West U15 Bowl Final – 27 March 22
Raiders – 24
Dalziel – 12
Tries; Dunlop, Jones, Mackinnon, Mallam
Conversions; Currie (2)
Penalties;
In perfect conditions on Sunday the West U15 Bowl final took place at the Holmpark pitch in Bishopton. This much anticipated match was to be played between the Renfrewshire Raiders, who had defeated Cambuslang/Cartha in the semi final, and Dalziel, who had beaten Lomond/Helensburgh by 47-26 to get to the final. The biggest crowd of the season turned up to cheer on the teams, referee Ross Smillie was on hand with his whistle to adjudicate.
The enormity of the occasion was clearly playing on the minds of the players from the outset, it was a very tentative start as both teams made a few errors. The first real sense of urgency came when Raiders broke into the opposition 22, but a big defensive hit dislodged the ball in the tackle and a scrum was called. The scrum has been a strength for the Raiders this season, and this was demonstrated as Raider’s hooker Owen Lees plucked the ball cleanly from the Dalziel scrum. This unexpected free attacking position was not wasted by the Raiders, the ball was fed to galloping centre Alistair Dunlop who would not be stopped. Full back Bobby Currie knocked over the conversion and the hosts were up 7-0 after 15 minutes – that’s how it stayed for the rest of the half.
The big break for the Raiders came straight just moments into the second half. The restart kick from stand-off Jamie Dunn was perfectly weighted, a high ball that landed just inside touch on the 10 yard line. The ball took a generous bounce straight into the hands of winger Nathan Jones who was moving at full pace and ploughed his way through the defence to the line. Jones was still smarting from a disallowed try just before half time, he was certainly not going to be denied a second time and his try took the score to 12-0. Dalziel retaliated immediately and a strong attack took them to within five metres of the home try line. Under enormous pressure Raiders conceded two penalties, the second was taken quickly and Dalziel forced their way over the line to bring the score back to 12-5.
This must have given the home team a fright, and their reaction was immediate. The next few minutes were played out almost entirely in the Dalziel half until an attacking lineout proved the perfect opportunity to execute a training field set play. A clever interaction at the front of the line between scrum half Connor Ingram and pack leader Charlie MacKinnon took the defence completely by surprise and MacKinnon barrelled his way over to bring the score to 17-5 with 20 minutes to play.
The next ten minutes was a battle of wills and determination, neither team prepared to concede any ground at all. With time running out and the match still in the balance the pressure started to get to Dalziel and they conceded several penalties in quick succession. A loose kick for touch by the Raiders was taken cleanly by Dalziel, but Raider’s centre Sam Worral did what he had done all day and chopped the receiver down as he caught the ball. Gregor Douglass, whose jackling in the ruck had caused the opposition all sorts of bother, was immediately on the ball and once again stole it from the breakdown and quickly offloaded to Kyle Mallam on the 10 metre line. Kyle, one of the strongest runners in the Raider’s team, put on his afterburners and drove through the entire Dalziel defence to score a try between the posts, the extra points were added by Currie as the excited crowd , now sensing victory, roared their approval.
But Dalziel had no intention of giving up, and Raiders showed that they hadn’t learned the hard lesson from the previous week and with the finish line in sight they completely lost their focus. A series of errors, poor decisions and panicked reactions put the home team defending a penalty on their own try line. Callum Cairns, the visiting team’s number 8 and certainly the most abrasive Dalziel player on the pitch, made no mistake with the attack and forced himself over the line to bring the score back to 24-10. But it was not enough, and the successful conversion brought on the final whistle with the score at 24-12.
This victory marks the end of a long season and unusual season for the Raiders, with the pandemic causing almost constant disruption. The squad has worked exceptionally hard on and off the pitch and the results of all of that work are clear – the improvement in skills, communication, physicality and teamwork will put the Renfrewshire Raiders in great shape as they prepare themselves for the U16 leagues next year – the future is very bright for this group of young rugby players.
