Moray Rugby Club take heavy Arnold Clark national league division four defeat to Linlithgow at Morriston playing fields
A ruthless rugby display earned a convincing victory on Saturday.
In their penultimate game of the Arnold Clark National League Division 4 campaign, Moray were comprehensively beaten 57-14 by a very good Linlithgow side.
The visitors started fast and never took the foot off the pedal.
Playing downhill in the first half, Linlithgow played with an intensity and focus that Moray struggled with, and the away team quickly found themselves with a 26-point lead.
Moray got on the scoresheet on 25 minutes to reduce the deficit.
A rare attack finally put pressure on the visitors near their own line. From a quick tap penalty, the ball was passed to centre Cameron Hughes, and he managed to make the line under the posts.
The conversion by full-back Kieran Jenkins made the score 7-26.
Any thoughts of a comeback were dashed as the West Lothian side scored two further quickfire tries, to extend the gap to 31 points.
To their credit, Moray put the visitors under sustained pressure for the next ten minutes, but all attempts were repelled, and there was no further scoring in the half.
With Moray playing downhill in the second half, they would have hoped to come more into the game, but Linlithgow had other ideas.
Their attacking was relentless, with the backline, and especially the full-back, causing numerous problems.
On 58 minutes they increased the lead to 7-45 with a score under the posts from a lineout in the 22.
A rare moment of joy for the home side came shortly thereafter.
Under heavy pressure in their 22, No 8 Lewis Small intercepted a pass, meant for the opposition stand-off, and ran the length of the field to score under the posts. The conversion made it 14-45.
The Linlithgow side, still full of running, didn’t take long to respond and added two final tries for a final score of 14-57.
It was a dispiriting result for the home team. They were never given the opportunity to settle into any sort of game plan or rhythm and were well beaten by a Linlithgow side who finish in fourth place in the league.
This Saturday, Moray play their final league game of the season against Greenock with a win securing fifth place, a credible outcome in their first National 4 campaign. Kick-off is 3pm.
