Brave Reds foiled in last minute of National Shield semi-final

Moray  39 – 37  Linlithgow

Saturday 13^th April 2024

Match report by David Mitchell

The Reds made the long trip to Elgin last Saturday to play Caledonian North side Moray in the semi-final of the National Shield. A close encounter was expected as both sides battled to reach a National Final at the Hive stadium. Credit must go to the home club for managing to provide a pitch in decent shape after some recent horrendously wet spells.

A very large crowd lined both sides of the pitch and a fantastic number had made the journey from Linlithgow to support the team. Buses, trains and cars were used to transport people to the venue along with those in the camper van community.

Despite a sharp shower in the warm up before the game, conditions during the match were fair with a stiff breeze blowing across the pitch as the Reds got the game started. Despite a 6 week layoff, the visitors showed great attacking intent in the early exchanges and pinned the home side deep inside their 22 metre area. Despite being penalised for not releasing the ball on a number of occasions, an opening score looked inevitable and it duly arrived after Ross Martin stole the ball from the opposition and Ruaridh Stewart dived over for the try. Jack Frame added the touchline conversion.

Conor Findlay was making a welcome return to the team after an injury and he was the catalyst for the next try with an excellent 50/22 kick deep into the Moray 22 metre area. From the resulting line-out, several thrusts were made at the line and a try resulted when Mark Caddle offloaded to Euan Mochrie who dived over. Jack Frame added the conversion as well as a penalty to give the Reds a flying start and a 17-0 lead.

At this stage, Moray were trying hard to make progress into the Reds’ half but were being held at bay fairly comfortably. However, some uncharacteristic indiscipline from the Reds allowed the home side to maintain a bit of pressure and they eventually scored an unconverted try. The visitors responded immediately with a 3^rd try initiated in the forwards and carried on through the backs with Ruaridh Stewart providing the final pass to Jack Frame to score the try. Moray did respond with another unconverted try but the Reds continued to dominate the scoreboard by adding a 4^th try, a conversion and another penalty to give them a commanding lead as half time approached. The 4^th try was another cracker following a trademark Number 8 pick up by Mark Caddle who slipped the ball to Euan Mochrie who was held just short of the line but when the ball was recycled Kieran Cochrane powered his way over for the try. The conversion and penalty again came from the boot of Jack Frame.

So with half time approaching, the Reds led by 32-10 and seemed well positioned to go on for the win. However in a crucial two minute spell, just before half time, they managed to concede yet another series of penalties and give Moray a chance to finish the half on a high note and that is what they did. A converted try brought them to a 15 point deficit at half time which kept them in the game. Half time – 17-32.

The Reds had few clear-cut opportunities to score in the second half but did manage quite a few half breaks which could have led to scores. Moray began to show that they were worthy opponents by deploying a very direct style of attack which bore fruit when they scored 2 further converted tries to bring the score to 31-32 with about 15 minutes to play.

Both teams deployed their replacements throughout the 2^nd half as each side tried to gain the upper hand. The frustration levels in the visitors’ ranks were heightened by some perceived questionable decisions by the officials around the breakdown in particular and not penalising some foul play on Ross Tulloch which could well have resulted in a red card being shown. Ross collected a drop kick restart from Jack Frame and fought his way over for a fine individual try but received what could only be described as a forearm smash after he touched down. None of the officials seemed to have noticed anything untoward despite the vociferous crowd pointing the incident out and Ross requiring several minutes of treatment.

However, his try did extend the lead to 31-37 but Moray responded in kind with an unconverted try that set up a nail biting last 5 minutes with only a single point separating the sides. Unfortunately, the referee had not finished using his whistle and he awarded a penalty kick which the full back duly slotted to take the home side into the lead for the first time and seal victory. Final score 39-37.

All credit to Moray for their comeback from a 22 point deficit including winning the try count by 6 to 5 and we wish them good luck in the National Shield final against Cumnock on Saturday 27^th April at the Hive Stadium.

However, the consensus among the visiting supporters after the game was that some of the decisions of the team of officials on the day showed a level of inconsistency as illustrated by a penalty count believed to be 21 to 4 in favour of Moray. The lack of recent rugby certainly affected the Reds during the game, but they played very well with genuine commitment and although unable to continue their winning run, they have the consolation of being the last men’s 1^st XV team in Scotland to lose their 100% win record in season 2023/24. On occasions the team seemed to be driven off the ball in loose play by the heavier and experienced home team and perhaps the lack of a recent match also contributed to this. The pain of the loss was all too apparent, but these players will learn from the experience and have the opportunity to get back to winning ways at Leith on 4^th May as they chase a 100% win record in the East Region League Division 1.

Moray look set to join the Reds in National League 4 next season and we look forward to playing them home and away in 2024/25.

Linlithgow

1    Calum McKeown
2    Kyle Ormond
3    Andrew Graham
4    Kieran Cochrane
5    Ross Martin
6    Euan Mochrie
7    Jamie Tulloch
8    Mark Caddle

9    Archie Rusack
10  Conor Findlay
11  Ross Tulloch
12  Murray Johnstone
13  Ruaridh Stewart
14  Cammy Murrie
15  Jack Frame (capt)

Substitutes
16  Colin Devlin
17  Adam Buckley
18  Stuart Cunningham
19  Oscar Davies
20  Fraser Mochrie
21  Eddie Beamish
22  Ewan Curran