Bell Baxter / Howe of Fife u14s  47 – 36  Linlithgow u14s

Saturday 8th November 2025

Report by Alan Hunter

What a difference two months can make! When we played BB/HoF then, we went into triple figures and only conceded one try, but today BB/HoF were a different animal with two stand out centres who were missing from their line up at the last game. It was a slightly foggy and still start to the day at Cupar in Howe of Fife and the boys were going to have every last bit of energy sapped from their legs on the heavy pitch.

After a minute’s play, BB/HoF, in blue won their line out and their huge inside centre took the crash ball over for an opening try, which was converted and silenced the Young Reds. They responded fantastically well with Callum hoofing the ball up the pitch from his own line before regathering and making it over the line, using the handoff to excellent effect 90m away from where the play began.

Linlithgow retained phase after phase in this first third and although they had at least 75% of the possession the scores weren’t coming as the boys were being stifled with some great heavy tackling from BB/HoF. The coaches were going hoarse as the shouts of blue were ringing around the pitch and although it looked like Callum got a second try on the right wing it was short of the line. Another period of intense pressure from the big forwards saw a hard-working Lucas going over for our second try. Again, against the run of play BB/HoF’s outside centre lit the afterburners for the first time and skinned some of our fastest players down the wing to keep themselves right in this one. Their conversions were going over keeping them in the lead. We ended on a high with a pirouetting Callum evading tackles and going over for his second, which was converted by Rory. For all the play we had it felt like we should have been cruising this one but strangely we were only in the lead by 3 points.

Score at end of first third:  BB/HoF  14 – 17  Linlithgow

The second third started the same as the first with their giant centre going over to give them the lead again. His kicking wasn’t as proficient as his running as he took the conversion himself that was well wide of the uprights. Meandering runs from Joe at full back were making ground and the hard-working forwards supported by a feisty Blair at scrum half kept the ball moving at a pace through this stage of the game. For all the momentum we had marginal decisions were going against us time and time again and supporters and players looked perplexed as they tried to make sense of some of the calls, which were slowing the game down and taking the wind out of our sails. Scott, regularly seen with about 4 opposition players hanging off him and still moving forward got the ball out to Archie, via fast passes from Ruaridh and Logan, seeing him score up the right wing, which was converted by Rory. The lead switched again, when their “Reece Zammit” made another flying try, which was converted putting them 2 points clear moving into the last third.

Score at end of second third:  BB/HoF  26 – 24  Linlithgow

Even although it was going to be anyone’s game Linlithgow’s heads were going down which wasn’t helped when an attacking position ended up a try against us as their outside centre once again done the damage. A carbon copy of the last try from BB/HoF saw their inside centre run across the pitch before offloading to their speedster when a gap opened for him yet again. The confidence was running high, as they ran in a third. Two consolation tries from Archie and Callum late in the day was just too little too late to make a difference.

Final score:  BB/HoF  47 – 36  Linlithgow

It was a tough, character-building day for the team, but as ever there were mainly positives to take away. Their ball retention, as they ran through the phases was solid, as was their scrum which was the highlight of the day. If only they were allowed to push further there would have been a few drive overs. The solid scrum gave a platform for Jack to be able to hook against the head which gave them the ball many times when they had no right to it. Overall, a great performance from the pack.

Man of the match was Blair who worked hard taking all the benefits he could from the forwards efforts with great burrowing in to get the ball and accurate passing out to Max to link to the backs.