Leith progress in shield

It was a dry day at Inch Park, and thankfully not as windy as last Saturday. Leith travelled the short distance to take on Lismore in the Shield Competition. With Leith having emerged as victors in the opening encounter of the season our season’s had taken very different paths. Lismore have failed to notch up a win, however are getting closer and closer, while Leith are sitting at the loft heights of third in East 2. Although everyone knew that in a cup came anything can happen.

Our hosts did start the game rather brightly, making surges into the Leith half, forcing the men in blue and white to commit a few infringements. A few Lismore mistakes allowed Leith to clear their lines and begin to exert some pressure of their own. Kenny Dannfald fielded a poor clearance kick which meant he was able to spark a counter attack, after beating the first man he was able to proved Craig Smith the ball, who in turn gave Steven Eadie the opportunity to turn on the gas and score out wide. Dannfald added the conversion. It wasn’t all to be Leith’s way though as Lismore hit straight back. A couple of errors in the middle of the pitch gave Lismore good field position and they we able to rumble over from close distance. The conversion was missed putting the score at 7-5 to Leith.

The Leithers then seemed to move up the gears and start to put Lismore to the sword. Leith were dominant in the forwards with line out catch and drives gathering some good momentum while the Lismore scrum was being pushed back on both Leith and Lismore ball, Winton, Cook and Allison doing the damage up front. This coupled with some strong running in the back from Marwick, Smith and Robertson meant the tries started to fly in. Ross Marwick and Kenny Dannfald snatched a quick fire double each to push the score higher as halftime was reached. Marwick powered through tackles on each occasion to reach the line after being supplied by Skipper while Dannfald was the grateful recipient of a few draw and passes from Craig Smith which allowed him to go over the line unchallenged. Again the forwards can take many of the plaudits for these tries with the work of Neil Paterson, Phillips, Gow and Hancock giving scrum half Andrew Paterson the opportunity to give the backs the quick ball they crave. Dannfald was 100% with the boot meaning the at half time score was 35 – 5 to Leith.

Leith started the 2nd half a little slowly and almost invited Lismore to attack their line. Lismore duly obliged and a smart chip and chase allowed their scrum half to gather and score a converted try. Leith struggled to grown into the half and weren’t able to make many clear cut opportunities. However as Lismore tired and Leith kept up their strong, direct running, more tries started to come. Kenny Dannfald was able to provide Eadie a pass to score after a set move in the middle of the pitch. Skipper then set up Craig Smith for his first try in the game before he set up Steven Eadie for his hat trick. Ross Marwick then joined Stevie in the Hat trick club after a break from our 22m by Skipper gave Smith the ball who was then able to give Marwick the ball to sprint over from the 22m. Lismore scored another consolation try after tired cover defence allowed them around outside. Leith had the last of the scoring action with the quadragenarian extraordinaire Andy Mac, found himself lingering out on the wing, he was the grateful recipient of a Smith pass to go over for his second of the season. Dannfald was successful with 3 out of 5 2nd half kicks giving us a final score of 66-19 (despite what the SRU say!)

A good performance that still had a number of aspects to be built on. Leith could have been far more clinical as many opportunities were squandered and a sluggish start to the 2nd half could have been punished if the game was closer. Credit to our hosts though who kept on going until the last minute, would have been easy to crumble and lose their heads.

A number of candidates put their hand up for MOTM this week. The forwards to a man were excellent in providing a platform for the backs to exploit. Scrum Half Andrew Paterson was excellent in his first start at scrum half following being out injured for a number of months. While in the backs their was strong, evasive running and good distribution which, for the most part, led the team to finishing of many chances. However Ross Marwick, with powerful surges in the midfield, hard tackles in defence, a hat trick of tries and even a cross field kick takes it this week. Leith travel to Forrester for the next round next week, 1.30pm Kick off.

Tries – Eadie (3), Marwick (3), Dannfald (2), Smith & MacIntosh

Conv – Dannfald (8)

MOTM - Marwick