Trinity 7 – 45 Linlithgow U16 

Saturday saw an eventful trip into Edinburgh for the Young Reds to face a Trinity U16 team. Most of the boys had heard of Craiglang but found that Craighall was a very different place, marvelling at the sports facilities available for state schools in Edinburgh. 

The 5:2 bench split was already on a shoogly peg before the game had even started, when Rory pulled up lame during the warmup and Lewis M, our very own version of the Swiss Army knife that is Kwagga Smith, was switched from the back row to centre for the day.

At this point the coaches also decided to abandon their experiment involving a yellow headlight from a 2CV and save it for another game. 

The Reds deployed what is becoming their trademark fast start by dominating the breakdown and set piece to suffocate the opposition from the first whistle. As a result, Trinity barely saw the ball for the first 20 minutes.

Right from the off Trinity were put under sustained pressure and Lewis M scored the first try of the game, with Matthew adding the extra points from the conversion. The Reds then had a number ofother opportunities to further increase the lead, but perhaps were guilty of trying a little too hard at this stage.

Aidan took a quick tap close to the try line to take advantage of a disorganised defence but was brought down just short of the line, the ball was recycled and Finn scored from close range under the posts and Matthew again added the extra points from the conversion. 

Aidan picked up an injury at this point and was unable to continue which further stretched the 5:2 bench. The injury meant that Braden came on into the Centre, the make do and mend nature of our midfield understandably started to show as Braden and Lewis tried to adapt unfamiliar roles and we inevitably lost some of our structure.

Despite this Colum and Harley scored two further tries and Matthew again added the extras from the tee to extend the lead to 28 points before Trinity pulled a try back on the stroke of half-time to make the score 28-7 to the Reds.

At half time the coaches then took on the role of latter day Prince Charming seeking their version of Cinderella in the eligible travelling support (Cyrus & Will) who could fit into the size 9.5 boot – Cyrus won the competition and was eligible to go to the ball (game).

It then got a bit more surreal as the 3 bears plot line merged into Cinderella as we tried to find an outfit (pair of shorts) to enable Cyrus to be able to get onto the pitch. It turns out that Aidan’s shorts were far too tight – think 80’s footballer – but Rory’s were just right (or right enough). 

This just left the gum shield as the only obstacle for Cyrus to complete his transition from spectator to player, fortunately Ruaridh had a spare gum shield and after the sterilising properties of cold water had been deployed, Cyrus was ready to come on in the centre and Braden was able to move out to his more normal position on the wing.

The Red’s had perhaps been guilty of playing too much in their own 22, in the second half their decision making was better and started to put the ball behind the Trinity defensive line and forced them to try and play out from their own half. 

Braden got the ball close to the sideline with twoTrinity defenders between him and the try line, he used a fend to brush off one of the defenders before relying on his pace to see off the second defender and score an excellent try in the corner.

Colum got the ball close to the Trinity line and quickly assessed his options – pass to Braden so that he could score his second try or take on the defence and score a second try himself? He opted for the later and despite strong tackling by the Trinity defence Colum was able to reach for the line and score a good try – and avoid needing to answer any difficult questions from Braden. Matthew added the extras from the tee. 

Finn scored a second try to close out the game. 45-7 was a good return given the disruption, and despite a strong showing by the Trinity team the Reds were never really tested.

Thoughts now turn to Wednesday and the last 16 of the Scottish cup with the visit of Edinburgh Academy.

Linlithgow U15 46 – 19 Dunbar

The Young Reds U15s took the field at Upper Mains Park on a damp but brightening Saturday morning to face Dunbar Grammar School, in a battle of unbeaten teams in the Inspiresport East Schools U15 Conference. By lunchtime, there would be only one team still able to boast that record.

It was Dunbar who started the brighter, quickly making ground and showing that they had some powerful runners in attack and, having coughed up the ball deep in Reds territory, equally capable tacklers in defence. 

However, it didn’t take long for Linlithgow to impose themselves on the game, as Finlay soon broke the line and took off up the right wing from his own half, only to be hauled down short of the try line. From the next play the team displayed cool heads and fast hands, with a skilful run from Jay setting up Fraser W to power over in the corner. 

The boys quickly built on this from the next kick off, something that we’ve worked on in training.  Alfie was next to score, after a tremendous phase of passing rugby at pace out to the right wing, with Alfie looping round Angus T who had the vision to feed him the ball. The home team continued to put the pressure on Dunbar and Max did well at the base of the scrum to feed the backs, despite huge pressure from an exuberant Dunbar no9. 

