Good away wins for both Reds 2s and Reds u18s
Reds 2s claim good away win to kick off season
Murrayfield Wanderers 12 – 26 Linlithgow
Saturday 30 August 2025
Report by Ian McLean
Saturday saw the first official outing of the Reds 2nd XV, with a game against Murrayfield Wanderers. The team was a mixture of seasoned campaigners and new senior players transitioning from last year’s U18. The game was played at Roseburn Park on what could only be described as a well baked surface.
The Reds started well with some link play, but last passes not going to hand let them down. Murrayfield Wanderers opened the scoring when they managed to pin the Reds down in their 22 and, following some close quarter drives, found space out wide to score a converted try. The Reds bounced back and managed to gain good territory with some direct running, finishing with Stuart Hainey breaking the line to crash over for a try, converted by Struan McLean.
The Reds 2s kept the pressure on and some good handling allowed them to play in the Murrayfield Wanderers 22 and, following 4 forward drives, Johnny Pegg scored with Struan McLean converting again, to give the Reds a 14-7 lead. Wanderers came back into the game playing direct one pass rugby and their heavy forwards made good ground allowing a score out wide, not converted (14-12 in Reds favour).
The Reds recovered and good use of the wind and solid pitch saw a penalty roll deep into their opponents’ 22. A good kick chase saw a poor clearance with the Reds capitalising from the resulting line-out. A good catch and drive pulled in the defence and some slick handling saw Alex Hall score wide out, unconverted (19-12 to the Reds). The final flourish of the game saw the Reds pressing for a fourth try which came with Alex McHardy breaking tackles to score between the posts. This was converted by Ross Findlater to give a final score of 26-12 for the Reds. A good first outing for the 2’s with lots to work on. Would be great to have more players regularly attending training to really work on the team play element.
Reds 2s
15 Ethan O’Hara
14. Callum Miller
13. Alex Hall
12. Alex Mc Hardy
11.Lewis Smith
10. Stuart Hainey
9. Struan McLean
8. Ross Findlater
7. Johnny Pegg
6. Koran Lee
5. Tom Gardiner
4. Lewis McKie
3. Matthew Sommerville
2. Max Holt
1. Adam Scott
16. Michael Doga
17. Danny
Reds u18s claim good away win in Conference opener
North Berwick 35 – 50 Linlithgow
Saturday 30 August 2025
Report by Nick Smith
Our first game in the league and a real opportunity for the boys to lay down a marker for the season. We travelled to old rivals North Berwick where the pitch was as hard as a high diver’s six-pack, and we knew we would be in for a high tempo game.
Both sides looked a little rusty in the opening exchanges, with handling errors punctuating the early minutes. But Linlithgow struck first with a beautifully worked try from our outside centre, who broke through the line, offloaded, and then popped back up to finish the move himself. Joe added the extras with a confident conversion.
North Berwick responded with pressure, pinning us on their own line. Heroic tackling from Amrit, Cammy, and Ewan in particular kept the hosts at bay for a time, but eventually the pressure told and North Berwick crossed the line. Game on.
Despite North Berwick’s dominance in possession, we knew that if we could get our hands on the ball, we could do damage—and we did. A break down the blind side from Will set up Angus, who scored with his very first touch after coming on.
The next try came courtesy of a poor clearance kick from North Berwick. Will, at full back, fielded it cleanly, greased his hips and swerved through the defence like Alberto Tomba in his prime, dotting down under the posts.
North Berwick clawed one back before the break after we gifted them easy yards from a misfired line-out, to keep the contest finely balanced.