Leith send ‘Jaffa’ away on a bonus point winning note.

Leith waved Jeffery ‘Jaffa’ Beckett off on his travels with a hard fought, if not fortuitous bonus point win.

The starting line up saw two personnel changes and one positional change to the team that won at home against Inverleith last week.

Willie Cook coming in at Hooker with Keith Aitchison shifting to Tighthead in place of the unavailable Patrick Duignan, and in the backs Richard Hastings started at inside centre with Grant Aitken dropping to the bench.

The game saw Leith make another slow start to proceedings. RDVC were getting a lot of success at the breakdown, committing two men to the tackle, one ensuring the Leith player was taken to ground and the second in quickly targeting the ball, resulting in a lot of turn over ball. This turn over of possession resulted in Leith conceding their first try of the season in the first quarter of the match. RDVC passing the ball out to the right winger, who evaded a number of tackles and touching down in the corner. The conversion was missed, 5-0 to the home side and the first time Leith had been behind in a match this season. Conceding this score seemed to waken the travelling team to life and resulted in them finally playing some decent rugby with only 15 minutes remaining in the half. The pack securing possession from a lineout, putting some good phases of play together, driving down the left hand side of the pitch, recycling the ball out to the backs with Craig Smith passing to Gareth Marshall outside RDVC’s twenty-two. Gareth beat his man on the outside, rounding a covering defender in the process and ran round under the posts to open the scoring for Leith. Gareth also adding the extra’s. 5-7.

Substitutions through the first half saw Grant Aitken replace Richard Hasting at inside centre and Adam Beasley replace Shane Wyatt who had to leave the field with a nasty looking head injury that resulted in 9 staples.

With Donald Thomson and Rory Clarke returning RDVC kicks well, Leith were enjoying the better of the territory late in the half. And Leith’s second try came from the forwards turning over possession just outside the RDVC twenty-two. Grant Aitken running a crash ball by from inside centre and managed to drag RDVC defenders with him and off loaded to Keith Aitchison. The forwards recycled quick ball with Bruce Tyler releasing Craig Smith to the right and passed to Gareth to drive over from 5 metres out to claim his second. Gareth again adding the extras with a drop goal conversion due to the support staff’s inability to find a kicking tee. Though his kicking was better with out it! 5-14 half time score.

RDVC were the first team to get a score on the board in the second half, with a penalty for a Leith infringement at the breakdown. One of a number of such penalties Leith were guilty of at the breakdown. Score 8-14. With Adam Beasley moving to number eight and David Meadows coming off the bench in place of Andy MacIntosh the Leith pack started to control the game a bit more. Adam produced good go forward ball from the base of the scrum and David mopping up any loose ball in open play led to momentum turning in Leith’s favour. Following a kick to touch, line out gather and drive by the forwards Leith made inroads into the RDVC half, resulting in an excellent break by Craig Smith. Craig dummied a pop pass back inside to a decoy and running in behind the RDVC back line. Rory Clarke provided great support from the left wing, collecting the pop pass as Craig drew the last defender and touched down on the right hand side. Conversion attempt missed, coming back of the right-hand upright. Score 8-19.

Other changes during second half changes saw Jaffa replaced in the back row by Ian Briscoe only to return to the second row in place of Iain Miller. John Martin replaced Keith Aitchison at tighthead, David Montgomery replace Willie Cook at hooker, Richard Hasting come on at fullback in place of the injured Donald Thomson and Richard Organ replace Grant Aitken at inside centre.

RDVC were the next team to score, gaining territory advantage from penalties through Leith’s continued breakdown infringements. They retained possession from the resulting lineout and drove deep into the Leith twenty-two and the sustained forward pressure resulted in RDVC scoring their second try. The conversion was missed. Score 13-19.

With time running out Leith went back up the other end and forced a RDVC penalty and had a chance to extend their lead to more than a converted score. However the penalty was horribly hit and had no chance of troubling the posts. Score remained 13-19. The resulting twenty-two drop out was well returned and Leith’s pressure continued. As the referee called last play of the game at a Leith scrum the ball was spread out to the right. Craig Smith passed out to Gareth, who drew the cover defence and popped behind to Craig on the loop. With space out wide Craig passed to Daniel Berger on the right hand touchline, who beat one man and had another to beat on the try line. As Daniel drove over the line and ended up on the floor with the defender confusion ensued. Was the ball touched down? Was it knocked forward? Was there a foot in touch? The referee ran over and raised his arm. The conversion from the right hand touch line missed to the right of the posts. The final whistle blew as the bonus point was secured with the last play of the match. Final Score 13 - 24.

Scorers:-
Tries
Gareth Marshall x 2
Rory Clarke
Daniel Berger

Conversions
Gareth Marshall x 2

Man of the Match
Craig Smith