Reds whitewash Broughton in the mud at Wardie

Broughton  0 – 37  Linlithgow

Saturday 18 November 2023

Report by David Mitchell

Photos by Graham Black

The Reds travelled to a sodden Wardie in Edinburgh for this East League Division 1 fixture against hosts Broughton. The pitch was very heavy but thankfully the rain had passed before kick-off and both teams tried their best to deliver an attractive game. This away fixture has regularly been a real test for the Reds but this excellent whole team performance was to eclipse previous visits against tricky opposition.

The visitors kicked off up the slope at Wardie and started positively and were soon rewarded with a penalty which was converted by Jack Frame. Broughton responded with a series of attacks but these were repelled by strong defence from the Reds and play moved up field after a surging Mark Caddle run took play into the Broughton half. Another penalty ensued and Jack Frame again stroked the ball between the posts to make the score 0-6. Playing uphill, it was important to get the scoreboard ticking over before unleashing the high scoring running game that has been so successful this campaign.

There were few scoring opportunities for either side and the game was disrupted when injury led to the scrums moving to uncontested format, as has often been the case against this opposition in recent seasons. During the half, Ross Martin replaced Euan Mochrie and his undoubted mastery of the forward dark arts was soon evident when slowing down opposition ball and stopping them making ground up field. Just when the crowd thought that a try would never arrive, Broughton spilled the ball in midfield and it was quickly retrieved by the Reds and swiftly moved to right winger Luke O’Hara and he took off up the touchline and outstripped the cover defence to score in the corner. Jack Frame added the touchline conversion to make the half time score 0-13.

The second half started with a bang when the Reds scored 2 tries in quick succession. The first came after a deep kick to the corner by Jack Frame and from the line-out, Kyle Ormond found his favourite target jumper in Mark Caddle and he was driven to the line where Jamie Tulloch emerged to plunge over the line for a well worked forwards’ try. The second try came after Jack Frame burst through the home pack and the ball was recycled after the ruck and moved slickly along the back line of Murray Johnstone, Ewan Curran and Ross Tulloch who fed Luke O’Hara on the right wing and he needed no second invitation to dive over for another great try. Jack Frame again struck a lovely conversion from the touchline to take the score to 0-25.

This lead allowed the coaching team to deploy the resources on the replacement bench and Stuart Cunningham, Oscar Davies and Cammy Murrie all joined the fray and contributed well throughout the remainder of the game to demonstrate the strength of the current squad. After scoring 2 tries, Luke O’Hara then started the move that led to the Bonus Point Try when he fielded a clearing kick from Broughton and fed Ross Plenderleith who made ground and then released the ball to Jack Frame who threw a long pass to Mark Caddle and he was not going to be stopped as he weaved his way in field past a few defenders to canter over at the posts to continue his excellent try scoring run. Jack Frame added the extra points.

The final try came after strong pressure applied by the Reds on the home side who were trying to run the ball out of defence. A series of strong tackles eventually dislodged the ball and it was recovered by the visitors and fed to Ross Plenderleith who unselfishly drew the last defender and passed to Ross Martin who galloped the last 15 metres to score at the corner flag. The conversion was missed and that made the final score 0-37.

This was one of the best if not the best performance of the season. It is rare to ‘nil’ a high scoring team as useful as Broughton especially in such difficult playing conditions. The front 5 were immense in both set piece and in loose play with a fantastic number of ball carries and tackles. The back row was excellent with Mark Caddle having several powerful runs as well as dominating the line-out, Euan Mochrie showed all of his experience when slowing down the opposition attacks and regularly tidying up loose balls and Jamie Tulloch put in another amazing defensive effort and also seemed to be at the heart of so many Reds’ attacks.

The back three were all heavily involved in defence and attack and looked dangerous every time they got the ball. Archie Rusack again turned in a mature performance by selecting the right options when running or passing and the midfield trio regularly took the correct options when running or kicking and using the full width of the field to stretch the home defence. Murray Johnstone and Ewan Curran have developed a strong partnership at centre particularly in attack.

Apart from a 10 minute spell midway through the second half when there was the old tendency to overplay in their own half, this was a whole team performance to be proud of and which provided one of the most satisfying outcomes so far this season.

Next week the Reds travel to Barnton to face Royal High with a 2pm kick off. A large travelling support is expected to support the team as they aim to extend their unbeaten run.

Team:

Calum McKeown, Kyle Ormond, Andrew Graham; Fraser Mochrie, Kieran Cochrane; Euan Mochrie, Jamie Tulloch and Mark Caddle; Archie Rusack, Jack Frame (c); Ross Plenderleith, Murray Johnstone, Ewan Curran, Luke O’Hara and Ross Tulloch.

Replacements: Stuart Cunningham, Ross Martin, Oscar Davies and Cammy Murrie