Reds struggle to overcome Greenock after a flying start

Linlithgow  40 – 29  Greenock Wanderers

Saturday 15 February 2025

Report by David Mitchell

Photos courtesy of Graham Black to follow

Photo above shows the men-of-the-match Jack Frame (as selected by Greenock Wanderers) and Lewis McGill (as selected by the match day sponsors).

Last Saturday saw Greenock Wanderers as the visitors to Mains Park in the latest round of Arnold Clark National League Division 4 fixtures. The weather was dull, a bit like the 2^nd half performance, but the pitch held up well after recent wet conditions. The home side had to make some late adjustments after Ross Martin had to withdraw and Kieran Cochrane took his place at No 8. Eioan Magee moved into the 2^nd row to partner Fraser Mochrie. Oscar Davies was added to the replacements’ bench.

The early play was in the visitors’ half and Jack Frame opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the first few minutes. This was soon followed by a fine try out wide from the in-form Ru Stewart after good work down the left wing by Ross Tulloch, and a strong driving thrust by Kieran Cochrane. This allowed Archie Rusack to release the backs and Jack Frame gave the scoring pass to Ru Stewart who sprinted in for the try.

Greenock responded immediately when their captain struck a fine penalty kick from the 10 metre line to make the score 8-3. With no regular line-out jumpers, the Reds were struggling to win clean ball, and this was not made easier by the fact that Greenock were strong in the line-outs. However, the home team did begin to dominate territory with both Conor Findlay and Jack Frame pinning the visitors back into their own 22 metre area with a selection of excellent tactical kicks.

It was no surprise that the Reds began to score at regular intervals beginning with a try on the right wing by Cammy Murrie after a midfield break by Ru Stewart. Jack Frame added the extra points and then elected to kick another penalty to keep the scoreboard ticking over. The next try came after great pressure applied by the Reds defence inside the Greenock 22 forced the outside half to try an ambitious kick pass which Ross Tulloch caught beautifully before a trademark dash down the touchline past 3 defenders to score in the corner. Jack Frame added the conversion from the touchline.

The 1^st half ended with an unconverted try by captain Jack Frame after good driving work by Jamie Tulloch and slick passing from Archie Rusack, Conor Findlay, Murray Johnstone and Cammy Murrie created the gap for the captain to score.

Half time: 30-3

Apart from the misfiring line-out, the Reds ran the show during the 1^st half with a combination of kicking and passing of high quality denying the visitors a solid platform. The forwards consistently made ground from Greenock’s restarts with powerful ball carrying and then deployed an aggressive defence to deny any real opportunities for the visitors.

With the good sized crowd expecting more of the same domination, they were surprised that the 2^nd half was a real disappointment. All credit to Greenock for reverting to a forward based attack and an improved kicking game which seemed to catch the home side by surprise and resulted in a poor performance with misplaced kicks and missed tackles as well as many penalties being awarded against the Reds.

After Greenock’s 1^st try, the Reds changed personnel with Stuart Cunningham, Oscar Davies and Luke O’Hara coming on the field to join Aiden Mochrie as replacements. The Reds did respond with good pressure in the visitors 22 which led to a charged down kick being collected by Ru Stewart who dived over the line, but the referee disallowed the score. The home side did then score when after a clearing kick by Greenock, Luke O’Hara fielded the ball in midfield, and he passed the ball to Jack Frame who accelerated through the defence before sending a long pass to Ru Stewart who flew in for a try in the corner. The extra points were added to make the score 37-10.

Instead of kicking on for more tries, the Reds allowed the stuffy Greenock team to dominate the last 20 minutes of the game and score 3 tries to gain them a Try Bonus Point and take the score to a barely comfortable 37-29 with 5 minutes to play. Thankfully the Reds did manage to trap the visitors inside their own 22 with some good aggressive defence and this resulted in a final penalty being awarded to the home side after a turnover won by Oscar Davies. Jack Frame converted the kick to complete the scoring, and the referee brought the game to a close.

Final score: Linlithgow Reds  40 – 29  Greenock Wanderers

NOTE ON ABOVE

Ross Martin was a late withdrawal from the team, with Eioan Magee stepping up from the bench. His place on the bench was taken by Oscar Davies, who had only returned an hour or so before from a skiing holiday!

Comments

Another good win for the Reds but an uncharacteristically poor 40 minutes in the 2^nd half. Following the running rugby on show at North Berwick last week and the 4 try 1^st half against Greenock the 2^nd half performance needs to be understood and not repeated.

The kicking game largely deserted both sides and the home side seemed to lose the focus and sharpness that was present in the 1^st half. There were signs of tiredness in the team with tackling being less aggressive in the 2^nd half and a disturbing flurry of penalties being awarded against the Reds. The line-out was a disappointment with 3 separate throwers being used, no regular main jumpers being available and a strong visitors’ line-out making for a long afternoon.

The scrums seemed to be evenly contested, and the 1^st half defence was aggressive and led to some of the scores in that period. The half backs both showed up well in defence with their sound tackling and Archie’s fielding of high balls was excellent.

So, after all that, another victory and still in 4^th place in the Division with 42 points. Next week is the last home league fixture of the season against Hamilton Bulls with a 2pm kick off and the team would appreciate the normal large turnout of supporters.

The 2^nd XV finished their league campaign at Boroughmuir 3s last Saturday needing to win to finish 3^rd in the Division. They produced a convincing win by 40 points to 5 and congratulations go to Team Supremo Des Martin and his players and support staff for a great season in a tough Division.