Forrester Continue Promotion Push at Earlston

Forrester went down to Earlston to face a battle against 15 men, a chilling wind, a boisterous crowd and a referee intent on putting a stop to our turnover game. Spirits were high in the away changing room with an air of confidence about the playing squad bolstered by a few late call ups from the 2nd XV after a morning pitch inspection called off their game against Linlithgow. Clearly spirits were a little too high for our pitchside attendant Elaine who was unable to stay on her feet during one of her treatment sessions.

The game got under way with a huge surprise for the world of rugby as Horse caught the kick off before being flattened by one of the sizable Earlston pack. The ball was retained for a few phases giving space for Wee Al to exploit before offloading to Jo who despite an excellent supporting line was unable to finish off and dropped the ball in the act of scoring. However, Paddy was able to spare Jo’s blushes by scoring from the base of the resultant scrum, the first of many we took against the head in the game. The conversion was successful by Newbs and we led 7-0 after only 2 minutes. Forrester were clearly thinking of the next attack when trying to receive the Earlston kick off and fumbled the ball. However, some more destructive scrummaging caused a turnover ball and we managed to clear our lines.

Just a few minutes in to the game and Forrester were being penalised for any attempt to turn over the ball in defence with the referee talking to captain Horse on every occasion. Despite these conversations, the frustration was beginning to tell and on 16 minutes Alan “Thug life” Panther was sent to the naughty step for some over aggressive use of the boot. No complaints from him as it was blatant and fully deserving of the after match dress if it had been brought from the club. A call of “smash only” was heard from the pitch and Mark “Subtle” Wyper took it seriously in the first ruck sending one of the Earlston forwards coming flying backwards and landing on his backside.

A few minutes of broken play and Forrester struggling to retain possession in attack ended with an unfortunate interception letting the Earlston inside centre run the length of the pitch to score under the posts (conversion successful). Full credit to John “50p heid” McMillan for his assist in Earlston’s score. It took only 4 more minutes for Forrester to regain control of the scoreboard with another push over try scored by Paddy after another impressive scrum. The conversion was successful by Newbs. History repeated itself on 32 minutes with Paddy touching down again to complete his hat-trick drawing sighs from the Forrester President as Paddy’s growing try count for the season is costing the club a fortune in bottles of port. The conversion was knocked over by Newbs. However, some of the credit in these tries has to go to the backs in the setup with some excellent running and support lines. Lucas and Sean were showing how incisive they can be with ball in hand, and PJ returning to the team showing what he is capable of with some open grass in front of him. The sight of what remains of the Italian Stallion’s hair flapping in the wind brought some comments from the travelling support about him being rugby’s answer to Sir Bobby Charlton. Another senior player returning to the team, Ewan “No soul” Brodie, came on to replace Wyper after too many head knocks to the head with the medical staff worrying that any more would result in Mark turning in to Bruce. These 2 senior citizens of the Forrester team linked brilliantly in the last phase of the first half and combined to get Brodie over the line but by the time the referee had arrived on the scene several of the Earlston players had hands on the ball (and a few had celebrated birthdays) so no score was awarded.

Half time – Earlston 7 Forrester 21

After some positive chat from the coaching staff and players, Forrester were determined to retain possession better and play the 2nd half in the Earlston 22 as well as keeping on the referee’s good side with a large total in the penalties conceded column after the 1st half. The hatchet man Alan Panther started to make up for his earlier indiscretions with some good tactical kicking pinning Earlston in to their 22. The Earlston lineout was misfiring regularly under good pressure from the Forrester pack and Johnny Mac cleared up one of their over throws, barrelled a few would be defenders out of the way to crash over in the 42nd minute. The conversion was unsuccessful, much to the delight of Alan who won £1 from Newbs. After this try, with an eye one next week’s game against Newton St Boswells and with the try bonus point in the bag, the Forrester coaching team started to ring the changes on 44 minutes with Fish and Robbie replacing captain Horse and Dudge. The changes didn’t change the game plan and Lucas scored the 5th try just a minute later after a well-executed backs move. Newbs had obviously changed out of his kicking boots by this stage as he again missed the conversion.

It was Earlston’s turn to start mounting up the penalty count with the referee penalising them rather harshly but never going to his pocket for a card despite several warnings to their captain. However, this disruption didn’t halt the Forrester attack and there were several chances to score more tries. Rydo did his best to stem the tide of Forrester scores by butchering an obvious overlap (must have spent too much time watching Brodie in training). Sadly, he wasn’t the only one to suffer from white line fever and too many scoring opportunities were missed which will really damage our chances of an upset if it is repeated next week. More changes were made to rest some players and give others an opportunity to stake a claim for a starting position; Dudge returned to the pitch to replace Wee Al and Spoogy came on to replace Aiden.

The tries continued in the 54th minute when Johnny Mac crashed over for his second try (conversion missed) and then vice-captain Himbo got on the scoresheet in the 56th minute (conversion successful). More changes followed in the 64th minute with medium C replacing Calzo, Neil replacing Lucas and Danny replacing PJ. Spoogy showed how much work he has been putting in at the Podge Lineout Academy with a couple of squint throws and C packed down against a prop with his previous body shape. It was like a before and after picture to advertise the Cambridge plan. The changes and errors made the game a bit scrappy with penalties and knock-ons disrupting any potential flow, and meaning that Danny has to wait a little longer for his first senior try at Forrester. However, there was time for some other players to score and in the 70th minute Himbo managed to pounce on a loose ball and after some good hands with Neil managed to score in the corner flattening some of the molehills in the process. Some more good work by the backs got Robbie over in the same corner in the 74th minute but Newbs was unable to convert either of the scores.

The big hit fund was still up for grabs and the Earlston 13 thought he would put his case forward as Johnny Mac was thundering towards him. However, it was John who would win the award after steam rolling the Earlston man drawing gasps from a cold but entertained crowd. The final few minutes of the game played out with some more scrappy play by both teams and everyone’s thoughts turned to the warm and waiting clubhouse until the referee blew the final whistle.

Full time – Earlston 7 Forrester 53