Reds outgunned by strong Ardrossan Accies team

Linlithgow  18 – 37  Ardrossan Accies

Saturday 14 September 2024

Report by David Mitchell

Photos courtesy of Neil Dori-Muir

After last week’s great opening win away at Hamilton Bulls, the Reds received a bit of a lesson in League rugby from a streetwise outfit from Ardrossan in this Arnold Clark National League Division 4 match at Mains Park. Despite no shortage of effort, the home side struggled to match the physicality of the visitors. They also faced a match winning performance from the visitors’ number 10 who kicked 8 from 9 for a personal haul of 22 points as well as deploying a fine display of kicking from hand to deny the Reds good field position especially in the 2^nd half.

Despite playing with a following breeze, the visitors were restricted to 5 penalty kick attempts in the 1^st half. Unfortunately for the home side, the Ardrossan number 10 succeeded in kicking all 5 including 2 long range efforts. The Reds actually made regular forays into the Ardrossan half and were intent on running most balls as they had done the previous week. However, a combination of very big hits and targeting the ball in the tackle, led to several occasions when the ball was dislodged from the Reds’ players or the final pass not going to hand due to the pressure applied by the visitors.

Ross Martin on the charge

The home side also decided to ignore some relatively straight forward kicks at goal that would have kept the scoreboard ticking over. The philosophy of playing running rugby is admirable, but in the National Leagues points on the board is a priority before cutting loose in open play. The Reds spent much of the 1^st half in the Ardrossan half but were not clinical enough with their handling and finishing in the face of an aggressive defence which occasionally was over-robust as evidenced by the 2 yellow cards issued to Ardrossan players. The Reds did elect to kick 2 of the many penalties awarded to them and captain Jack Frame slotted both.

Jack Frame kicked two first half penalties for the Reds

Half time 6-15

With a deficit of only 9 points, and a following wind behind them, it was expected that the Reds would dominate territory in the 2^nd half. Unfortunately, this scenario did not play out as hoped and it was the visitors who upped their game and scored 2 converted tries in the 1^st 20 minutes of the half to give them a commanding lead of 6-29. During the half, the Reds lost David Goudie with a hamstring injury, and he was replaced by the evergreen Ross Plenderleith. This required a reshuffle in the back division with Ross Tulloch moving to full back and Jack Frame shifting to outside centre.

The remaining 3 replacements all entered the field during the half and it was good to see useful contributions from Stuart Cunningham, Colin Devlin and Keiran Cochrane as the Reds chased the game in the final quarter. Ross Plenderleith immediately made his presence felt by outstripping the Ardrossan winger to collect a good kick ahead by Conor Findlay, but he could not capitalise on his subsequent chip over the full back and the opportunity was lost.

Ross Tulloch stretches to score to the delight of his team-mates

Eventually the home side managed a quick brace of tries. Firstly, Ross Tulloch barged his way over after good lead up play by Kieran Cochrane and Ewan Curran. Secondly, after a cross kick from Conor Findlay, the ball bounced kindly into the hands of centre Ewan Curran who sprinted the remaining 35 metres to score a try in the corner. Jack Frame added the touchline conversion to take the score to 18-32 with only a few minutes remaining.

Ewan Curran dives over for the Reds’ second try

The final score of the game went to the visitors with a forwards try as they drove over the line following a line-out. Surprisingly, the number 10 missed the conversion but his 22 point contribution was an impressive one over the piece.

Final score Reds 18 – 37 Ardrossan Accies

A brave effort by the Reds but in the end beaten by a more physical/aggressive and streetwise Ardrossan Accies who provided the outstanding performer on the day in their number 10 who was so effective kicking from hand as well as his obvious goal kicking ability. The Reds need to reassess their decision making when in a tight contest and take points when they are on offer. Despite this defeat, the forward pack produced good ball from both scrum and line-out and stuck to their task and competed for every ball as hard as they could despite the opposing pack having a size advantage.

The home side failed to work out just how to negate the number 10 and he had an armchair ride all afternoon. Also, and unusually for the team, the Reds spilled a lot of ball in contact, and particularly in the tackle area. This was largely down to the aggressive and hard-hitting defence of the visitors which forced the home players into riskier offload attempts.

Overall, a decent effort against a strong outfit and certainly much to be positive about on the evidence of the last 2 weeks. Next week will provide another stiff test as the Reds travel to Forfar to challenge joint League leaders Strathmore but if the Reds can deploy the cutting-edge play that we saw at Hamilton then they will surely give a good account of themselves.

Luke O’Hara slips his man

Linlithgow Team