League Day 4 saw a lovely Sunday afternoon for a game of rugby at Dumbreck, as the Cartha U16’s entertained one of their strongest rivals, a very good Glasgow Hawks side who won the U15’s west cup competition last year. An excellent crowd turned out to watch todays game knowing that a win today would make it three league wins out of three after the postponed league match last week with Dalziel.

With Hawks starting the game the ball ended up in touch for a lineout to the home side just outside the Cartha 22. From here Cartha really showed there intent and hunger for the game. With 40 seconds into the game, a take at the back of the lineout by Rory McMullen saw him get in behind the Hawks defence with David Mc Cartney feeding Aidan Mair then Spencer King in two quick phases of play to test the Hawks defence. The continuity and phase play from Cartha built and built as good ground was made by both Chris Elliot and Alex Geddes which found Hawks back in their own half. Continued possession soon saw the forwards testing the visitor fringe defence at the 22 then David released Chris, Aidan and Spencer deep into their 22, with good support again by the pack baring down towards the visitors try line. 4 minutes of continued possession unfortunate finished with a handling error stopping what would have been a fantastic start to the game for the home side, allowing the visitors a kick to clear their lines and get a breather.

Another kick from the Hawks 10 saw the home side with a lineout in their own 22. A good take and moving the ball quickly saw Cartha again attacking the Hawks defence even in their own half and from what looked to be good rucking play by Cartha saw the ref penalising them with a penalty, for a player on the ground seemingly using “the squeeze ball technique”. The Hawks Captain seizing this opportunity while the home side defence had paused, to quickly tap the ball, hand off the nearest Cartha defender and race across the line near the corner for the first try, to make the game 0 v 5.

A good high restart by David saw poor ball retention by the visitor’s big second row, as well as good tackling by Cameron MacKenzie saw the visitors giving the ball back to the home side. From this the game ebbed and flowed with good flurry’s by the home side into the opposition 22 and good defence by the visitors to clear their lines. On 11 minutes, saw David finding a good touch kick into the visitors 22 from a penalty on the 10 metre line. A good tail ball take by Cameron MacKenzie saw him punch into the defensive line. With quick ruck ball from Rory, Logan and Alex, Oscar fires the ball out to David obviously spotting the gap with a dummy pass puts a lovely weighted pass to Aidan Mair sending him in a huge hole in the visitors defence. With a good tackle by visiting full back stopping Aidan 7 metres out again saw a good clear out by the forwards and the ball being popped again to Cameron being stop short of the line. But good control by the pack saw Logan Kirkwood power over from short distance to tie the game at 5 v 5.

With 13 Minutes on the clock and an easy conversion by the boot of David Mc Cartney saw Cartha at last in the lead 7 v 5.

From the restart saw Cartha having a real go at the visitors, with a good take and offload by Chris allowing David this time to have a go at a hole in the defence, supported by Spencer then eventually Gregor showing a quick turn of pace, powering back into the opposition half. More powerful and direct play saw Cartha on 18 minutes once again go close to the line visitor’s line. As Oscar McCallum controlled his packs movements and stalked the back of the rucks waiting to pounce. The line beckoned, the space appeared and as Oscar went for the killing blow a mis-handle and knock –on on the pick-up gave Hawks again another brief breather to clear the pressure.

21 minutes into the game the home side were back on the visitors 22 with the visitors put in at the scrum. With good pressure from the 8 man pack saw the Hawks retreating and as the visiting No. 8 picked up to break open, Oscar leaving the attentions of the opposition 9 fires round the scrum, targets the No. 8 scything him to the ground as openside flanker Cameron MacKenzie as quick as a flash is on the tackled No. 8, ripped the ball and driving towards the try line with Chris Elliot in support. As the attack hits the ground a further pick and drive by Dylan Briscoe with the forwards sees the home side stopped 2 metres short. No handling mistakes this time as Oscar sniped round the ruck diving for the space to land the ball on the line for the second try to make the score 12 v 5.

Another good strike by David, on 23 minutes stretched Cartha’s lead to 14 v 5.

A poor restart by the visitors, followed by a squint feed at the home scrum then with a home knock-on saw Cartha defending their 22 from a scrum on the 25 minutes mark. Good quick attacking by Hawks with some equally good defending saw the play moving side to side across the park, however one missed tackle in this type of game allowed the visitors to cross the try line with a simple conversion to make the score 14 v 12.

A lapse in concentration from a penalty award to the visitors for truck and trailer on a Cartha driving maul just inside the home sides half, saw Hawks cross the line with a quick tap and another missed tackle out wide this time, on the half hour mark to make the score 14 v 17.

