Lenzie RFC juggernaut rolls on with another fine win

McLaren RFC............. 14

Lenzie RFC.............. 46

The Shield match kicked off on a superb pitch in superb conditions for running rugby.

The Lenzie players started with early pressure resulting in two Morrison penalties. Then McLaren had a chance to kick from goal from an infringement at the restart. But the kick was missed.

Some deft interplay by Lenzie took play quickly into the opposition 22, only a knock-on preventing a certain score.

From the resulting scrum, Iain Matier struck against the head and Brett took full advantage, running hard for the line. He was caught just short, but was driven over and with an assist from McManus the try scoring had started.

Try number two came 30 seconds later. Fine passing in midfield allowing Jones to stretch his legs before finding Nizza in enough space to outsprint the covering defence to score in the corner.

After that, complacency allowed the home team back into the game. McLaren were camped within five metres of the Lenzie line until the referee adjudged the attackers to have handled in the ruck.

Lenzie cleared their lines and were then unfortunate to have a kick charged down and, with a favourable bounce, McLaren scored.

Lenzie raised their game for the next 10 minutes, culminating in what could arguably be try of the season. Superb scrum allowed backs to run with pace and attack, culminating in great interplay between Tats and English finding Jones, who then found Byres, back to Jones, who took the contact then audaciously popped the ball round the back of the defender to find McDermott running in support to score.

Galvanised by this, another try came straight from the kick-off, quick hands took the ball left, then right back across the pitch for Derrick to make some vital yards with his trademark show and go.

Agile rucking got the ball back to the left wing for English to finish it off in acres of space. Captain Morrison converted to take the half-time score to 7-32.

A rollicking from the McLaren coach seemed to spur the opposition into action, but their hopes were shattered when a big hit from Moore dislodged the ball and the ever-alert Jones picked the ball off his bootlaces and raced in from halfway.

The rest of the half became quite towsy with McLaren scoring a good try. The final score came in the final minute of normal time from debutant McKinlay.

Having spent 10 minutes in the sinbin for dangerous play, some inspirational words from the sidelines spurred him on to score from 15 metres out – dragging half of Callander with him.

Lenzie can be heartened from the strength of their player pool and this will also pose a nice headache for the selectors for Saturday’s game. Kick-off is at 3pm at Viewfield for the clash against Strathendrick.

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