Leith fail in their Mission in Midlothian

After last week victory over 4th placed Inverleith, a journey to Midlothian and a now joint 4th place Penicuik lay in wait. Leith were under no illusions that this would be a repeat of September’s victory in which we notched up over 50 points as Penicuik, under a new coach, have been going from strength to strength in recent month notching up some impressive victories along the way. With this in mind Leith knew they had to play with the same intensity and desire as was on display last week.

It looked like this be the case as the game kicked off. Leith being able to steal ball and put our hosts under immediate pressure whilst they were on the back foot. Penicuik survived an early test in defence however did concede an early penalty within kicking range. However on this occasion Dannfald’s effort was wide of the mark. Penicuik were able to use the strong wind at there backs as an advantage as their 10 started to kick to the corners well.

This meant that Penicuik had field position and Leith were struggling to get any foot hold in the game. An opening try game as the Midlothian men rumbled over from a line out 8 metres out. In previous weeks an early try being conceded has served as a wake up call and spurred the Leithers into life and onto a better game. However on this occasion and much like the game against Edinburgh Northern, the team began to play within itself as uncharacteristic individual and team errors began to creep into the game. All of this led to more possession and position for Penicuik which led to a couple of soft tries being conceded.

At 17-0 down it looked like this could be a repeat of the Edinburgh Northern performance, with little going our way and no clear cut chances being created. However Just a few minutes before halftime a chink of light. Craig Smith read the Penicuik’s back line move and scooped an interception to sprint home for his 7th Try in 4 games. Dannfald added the simple extras to give a half time score of 17-7 to the hosts. Leith knew with the wind behind them in the 2nd half there would be plenty of opportunities to get back into the game and go for the wind.

Again Leith did start the brighter of the 2 teams using the wind to great effect and starting to probe deep within the Penicuik red zone. Once again Penicuik were penalised at the ruck and this time Dannfald make no mistake in converting the penalty. Leith hoped to use this as a spring board for the remainder of the half however it was not to be. Many of the same issues which haunted Leith in the first half were on show – a set piece which was sloppy and a misfiring backline meant that any meaningful chances were hard to come by, even when Penicuik were reduced to 14 men, a number of reset scrums ate up the time in which we could have been effective. Penicuik had some pressure of their own, which eventually told as they went over from a 5m scrum for the bonus point try.

Overall a very frustrating game, one where had we competed to the same level we have done in patches in the past few weeks a victory would have been more than attainable. However Credit to Penicuik as they stuck to their game plan and were the better team on the day and deserved a victory. This now means that 3rd place is a hot competition. Leith currently lie 3 points ahead of Inverleith and Penicuik, with each having 2 games to play, including at least one each against runaway leaders St Boswells and/or Forresters. So it remains all to play for in the race for third.

Try – Craig Smith

Cov – Kenny Dannfald

Pen – Kenny Dannfald

MOTM – Greg Hancock