Leith 2nd XV 36 - 19 Caledonian Thebans

Leith 2’s took to the field to play Caledonian Thebans in a match that helped open President's Day. The 2nds had four players making their club debut and were bolstered by the experience of Leith old heads Willie Cook, Bruce Tyler and Keith Aitchison. Unfortunately, with Thebans not having front row the match had to have uncontested scrums.

The match started with Leith receiving the ball and showed promise. Some hard runs into the Thebans half and some hard defence showed Leith’s intent early on but unfortunately dropped balls and penalty’s meant neither team could get into full gear. Eventually Leith started to click, some quick work from a penalty saw Robert Stitt drive into the Thebans half, the ball was shipped out to debutant Owen Jenkins who continued the run before popping the ball to Marcos Teixeira who was able to continue his fine form and ran through several defenders before scoring, John Stumpf was successful with the conversion.

Leith continue to power hard at the Theban defence with some hard runs from Stitt, Aitchison and Jamie Drummond. Eventually it paid off when john Stumpf was able to dummy his way past a couple defenders to run in for a score and converting it also. At this point it seemed like it was all going Leith’s way but the players started being greedy with everyone thinking they could score. Eventually play calmed down and played smart. From a quick tap Stitt was able to get into the Theban 22. The ball was shipped out left to the corner and some resilient Theban defence helped keep Leith out. Leith kept plugging at the corner for a few more phases drawing more players in, eventually scrum half Juan Manakle shipped the ball to the opposite wing, the ball went to Aitchison who was able to draw in the last man from the wing before offloading to Stitt who had the easy task of diving over the line to score his first of the season. Stumpf missing with the kick. With the half ending Thebans had one more chance to score which they took full advantage of. From a scrum the number eight picked up and ran at the line dummying past a couple Leith players to score, the try was converted.

Half time Score 17-7

A few changes and a good half time chat saw a few new players get on to get some game time and experience for the club. This didn’t change the effort from the team with the players defending well to stop Thebans getting through to score. The game was very end to end with both sides attacking and defending hard, eventually another score was going to happen. Another break from the Leith backs saw the ball offloaded to Marcos who once again was able to power through the Theban defence and score his second of the day with Stumpf converting. This only seemed to spur the Thebans on and they came right back at Leith with some hard runs from the forwards helping push the closer to the Leith line. The ball was shipped out and it allowed the Theban winger to go round the Leith defence to score, the conversion missed.

Some well-placed kicks helped keep the match in the middle of the park and it seemed it would take an unfortunate mistake from either side for another try to be scored. This happened when Thebans kicked the ball towards Leith, the ball was collected by Julian Mpofu. Julian decided to kick back and chase with the Leith defence shooting up on the Theban fullback who decided to try and run the ball from inside his own try line. The fullback was caught and instead of touching the ball down and sacrificing a 5m scrum he decided to let the ball go which allowed Willie Cook to show his experience and react quickly to touch the ball down for his first of the season, Stumpf missed with the conversion.

Leith were enjoying their rugby and it looked more a case of when rather than if for another try to be on the cards. Some hard running got Leith into Thebans 10m line. The ball was popped to Marcos who decided to go on another line breaking run. Although he was tackled short he was able to stretch over the line to secure his hat trick making it five tries in two games for the 2nds. Stumpf converted the try. The final try of the game went to the Thebans, with Leith falling asleep in defence a quick Theban break allowed them to go over, the try was converted. With one final play left the ball was kicked off to Leith. The ball went to Mpofu who had the easy task of kicking the ball out of play to end a very enjoyable match from both sides.

Full Time Score Leith 2’s 36 – 19 Caledonia Thebans

Man of the match this week went to Marcos Teixeria for his hard work all game and his fully deserved hat trick. The seconds will hope to keep this run of play going as they travel next week to Dunbar to play a Dunbar/North Berwick 2nds side.