Back to Back Wins For Knox U15s

It was a frosty start to the morning for Knox U15s in their first home match of
the season against Portobello High School in front of a good sized and well
wrapped up crowd.

The match started slowly with a few knock ons as the players got used to the
cold. However, Knox had more of the possession and eventually won a penalty at a
ruck. From the resulting line out, the ball was moved wide only for a poor pass
to let the move break down. However, Knox were still applying pressure and a few
minutes later, Aarron Thomson took a short pop from good ruck ball to rumble
over for the game's first try.

Porty responded quickly and after some great handling, their backs broke free
and ran in from their own half to level the score.

Back came Knox and straight from the kick off put pressure on the visitors who
knocked on. From the scrum, the backs ran a planned move and chipped the ball
over the defence which popped up perfectly for Ewan Jack to run through from 30
yards out.

But back came Porty again in what was becoming very tight game. Good tackling
from George Green forced a promising attack into touch, but poor team work at
the line out allowed Porty to steal the ball and sneak over for an easy try.
This time the conversion was missed.

Again Knox responded quickly and got a penalty for offside. A good touch find
and then a great drive from the line out put Porty under pressure. A couple of
phases later and after some really quick ruck ball, Paul Cunningham stepped the
first tackler then threw a miss pass to Green for his first try of the season
which was converted from the touch line.

Half time: Knox Academy 21 Portobello 12

The game was still tight and Porty started the stronger in the second half,
spending most of the first 5 minutes close to Knox's try line. Their scrum was
beginning to get on top and a good no 8 pick up saw them burst over for a score
to narrow the difference to only 4 points.

The game was tight and one of Knox's strengths, their scrum, was being put under
pressure for the first time this season. But there is more to Knox's game than a
solid scrum and back they came. After a few phases of play, Gregor Booth made a
wee break and then popped a blind pass to Fraser Wright looping round. A quick
dummy and he broke clear. Good cover defence caught him and the ball was knocked
on before he could release Kyle Eadie for a try. But Knox were in Porty's half
now and the pressure eventually told as a ball squirted out from a ruck where
Thomson picked it up and trotted over for another score.

Knox were now on top and brought on a few subs, including Euan Naismith for his
first ever game. Booth caught the kick off and set off on a mazy run, popped to
Cunningham who then released Ben Elliot for what he hoped would be his first
try, only to be caught by the last defender. Knox kept Porty pinned back though
and won a scrum after a knock on. Knox's scrum held out this time and Cunningham
took one step and was over for an easy try.

Again straight from the kick off, Thomson caught the ball and back came Knox.
They kept the pressure up and, even though Porty had the ball, Cunningham picked
up an easy interception to jog through for the last score of the game.

Final score: Knox Academy 40 Portobello 17

After the game, one of Haddington's first XV, South African Armandt Prior,
reminded the boys that they are a team and they need to enjoy their rugby as
they have the skills to do well. There is no point shouting at those who have
made mistakes. A simple message that they need to learn from as sometimes their
emotion can get the better of them.

Overall, a very flattering score for Knox in a game that was a lot tighter than
it looked with 3 scores for Knox putting the gloss on a match that was in the
balance with only 20 minutes to go. Next week will be a much tougher match
against Preston Lodge so a lot of work will be required on scrums and rucks at
training this week.