Stewartry  22 – 51  Linlithgow

Saturday  24 January 2026

Report by David Mitchell

The Reds made the long trek to Castle Douglas on Saturday for this Arnold Clark National League Division 4 test against Stewartry. Despite sitting in the bottom half of the Division, Stewartry are always a tough proposition when at home and the visitors had to be fully focussed for the task. Weather conditions were dry and sunny but with a very strong diagonal wind which made kicking a bit of a lottery.

The usual band of worthy supporters made the trip from Linlithgow with Jim Mochrie and Carl Davies both providing great leadership in the vocal support stakes. As well as providing great encouragement to the team, the two of them also provide a lot of entertainment for the crowd!

With the wind in their favour early territorial pressure was exerted by the Reds, but they  seemed to be a bit frantic in their early attempts with several balls not going to hand and a general lack of accuracy. However, after 10 minutes they began to settle down, and it was no surprise when the Reds recorded the first try of the day scored by, in form centre, Ruaridh Stewart who crashed over in the left corner for an unconverted try.

Stewartry were rarely in the Reds’ half during the early exchanges and tries were scored at regular intervals. Captain Fraser Mochrie scored the 2^nd try when taking an inside offload from Alfie Muir who had been held up just short of the try line. Jack Frame added the extra points. From the restart, Jack used the wind effectively to push the home side deep into their own territory and forced a goal line drop out. After the ball was safely fielded by Archie Rusack, Jamie Tulloch was stopped just short of the try line before the ball was collected by Ross Tulloch who side stepped the last defender and touched down for the try which was duly converted by Jack Frame to make the score 0-19 after 20 minutes of play. 

Stewartry produced an immediate response with a well taken try on what was their 1^st attack of the day. The try was a self-inflicted wound by the Reds with some uncharacteristically poor tackling in the run up to the score. However, normal service was resumed after a solid catch and drive at a line-out was thwarted but the ball was recycled a few times before Alfie Muir gave the scoring pass to Ross Tulloch. 

Half time:  5-24

Although holding a healthy lead, the crowd opinion was that the Reds had missed a few scoring chances but were hopeful that the ball would be kept in hand into the wind during the second half and play into the running and handing strengths of the team.

This proved to be the case when from a midfield scrum, the Reds made ground into the Stewartry 22 metre area with some great interplay between forwards and backs allowing prop Calum McKeown to slip a well weighted pass to Jack Frame who accelerated through the defence to score under the posts. Jack added the extra points to stretch the lead to 5-31.

The visitors realised that attacking from deep was a good option and this resulted in the next try. From inside the Linlithgow 22 metre area, Jack Frame chipped a cross kick that was well gathered by Luke O’Hara who in turn fed the ball inside to Ruaridh Stewart who ran fully 50 metres before being brought down. However, he had the presence of mind to release the ball then regather it before plunging over to score the try. The Reds bench all made an appearance with Cam McHardy, Eioan Magee, Cammy Murrie and Ewan Curran all getting game time.

The Reds really cut loose as the match went on with Ruaridh Stewart completing a fine hat trick of tries on the day. From a midfield scrum the ball was swiftly moved to Luke O’Hara who passed inside to Euan Mochrie, and he was brought down about 20 metres short of the try line. From the ensuing ruck, Archie Rusack passed the ball infield with Jack Frame firing out a huge scoring pass to Ruaridh who stepped past the remaining defenders before cruising in for his 3^rd try.

The Reds next try came straight from the restart when Jack Frame identified a gap in the home defence and took off from his own 22 metre area. He sliced through the gap and then rounded the full back before executing a great hand off to foil the last defender and score a fine individual try. 

To their credit Stewartry fought on in search of a Try Bonus Point which they did manage to claim near the end of the game. The final Reds’ try was scored by Ewan Curran who barged his way over the line after a move involving forwards and backs and characterised by some very slick handling and passing.

Final score:  Stewartry  22 – 51  Linlithgow Reds

Reds Team

Front row: Calum McKeown, Kyle Ormond, Andrew Graham
Second row: Fraser Mochrie (capt), Lewis McGill
Back row: Euan Mochrie, Jamie Tulloch, Oscar Davies

Half-backs: Archie Rusack, Jack Frame
Centres: Alfie Muir, Ruaridh Stewart
Back three: Ross Plenderleith, Luke O’Hara, Ross Tulloch

Subs (all played): 
Cameron McHardy, Eioan Magee, Cammy Murrie, Ewan Curran

Comment

Another thumping win for the Reds with 5 different try scorers including a hat trick for Ruaridh Stewart who celebrated his recent birthday with another high-class performance, and he is currently scoring at over 1 try per game so far this season.

Defensively the Reds were susceptible to direct running attacks although there were several notable tackling performances including from Lewis McGill, Oscar Davies and Jamie Tulloch all of whom showed up regularly during the game.  

The forward pack were effective at set pieces and in loose play and the forwards all showed a real desire to carry the ball in attack and combine effectively with the backs. This season has seen the front 5 all grow in confidence with Andrew Graham making a lot of ground with his ball carrying since his return from injury. Ross Tulloch continues to be a safe pair of hands at full back as well as contributing to the attack. The back line as a whole is playing well individually as well as being effective as a unit.

Next Saturday sees a crunch match against Hamilton who are sitting just behind the Reds in the Division 4 table so another strong performance will be required, and a big crowd should be in attendance to cheer on the team.

Finally, Ellon have withdrawn from Division 4 so all their games/results have been removed, and they will go back into the Caley structure for next season. There will still be 2 further clubs relegated at the end of this season. 

Photos courtesy of Craig Young