Reds hold on for victory over National League 4 opposition

Linlithgow  43 – 35  Murrayfield Wanderers

Saturday 26 August 2023

Match report by David Mitchell

The Reds completed their pre-season fixtures with a hard fought win over old foes Murrayfield Wanderers. In a game of much higher quality than last week’s against Cumbernauld, the home team started well and dominated the first half action but the visitors raised their game in the 2^nd half and came very close to overturning a 26 point half time deficit. As it was the final fixture before the league season starts next week, the game was played as 2 regular 40 minute halves.

The home starting line-up was again a very youthful one and they started with great energy and no small amount of skill and adventurous play orchestrated by Conor Findlay at No 10. Early pressure resulted in a typical Ross Plenderleith try when he barged over from close range. Jack Frame added the conversion. Almost immediately, the Reds realised that they had the upper hand and began to play a fast and expansive game with some excellent running and passing. From a quick tapped penalty, Conor Findlay drove towards the line and found Adam Scott running a great support line and Adam went over for the try. Frame added the conversion to give the home side a 14-0 lead.

The visitors then lost 2 players in quick succession to yellow cards and the Reds drove home the advantage with 2 further tries as half time approached. Firstly, captain Jack Frame scored a try after excellent work by Conor Findlay, Ross Tulloch and Cammy Murrie had created space on the outside for Jack to outstrip the cover defence. The final score of the half came from livewire scrum half Archie Rusack who spotted a gap and burst through for a final solo try. Frame converted one of these tries to make the half time score 26-0 for the dominant home team. Just before half time, the Reds lost both Euan Mochrie and Ross Plenderleith to injury and Ross Tulloch also left the field. They were replaced by Stuart Cunningham, Eddie Beamish and Ewan Curran. With the visitors short of numbers, Adam Scott changed shirts and played all second half for Wandies. Chapeau to Adam who featured strongly for the visitors!

The second half saw a transformation with Murrayfield Wanderers taking a more direct and aggressive approach and this reaped rewards for the visitors as they began to starve the home side of decent possession and their big ball carriers made big inroads helped by some poor tackling by the home defenders. This change in attitude by the visitors and wholesale changes in the home line up made it difficult for the Reds to create any patterns on play. The Reds also lost 2 players to yellow cards as the Wandies scored 3 quick tries to reduce the deficit to 26-21. Understandably the Reds coaches wanted to give game time to the 23 man squad on the day and this meant not only changes in personnel but positional changes as well.

Thankfully Mark Caddle was in the mood to score today and despite being held up over the line twice in the first half, he continued to run hard and was rewarded with a fine individual try when he sprinted clear from 30 metres and scored wide out. The game was further disrupted with the move to uncontested scrums and it was no surprise when Wandies added a 4^th converted try to bring the score to 31-28. At this stage it was anyone’s game and the Reds were helped by a poacher’s try by Eddie Beamish after the visitors tried to run the ball from in front of their own posts. Jack Frame added the conversion but Wandies responded almost immediately with another converted try to keep the game alive with only a few minutes remaining.

Thankfully for the home team and crowd, the Reds scored the final try when Mark Caddle again fought his way over the line after being involved in the move a number of times. The final whistle went with the Reds as deserved 43-35 winners based on their excellent first half performance and their gutsy last 10 minutes when they found enough energy and go  forward to gain the victory. The very nature of pre-season games does make it difficult to judge performance with so many changes of personnel and position disrupting the play. However there were significant improvements from last week and enough green shoots to give a lot of hope for the coming season but the team tackling still needs work.

All 23 squad players got game time and the youthful group again showed up well throughout. The experience of the likes of Colin Devlin, Kyle Ormond, Jamie Tulloch, Stuart Cunningham and Mark Caddle in the forward pack was ably supported by the efforts of young Scott Aitchison in particular. In the backs, Jack Frame, Cammy Murrie, Ross Tulloch and Ross Plenderleith set a good example for the younger members of the back line such as Conor Findlay, Archie Rusack, Ewan Curran, and Murray Johnstone  all showing great touches.

East 1 League business begins for the Reds next Saturday (2^nd September) with a home game at Mains Park against Leith Rugby with a 3pm kick off. A large home crowd is expected to be in attendance to cheer the team on as they start their league campaign.

Reds squad v Murrayfield Wanderers

Adam Scott, Kyle Ormond, Colin Devlin, Scott Aitchison, Eioan Magee, Euan Mochrie, Jamie Tulloch, Mark Caddle, Archie Rusack, Conor Findlay, Ross Plenderleith, Murray Johnstone, Jack Frame (c), Cammy Murrie, Ross Tulloch, Aiden Mochrie, Stuart Cunningham, Lewis Herdman, Kyle Aitken, Ewan Curran, Eddie Beamish, Calum Lindsay and Gregor McLean.