Reds u18s make it 3 wins in 8 days!

Linlithgow  30 – 19  Morrisons Academy

Saturday 06 September 2025

Report by Phil McCavish

Morrison’s travelled to Mains Park looking to build upon their win in last years cup competition and the Young Reds were hoping to avenge a defeat in a game that got away from them last year. 

For the second game in a row the Young Reds were forced to withstand the first phase of the game where they had to play without much of the ball or territory. They calmly navigated this phase until they were able to get their hands on the ball, started to play in the Morrisons half and exert some pressure on their opponents. Aly Mc ran a hard line and got the ball with 40m to go and for all the world looked like he would score as his knees were pumping at roughly the same height as everyone else’s chin.

Unfortunately, a high tackle (it may be the first time that Aly has been tackled high as it’s not any easy thing to do) wasn’t penalised and the opportunity passed, but it demonstrated what the team was capable of.

The Young Reds won a penalty on the Morrisons 22, Callum provided a strong carry almost up to the try line but was stopped just short. The Young Reds carried and recycled twice before Amrit decided that enough was enough and he barged his way over from 5 metres out – he wasn’t going to be denied from that distance. Joe unfortunately wasn’t able to land the conversion from out wide left.

Morrisons then managed to score a converted try of their own through former Young Red Callum who ran through under the posts after a couple of good offloads. Judging by his celebration he seemed to be enjoying the competition against his alma mater. Following a series of infringements, the Young Reds converted the pressure in the Morrison’s 22 to go back in front. Callum got his hands on the ball and with a characteristic long range finish, burrowed over from 2m out to score his third try in 3 games – there are unconfirmed rumours of rewards being paid for his try scoring efforts, at this rate this contract may need to be revisited. Joe added the extras from the conversion to make the half time score 12-7 between two evenly matched teams.

The Young Reds started the second half in the ascendancy. There is a growing sense of maturity about the Young Reds and they opted to take 3 points from a kickable penalty with Joe extending their lead to 15-7.

At this stage the momentum was with the Young Reds, Ewan (the patron saint of lost causes) followed up a missed kick to touch, read the play, and ran between two defenders to intercept a misplaced pass and strolled in unopposed to finish with a swan dive – which is all the more impressive as he had been leaping like a salmon at pretty much every restart. Joe added the extras to take the score to 22-7.

The Young Reds weren’t done and continued their period of dominance, Another set piece attack in the Morrisons 22 meant that their defence was understandably very worried about Kai’s carrying threat, but in their efforts to mitigate this threat they over committed and Aidan punished this by running through the gap that had been left. Joe was unable to add the extras, however this meant that the Young Reds had built a commanding 27-7 lead in what had been a tight game.

Morrisons weren’t going to lie down and managed to get one back – they identified two of the Young Reds front rows in the centre of our defensive line and took advantage of the miss match to make it 27-14. Joe then converted another penalty, restoring the Young Reds 3 score advantage.

Morrisons scored another try in last play of the game to put a bit of gloss on the score at 30-19. After a tight first half the Young Reds had kept their opponents at arm’s length throughout the second half. The final Morrisons try highlights a development opportunity for the Young Reds – 70% of the tries that opponents are scoring against us are coming in the second half. Which that we know how to defend but we are perhaps currently lacking the fitness to do this for the full 70 minutes – we’ll need to address this if before we face stronger teams.

It’s been a great 8 days, which probably warrants a B+ on the report card. It’s a great basis upon which to build – there is definitely a sense that there is a lot more to come out of this group if we’re all prepared to put the work in. We have more players available than we can fit into a match day squad which means that some unfortunately miss out, so our gratitude is with Alex and Finlay who didn’t get to play yesterday. Our thoughts are also with Fraser and Thomas who are carrying longer term injuries – we hope to see you back soon. Good luck also to the three of you who are starting university this week – best days of your life apparently, and the first week might be one of the best, as you aren’t required to learn anything apart from looking after yourself…hope to see you again soon.