Portobello 15 -47 Linlithgow
Saturday 09 September 2023
Report by David Mitchell

The Reds travelled to Cavalry Park in Edinburgh to play Portobello in their latest East League Division 1 fixture on a bright and breezy afternoon in front of a healthy crowd. Injuries to Mark Caddle and Aidan Rennison provided opportunities for Eioan Magee and Murray Johnstone to get into the starting line up. In addition Luke O’Hara made a starting debut on the left wing for the unavailable Ross Plenderleith and Ewan Curran was making his debut from the bench in this game.

The Reds were hoping to build on their opening day win against Leith and made a promising start with some good forward driving play and some decent passing moves taking the game into the Portobello half of the field. However a combination of lack of accuracy with the final passes or offloads stopped them from finding the opening score. Portobello then deployed their usual forward driving game and eventually this paid off with the opening try wide out on the left wing.

It took the visitors fully 30 minutes to equalise this score when Ross Tulloch continued his fine early season scoring spree with a try following a slick passing move. Jack Frame added the extra points and then scored a try near the posts with virtually the last action of the 1st half. He added the conversion to give the Reds a hard earned 14-5 lead at half time. With a strong following breeze, the visitors were expected to pin the home team into their own half but all credit to Portobello who continued to use their forwards to pick and drive upfield and managed to get the opening score of the half to bring the score to 10-14.

Thankfully this setback was the wakeup call that the Reds needed and they proceeded to dominate the scoring in the remainder of the match. The Reds used all of their replacements during the half with Stuart Cunningham, Adam Scott, Ewan Curran and Kieran Cochrane all making very positive contributions. They started moving the ball more accurately and quickly and began to find holes in the home defence. Luke O’Hara scored his maiden try for the team when he finished off a simple passing move that had created good space out wide. 

This score was quickly followed by an excellent forwards’ try when Fraser Mochrie took a clean catch, the pack drove the ball forward in unison and Fraser was on hand to take the ball over the line.

Stuart Cunningham then made a powerful break into the Portobello 22 and the ball was quickly recycled along the back line and Ewan Curran delivered a well timed pass to Ross Tulloch who cruised over for another excellent team try. At this point, tries were coming quickly and as the Reds upped the tempo, the home side visibly tired and one of the Reds’ more vocal supporters introduced the term ‘blowing through hoops’ which seemed an appropriate description. There was a family try to follow when Euan Mochrie took a quick tapped penalty and passed to brother Fraser to score his 2nd try of the match.

Again credit goes to Portobello for trying to play positive rugby and they were rewarded with a fine individual try by their left winger who showed great pace to pierce the visitors’ defence. However the final try went to the Reds when after good driving play involving Kieran Cochrane and Ewan Curran, the ball was swiftly moved to the right wing where Euan Mochrie was lurking and he took the final pass and outstripped the remnants of the home defence to score. Jack Frame added his 6 th conversion of the afternoon to make the final score 15-47.

Another 5 points to take the Reds to the top of the league table after 2 games. Early days but very encouraging signs from this young team who have adapted well to the new tackle height rules and improved their accuracy in passing and offloading from last week. In addition the turnover ball won during the game was very good as was the willingness to keep up a high tempo to tire the opposition and create space to deploy a fast moving style. The lineout still need some work but that can be addressed at coaching sessions and with greater player availability to cover injuries and absences. The scrum was solid for the most part and provided a source of good ball for the back division.

There were 2 Reds players awarded man of the match and both were well deserved. Jamie Tulloch put in another all action shift and his tackling was excellent as was his willingness to carry the ball. Conor Finlay showed that his defence is equally as good as his attacking play with some fine tackles and forcing turnovers at vital times during the match.

Next week the Reds are at home to Broughton and the 2nd team has a first Reserve League game away at Lasswade 2nds. Both games will have 3 o’clock starts.

Team list:

Calum McKeown, Kyle Ormond, Colin Devlin, Fraser Mochrie, Eioan Magee, Oscar Davies, Jamie Tulloch, Euan Mochrie, Archie Rusack, Conor Finlay, Luke O’Hara, Murray Johnstone, Jack Frame (c), Cammy Murrie and Ross Tulloch

Replacements: Adam Scott, Stuart Cunningham, Kieran Cochrane and Ewan Curran

Photos by Neil Dori-Muir