Leith 31 - 26 Kilmarnock

After the frustration of the cancellation of the Dunbar friendly last week, Saturday saw Leith return to pre-season action with the visit to our RBS Rugby Force Open Day of Kilmarnock RFC. As is always the case in these heavily regionalised days, there is always something special about playing a club you’re less familiar with, and indeed popular perception seems to be that Leith and Killie have been strangers since the black and white days when Club President Jim Smith was still scrumming down.

With Leith one game into pre-season and Kilmarnock playing their first, the opening exchanges saw both sides feeling their way into the match, with Leith perhaps starting the brighter in the opening 20 minute period (there were to be 5!). Second row Luke McKinney was the first to properly feel his way in as he put in a great shot on the Kilmarnock centre off the first kick off, but there after the opening period was largely uneventful, until after dominating territory, the Leith pack drove Greg Hancock over the line for the opening try off a well-worked lineout. The conversion from out wide was missed for a 5-0 Leith lead at the first break.

The second 20 saw Leith continue to hold the edge up front, and the period wasn’t very old when Craig Smith spotted a gap in behind the onrushing visiting defence to chip over the top, regather and gallop in under the posts for a try, converted by Dannfald for a 12-0 lead, which was maintained into the half-time (really “second-fifth” break).

Debutant Julian Mpofu showed up well as he came on for the third period, and was unfortunate to be taken out high as he sought to dive over the line for a first try for the club, however from the resulting tap penalty the forwards recycled the ball quickly, and Ross Marwick crashed over the line from short range. Dannfald converting from near the posts for a 19-0 lead. Understandably Kilmarnock were a little rusty in their opening outing of the year, however the visitors came to life at this point to dominate the remainder of the third period, regaining territory through a combination of better kicking and a good line break from their back row, and building phases well to score twice out wide to cut the Leith lead to 19-10. The home side bounced straight back however, with Ross Kilgour stepping his opposite man to coast in under the posts on third phase ball for a converted try and a 26-10 lead for the Leithers at the hour mark.

The final two periods were fairly sporadic with both sides making lots of changes, and Kilmarnock rallied well to score two further tries and bring the score to 26-26, when their openside took a quick tap and crashed over, before some good handling brought the next visiting score. Leith weren’t to be denied however, as the impressive Fraser Forsyth carried well deep into the Killie 22, before Neil Paterson stripped him of the ball to spin over the line and score the game’s final try for a 31-24 Leith victory.

All in all a good exercise for both sides, and we hope to return the favour by heading west for a game at Bellsland in the near future. Best wishes to everyone at Kilmarnock RFC for the rest of the season.

See all the tries from the game at our YouTube site.

Leith Scorers:

Tries: Greg Hancock, Craig Smith, Ross Marwick, Ross Kilgour, Neil Paterson
Conversions: Kenny Dannfald (3)
Man of the Match: Fraser Forsyth