Linlithgow u15 50 – 7 St.Leonards Madras u15
Saturday 31st October 2026
Report by Stuart Taylor
After a month’s hiatus from conference rugby the under 15’s were raring to go as they ran out onto a sunny autumnal Lower mains park to face their fifth and final conference opponents, St.Leonards Madras.
The reds piled considerable pressure on SLM from the get go and it wasn’t long before Joe emerged from the slip stream to score the first try of the day in the corner.
With a scrum inside the reds twenty-two the reds ball found its way out to Archie who broke into space and ran in an excellent long distance try crossing just left of the posts for a straightforward conversion for Nathan.
The reds were caught napping when a tricky little grubber kick found its way through the reds defensive line, which the advancing SLM player skill fully kicked and chased as the reds scrambled back to no avail as SLM got to the ball first and dotted down to claim their first try of the day which they duly converted.
Taking heart SLM fought back into the game and found their voice before being penalised by the referee and were marched back ten yards. The reds capitalised on this lapse in their opponents concentration and after a series of god runs the ball found its way to Jack who dived over just right of the posts for Rory to convert.
Despite having been away from conference rugby since the end of September the reds looked the fresher of the two teams with Max at scrum half giving an accomplished display with pacey accurate passing and timely turnovers it wasn’t long before the quick distribution led to gaps in the oppositions line with Logan C bursting through to score Linlithgow’s fourth try.
When the ball did find its way out to the wings both Linlithgow wingers, Nathan and Finlay H made good ground and harried at the oppositions defence.
Lucas, Logan C , Callum and Jay made good carries deep into the oppositions half and were just as potent in defence with excellent tackling throughout the game.
SLM’s clearance kick was deftly collected by Rory with the ball finding its way out to Joe who snatched the ball from the air and ran the ball in close before passing to Logan C who smashed over the white wash for his second and Linlithgow’s fifth try which was converted by Nathan just before half time.
Early in the first half the Reds found themselves hammering the SLM defensive line and it wasn’t long before Lucas muscled his way over with a try at the corner flag. The tricky conversion kick was slotted over by Rory.
Having scored one long distance try in the first half Archie managed to repeat the feat in the second half with a superb run in for a try under the posts. Nathan stepped up and converted with aplomb.
After a series of phases, Linlithgow crept closer to the try line. Joe gathered and managed to break free from a tackle before placing the ball into the hands of a Lucas who crashed over for his second try to the right of the posts. Rory stepped up and slotted the conversion over.
Callum cut through the heart of the opposition fending and driving his way to the try line with Logan P taking the charge when Callum was eventually brought down. Logan C was on hand and was brought down just short of the try line with Joe collecting and diving over for another reds try which Nathan converted with ease.
Rory made a surging run and with the momentum firmly with Linlithgow it wasn’t long before the tiring SLM side were defending their try line again. Lucas was on hand following a quick ruck and wrestled his way across the try line for a hat trick of tries within the second half.
With both teams tiring it was encouraging to see SLM hadn’t lost their will to attack as they ran in an excellent second and final try of the game from the half way line which they successfully converted.
Although the Young Reds ran in 66 points over the course of the match, the final conference score is capped once one team passes 50 points, so the match score will be recorded as 50-7.
With big carries, vital ruck clearances, clinical tackles and ending on a hat trick of tries the deserved recipient of this weeks player of the match was Lucas.
All in all this was a good team performance from the under 15’s. Having won 4 out of their 5 conference fixtures and enjoying their top of the table position the under 15 squad will need to wait a few weeks to establish their play off opponents.
Tries: Archie 2, Jack, Joe 2, Logan C 2, Lucas 3
Conversions: Nathan 4, Rory 4.
