East beats West at Riccarton
The Oriam Performance Centre on Riccarton Campus was the venue for the Scottish Rugby U20 Academy match, which was to be the first competitive indoor 15-a-side match played in Scotland.
The first half was a fairly low-key contest with the East side having the majority of the territory and possession, forcing the West to play at their own end for most of the half.
The first score came after 10 minutes when close-in lineout ball was passed on to flanker, Thomas Gordon, who crashed through the defence for the opening try. Scrum half, Charlie Sheil then added the extras for, an early, 7-0 lead.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes of the half, West made a rare incursion into East territory and retaining possession from a scrum on the right wing, the ball was recycled across the pitch, ending with No. 20, Ryan Sweeney who evaded the clutches of the opposition to dive over under the posts, stand off, Josh Henderson converting to draw the match level going into the break.
The second half of the match was to prove an entirely different affair from the first, in as much as there were many more points scored.
Once again, East were on the attack from early on and reward came in the shape of wing, Ross McCann. Having weathered the first five minutes of pressure, the West eventually ran out of bodies and McCann crashed through a couple of tackles to touch down for the second try for 12-7.
Less than 10 minutes later – and a successful penalty from Sheil – McCann crossed again after initiating the move with a long break out from deep. Sheil converted this time and it was 22-7.
West, by this time, were under all sorts of pressure and the fourth East try soon followed via another crash-through touch down, this time by No. 6, Luke Crosby for 27-7.
East were now running rampant at the desperate West defence, but they the West held and managed to get a couple of telling probes at the line going, but the defence from the East side was as powerful as their attack and West were largely held at bay. They did make one attack count, however, as sub, Paddy Dewhurst went over for a try on the left.
With the score line at 27-12, and the time running down, it was all but over for the West side and this was confirmed comprehensively when East’s Jack Paterson evaded all-comers during his run in from outside the 22. Kyle Brunton’s successful conversion meant that, with a 34-12 score line, East had, once again, won a significant victory for the second year in succession.
Images from the match will appear here over the next few days.
