Storms and tractors no match for U16s!

Selkirk  27 – 48  Linlithgow

East Cup match on Sunday 02 February 2025

Report by Nick Smith

Our game against Selkirk was beginning to feel a little ill-fated. First storm Eowyn and the following clear up exercise put pay to us playing them on the Saturday or Sunday of the previous weekend; an early kick off for the Six Nations tussle against Italy meant the Saturday was out; so we settled for Sunday afternoon only to find that an NFU rally had all but shut down the bypass. Team work and perseverance was required just to get to the venue! So first a huge thanks to parents, drivers and everyone else who performed the taxi duties.

Selkirk looked a big strong unit and they put us under pressure right from the start. They kicked off, forcing an early turn-over and we found ourselves a try down after 30 seconds.  We then lost Angus T to a “wonky looking finger” – we wish him a speedy recovery after his trip to Borders A&E.

However we rallied. After some strong rucking from our forwards, Ali B made a trademark break, passed on to the supporting Duncan who found Thomas who scored. This was going to be a tough game but this gave us some belief. 

Selkirk came back strongly and their forwards were too much for us to handle at times. This led to some indiscipline from the Linlithgow forwards allowing them gain good ground and to score again. This was going to require a monumental effort.

We needed to take every opportunity. Up stepped Cammy to steal a line-out and put us in attacking position. A couple of strong runs from the forwards gained us ground and Calum found his way over for a well-deserved try.

We were starting to click and the forwards really began to step things up, Greig, Finlay Mac, Alex K tackled relentlessly, with Thomas joining-in, showing his back-row instincts from fly half. What happened next was the real turning point of the game. Alexander put in a huge hit on a charging Selkirk forward, Cammy was straight in to attempt to steal the ball, winning us a kickable penalty – up stepped Rory to prove it was – and we finished the half 13-17 up.

The second half was a slightly different story and we began to pull away scoring 5 tries in what felt like quick succession:

• Try 1: Rory broke, kicked ahead and then won the chase to dive on the bouncing ball to score
• Try 2: Ali showed his pace to round the defence and dot down
• Try 3: Ewan led the defensive line from a line-out, showed some acrobatics to incept and run through to score
• Try 4: Not wanting to miss out, Liam hurtled through to take a try himself
• Try 5: Finally Mac found a little space  – and plenty of pace – to burst through for his.

Selkirk came back to then score two of their own but the game was gone by this point.

It was great to see Jayden back playing and he was so close to getting a try of his own after a strong break from Ewan from the kick off. Micah showed his adaptability by playing the second row alongside partner in crime, Aiden. Tom and Connor put in a shift in the front row to ensure we competed well in the set piece in the second half.

Max had a tough but excellent game at fly half and put in some brave tackling on their number 8 who was somewhat larger in stature. Hugh had an equal challenge when he took over at scrum half and handled himself well.

Choosing a player of the match was really difficult this week. There were some top performances, particularly from the back row (Ewan, Cammy, Calum and Finlay). Thomas had a strong game and was well supported by Alfie and Duncan with Ali B and Rory adding flair. However player of the match this week goes to Liam. He had a great game, this time playing at prop. His strength in the loose kept us in the game in the first half with some strong tackling and great play to create turnovers and secure our own ball.