves for two quick tries after half-time through Ben Fisher and James Reilly, interspersed by Dougie Gray scoring in a rolling lineout drive for High. When Alston scored the Dundee side’s third try the momentum seemed to be in the underdogs’ favour, but Reilly kicked a penalty to settle the favourites soon after.

The final, injury-time try was a gloss on the scoreline, but illustrated the key difference between the sides; Cusiter’s break, reminiscent of his elder brother Chris, and Rory Couper’s finish displayed a blistering pace that the Tayside team couldn’t match when they had the ball.

Nevertheless, there was much to be proud of amongst the travelling support, notably the dominance of the setpiece and the superiority of the Dundee front five, the assured performance and pinpoint kicking of Jones at scrum-half, and the creativity of Lindsay Graham.

Some further recruitment to fill a few gaps in the team is required but the basic structure of a Premier One club is already in place; all that is needed is some fortune with injuries and a little on the pitch when it matters.