Dunfermline end Hamiltons winning streak with a bang

On a beautiful spring morning, Dunfermline travelled to Hamilton for a first ever encounter between the teams in this age group. With no previous history of games, the coaches and players did not know what to expect but with Hamilton on an 18 month winning run, a tough game was expected. The game wsa played in three 20 minute periods with Hamilton taking the kick off facing up the slight slope.

The initial encounters suggested that this might be a physical encounter however the Dunfermline team quickly got into their stride with Jonathan Scott the eventual beneficiary scoring the first try of the day crashing through the last defenders to drop down over the line. Ben Dollery added the conversion. A second try came quickly after with Cal Clarke appearing unexpectedly on the wing to finish off a flowing move with some excellent attack continuity both out of contact and from quick ruck ball. Again Ben added the extra. Teig Feeney then continued his good scoring form with a third try in three successive games returning the kick off from the half way line with a pacey burst to score under the posts. Ben added the conversion to take Dunfermline into a quick fire 12 – 0 lead. With Dunfermline now dominant in all aspects of play especially in the scrum where a large number of strikes against the head were recorded, Hamilton heads appeared to go down and while they competed to the end, the match was effectively over at this point.

The next score came from a line out with Ethan Wood scoring his first try of the day with one of the new back line plays that we have been working on in training. A strong scrum on the Hamilton 10m line saw Aidan Reddick pressurise the opposing scrum half into a mistake with the ball coming free in contact. Euan Colston was on hand to scoop the ball off the floor and run in unopposed. Ethan added his first conversion of the day.

The next score was the pick of the day. A blind side move off a scrum which was won against the head saw the ball passed through 10 pairs of hands before eventually reaching flanker Thomas Pooley who dotted down. Both forwards and backs were involved with play carried out with accuracy and pace and saw the players demonstrating a number of the different skills that have been worked on in training throughout the winter much to the coaches delight.

The final score of the period was another for Captain Jon Scott who crashed over from short distance. Ben adding the conversion.

The first period finished with Dunfermline in a commanding 26 – 0 lead.

At the change of ends, Cameron Symes, Ethan Wood and Teig Feeney were withdrawn to make way for Harvey, Cameron Shaw and Brandon.

Unfortunately for Hamilton the removal of three of the larger more physical Dunfermline players did little to stem the tide with Cameron Shaw adding a further try, more or less straight from the kick off (Ben converting), and then Jay adding another with an excellent example of the diamond attack that we have been working on in training (again Ben converting). Jon Scott then collected his third try of the day rounding off another move and Ethan collected his second shortly after with Ben converting. Both Alex McKenzie and John Lymburn also got on the score sheet during this period scoring almost identical tries following pressure on the Hamilton attack, under their own posts which resulted in spilled passes which were grateful picked up and popped over the line for further tries. Ethan converting the second.

At the end of the second period, Dunfermline had increased their lead to 48 – 0.

The final quarter saw some experimentation in the team with Aidan Reddick moving from scrum half to flanker to accommodate the move of Cal to scrum half with Thomas moving to hooker. Ethan Wood came into the second row to replace the injured Sean Ramsay with Andrew Waterworth moving to full back.

The third period started much like the first two with Cameron Symes collecting his first try of the day returning the kick off to score with Ethan converting. Another try came quickly after with Brandon making the initial break before offloading to Cameron for an easy run in. Ethan then added to his tally with a neat one two with Euan Colston to score with Ben adding the extra. Cameron completed a quick fire hat trick with another almost identical score (Ben converting). At this point the video camera ran out of batteries and memory fading as it does with old age, we can only say with any certainty that a further three tries were scored by Jon Scott, Jay and then the final effort from Alex who produced a strong run to cruise down the wing and finish the game off. As far as we can remember none of these three tries were converted.

The game finished with a final score of Dunfermline 71 – 0 Hamilton.

All in all a good performance with the players keeping going, despite the scoreline to the end. Some good examples of training practices were evident in the game which is encouraging but still room for improvement in some areas, which will be tested in some of the games that are coming up.

Many thanks to Hamilton for hosting us at such short notice and thanks to the coaches, players and supporters for the welcome.