Arboretum Road, 16th September 2023
Inverleith took on Earlston at Arboretum Road in the third fixture of the season. News had just broke that Liberton had withdrawn from the league, meaning our previous fixture would no longer provide us points, which was expected after speaking with their senior members at the game. Earlston had started the season flying, after victories against Medics and Lismore. Earlston had travelled strong, with a full squad and bench, a good sight for East 3 rugby considering their smaller squads from the year prior.
The game started well for both squads, with neither able to capitalise on early pressure. Possession changed hands a few times in the opening 5 minutes, with penalties and scrums splitting up any open play. Inverleith managed to get into the Earlston 22 and put on pressure, but an isolated runner was held up by Earlston and the result was a penalty, allowing them to clear their lines.
Earlston opened the scoring with a great piece of play showing the understanding their backs and forwards have of each others game. The forwards set up the play on one side of the field, before utilising their pacey backs to open up an overlap on the other side. They score in the corner to open their account for the day. Earlston score twice more to make it 21-0 after some questionable decision-making from Inverleith in midfield.
Inverleith managed to pull back some gameplan discipline at this point, scoring twice from close-in via Seb, converting one try. At this point it was 21-12 and the game was well and truly on. Inverleith were in Earlston’s 22 and making good rolling ground. Inverleith make it to Earlston’s 5, but the attack breaks apart. The game changes at this point, with Inverleith losing their momentum.
From here, Earlston scored three more tries, converting two, to add another 19 points. During this period, Inverleith were forced to make a number of changes that put players into positions where they lacked familiarity. The result was a fragmented defensive line, headless attack, and an inability to hold possession. This gives us food for thought to take into training in the coming week to prepare for the rest of the season.
Player of the match: Seb Jablonski
Try scorers: Seb Jablonski x 2
Conversions: Joel Copeland x 1
Penalties: 0
- Connor Harrison
- Sean Findlay
- Ahmed Mohamed
- Seb Jablonski (Try x 2)
- Stu McCullough
- Sergio Jiminez Gonzalez (Debut)
- Niall McGrath (Debut)
- Donal McCarthy
- Dan Jones
- Joel Copeland
- Abu Fofana
- Paul McCaskey
- Jamie Roberts
- Matt Anderson
- Ian Doyle
- Ryan Duncan
- Mark Fahy
- Reuben Martyn (Debut)
- Andy Lawrence
- Daniel Cameron
- Jacob Leader (Debut)
- Ryan Scougall