Whitecraigs  28 – 21  Linlithgow

Saturday 01 March 2025

Report by Des Martin, photos courtesy of Graham Black

A great day for rugby and a bus trip to Whitecraigs in Newton Mearns in Glasgow.  What’s not to like!     

The manager and coach struggled to get a quorum all week but eventually ended up with 14 on the bus. A promise of potential adult school players failed to materialise and we accepted some players from Whitecraigs to make up our squad. 

The seconds pitch had only one goalpost at the home end so the agreement was, no conversions,7 points for a try, and no kicks for penalties, run them all. The teams were well matched and play ebbed back and forth. From a good backs move Alex Dunlop passed a nice ball to Alexander Burns in his first full game to score.  7 points to the Reds.

While attacking again a poor pass in the backs was intercepted by a Whitecraigs player who scored.  7 points each. Lots of good play from both teams but the Reds struggled to dominate as some mysterious decisions often seemed to favour the home team.  

Ross Plenderleith was covering well at full back and adding stability to the defence. Overall the Reds were playing expansive rugby on a nice flat pitch but final passes didn’t materialise into scores. Eventually from a good move Gregor McLean used his skill and ability to barge over.  7-14 in favour of the Reds.

At half-time the home team made changes from their squad. We had to encourage Stu Young to hang on and stay on the park to maintain our 15. And he limped about for the second half. The fresh players made a difference to the home team and they scored (14-14). 

Ross Penderleith scored a good solo try using his experience to put us in the lead but it did not last long as they scored again (21-21). The game was coming to a close and a draw would have been a fair result for this friendly, but the Ref was determined to follow his strict timekeeping (having arrived late) and in the dying minutes Whitecraigs scored again.  Final score 28-21 to the home team.

This was a good game and thanks to all who came down to play.  It was nice to see a Lithga’ lad playing at scrum half for Whitecraigs. Chris Grady who last played for Linlithgow about 30 years ago. He now has family and lives on that side of Glasgow. And the 1sts team referees assessor Andy who was a member at Linlithgow at one time who said that the firsts game was a cracking game with some very good backs. Positive things on the day which is what national rugby is about. Long may this continue as we are now mid table with a game to go.