Glasgow U16 5  Edinburgh U16  41

Edinburgh travelled to Braidholm to face Glasgow and came away with a 41-5 victory, a result which does not tell the full story of a keenly contested match in which Edinburgh found themselves on the back foot for long periods. The main difference between the sides was the greater co-ordination and fluency along the Edinburgh backline and, as always, the key element of pace out wide.

Edinburgh had to weather an early storm from the home side in the opening twenty minutes, with their defence severely tested, indeed Glasgow prop Barnes was able to force his way over the line but could not ground the ball. Totally against the run of play it was Edinburgh who took the lead with their first foray to the home twenty two when Alistair Fraser landed a penalty after sixteen minutes.

Seven minutes before the break Edinburgh increased their lead when Freddy Smith was sent down the left wing for a try after a midfield break from No.8 Chris Dean. Glasgow were rewarded for their first half effort with a try on the stroke of half time when Jon Tait picked up at the base of a ruck five metres short of the Edinburgh line, and found a gap in the  defence to cross for an unconverted try reducing the half time deficit to 8-5.

Edinburgh managed to ease away from the home side with two tries in the opening ten minutes of the second half, first when Chris Dean picked a great line ten metres out to go mover untouched, then Sam Pecquer outflanked the home defence on an arcing twenty five metre run to the left corner. Fraser added one conversion to put Edinburgh 20-5 ahead.

Glasgow fought hard to pressure the Edinburgh side and keep the visitors on their own half, but any errors were punished as slick handling continually freed the Edinburgh wingers as the visitors ran in three further tries with replacement winger Jamie Farndale collecting two and Ruairidh Young one. Fraser landed all three conversions to ease Edinburgh over the forty point mark.              

Next Sunday Edinburgh travel to Selkirk, where they will play Caledonia, who have also won their opening two matches, in the final round of the Under 16 Player Identification Fixture double headers at 1.00pm.

Edinburgh Under 16
15. Ruairidh Young (Musselburgh) 14. Dominic Johnston (George Watson’s College) 13. Sam Pecquer (Trinity Academy/BATs) 12. Angus Elder (North Berwick HS/North Berwick) 11. Freddy Smith (Edinburgh Academy) 10. Alistair Fraser (Boroughmuir) & 9. Alex Glashan (Edinburgh Academy)
1. Andrew Crammond (Royal HS?BATs) 2. Lewis Robinson (Boroughmuir) 3. Jamie Sheddan (George Heriot’s School) 4. Jake Tritton (Linlithgow) 5. Tommy Spinks (North Berwick HS/North Berwick) 6. Chris Thompson (Edinburgh Academy) 7. Cameron Simpson (Edinburgh Academy) & 8. Chris Dean (Edinburgh Academy/North Berwick)
Replacements(all played)
16. Ruaridh Mitchell (Dunbar GS) 17. Josh Haining (Edinburgh Academy) 18. Kyle Munro (Knox Academy/Haddington) 19. Andrew McWilliam (Edinburgh Academy) 20. Alex Webb (Boroughmuir) 21. Andrew McMillan (George Watson’s College) & 22. Jamie Farndale (Edinburgh Academy)