Glens gain bonus point win despite disappointing performance

Glenrothes travelled up to Carnoustie on Saturday confident that for the third time this season they could overcome their hosts and come close to the 106 points they amassed in the last meeting between the teams.

Despite a cold wind, which was to make kicking difficult in the first half, it was a lovely sunny afternoon in Angus when Carnoustie began the game playing uphill.

The game started brightly enough for Glenrothes as they set up a maul which was halted at the line, but the ball was released to Stevie Dean who barged through ineffective tackling to score. Kain Duguid missed the conversion attempt.

For the next 20 minutes or so, Glenrothes pressurised their opponent’s line but were unable to extend their lead. Time after time the Reds got into good position only to knock on, throw a forward pass, concede a penalty or in some other way turn over the ball.

Glens eventually extended their lead in a carbon copy of the first try. This time however the maul did cross the whitewash and Ross Hutchison was the player in possession when the ball found its way to the turf. Again the conversion was unsuccessful.

The third try of the game owed more than a little to good fortune as the referee missed a Cammy Goodall knock-on before he chased his own kick for 60m to dive over the line close to the posts. Duguid converted.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with all the play at the Carnoustie end but the finishing not matching the build up play.

The fourth try did eventually materialise from a scrum close to the home goal line. The ball was passed to Michael Delorey who threw a dummy and wriggled through the wrongfooted defenders to touch down near the posts. Duguid converted.

The next Glens attack should have resulted in at least a yellow card for the Carnoustie left winger for a high tackle as Bryce was in full flight down the wing. Instead Mr Gillon confined himself to a lecture and awarding Glenrothes a penalty which they ultimately squandered.

Ross Hutchison grabbed his second try when he finished off one of the few incisive moves of the afternoon with about half the team handling the ball. Duguid converted.

Another passing move, featuring all of the backs, saw David Gray grab the last points of the afternoon as he skipped past tackles to sprint up the right wing and touch down.

A rare Carnoustie attack two minutes before full time resulted in a yellow card for Goodall. The ball carrier almost jumped into a tackle and as he was taken beyond the horizontal it was always likely to result in a card despite the lack of malice.

For the second week running the Reds gained a bonus point victory and were disappointed by their performance.

Next week sees the firsts at home in Shield action against Harris, merely a fortnight after beating the same opponents.

The Devs Fixture last Saturday was cancelled as opponents Alloa were unable to raise a team and they have no fixture this weekend.

The under 18s were in a similar situation as their opponents Ross Sutherland called off although they do have a game next weekend against local rivals Kirkcaldy.

Glenrothes: Fowlis, R Strachan, J Finlay, R Hutchison, G Emerson, B Crookston, C Docherty, A Campbell, M Delorey, K Duguid, R Bryce, S Dean, C Goodall, R Anderson, D Gray. Replacements: D Robertson, M Guthrie, S Hainey, D Mitchell.