However too much time with too long a run up by the visiting stand-off at such short distance allowed Aidan Mair to charge down the conversion, to keep the score to 3 points, but leaving the crowd puzzled as to how the home side were behind

Half Time Score: Cartha U16’s 14 v 17 Glasgow Hawks U16’s

Hawks with a re-shuffle moved their regular 10 to outside centre due to the pressure he was under to try and control the play further away from the pack and brought on another 10 who as it turned out was not up to the task. From the restart Hawks straight away probed at the home defence which was holding strong inside the visitors half and forcing a knock on. From the resulting scrum Cartha was testing the Hawks defence with David pulling them left then back right then Oscar stretching them left until David spotting the space and the defence thin out wide. Making a good break again back to the right to feed a long pass out to Aidan attacking the stretched Hawks defence, he draws the man and feeds Scott Heasley on the wing, who rounds his man diving in the corner for the try to regain the lead. With the conversion 1 metre in from touch on the right, with a good contact the ball drifted just by the left hand post to keep the score 19 v 17 to Cartha.

From the restart Cartha were on the offensive as Oscar McCallum marshalled his forwards in a series of phase plays charging up the right hand 15 metres testing Hawks blind side defence. From the following scrum on the visitor 22 the ball is fed to Chris coming back on the angle breaking the Hawks defence but being stopped a couple of metres from the line. Frantic hawks defence looked to be breached as Oscar snipped again round the ruck to dive under the defence to the line but deemed to be short giving the visitors a breather with a scrum. In a vain attempt to clear the pressure the Hawks 12 tried to kick for touch only reaching the Cartha winger Ewan McKinnon then Matthew Dickson setting up rucks in the middle of the park. This allowed Roddy Colquhoun to burst through a hole tight to the ruck, baring down on the Hawks line. Cartha seemed to have been stopped with a good cover tackle from the full back but again with good quick ruck ball Rory McMullen picked and went for the line, with desperate Hawks defence bringing Rory to the ground, his momentum roll then an outstretched arm seemed to have crossed the whitewash. But again the visitor received another break from the ref as it was a judged that Rory had made a double movement. Although frustration for the home side it was clear that Hawks defence was waning under the pressure and feelings that another try could possibly break the back of the defence.

In one of the few flurries Hawks had into the Cartha half, Hawks tried to put pressure on the home side defence by quickening their game as they got closer to the Cartha 22. However as the home defence stood resolute the Hawks attack started to creep backwards with the hard press from the home midfield. This was to prove costly. As the visitors tried to get some continuity back into their play, a ruck in the middle of the park saw the ball fed to the Hawks substitute 10. With a hard press by David and the mid-field, had David almost on top of the 10 and Aidan and Chris pressing onto the centres. This saw the Hawks 10 panic. While still watching David for the impact, the Hawks 10 throws a slow looping pass out into the backs to no-one, with the exception of the Cartha winger Scott Heasley who reads the pressure pass superbly coming off his wing to intercept the ball and sprint the 65 metres untouched with deflated defenders in chase to score under the post bringing the score to 24 v 17 to Cartha.

Another good but easy strike by David from under the posts on 52 minutes stretched Cartha’s lead to 26 v 17.

Now 2 scores away you could start to see the body language of the visitors as the Cartha boys could smell victory and were hungry for more. From the restart more pressure was inflicted onto the Hawks defence which couldn’t keep the flow of the ball always heading back towards them. On the 59th minute saw the interplay between forwards and back in there phase play again crossing the line with some excellent rugby being finished off by quick powerful play by Cameron MacKenzie to make the score 31 v 17.

As frustrations spread through the Hawks team who normally like to control the play in the game tempers frayed and unfortunately boiled over for the visitors, it soon petered out as the Cartha boys stood firm and stood their ground. With the coaching staff shouting for the penalty award to be kicked for touch to settle the game down and take the heat out of the situation, Captain David Mc Cartney turned and looks to his forwards, quickly taps and popped the ball to the 8 man machine standing behind him. As they bulldozed their way towards the Hawks goal line setting up the ruck on the 5 metre, Oscar zipped the ball out to David with Aidan on the dummy run drawing the defence to give Chris the last word as he handed of the weak defence to power over the line and seal the game and the score to 36 v 17

David capped of the conversion and a thoroughly deserving team win with 24 unanswered points in the second half

Full Time Score: Cartha QP U16’s 38 v 17 Glasgow Hawks U16’s
Match Report by Sue Porter