Young Reds S1s blow hot and cold
Linlithgow 28 (7) – 53 (24) Dunbar 53
Saturday 26 October 2024
Report by Alan Hunter
It was fair to say the going was going to be heavy for the 13 players in each team that were to cover the lower pitch but it was perfectly sheltered from the wind with some very welcome sunshine. The sun was struggling up above the horizon and was set to dazzle those trying take the aerial balls. Archie was captaining today and after the rock, paper, scissors the Young Reds would be playing the first half with the sun in their eyes. The East coast team was armed with a large travelling support and 5 substitutes, to Linlithgow’s one.
Dunbar’s kick off was gathered cleanly by Jack but Dunbar quickly showed how physical their pack would be as they hit hard forcing a knock on. They won their scrum and spun the ball out to their rangy left wing who ran in their first try within two minutes of the whistle. This was not to be his last! Their restart seen a dropped ball and the large pack done the honours again with the left wing having the ball in his hand once more. This drew in the defence as Dunbar seen the opportunity out on the right as their stand off ran across the pitch before releasing their right wing for a second score.
Linlithgow appeared shell shocked as their slow start had them down 14 points within 5 minutes. A third restart from Dunbar fell into Callum’s hands and he barged through to the 22 with literally half the opposition team members hanging off him. A penalty was set up which Max hoofed over the fence, for a very safe touch. From this line out Blair at scrum half spun the ball out to the centres before switching and firing the ball back over to the left wing who was just pushed out on the try line. The Young Reds were now awake, fired up and ready to show what they were capable of. A long kick up the pitch put the boys on the defence again, as Jay showed how talented a footballer he is by trapping the ball. Notable tackles were being made all over the field from Scott, Ruaridh and Lucas who were thwarting the continual attacks. Gritty defence continued but with everyone forced in to stop their large pack the Green and Blue’s right wing went over for a simple try.
The shouts of “blue” from the coaches were responded to and the ball done the work for the first time for Linlithgow which was reaching Brodie P on the right wing, allowing him to make ground, as his perfect hand offs were leaving players twice his size in his wake. This passage of play continued, and the ball was with Callum again, this time up the left wing and resulted in our first try. Before we could keep the momentum, their left wing was on another run, this time from his own line, covering the whole length of the pitch to quieten the home support.
We were straight in the fight again with some brilliant jackaling over the ball from Brodie C which led to a penalty inside their 22. A tap from Max fed Rory who side-stepped then powered over the line for a classic centre’s try. Dunbar were starting to show some cracks, but their bomb squad substitutes came on to help tired legs and the left wing again was doing his thing and keeping the scoreboard ticking over for them. It was 14 – 36 as we entered the last quarter, when Tom caught their restart cleanly which got us moving the ball quickly through the hands until Callum ran around their left wing to get a brilliant second try for him; one on each wing now. Dunbar were slowing the restarts and proved they hadn’t finished with another full length run in, when we had been on the attack. This seen us having to be reminded by the referee that he was about to blow the restart whistle as we trudged back up to take up our position on the 10m line, which ended up being recycled by them and led to another try in quick succession. The Young Reds were clearly exhausted as Dunbar went over from a 5m penalty sealing the game. An urgency for a final score from Linlithgow was rewarded as Archie caught the ball and fed a perfectly weighted pass to Finlay on the left wing who got in for one final score. Max was kicking solidly and a fourth conversation sailed over keeping his 100 % success rate for the game.
This was a game of ups and downs and a sustained period of pressure in the second half saw the home boys stranded in the doldrums for a while but the scoreline flattered Dunbar and there was an air of what might have been after the final whistle. A brisker start, scoring first in the second half and the result could have been very different. There was individual brilliance but the team play outshone this, as something clearly started to click!