3 on the bounce for Leith

Wet conditions through the week had left conditions under foot a little softer than in previous weeks although the sun was out making conditions favourable for both teams. Leith, on the back of a impressive derby win the week before, knew that the difference in league positions meant fairly little and the northerners would be well up for the game.

The early exchanges proved exactly that as the action ebbed and flowed between each 22m with no sides really having any clear cut chances to take the lead. However it was a moment of quick thinking from scrum half Ryan Burgess that helped unpick the Northern defence for the games first score. A quick line out taken allowed Kenny Dannfald to attack an unorganised defence, his pass allowed Russell Smith to continue the attack and release Dave Robertson. Driving deep into the 22m, Dave was able to stab the ball through which allowed stand off Blair Skipper to scoop the grabber and score under the posts. Dannfald added the conversion giving Leith a 7-0 lead.

Leith didn't have to wait too long for their 2nd of the game with a try in similar circumstances to the previous. From quick turn over ball, Skipper was able to throw a long looping pass in his own 22m area to Dannfald who was able to attacking a couple of northern defenders out wide. Dannfald managed to go the long way round the outside man, danced down the touch line fending of a couple of tackles before stepping back inside on the cover defence to coast under the posts. A cracking try, destined to be in the mix come try of the season time. Skipper added the extras allowing Dannfald to recover from the lung bursting effort.

Unfortunately for Leith, the referee was becoming a a bigger and bigger feature in the game to Leith's detriment. Penalties were being conceded, whilst the Leith supporters and players felt many of these were harsh it didn't stop Leith losing territory and momentum within the game. Our visitors were able to use the field position and slot 2 penalties making the score 14-6. The game then boiled over after an incident between the Northern 12 and our scrum half led to both of them being sent to the bin for 10 (plus a few) minutes. Shortly after blindside flanker, Kyle Gow, was joining them after picking up a yellow for an offence at the ruck. Despite the kick appearing to go underneath the cross bar from the easy kick, the referee was happy to award the points much to the bemusement of the leith players and touch judge. It was the only points Northern would add when they had a man advantage.

The 2nd half started in much of the same way as the 1st with the action moving between the middle of the pitch. Northern had an attempt at a long range penalty which threatened a few rabbits in there holes rather than the uprights. It wasn't too Long before Leith were able to benefit from another Northern mistake. After trying to rumble the ball around the corners our visitors found they were not getting anywhere due to some good fringe defence, they decided to chance their luck out wide when their 10 threw a speculative pass the interception was on. You guessed it, Craig Smith was on hand to catch the pass and coast in from his own half unchallenged. Dannfald added the extras, making the score 21-9.

However, Northern continued to fight on and were reward when their 10 was able to pick a gap in the defence after some phase of pressure from the forwards. His try under the posts was converted meaning that the score 21-16. From here Leith seemed to switch back on and started putting more pressure on a tiring Northern team. Our scrum, which had been solid all day gave us the platform to attack on, thanks to the front row Union of Allison, Cook, Fox and Stitt gave us a few half chances, but they were unable to be converted and the try bonus point went a miss. Leith were rewarded with a penalty, much to the glee and ironic cheers on the sidelines. The penalty in front of the posts was dispatched by Dannfald giving leith a bit more of a comfortable lead.

From here Northern threw everything at us trying to get themselves back into the game or at least a losing bonus point. The home defence stood strong and nothing more was conceded. There was more drama still to come however, a Northern player appeared to target Ryan Burgess on the deck, while the referee did not see this serious foul play he did catch Ryan's attempts to get him to stop. Burgess was sent off and the game finished shortly after. Final score 24-16.

Leith players were happy to get the win however knew that they could have done a whole lot better. As cliched as it is, sometimes you have to win ugly and that was our version of doing so. The players can take solace in the fact that with more front foot attacking ball they will be able to do a lot more damage.

Tries - Skipper, Dannfald, C Smith

Conv - Dannfald (2), Skipper

Pen - Dannfald

MOTM - Dannfald