Haddington 17-12 Linlithgow: Reds Hadd their chips in league loss

Linlithgow Rugby Club’s latest Tennent’s East Division 1 fixture on Saturday saw them do well in the early stages but end up with a 17-12 defeat at Haddington.
Linlithgow's Ruaridh Stewart bursting through the Haddington defence (Pic by Graham Black)Linlithgow's Ruaridh Stewart bursting through the Haddington defence (Pic by Graham Black)
Linlithgow's Ruaridh Stewart bursting through the Haddington defence (Pic by Graham Black)

Linlithgow started well and hit the front with a Lewis Wells try, with Jack Frame kicking the conversion for 7-0.

Against the run of play, Haddington then scored a converted try and it was 7-7 at half-time, a frustrating scoreline for the Reds who also appeared to touch down for two further scores but the referee called play back for infringements.

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The hosts, with the wind at their backs in the second half, took advantage to score a second try and kicked the conversion, later followed by a penalty, to go 17-7 ahead.

Ross Tulloch’s late unconverted try for Linlithgow ended the game with the Reds losing by five points.

Linlithgow's current placing of fifth in the table with 15 points from six games isn’t necessarily a perfect illustration of how they have been playing this season, as club president Ken Richardson explained.

He told the Journal and Gazette: “The way the fixtures have worked out, we have played six games, five away from home. We have only played one home game.

"We have won three and lost three this season.

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"The three defeats were on the road and we would say that two of them – including at Haddington – we should probably have done better.

"We should have been ahead quite comfortably at half-time on Saturday. We didn’t put the chances away.

"Haddington are a side we would expect to have a tough game against and we did have a tough game. They were fairly strong in the second half.

"We get a losing bonus point out of it which is at least something but I think the guys were disappointed with the overall performance. It wasn’t quite what they were hoping for.”

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Linlithgow host Portobello in the league this Friday, October 29, kick-off 7.30pm, with the game marking the first competitive league fixture that Linlithgow have played under their new floodlights.

Elsewhere last weekend, there was a fine 19-10 home win for Linlithgow 2nds against their Peebles counterparts, with Callum Miller scoring two tries.

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