Streak ends at home to Forrester

Leith went into the fixture knowing that it would be a difficult game with our opponents expected to be vying for the league title come the end of the season. However buoyed by a good performance and result in the borders the week previous the Leith men knew that taking something away from the tie was more than possible.

In quite a frantic start to the game both sides were asking questions of the others defence, however it was Leith that started to build some pressure, playing through some phases into Forrester territory. Leith were given their reward a few moments later, when a penalty taken quickly in front of the posts caught the Forrester defence off guard allowing Craig Smith to feed Steven Eadie with the final pass to scamper over in the corner. Their was a hearts in mouth moment as Stevie tried to get closer to the posts and danced dangerously close with the dead ball line, however the winger managed to touch the ball down before being knocked out. Dannfald, grateful of the easier kick, added the extras.

Having been on the back foot, Forrester’s started to exert some pressure on Leith which was cranked up a notch when scrum half Ryan Burgess was sent to the bin for 10 minutes for a late hit. Forrester’s made the pressure and the extra numbers work to their advantage by going over for a score of their own. However Leith weren’t about to be undone and immediately hit back. After conceding an unfortunate penalty in the Forrester 22m when a try seemed imminent, Forrester looked to make the most of the man advantage by tapping and going quickly. Leith Captain Mark Philips was alert to this and was able to intercept the pass, and sprint into the corner to give Leith back the lead. With the conversion missed the score was 12 – 7 Leith.

However Forrester were once again to hit back. Despite some terrific last ditch defending from Leith, we eventually conceded another try after some good forward work from Forrester. With the conversion added and then the conceding of an easily kickable penalty to our visitors, Leith went into the break disappointed to be 12 – 17 down.

Unlike the first half Leith started the 2nd half on the back foot. Forresters took their chance to add another try to their tally. With a penalty not to long after the scoreboard went to 12 – 25. However Leith weren’t to be out of this yet. After some coming and going between the 22s, Leith caught a break and were able to break at pace. An interception from Craig Smith, followed by some quick ruck play, allowed Blair Skipper to attack the depleted Forrester defence before Releasing Ross Marwick. The powerful runner was able to breakthrough a number of tackles on his way to the line. With Dannfald adding the extras Leith were brought within touching distance at 19 – 25.

Unfortunately this is where the Leith challenge would end. A few individual errors throughout the team combined with the heat taking its effect on players fitness and the teams shape, allowed Forresters to capitalise with 3 converted tries with no reply from the home team. Although with 10 minutes remaining on the clock Leith were determined to come back fighting and go looking for the try bonus point which could be valuable come the end of the year.

Despite some good play from the Leithers it looked like it wasn’t going to happen due to the resolute defending from the visitors. However in the dying seconds of the game Leith threw everything they had at the Forrester line. An infringement at the breakdown gave Leith a penalty 5 meters out, from here Leith were able hit up on a few forwards phases before some neat and quick hands down the short side allowed Smith to feed Kenny Dannfald who was able to finish well in the corner, in what turned out to be the final play of the game. The conversion was missed meaning the final score was 24 – 46.

It serves to show how far Leith have come as a team with how disappointed we were to lose the game, given our previous seasons result against the same team. We will aim to bounce back next week away to Inverleith.

Tries – Eadie (Smith), Phillips, Marwick (skipper), Dannfald (Smith)

Conv – Dannfald x2

MOTM – Greg Hancock