As the mellow Autumnal winds and soft skies inevitably make way for the brittle November air and standing water across Scotland’s fields of joy, the ongoing juggernaut of the Leith 2XV cascaded its way towards a top-of-the-table clash with Midlothian’s Pencuik.

With travel difficulties, work commitments and pitch inspections providing a far from ideal start to the days proceedings, the visiting side opened the game and were immediately placed under extreme pressure through an abrasive set of Leith carries by a pack determined to place the opposition on the back foot.

Early inroads from evergreens Christian Jetuah and Ben Place as well as the gazelle like Scott McAteer and cannonball Robert Stitt were able to break the gain line and put Pencuik onto the back foot, from which they did not recover, enabling the silken outside running lines of outside half Kenny Dannfald to sashay around his opposite number to open the scoring and allow the men in blue and white to justifiably take an early lead.

This lead was extended after great carrying at close quarters from Toby Kirkwood and Sean Bates coupled with dynamo scrum-half Fergal McNamara orchestrating shifts from one touchline to the other, freeing debutant #2 Nick Andrews to step his man, not for the first time, and glide under the posts to extend what was becoming a commanding lead.

The following 5 minutes were some of the more interesting of the season so far as Leith compounded the early lead via a couple of deft touches from full back Andy Barr got the home side in behind Pencuik’s defensive line and a fly hack created a straight foot race. Who officially won this foot race will be forever debated but a collision between Barr and the visiting 15 meant that Andrews dotted down in comfort for what the referee referred to as his second score.

The visitors, resplendent in red and blue in the greying skies, were riled by this and attempted their own fly hacking contest and surprisingly were able to get back into the contest. Barr, clearly spooked on this Halloween weekend, was unfortunate to be jumped by a ghost as Pencuik managed to drop on that aforementioned fly hack to reduce the arrears.

With their backs up, the team from Midlothian looked to take advantage of a seemingly shocked Leith side as a mazy break and subsequent steps from their centre looked almost certain to reduce the gap further, but a last ditch cover tackle, a successful counter ruck and the razor like running lines of first Barr, then Dannfald, took the ball sixty yards before the thoroughly disappointing* McAteer put on the afterburners with a show and go John Barclay would be proud of to open his account for the #2s.
McAteer was able to double his account for the season very soon after and Leith took a very strong lead into the half time break.

Clearly affected by their inability to retain possession, Pencuik opened the second stanza at a pace that had eluded them in the first and were quickly able to stream over in the corner before adding a second in double quick time. Leith’s reaction was both atrittional and stoic. They went back to the game that was so successful in the first forty, with hard carrying by the newly shaven Ross Wilson and Bruce Connelly as well as the less shaven Reece Barclay who punctured holes in a now tiring defensive line.

Throughout the game, despite the sand covered ball, standing water and everpresent mud, the ball handling from the home side was exceptional, with wingers Andrews, George Easdon and Andrew Dickson seeing plenty of the ball through the soft hands of Dannfald, centres Felix Palin and Will Tuft, and utilising this ball with rapier like darts down both wings.

Alongside this, despite being a dominant presence around the fly half channel, hooker Craig Winton maintained his status as a human highlight reel by enacting an outside channel loop with fellow front row Barclay, epitomising the ‘Joue,Joue’ vision of the Leith 2XV and displaying the confidence of a team on the front foot.

As the half progressed, this pick and go, close carrying game clearly tired the visitors as they were penned within their own half and within ten metres of their own line for great swathes of the second forty. This gain line dominance was rewarded with Andrews’ hat-trick try via a leap that Simone Biles would be proud of over a ruck which effectively ended the game as a contest as tempers from the Pencuik side flared, leading to a red card and subsequent three points in front of the posts for Dannfald.

As the final whistle went to end an entertaining afternoon in the mud of Leith, it was the top of the table side who came away with a bonus point victory, as well as denying the team in second a bonus point on the road.

Next weekend sees the #2s make the short trip to Roseburn to face the Thebans as they attempt to maintain their 100% start to the campaign.

*Man of the match: Scott McAteer

Tries:
K Dannfald
N Andrews x3
S McAteer x2

Conversions:
K Dannfald x5

Penalties:
K Dannfald