LINWOOD RUGBY CLUB.
G + D div 2 League table as of games played on the 27/01/01
MATCH REPORTS for season 00/01.
Just click on the match with a result for a match report or pix from that match.
13/01/01 Linwood 3 Bearsden 0
20/01/01 Mid Argylle 39 Linwood 7
27/01/01 Linwood 36 Moffat 5
05/05/01 Loch Lomond 7's
THE SEASON IS NOW OVER!!!
* = friendly
16/09/00
Linwood XV 42 Craigelea 12
Scrum Half Colin Guinea chucks the ball towards Captain Tam.
Scott Young gets set to unleash another hand off on yet another Linwood attack.
23/09/00
GHK 37 Linwood 17
G leads the back line in trying to find a way through GHK's defence.
30/09/00
Linwood 19 Uddingston 17
Winger for the Day Dunky McKnight leads the charge against Uddingston with Colin and Fraser supporting.
Linwood 20 Isle of Bute 15
Linwood defeated league leaders Bute with a good offensive and defensive performance at Linwood Sports Centre. Although Linwood were deserving of their victory, they did not manage to build up a comfortable lead against the visitors and were eventually grateful to hear the final whistle.Linwood made a promising start and spent much of the opening twenty minutes in their opponents half, but only had a Graham Walker penalty, giving them a 3-0, lead to show for it. It was only a matter of time before their dominance paid off, and it was flanker Roddy Morrison who grabbed the first try. Centre Scott Young made a strong run deep into the Bute half only to be tackled just outside the 22. Linwood cleaned up at the ensuing ruck, and scrum-half Duncan McKnight scooped the ball into the path of the pacy Morrison who shook off his marker to score in the corner.
Linwood’s dominance continued for a short while before they found themselves camped in their own 22, as Bute sought to get back into the game. Bute kept possession well during this period and successfully switched the play from one side of the park to the next before they found the Linwood defence spars enough to break through and forward Robin Reid crashed over the line to score. The half-time whistle went immediately after the failed conversion making the score 8-5 to the home team at the interval.
The Linwood forwards were expecting a tough game against their counterparts, but found themselves to be dominating the scrums and mauls. This proved crucial in the opening period of the second half, when scrum half McKnight guided a rolling maul over the scoreline, before touching down himself to increase the Linwood lead. Prop Shug Rees put the game further beyond Bute shortly afterwards with a rare try. Taking the ball at pace outside the 22, he considered his options as he progressed slowly towards the tryline, and deciding that he himself was best placed, outpaced his marker and toppled over the line.quite agile for an old boy. Graham Walker increased the lead with the conversion.
The pattern of the first half was then repeated and Bute put the pressure on again in the closing stages. They were rewarded when Bute's Jimmy Burke crashed over to score. They were successful with their conversion, but the final whistle went immediately afterwards, saving Linwood from an uncomfortable finale. Linwood take on bottom of the league Bearsden away from home next Saturday.
Pics from the Bute match.
Centre Scott Young wades through the mud and the Bute Defence.
Scrum Half Dunky McKnight Lets loose another rain soaked slippy ball.
Bearsden 12 Linwood 0
Linwood slumped to defeat against a West of Scotland strengthened Bearsden team, in a match played at the home of the Premiership club West of Scotland. The tightness of this match was demonstrated by the half-time scoreline of 0-0. This was unfortunate for Linwood whose best period of the first half came during its closing minutes. In fact, the half-time whistle denied Linwood the put-in at a scrum five yards from the scoreline, after they had forced a Bearsden back to carry the ball over the scoreline and touch down.The second half was equally tight, but it was Bearsden who eventually made the breakthrough when their outside centre broke two tackles to score after a sustained period of pressure. Linwood’s chances of scoring were limited, although a father-son partnership between Huw and Kevin Rees nearly paid dividends, but Rees junior fumbled as he tried to pick up his own chip forward. Bearsden put the game beyond Linwood when one of their forwards managed top burst through the Linwood defence again. The successful conversion signalled the end of the match giving Bearsden a 12 -0 victory.
Linwood were particularly disappointed, especially after two hard fought victories against Uddingston and Bute in recent weeks. This was Bearsden’s first victory in a season when they have not even managed to put a team out every week. The fact that West of Scotland’s second string did not have a game on Saturday was not lost on the Linwood team.
Shug Rees wins a rare line-out ball against the head versus the mighty Bearsden.
