Reds u18s’ successful Perthshire foray

Morrisons Academy  10 – 45  Linlithgow

Saturday 01 November 2025

Report by Nick Smith

They were calls from some to postpone this game so it could fit better with the S5 social calendar, however for the majority they welcomed the opportunity to throw a shot in anger after a five week break since our last game. 

We travelled to Morrisons through the Perthshire countryside resplendent in its autumn jacket in the pouring rain. As coaches we were not enamoured. However the weather was kind and it began to clear up as we arrived and we even saw the sun by the second half. 

Morrisons opted to kickoff and that may have been the first mistake. we retrieved the ball and did not give them a sniff of possession for the first 10 minutes. There were some big carries from Greg, Amrit and Kai as we battered up the middle in an attempt to suck in their defence. Some nice chip kicks from Joe and and customary athletic chases from Ewan and Cammy; as well as nice breaks from TJ and Ali B took us up the pitch. While Duncan pulled the strings from inside centre. When we did go wide it was unfortunate that the final pass didn’t quite go to hand. 

It felt slightly ironic that our first try came when Morrisons took possession. Our pressure meant they knocked on and Ali B picked up to do for the first try of the game. 

Morrisons came right back at us after this and spent some time in our 22 threatening our line but our defence held and our line speed kept them at bay. 

Our second try came from a turnover with Joe intelligently kicking through and diving on the ball to score. 

We continue to retain possession throughout the half and didn’t panic playing to our strengths by hitting up and looking to find the gaps where we could. A nice break from Ali B led to last gasp offload to Cammy to touch down for his first try of the morning. 

Morrisons scored one themselves just before halftime leaving us 5-19 up at the break. 

We started the second half in a similar fashion, took possession and moved the move ball from one side to the other. Eventually the pressure told and Will was able to run through to score. 

The next try was one of note as Callum showed that not only can he play like a rampaging bull (his stated preference) he also has a good pair of hands. He deftly offloaded to Thomas who broke through to time his pass perfectly to Ewan who needed to show some pace and dive over the line to evade  an on coming tackle. 

At this point, Morrison’s rightly felt they’d not fired a shot and decided it was time to take some possession for themselves. However some strong tackling from Amrit, Ross, Greg and Martyn kept their pack in check.

The last five minutes had a festival feel to it as we shuffled the back line and loaned  Morisson’s two players – who played a little bit too well! 

We were not yet done and with Finlay M replacing Alex on the left-wing, he went on a surging run through the Morrisons defence for a well taken try in the corner.  Cammy then scored his second of the morning with a steal at the line out and a side step past the scrum-half.

This was a great showing from the boys. They played with real purpose and as a team.  Their aggressive line speed and strong tackling meant Morrisons were never in game. Just a couple of mentions – Duncan was instrumental in this game with clever tactical kicking, a great range of passing and aggressive carries and Hugh was also impressive on the wing, showing a great set of hands and some strong tackling. He was also able to set off on a couple of forays of his own into the Morrison defence.

We look forward to our next game against Saint Aloysius on Wednesday in the cup. 

Young Reds results from Saturday

There were also wins for the u13s and u14s against Morrisons, with the u16s narrowly losing out after a much improved performance:

u18 match: Morrisons 10 – 45 Linlithgow
u16 match: Morrisons 31 – 26 Linlithgow
u14 match: Linlithgow 87 – 17 Morrisons
u13 match: Linlithgow 40 – 21 Morrisons

• The u15s play Sunday against Allan Glen’s.