Champions! Reds clinch East League Division 1 title with 2 games to spare
Forrester 12 – 26 Linlithgow
Saturday 13 January 2024
Report by David Mitchell; photos by Graham Black
Last Saturday a huge crowd of over 200 watched the Reds overcome a stuffy Forrester team and gain the points required to give them an unassailable lead in the race to win East League Division 1. It was great to see so many supporters making the trip to Forrester many of whom have been ever present at games this season but the prospect of a Division title encouraged many more to get there, including rumours that even Lord Lucan was spotted in the crowd!
Although the Reds won the Mains Park fixture against Forrester by 52 points to 24, a tough encounter was expected as the home side wanted to spoil the party and in fairness, they produced a fine effort and played some excellent rugby. Conditions were ideal with a very good surface and weather to match.
The occasion seemed to get to some of the Reds with uncharacteristic handling errors, loose passes and wrong options taken as they almost tried too hard and needed to show more composure and patience which duly happened after a frantic initial 15 minutes. Early scrums were fairly even but Linlithgow certainly had the more effective line-out as has been the case all season long.
Eventually the Reds began to exert some sustained pressure and the opening score duly arrived. Jack Frame kicked a penalty deep into the Forrester 22 and from the line-out, Euan Mochrie took a good ball at the front of the line and Archie Rusack spun the ball to winger Ross Plenderleith who bashed his way over for a typical Plenders try to help to celebrate his milestone birthday the day before. Jack Frame added the extra points.
Forrester responded with some slick passing and good forward drives but the Reds’ defence held firm under pressure. The visitors then worked their way up field where they won a scrum under the posts and it was no surprise when the ever reliable Mark Caddle continued his fine try scoring run with a No8 pickup and drive over the line. The extra points took the score to 0-14 after 20 minutes. The Forrester pack then pounded the visitors’ goal line and it was no surprise when they finally found a gap out wide and scored their opening try which went unconverted. Half time score 5-14.
The 2nd half started well for the home team and they kicked the ball deep to keep the Reds pinned back in their own half. The first score in the half was always going to be vital and thankfully it was scored by the Reds with a carbon copy of the first try of the game with Ross Plenderleith powering over the home try line with defenders unable to stop him and he celebrated a birthday brace of tries which was very well deserved by this great servant of Linlithgow rugby over the years. Jack Frame again knocked over the conversion to stretch the lead to 5-21. This allowed all of the replacements to be deployed by the Reds as Cammy Murrie, Conor Findlay, Stuart Cunningham and Oscar Davies all got their chance to influence the game.
All credit to Forrester who responded almost immediately with another fine try following some hard driving by their forwards and slick passing along the back line. The successful touch line conversion made the score 12-21 which was too close for comfort and led to a nervy last 20 minutes. The Reds did manage to gain some territorial advantage as full time approached but a series of rare handling mistakes and some indiscipline allowed Forrester to hold firm until the 79th minute when the Reds put together a trade mark team try covering 90 metres with multiple phases of patient rugby and with the ball passing through most of the team during the move.
Forrester had the throw in to a line-out 10 metres from the Reds’ line but the ball came back on the visitors’ side and was passed to Kieran Cochrane who stormed up field to the 10 metre line before he was tackled. From the ruck, Cammy Murrie found Andrew Graham and as he was tackled he slipped a beautiful pop pass to the supporting Oscar Davies and he motored up the pitch and passed to Conor Findlay who shipped it to Ross Tulloch. When tackled, Ross passed the ball to Euan Mochrie who set up the next ruck from which the ball went to Jamie Tulloch who barged his way through the defence to set up another ruck. The onslaught continued through various runners and handlers before the ball arrived at Murray Johnstone and he drew the final defender and passed to try scoring machine Luke O’Hara and it was so fitting that the youngest player in the team dived over in the corner to set off wild scenes on the touchline as the visiting coaches, players and supporters realised that the Division title had been won.
Final score 12-26
Although by their own admission that this was one of their poorest performances of the season it was understandable that nerves would play apart in this match. There were obviously some signs of anxiety and indecision that the Reds eventually overcame and the occasion certainly seemed to get to a number of the players. However a fantastic ending that was befitting of the performances so far this season and it would be easy to name all of the players individually for their consistent contributions but to mention just a few from this game, I would pick out Murray Johnstone, Ewan Curran, Ross Plenderleith, Calum McKeown, Kyle Ormond and Kieran Cochrane who go about their business will little fuss but were very effective today and do not always have the spotlight shone on them.
This young side have grown and matured as the season has progressed but there is still potentially more success to come. We still need to defeat Langholm and Leith to complete the clean sweep of 14 victories in the Division. We have the National Shield to play in with the first tie against Forrester at Mains Park on Saturday 17th February and the possibility of a further 4 ties at Regional and National stages of the competition.
Congratulations also to the Director of Rugby Ian McLean and coaches Dougie Thomson, Matt Dixon and Graeme McCallum for developing this squad into a 17 game winning team so far this season with hopefully so much more to come as we can now look forward to National 4 rugby next season.
The Reds have grown and developed throughout the season as shown in a few statistics i.e. 507 points for and 227 points against in the 12 league games to date. However when you analyse the season the picture is even rosier. In the first 6 games we scored 217 points and conceded 147. However in the next 6 games, we scored 290 points and only conceded 80 points. The 12 games to date resulted in an average result of 42-19 in the Reds’ favour which is dominant in any circumstances.
Finally a mention for 2 of our more regular supporters. Anne Young graciously gave a bottle of fizz to captain Jack Frame to celebrate with an on field shower for his team mates. Finally a shout out to our loudest supporter Jim Mochrie and I wish him well in his audition for a Town Crier position.
The Reds have a free week next Saturday but return to action with the last home fixture in the league against Langholm on 27th January. Arrangements are being made to have the East League Division 1 trophy presented at the end of that game. A bumper crowd will hopefully be in attendance for the occasion.
Next week the 2nd XV is playing a league game at Boroughmuir and I am sure that Des Martin would welcome a good support to follow the team to Meggetland.
Linlithgow
Calum McKeown, Kyle Ormond, Andrew Graham; Ross Martin, Kieran Cochrane; Euan Mochrie, Jamie Tulloch and Mark Caddle; Cammy Murrie, Jack Frame (c); Ross Plenderleith, Murray Johnstone, Ewan Curran, Luke O’Hara and Ross Tulloch.
Replacements
Stuart Cunningham, Oscar Davies, Cammy Murrie and Conor Findlay.