Reds u18s win away big at Watsons to close out season
George Watsons College 27 – 36 Linlithgow
Saturday 28 March 2026
Report by Phil McCavish
Saturday saw the Reds take on George Watsons in the 3rd place play off for the East Youth Cup.
A combination of injuries and the game taking place after the end of term meant that the Reds travelled through to Myreside with a small but perfectly formed squad of 18 – there was more than a little element of Rorke’s Drift about it as our hosts had rustled up a squad of 32 for the game.
As the last competitive game of the season, it meant that for both teams the game was something of an end of an era. For the Reds, 10 of the players were playing in their final game of school rugby before moving on at the end of the season. As an added bonus the game was being played on the main pitch at Myreside in front of a good-sized crowd of Watsons’ Ultras, most of whom had turned up expecting to see the home team finish their school rugby career with a convincing win.
The Reds were asked for a quick start, defensive structure and not to give away too many cheap penalties, to provide a foundation for their attacking game. The Reds were playing into a strong wind in the first half and Plan A was consigned to the bin after Watsons scored an unconverted try after 2 minutes – there was some debate about how their player was able to come through the middle of the ruck unopposed, but the home crowd grew in confidence that they were going to get the big score that they were looking for.
A combination of the weather and the defence of both teams meant that another 16 minutes passed before Kai was able to take advantage of good field position and power over for the Reds first try of the game. Joe’s conversion attempt was denied by the thickness of the post with the score level at 5-5.
This provided the Reds with a shot of belief that they weren’t just there to make up the numbers and equally it looked like a shot of Kryptonite for the home team who perhaps weren’t expecting to be challenged like this.
Almost straight away from the restart the Reds then demonstrated their instinctive ability to attack, offload and shift the ball away from the breakdown – the author can’t remember too much of what happened due to being in a state of delirium at this point – the Reds attacked from 70m and went through multiple phases before Cammy galloped clear to score and Joe added the extras to make the score 7-12 to the Reds.
The Reds now had all the belief and confidence; Thomas was as ever putting the team first and playing out of position at centre in his last game and he scored another try later to take the score to 5-17 to the Reds. The home team scored an unconverted try to make the score 10-17.
The Reds almost total dominance of the first half was confirmed when excellent counter rucking on the edge of the Watsons 22 meant that Ruaridh was able to perform his Moses impression (the wind was strong, but not old testament strong) after two of his teammates had cleaved the Watsons ruck in two and he strolled through unopposed to score under the posts. Joe added the extras to make the halftime score 10-24.
Watsons started the second half with renewed energy (we suspect that that Kryptonite antidote was administered during the half time team talk), but it didn’t matter as the Reds had saved one of their best defensive displays for the last game of the season – a combination of structure, teamwork and effort meant that the Reds were able to soak up all of the Watsons pressure for the first 15 minutes of the second half.
The Reds had a scrum on the edge of their own 22 and, with Watsons expecting the Reds to go wide, Aidan put Thomas away through the inside channel and made he made 50m before some desperate tackling stopped his progress. But it was too late for Watsons as the damage was already done and the Reds again demonstrated their ability to keep an attack going through a combination of support, handling and offloading which saw Callum score 80m away from where he’d previously been loitering at the back of the scrum. Callum looked like he was still playing 7’s from the previous week as he confirmed his place as the team’s top try scorer the season, extending the lead to 10-31.
The Reds continued to play with all the confidence knowing that if they could get good field position then they had the beating of the Watsons defence, and Joe scored and converted the Reds final try after taking advantage of a dog leg defence to scamper home. With 10 minutes to go and the score at 10-36 the result was beyond doubt, and the home crowd had long since resorted to comforting themselves by applauding one of the many substitutions.
The fresher legs of the much larger Watsons squad made a difference in the last 10 minutes as the Reds began to tire and Watsons added 3 consolation tries and a bit of gloss and a veneer of respectability to the scoreline at 27-36. But the reality was that the Reds had recreated the recent Scotland-France fixture and the game had been won in the first 60 minutes by the side playing the better attacking rugby.
So, all in all, a great way to conclude what has been a brilliant season for the U18’s; showing great spirit, playing brilliant attacking rugby, being physical and above all playing as a team. This year the team have:
- Won their league after having been ‘promoted’
- Been the best performing state school in the Schools Cup by getting to the Shield semi-final
- Come third in the East Youth Cup
But more importantly they have come together as a group, learned & developed and represented themselves, the club and the school with distinction – the coaches are grateful for their energy, effort, willingness to learn and we couldn’t be prouder of what they have achieved.
For those players that are moving on from school rugby then we thank them for attitude and allowing us to coach them and we wish them well with whatever comes in the next.
Good luck to the players that are returning next year, and we look forward to seeing them build upon this year’s achievements as they become the ‘senior’ players.
And lastly a special mention to the players (Fraser, Josh, Ali Mc & Liam) who haven’t been able to play as much as they would have wanted to this year, hopefully next year brings them better luck.
Those leaving this year (above) are: Thomas Junik, Conor McGurk, Will Turpie, Aidan McCavish, Kai Hunter, Martin McElwee, Alfie Woods, Ross McBain, Ruaridh Barlas and Cammie McCallum.
The S6’s in earlier times – surely the need to be Flinty McStag on a Sunday morning was never in an apprentices’ job description?