Leith win in the borders

Leith headed down the A68 for the second time this season, however this time they result favoured the Edinburgh men as they returned with their first victory of the year. The pitch was in great condition although quite greasy following a recent downpour but the weather had cleared up on kick off.
Earlston enjoyed much of the early possession but Leith were able to absorb the pressure well as the one out runners weren’t troubling the more aggressive Leith defence with Neil Paterson and Paul Haggon leading the charge in defence. The home team did have an early shot at goal but it drifted wide of the post. Leith kicked into gear and motored up the other end of the park. After a good run by Andrew Paterson, Leith had a number of phases before Earlston infringed but like the home kicker, Dannfald drifted his kick wide of the post.
Leith were still camped in the home teams half and after another penalty was awarded and kicked to the corner the away side sniffed its first chance of points. A good catch and drive from the forwards set the platform for the backs and powerful winger Ross Marwick to latch onto the pass from Ben Wilkinson, burst through the defence and touchdown from 15ms out, Dannfald duly converted and Leith were first on the board.
It didn’t take too long for Leith to grab their 2nd as from the kick off Paul Haggon burst through the Earlston Defence and made good yards into their half, whilst the ball was knocked on, from Earlston’s resulting clearing kick winger Paterson gathered and with pace, footwork and power beat 3 or 4 defenders on a 60m dash to the line. This time the conversion was missed and the scores 12-0 to Leith. Paterson almost scored the third try of the afternoon as once again he shrugged off a couple of defenders and made 50ms deep into the 22, the full back eventually brought Paterson down and Leith were unable to convert more goal line pressure into points.
Earlston finished the half where they started it by piling the pressure on the Leith line after a few penalties gave them field position. Flanker Paul Haggon was sent to the bin after one too many penalties in the red zone from the team but the defence stood firm and showed no way through for the home team. Eventually Marcos Teixera who was at the heart of a great defensive effort for Leith secured the turn over for Leith to clear. Earlston came again but after being constantly repelled back, opted instead to take 3 points and draw and end to the half.
The message was clear for Leith at the half, keep the discipline and keep the same level of performance as they had in the middle 25 of the first half. The weather was now closing in and making handling conditions difficult for both teams which did not suit the rugby Leith were trying to play. A few errors and penalties once again gave the home team some field position and they took the chance to double their points tally to 6. Ranging runs by Marwick, Kilgour and Patterson once again got Leith into the Earlston half. Patterson did manage to breach the defence again but was hauled to the ground just short on the 5m line and his attempted offload could not be gathered by the on rushing McNamara. Leith piled on the pressure but were being let down by their handling in the tough conditions. However it was from this pressure and bad handling that gave that man Paterson the chance to run against a broken defence and step his way to his 2nd score of the day. Converted to give Leith a 19-6 lead.

Ill discipline then handed Earlston all the chances they needed to get themselves back into the game. Leith were able to soak up the majority of the pressure, the front row union of Wilson, Winton, Connelly and then O’Neil worked hard at the Set Piece and in the loose to thwart Earlston back. Kirkwood and McLeish were also important in their carrying and defence as Leith looked to close the game out and off the line out Forsyth was stealing and disrupting the home team at any chance. However from a 5m line, Earlston did get a shove on and scored a try with big question marks over the grounding. Conversion from out wide made which gave us a 6 point ball game heading into the last minutes. Earlston came at Leith again and after being thwarted by some tackles out wide, some quick pick and goes allowed them to crash over with time in the red. Leith chased down the kick with everything they had and the home kicker sent it wide to give Leith their first victory of the year.
Overall Leith were delighted with the result but disappointed with different aspects of the performance. Solid showings all over the pitch the forward pack fronted up their defensive effort massively, a new centre pairing of Muirden and McNamara were solid and allowed the outside backs to flourish. But unanimously man of the match was Paterson, 2 good scores, man metres gains and a solid defensive effort helped Leith to the victory.

Try – Marwick, Paterson (2)
Convs – Dannfald (2)
MOTM - Paterson