Moffat 9 Linwood 13
Linwood have their forwards to thank for this hard fought victory against Division 2 newcomers Moffat. They were superior in every aspect of the forward’s game, but their dominance was not converted into a comfortable victory, and the Linwood men were glad to hear the final whistle.Linwood started much more brightly than their opponents, and the opening exchanges appeared to indicate that an easy victory could be on the cards. However, it eventually took a Graham Walker penalty after ten minutes to open the scoring and give Linwood a 3-0 lead.
This was increased a short while later when flanker Morrison was lifted high in a line out to take a clean catch. As he landed, the Linwood pack gathered round him, and their Moffat counterparts could do nothing to stop them advancing towards the scoreline. As the rolling maul approached the line, Stuart Ross took the ball out of Morrison’s hands, and dropped over to score. The conversion was missed, leaving Linwood with an 8-0 lead.
Before half-time Moffat narrowed this lead to 2 points by converting two penalties. Owing to Linwood’s superiority in the lineouts, Moffat opted to use a three-man line when they had the put in. However, it was this approach that gave Linwood their second try. Whilst the Moffat jumper managed to tap the ball back at a lineout on his own five yard line, his team mates were slow to react, and it was the rapidly ageing Linwood hooker Stuart Montgomery who reached the ball first, and only had to take a couple of difficult baby steps before he was able to collapse over the line to score.
Moffat gained another 3 points via a penalty later in the half, but were unable to penetrate the Linwood defence to score the try they needed to give them victory.
Next week Linwood are visted by Hyndland in a 3rd V 4th league match. It promises to be an interesting match.
Hyndland 34 Linwood 12
A weakened Linwood team slumped to a heavy defeat in miserable
conditions against Hyndland on Saturday. It was always going to be an uphill
battle for Linwood who had 10 first team regulars unavailable for selection. The
team Linwood put out competed admirably for most of the game but collapsed in
the last quarter.
Linwood almost had a disastrous start when from the kick off, the Hyndland
outside centre outstripped his counterpart Williamson and was only stopped by a
try-saving tackle from full back Docherty. It was only a temporary measure
however, and Hyndland opened the scoring through their backs after about ten
minutes. They doubled their points shortly afterwards, when Linwood found
themselves too thinly spread out along the scoreline and a Hyndland forward
easily crashed over to score. The conversions for the opening two tries were
missed leaving the score at 10-0 to Hyndland.
Whilst a rout may have appeared on the cards at this stage, Linwood regrouped
well and thanks to some excellent touch kicking by stand-off Graham Walker,
spent most of the rest of the first half in the Hyndland half. This was rewarded
when a rolling maul was steered skilfully over the scoreline to allow Keith
Forbes to collapse down on the ball to put Linwood back in contention. Walker
scored the conversion to give a half time score of 10-7.
The opening stages of the second half were evenly contested, but Linwood
managed to take the lead during a period of Hyndland pressure. Outside Centre
Alan Williamson anticipated a move that the Hyndland backs were using in the
Linwood 22, and managed to intercept a poor, low pass, and run almost the full
length of the pitch to score between the opposite posts. The conversion was
missed.
Linwood held onto this lead into the last twenty minutes and were appeared
capable of extending it when the turning point occurred. Another Linwood rolling
maul was being guided through the Hyndland 22, when the referee spotted a punch
by Linwood prop Stuart Ross on an opponent. The official had no choice but to
sin-bin the player. Hyndland launched the ball deep into the Linwood half from
the ensuing penalty, and went on to score two tries during the ten minutes Ross
was off the field.
The game now seemed beyond Linwood, and this, coupled with the miserable
conditions, led to the Linwood teams heads going down, and Hyndland scored a
further two tries in the closing minutes.
16/12/00
BUTE 36 - LINWOOD 12 Linwood took a strong squad to Rothseay for this encounter, but were
outplayed for much of the match by a home team who simply had a greater desire
to win. Linwood should have known it was not to be their day when the Wemyss Bay
train from Paisley Gilmour Street was cancelled, and four taxis had to be hailed
in order to allow the team to catch their ferry. In hindsight, they should have
gave up there and then and went to the pub instead.
Bute started the match strongly and soon chalked up their first points via a
penalty. Shortly after that they added a try and conversion. However, that only
came about after Linwood had a clear penalty claim dismissed when Williamson was
bundled over as he ran to reach a high kick he had just launched into the
opposition 22. It was to be the first of many refereeing decisions that
frustrated the Linwood team.
Linwood should have got themselves back in the game before the end of the
first half when Centre Ian Young made a break through the opposition defence.
Although tap-tackled, he recovered got to his feet before picking up the ball
and started a clear run for the try line. However, the referee pulled the play
back, having decided that Young hadn’t released the ball when tackled, even
though he was not held, and had in fact released the ball.
