Young Reds U15s keep the dream alive

Peebles  14 – 14  Linlithgow

Unbelievable come back against the odds this week against an also unbeaten Peebles to keep both teams dream alive… 

Match report by Nick Smith

So before we start let’s be clear that this match report will not even try to replicate the level of tension and drama from this game – it’s just not possible.  This will come as no surprise and possibly some relief to those spectators who were pitch-side and witnessed it live.  

As we arrived in Peebles the weather and surroundings added to the sense of drama. The clouds came in low – just touching the snowy hills, surrounding the pitch.  

However our warm up was sharp and focussed. The boys needed to shake their sleepiness off before the battle commenced. This they did, perhaps better than the coaches.  Also not to forget the caffeine fuelled warm up led by the parents.  So with us all ready and awake, we were off.

The first 15 minutes of the game were hard fought.  Peebles mounted attack after attack and we had to be on our toes and make the first tackle count.  This we did, with real and heart and determination.  However it wasn’t without cost. At the same time we found it hard to mount an attack of our own.  We seemed to find the ball just that little bit more slippery and some strong defence from our hosts put us on the back foot even when we had ball in hand.  The cost to us came in the form of injuries – Chris (knee), Elliot (head) Angus T, (stunned by a high tackle) and Scott (bicep) were off the pitch with injury, alongside Finlay who hadn’t felt able to start.

Eventually the pressure on us began to tell and Peebles broke through to score a converted try.  This was how the score stayed till half time (7-0).

The second half started with much more intent from us.  Ewan made a break from the kick off and we thought he might be though, sadly the ball slipped from his grasp. But this didn’t stop us as we moved the ball back across the pitch in an attempt to find a chink in the armour.  It wasn’t forthcoming.  Instead Peebles came back at us attacking down the right flank.  Following a ruck close to our line, Scott put in a try saving tackle as a forward came haring through the middle of the ruck. However Peebles moved it to the right where the focussed their attack. Eventually they were over the line for another converted try (14-0).  We were left to consider whether it would have been a better option to have cleared our lines when we could – as well as how to deal with being 14 points down.

To the boys credit their heads did not go down. They continued to tackle hard not giving Peebles the space they wanted to break through. Thomas, Duncan and Alfie were particularly effective at snuffing out potential attacks with Jay, Joe and Finlay making some great tackles further out wide.

It was our turn to get on the attack. From a line out in their 22, Max fizzed out a perfect pass to Thomas who looked like he was tee-ing up Duncan for a crash ball.  Instead he saw the space open up in front of him and he didn’t need a second invitation to charge through, and score the try. Alfie converted.  And we were back in it (14-7).

The second try came as Max moved the ball down the line again, Thomas spotted space ahead of him and kicked.  The chase was good with both Thomas and and Joe bearing down on the ball.  Thomas was there first, passed it beautifully with the inside of his foot over the line and dived on it to score.  The reliable Alfie stepped up and converted and it was 14-14.

We felt there was another try in it for us and, unsurprisingly, so did Peebles.  The next 10 minutes was tense both sides desperate to attack and yet very weary of making any mistakes.  All credit to the boys they held out, despite the casualty list which continued to mount.

It was a great and gutsy performance from the boys. They showed the they could defend and play – even without the ball. Some work might be needed on our structure (it was hard to spot a pod in the general chaos of the game) as well as on our overall approach to taking the ball into contact. But overall they were superb to a man. Alexander has a great game in the loose, Ewan enjoyed being back (his first game this year) and Greg, Daniel, Fraser, Conor, Chris and Angus C got through a huge amount of unseen work in the closer quarters. Fraser H and Hugh both found themselves playing in positions less familiar to them, but did so with commitment and heart. Man-of-the-match this week goes to Thomas.  To be use a biblical term: “Cometh the hour cometh the man”.  He stepped up and delivered two tries exactly when they were needed. A great overall performance.