The forwards consistently won hard fought ball at the breakdowns, with some magnificent counter-rucking work from Elliot, Ektor and Greg that won turnovers for their team. The Young Reds pack’s effort at the breakdown helped build pressure on the visitors defence and present quick ball to feed stand-off TJ, whose jinky, strong running and varied play was a constant threat in attack. 

The next try came quickly from Duncan, who took a pass from TJ on his half way line, threw a dummy/switch kick and was away to score under the posts. Three tries scored in fairly short order might have led the enthusiastic crowd of spectators to think that this would be a walk in the park, but Dunbar were determined to make sure it wasn’t.  

The visitors pulled a converted score back to put pressure on the Young Reds, who quickly responded with a well worked try from Duncan who was left with plenty to do down the left side after another passage of effective rucking and smart offloads, involving forwards and backs linking seamlessly.

Dunbar had the final word of an entertaining first half, with an impressive individual try from their fullback who turned on the afterburners and streaked away to bring the score to 24-14 at half time. 

Linlithgow started the second half with pace and intensity, piling on the pressure as Fraser showed great strength and determination to turn the ball over from a lineout in the Dunbar 22, which leading to the next try from Duncan who once again had a few defenders to beat and showed skill and strength to reach over the line. 

Dunbar continued to press with strong runs, particularly from their huge no8 but the Young Reds threw their bodies in front of him with great courage and complete disregard for their general wellbeing! Ollie relieved a passage of pressure from Dunbar with a skilful pick up and counter run in broken play up the left wing.

Next came a clever break out of the scrum in the Dunbar 22 by Finlay, who offloaded it to Ollie, who popped it inside to Scott to score a great try in the corner.

There was still work to do, with Dunbar continuing to exert pressure and threatening to score more than their one try in the second half without Scott’s game changing and almost physics-defying tackles.

The last try of the game was scored by Ollie. This was a classic of the genre, starting with a well placed kick by TJ deep into the right of the 22. Ektor, chasing hard, collected the ball after an awkward bounce and hit up well, drawing in defenders. The forwards worked hard to get to the breakdown and recycled the ball which was passed with speed and accuracy down the back line to Ollie who scored in the left corner.

All the boys should be proud of their effort in what was a tougher test than they’ve been used to of late. It was a really good effort from the whole team and every single one of them can look back on the game and be proud of their involvement. 

From a coach’s point of view it was absolutely brilliant to see some pods coalescing outside the ruck in open play. This is something that has been worked on a lot in training and it is really beginning to help the team put their game plan into play. Some of the scoring all round was brilliant to see – pods hitting up, quick ball stressing the defence, backs running to space and good hands finding them. It’s a simple game when it goes well!

With such a team performance and great contributions right across the park, it’s a hard week to choose Player of the Match.   The pack worked their socks off and the first thing the Dunbar coach mentioned afterwards was to praise the Young Reds’ rucking.  This was a classic game of “the forwards deciding who wins and the backs deciding by how much”.  The tries could not have been scored without the hard work of the forwards to get to the breakdown, recycle ball and win turnovers, with Greg, Conor, Cameron, Morgan, Daniel, Elliot and Fraser delivering for the team. Special mention goes to guest stars Tom and Ektor who were mainstays of the pack. Tom played most of the first half in the back row before swapping to his favoured role as hooker for the second half, bringing a cool head and good decision-making to the game, along  with some sturdy work both sides of the ball. Ektor played the full game at #6 and was a big factor in our successful rucking game, as well as making a number of stand-out tackles, apparently singling out the bigger Dunbar forwards to give them the treatment.

Alexander, who is going from strength to strength, put in a huge performance with accurate throw ins, strong running and some big hits. Finlay had another great game, was a constant threat, made a huge number of metres and deserved to be on the scoresheet.

The back line all contributed, stressing a very capable Dunbar outfit, and every single one had a good run with the ball today. 

TJ was excellent going forward, made great decisions and was far more devastating in defence than a number 10 has any right to be.  Max was essential to the team’s go-forward in the first half.  Scott took his try well and as nuclear in the tackle, exploding into the Dunbar ball carriers. Alfie ran great lines all day, scored a great try and could have had more.  Jay and Angus each took the opportunity to get involved, were effective in marshalling the defence and can be very pleased with their morning’s work. Joe brought speed and attacking threat that helped make space for his teammates. Olly had spells on each wing and offered pace and threat, rounded off with a nice try.