Overall, Bute did dominate the first half and had another converted try
before half time to show for it, giving them a grudgingly deserved 17-0 lead at
the break.
Two half-time substitutions strengthened Linwood but the game remained beyond
them. Bute added another 3 tries and two conversions to their tally in the
second half, although one of these came as a result of a forward pass, and
another from a Bute player passing whilst kneeling on the ground.(cheating
bastards)
Captain Thomas Andrews overcame his hangover to pull a try back for
Linwood.Duncan McKnight also got in the scoring act, touching over after a
period of pressure when Linwood were camped five yards out from the scoreline.
This saved Williamson’s blushes as he should have scored but mistook the
five-yard line for the try line and dived to score too early after a fine move
involving all the Linwood backs.
Bute deserved to win the match in terms of commitment and fitness, but with a
different referee Linwood may have just snatched something from this match.
Duncan McKnight wonders why the yellow patch on his shirt is on a different
side from everyone else's and second half sub Jamie Birch dances a jig through
the Bute defence.
20/01/01
Mid Argyll 39 Linwood 7
Linwood’s game plan for Saturday revolved around keeping open play and
playing time to a minimum so as not to allow Mid Argyll’s two-man advantage to
work. In the first half-hour of the match they managed this magnificently and
even managed to play a good part of the game in their opponent’s half. Captain
Tom Andrews led by example and put in some tackles that would have had Samoans
wincing. However, it was inevitable that the home team would manage to create an
overlap and they eventually scored on the half hour. It looked as if the flood
gates had opened when they ran in another straight from the kick-off, but
Linwood re-grouped and before half-time pulled themselves back into the game
when Kevin Rees ran onto a perfectly weighted kick from Graham Walker in a
planned move. The ball bounced perfectly for Rees on the scoreline, and he
gathered it in the air before falling down to score. With Mid Argyll kicking one
penalty and a conversion in the opening half, the half time score stood at a
respectable 15-7.
Linwood had opted to play with a full back line and six in the forwards in
the hope that their heavier average weight in the pack would balance out
Argyll’s numerical advantage. The problem with this is that it gave the team
limited options in the line-outs and meant that tiredness would creep in at some
point. Argyll also had fast, mobile flankers and with nobody to counter them,
Linwood were up against it in the second half. The home team ran in four more
tries in the second period and kicked two conversions, leaving the boys who
travelled with a 39-7 defeat which did not reflect the commitment and work put
in by every Linwood player that showed up and made it onto the park. A very
drunken, loud 3.5 hour rowdy coach trip followed back to Paisley.
Linwood play host to basement boys Moffat this weekend, and hope to maintain
their 100% home record against the only team they did manage to beat away from
home this season.
Linwood 36 Moffat 5
Hooker Stuart Montgomery added to the score when he received Flanker Morrison’s tap down from his own put in at the lineout and ran the length of himself to score right on the touchline. Walker’s superb kicking skills meant Linwood’s lead was then extended to 14 points.
The home team was caught sleeping just before half time when, during a rare Moffat attack following a long punt up the field, they failed to defend a quick tap penalty and Moffat’s stand-off Andy Fairgreave ran between the posts to touch down. The conversion was missed, and Walker’s penalty just before half time made the score 17-5 at the interval.
Flanker Alan Docherty was next to get on the Linwood scoresheet when he supported Ian Young’s strong run through the middle of the park and ran in unchallenged to score after receiving a pass from Young on the 22 yard line. Walker scored the conversion.
Young winger Kevin Rees scored for the second Saturday in a row when he ran on to collect his own up and under which had caused chaos in the Moffat 22. As the Moffat backs paused when the ball landed, Rees rushed through to collect and fortunately carry the ball over.
In the final minutes Bobo Bradley scored his first try for the Linwood 1st XV. Having replaced Montgomery at hooker, Bradley picked up a loose ball 5 yards out from the scoreline and drove through a pile of bodies to touch down. Walker managed another conversion making the final score 36-5 to the home team.
Linwood face a tougher test this Saturday when Hyndland visit.
Scrum Half Duncan McKnight throws out another pass to the Linwood Backs and Doc soars above the Moffat Line out.
05/05/01
Loch Lomond 7's
Kevin Rees touches down in the Semi despite some close attention and Linwoods new Vice Captain, Scott Young Evades yet another tackle against Clydesdale
The winning 7's squad. L to R. Gordon Martin, Graham Walker, Shug Rees, Ian Young, Alan Williamson, Half of Dunkys head, Scott Young and obviously Kev Rees sees something more interesting over there.
