Leith denied bonus point in triumph over Penicuik

After the previous week’s big win over Walkerburn (92-0), Leith returned to action in another in a string of home fixtures, this time against the tougher challenge of Penicuik RFC. The Midlothian side had actually risen above Leith by virtue of having played more games, and arrived in good form, on what was a fabulous day for rugby.

Leith began well attacking the Houses end, and spent much of the first half inside the Penicuik 22 where, after Ryan Burgess had been denied a try by the touch judge when diving over in the corner, the first try soon came as stand-off Doug Watters put Kenny Dannfald in under the posts after some good phase play from forwards and backs. Watters adding the extra’s.

Leith’s second try was to follow immediately from the restart, with the forwards recycling the ball the backs, who launched a move from the Leith 22, and after fantastic hands from Ben Wilkinson to draw the defender and release his outside backs, Matthew McIlwaine made a great break to put Ross Kilgour in for a score near the posts, converted by Watters. 14-0 after 15 minutes and everything going the way of the home side.

Half Time: Leith 14 – 0 Penicuik

Leith then contrived to butcher several scoring opportunities despite retaining the majority of the territory, to go into the half-time break feeling the lead should have been greater. With the echoes of castigation from coach Eric Jones still ringing in their ears, Leith made a good start to the second half with scrum half, Alessandro Bettini charging down a clearance kick to score, for a 19-0 lead, which was sadly to be the end of the scoring.

In what could kindly be described as a tetchy affair, the match did not see much further in the way of rugby, save for a Dannfald ballet spin down the touchline, some reasonable Penicuik territory, a David Meadows KO ‘chin tackle’ on a large Penicuik forward, and the welcome return from injury of second-row Mark Phillips. There were several ugly scenes to follow as the referee sin-binned two Penicuik players, and in what could be a first at Academy Park, ordered one visiting fan away from the touchline.

All at Leith Rugby Club were hugely disappointed when the referee blew the end of the game at least 10 minutes early, on account of the abuse he was receiving. Whilst the home sides’ players were absolved of any part in this decision by the referee, one hopes the resulting failure to achieve a bonus point will not derail the club’s ambition of promotion this season.

Full Time: Leith 19 – 0 Penicuik

Tries: K Dannfald, R Kilgour, A Bettini
Conversions: D Watters (2)

Leith: Kenny Dannfald, Ryan Burgess, Ben Wilkinson, Ross Kilgour (Richard Organ, 60), Matthew McIlwaine (Chris Johnson, 60), Doug Watters (c), Alessandro Bettini, Craig Winton, Grant Aitken, Patrick Duignan, Ben Place (Rory Clark, 50), David Meadows (Mark Phillips, 50), Pete Mitchell, Greg Hancock (Andy MacIntosh, 60), Doddie McHardy.

Subs not used: Robert Stitt, Willie Cook.