Joy for U18s after nail-biter at Myreside

Watsons U18B  24 – 26  Linlithgow U18

Saturday 01 March 2025

Report by Gordon Muir

Linlithgow U18s travelled to Myreside for a second attempt at their East Cup Pool stage match against George Watsons, having been frozen off the pitch by a blizzard and late cancellation a few weeks ago. This was the third of three pool stage games and results in other games meant that a bonus-point win for either side should be enough to see them through to the next round. Conditions this weekend were much better than in January, with light overcast skies, a moderate breeze and the going good-to-soft.

Watsons B have been long-time Conference rivals for the Young Reds, in particular for the S6 boys who have had many great battles against each other over the years. The Reds faced a “Watsons S6” side that featured a mix of first and second XV players enjoying the East Cup as a last dance together before going their separate ways. With a 1-1 record in Conference matches this year, the game carried the additional spice of winning the last word in that rivalry, meaning there was a bit more than Cup qualification on the line.

With good player availability, Linlithgow were able to take a strong 22 through to Edinburgh, although with no specialist 9 available, flanker Lewis Smith stepped up and took on scrum-half duties. Pre-match talk was of building on the resilience shown when down to 13 men versus Currie last week, and bringing that physicality and tenacity from the off.

It was a good start – and an early test for scrum-half Lewis – as Linlithgow won a scrum from kick off. The ball was quickly out and the Linlithgow forwards carried into heavy traffic, getting little go-forward but narrowing the Watsons defence. With a pod set nice and quickly, prop Adam slipped a deft pass to centre Alfie who was able to find full-back Ethan joining the back line in the wide left channel. Ethan took the ball forward, drew his man and passed to winger Calum who showed exactly why he’s been involved with the Edinburgh U18 squad this year, fending off two defenders and accelerating to the line for a terrific score and a dream start for the Reds.  The tricky conversion sailed just wide and it was 0-5 to Linlithgow after 3 minutes played.

Any thoughts that it was going to be a walk in the park were soon dispelled, however, as GWC put pressure on the restart and immediately broke downfield to score a cracking try of their own in the corner. Once again, the conversion was out of reach so the score was 5-5. With that success, the home side grew in confidence and began to dominate possession by forcing errors and made good ground with the ball in hand, particularly through hard running from their forward pack. Their second try came five minutes later, this time with a simple dummy switch sending the defence the wrong way, for a score under the posts. The straightforward conversion made it 12-5 and it didn’t take long for the situation to get worse for a visiting side who were struggling to hold the ball for any period of time. A Watsons penalty was kicked to the corner, where a well-rehearsed set play from the resulting line-out saw the Linlithgow defence posted missing for an easy run-in in the corner which, with the extras added, took the score to 19-5 after just 15 minutes.

The Watsons players were revelling in their quick start and clearly thought they were on track for a cricket score. As often happens, that extra confidence leads players to try things they wouldn’t do in a tighter game, encourages team mates to run in support and seeds doubt in the mind of opposing defenders. The Reds managed to put some phases together to press up the field but were undone by scrappy handling and penalties that let GWC clear their lines.  Back under pressure once more, the Linlithgow defence held up better, with Alex and both Lewises putting in some crunching tackles. But the Watsons attack kept coming and after multiple phases in the Reds 22, the Watsons and Edinburgh U18 tight head prop Michael McAndrew, who had been their most destructive player all game, crashed over for a deserved try which was duly converted to make it 26-5 after 25 minutes, and a long way back for the Reds.

Watsons continued to make the play from the restart and may have added to the score but for some white-line fever as their backs butchered two overlaps in succession.  It was Linlithgow who scored next, with a trick line out play of their own. Possibly designed to strike from inside the 22 rather than inside their own half, the move caught everyone by surprise and sent Alex through at pace. Nobody was going to stop him as he ran it in from 50 yards, beating the covering full back and wing along the way.  This gave the Reds a lift and, returning a deep kick off, they played multiple phases and created line-breaks to take them right up to within 10 metres of the Watsons line before the ball went to ground and the ref blew for half time with the score 26-10.

The strong running and cohesive handling in the closing part of the second half gave confidence to the visitors and the belief that they could indeed turn this around. They started the second half determined to make an impact. For fifteen minutes, the teams ran hard against each other in an engaging and extremely physical contest. The Reds were making more of the ground now and just needed to keep their composure to add to their try count. After breaks from Angus and Lewis had the home defence stretched, the backs put the ball through the hands at pace to reach Calum on the wing, who once again had a lot to do to score; and he cast his opponents aside as he rampaged across the line.   GWC 26 – The Hall brothers 15. With Ethan adding the conversion, it was 26-17 and suddenly there were just a couple of scores in it and 20 minutes still to play.

It was Watsons turn to try and absorb pressure now, and they gave up a succession of penalties as they desperately defended their line. An attacking scrum on the 22 gave the Reds a platform just as time was beginning to slip away. Lewis M picked up from 8, the ball was quickly recycled by stand-in-scrum-half Lewis S, and hit up by Calum, Ethan S and Alex to within a few metres of the line. With the full Linlithgow backline strung across the pitch, centre Kai hit a hard line against the grain and crashed over under the posts for a terrific try. The conversion from Ethan made it 26-24, with 4 minutes left.

Both teams could sense victory now and there was an air of desperation about the closing minutes of the game. An imposing tackle into touch by Cam was taken badly by a GWC player, leading to a brief rammy that was wisely dealt with by the ref with a quick talking to and nothing more. This game deserved a fair finish of 15 versus 15 and it was the Linlithgow XV who took the initiative from the resultant line out, breaking once again through the middle of the pitch and stressing the home defence so they were offside just outside the 22 as the next phase began. A kickable penalty, certainly, but by no means an easy one. Two points down, with two minutes left to play. Pressure? What pressure?  Ethan calmly struck the ball off the tee and the Linlithgow support collectively held their breath as it sailed through the posts. 24-26!

Now all that was needed was to gather the restart and control the ball until time ran out. But the scriptwriters had other ideas as Watsons pinned the Reds back in their own half and, after a few phases, won a penalty of their own for not releasing. On the 22, slightly wide of the posts, definitely the last kick of the game. Could Watsons snatch it at the end, after such a spirited comeback from the Reds? 

It’s never fair to put the result of the game down to one kick: over 70 minutes, any number of actions from every player contribute to scores being made or missed but, as the kicker lined up to take his shot, the Linlithgow players had done all they could to win the game and the result – progression in the cup and the final victory over their longstanding conference rivals for most of the team – was out of their hands.

It was close. It was hard to see from the touchline. But the flags stayed down, one lad felt terrible as though he had lost a game his team started off winning; but the end result was down to unbelievable tenacity, skill, hard work for each other and in the end a bloody determination to win… or at least to go down swinging.   Quite a morning’s work and I have to say the rest of the weekend was quiet by comparison.

Linlithgow U18 go on now to a semi-final versus Boroughmuir next Saturday morning, where the defensive integrity will need to be on show from the start if they wish to book a return trip to Murrayfield for the East Cup final.