But this week’s Player of the Match wins it for his workrate and effort throughout the game as well as for his three tries, all of which required quite some finishing. Congratulations Duncan! 

So Linlithgow make it three Conference wins from three, and look forward to a showdown with the only other remaining undefeated team when Berwick visit Mains Park.

Linlithgow S2 (U14) 45 – 24 Dunbar S2 (U14)

Linlithgow S2 welcomed Dunbar to Lower Mains pitch on Saturday morning for our second

conference match.

Scout camps and the lure of a relative ‘local’ Rugby World Cup had reduced our available squad numbers and were glad to welcome Adam, Cammy, Henry and Harry for their first game for the Reds.

To say we had a sleepy warm up was an understatement and the coaches hoped that getting started into a game would wake everyone up! It did take the best part of the first quarter for the team to show their true form, but when it came it was good. 

We finished the first half 21-5 in the lead. Our play down the backline was very sharp from the outset and the forwards came into the game over time with pod structure and recycling. We had the upper hand in the backs and James scored 2 excellent tries from some very sharp lines of running. Jack was unstoppable from a lineout set move close to Dunbar’s line. Our kickers were on form with Fergus converting two and Euan one. Communication amongst the team on the pitch was positive and the most effective to date.

Dunbar’s score came from a strong passage of play, aided by Linlithgow not committing to a few rucks.

The second half started well for the Reds with a jinky run from Marshall after sustained Red’s pressure in Dunbar’s 22 (conversion Fergus) and then a try for Fergus after some very sharp offloading and passing through the backs.

To Dunbar’s credit they fought back, and their strong number eight punished the Reds and scored some quick tries. This brought the score at one point to 33-24 and put the Reds under some degree of pressure, but the squad regrouped and put in a strong last 15 minutes.

We had been working on restarts and the Reds pulled off a great set move from the restart with Archie finishing well in the corner (converted by Fergus) and after another flowing backs move a kick chase was recovered by Callum and recycled to Adam who crossed over for final try of the morning.

Other highlights included Zac N’s one-handed offload on the wing, Eric’s try saving tap tackle and seeing the increased confidence of many players including Louis and Aaron. Euan seemed to really enjoy his morning in the back row. Many players were given specific instructions which they performed well.

Overall we were victors by 7 tries to 4. Once again the skills we had practiced during the week paid off in matches. The squad continues to benefit from competitive fixtures with decision making and problem solving and several players getting to try various positions.

Squad (all playing): Aaron, Adam, Ali, Archie, Callum, Cammy, Eric, Ethan McN, Euan, Fergus, Harry, Henry, Jack, James, Jason, Louis, Marshall, Matthew, Will, Zac N, Zack W.

Linlithgow S1 (U13) 28 – 35 Dunbar

Linlithgow S1 welcomed Dunbar to the Academy Pitch this weekend. Tight on numbers, Linlithgow fielded 12 players with Dunbar travelling with a squad of 13. 

A full shift for all players this weekend. captained by Murray who moved out to inside centre alongside Bailey with Mason moving to the wing. The team reshuffled, Linlithgow started the first 15 mins positively, moving the ball quickly and creating plenty opportunities. The first 15 ended two tries a piece, Linlithgow scorers were Gregor and Nihal, both converted by Gregor. 

Dunbar edged out the second 15 mins, two tries to Linlithgow’s one. Dunbar were a menace around the breakdown, however when Linlithgow were able to secure quick ball, the boys mixed things up with some great direct running from Bailey and the two Calum’s in midfield and a promising first outing for Jamie at Fullback. Linlithgow try scorer was Murray, converted by Gregor. 

Murray picked up an injury towards the end of the second period and we dropped to 11 players. Despite the breakdown continuing to be scrappy, Jack and Finaly partnered well as half backs this week and Linlithgow continued to work hard going forward. Late on Linlithgow were rewarded with a great solo try by Finlay, converted by Gregor. The final third finishing one try a piece. 

Overall lots of positives, despite a narrow loss, and S1 are beginning to coach themselves during games and our organisation is improving each week. Great to see! 

A special mention to Ref Wells who managed a very vocal Dunbar side … may have even thrown in a ‘this is not soccer’ comment to a few of chattier travelling players. 

Tries: Gregor, Nihal, Murray, Finlay

Conversions: Gregor (4)