Orkney 10 – Glenrothes 23

1st XV Match Report
29 November 08

There was a bit of concern as everyone started turning up last Saturday for the one o’clock KO, the internal game had been called off an hour earlier as the pitches were frozen in the hard overnight frost. After both teams had inspected the pitches it was decided that the game would go ahead but out on one of the outfield pitches. The game was refereed by E Knight.

Orkney kicked off the game and after the initial frantic 5 minutes of both teams testing out the opposition defences it was Orkney that made the first play of any meaning with a good run by A Watson, but he couldn’t feed P Ross early enough on the wing and the Glenrothes defence scrambled back to cover.  It was 10 minutes into the game before there was Glenrothes had there first chance to put points on the board when an Orkney player went over the top at a ruck, fortunately their no. 10 missed the penalty kick and the score stayed 0-0.

Neither team really seemed to be getting to grips with the game and it was another 10 minutes before Glenrothes got the chance to add to the score after an Orkney forward had gone over the top at a ruck , again Orkney got let off lightly with the Glenrothes stand off again missing the kick at the posts. Unfortunatley two minutes later Glen did manage to put points on the score board when they stole the ball from an Orkney lineout and their no. 9 ran straight through the defence to score, thankfully their stand off missed the conversion so the score was only 0-5. Orkney didn’t take the chance to get back into the game  and their no. 14 added to the score running through for a further try, again the stand off missed the conversion. This finally seemed to spur Orkney into action and a great initial break from E Russell who then fed A Cuddihy who broke a few tackles to go over the line, E Laughton added the conversion and with the score at 7-10 Orkney were right back in the game. Glenrothes did get the chance to add to their score before half time but their stand off missed two more penalty kicks. Right on half time E Laughton tied the scores when Glen were penalised for being offside.

So Orkney started the second half on level pegging mostly down to the inability of the Glen no. 10 to kick his points. Orkney should have gone ahead, J Tait fed A Brown but unfortunately he couldn’y hold onto the ball and the chance was lost. Glenrothes did put points on the board two minutes later when an Orkney player held onto the ball on the ground, someone also spoke back to the ref who marched the Orkney players back 10 metres and into a kicking opportunity. Glenrothes had given their no. 10 his last chance with the kicking duties and their no. 8 stepped up and kicked the points, 10-13. Orkney should have pushed on from here but Glen seized the game and their no. 7 scored in the corner, their no. 8 added an excellent long distance kick  (thankfully he didn’t kick in the first half) and the score was 10-20. Five minutes later and Orkneys problems  were worsened when A Cuddihy was sent from the pitch from the pitch for striking an opponent, although this eagle eyed reporter did see him receive a kick in the head leading up to this. The Glen no. 8 again added the points and the score was 10-23. This is how things stayed until the final whistle.

Orkney had chances in this game and will feel it was a game where they didn’t play to their true potential, and let them selves down. Glenrothes did give them the opportunity to stay in the game by missing 14 points with the boot.