Caledonian Thebans 0 - 39 Leith 2nd XV

Match report by Will Tuft

It is at this time of year during the Rugby season that observers and interested parties often roll out tired and overused stock phrases to describe the post Halloween, pre-Christmas action and the Leith Rugby #2s are no exception as they made the short trip to play in the shadow of Murrayfield against an ever-improving Caledonian Thebans.

You cannot win a league title in November, but you can lose it and Leith certainly did not want to lose. But coming off a 7 match winning streak, Leith arrived in the West of the city high on confidence and looking to extend this run against the league’s bottom side. It was evident from kick off that the Thebans side were not merely there to make up the numbers and both sides had come to play rugby in the dry, brisk conditions of Roseburn.

It could be argued that the Leith performance was characterised by scoring too early as the cultured hands of man of the match and serial assist collector Jaime Najera-Aleson placed winger Lex Dunko into acres of space for a gallop down the left wing, scoring the away side’s first within the first few minutes. This early foray may have placed a burden on the unbeaten side as every opportunity to run the ball was gleefully undertaken, even when the visitor’s handling did not quite match the intent of running rugby and scrums and advantage were the most prominent players of the first exchanges.

It was only when these ambitious passes started to stick and muscular centre Felix Palin streaked away to double Leith’s lead that the tide of Thebans hard running and gainline breaking began to fall away and Leith came into the ascendancy. Tactical kicking from English half back pairing Shaun Guesford and George Lees and highly effective kick chase from Jack Fraser put the home side on the back foot and allowed some abrasive work at the breakdown from the talismanic Ben Place and the moustache heavy Ross Wilson and Sean Bates to wrestle some semblance of control as half time crept closer.

A raft of changes at half time provided different questions of the Thebans defence and the men in navy were unable to answer those questions on multiple occasions. You could even say it was a game of two halves. As Leith allowed the ball to do most of the heavy lifting, the Thebans line was stretched time and time again, allowing the powerful running of Izzy De Boer, the returning Matt Allison and Stephen Baker to poke holes in behind the fast tiring hosts.

The league leaders’ backline, ably supported by the velvet handling of front row Ivan Sebastian Ruiz Diaz Acosta, was able to take full advantage of this, utilising the genuine pace of Andy Barr out wide to add another hat-trick to his every growing tally for the year and the genuine lack of pace from replacement Will Tuft to add scores that buried the game as a contest and proved the adage of tries win games, especially when aligned with Guesford’s conversions. The freedom and dexterity shown in the final third by Leith during this second stanza could have created a cricket score but the Thebans side remained stoic and continued to harass and harry with every ruck and carry, halted throughout by the confrontational tackling of non-nonsense trio Michael Hepburn, Christian Jetuah and David Meadows.

There is always a good time to score and birthday boy Scott Moore duly obliged by wriggling free of the Murrayfield men’s cover defence to add the final try of the game before attempting to convert his own score, which ended as a horrible shank to the left of the posts.

Bonus victory wrapped up and the home side kept to no score, the final whistle blew on an entertaining, if error-strewn, victory for Leith, maintaining their 100% league record as they now look forward to next week’s game against Inverleith Park’s Edinburgh Northern.

Caledonian Thebans 0-39 Leith 2XV

Tries: L Dunko, F Palin, A Barr x3, W Tuft, S Moore
Conversions: S Guesford x2
Man of the Match: Jaime Najera-Aleson (pictured)