Falkirk v Kirkcaldy 31/08/24 at Sunnyside, National League Cup Pool 7 Match 1
Report by Dave Hamilton

A superb day for rugby presented itself for the opening National League Cup tie for these teams who know each other very well.

Kirkcaldy kicked off and subsequent pressure resulted in a line out for Falkirk, which was penalised for not being thrown straight. A dominant scrum followed as the Blues set out their stall early on. A dropped ball from the visitors from the next phase of play rolling the scrum led to a Falkirk scrum which was held solidly by the visitors and the resulting possession was turned over by Kirkcaldy and a penalty was won, duly dispatched by Fin Smith it was 0-3 after 5 minutes of erratic open play.

The next 5 minutes or so was spent with both sides attempting to find a way through each others defensive set ups. The visitors line out was working well and Seb Evans, Connor Wood and Kieran Mitchell being a thorn in the sides of the home team with some competitive work in attack and in disrupting the home sides efforts.

Some strong ball carrying from Rory Brown, Craig Hamilton and Connor Wood put the pressure on the home side but some nervy looking handling meant that a lot of the hard yards gained went unrewarded. Some scrappy play gave the opportunity for a pair of the Kirkcaldy youngsters to clear out effectively at a ruck, only to have the ball stolen from behind them from what looked very much like a player
who didn’t come through the ”gate”, play continued as the Blues looked at each other and the ball was spread wide for a try in the opposite corner after some smart handling.
Duly converted the score was 7-3, the influential Gavin McKenzie went off briefly following a hefty knock during this passage of play.

The Blues forwards went to work once more with some great carry and support work and Fin Smith and Avi Nailatica made a great break forwards to take the game right back at Falkirk, the pressure then applied by the pack led to a try for Seb Evans which made the score 7-8.

After 31 minutes Falkirk were awarded a penalty which was nicely converted from distance and it was 10-8. On the 35 minute mark a slick line out resulted in a good carry from Craig Hamilton assisted by Rory Brown made decent progress upfield only to result in some indecisiveness and sloppy handling led to a Falkirk scrum.

Some good play from Falkirk had the Blues on the back foot although some great defensive work resulted in the home attack being held up as they went for the try line. The Blues switched off momentarily and Falkirk managed to get the ball over the line out wide on their next attack. Unconverted it was 15-8 going into half time.

Falkirk kicked off in the second half and following a line out scored with their first attack, this was duly converted and the home sides tails were up. 22-8

A super kick to touch from Fin Smith led to an opportunity to strike back and the pack did its job at the line out once more, the ball gathered cleanly and fed out to the hooker who drove forward from the back of the pack and found Rory Brown in support who duly crashed over for a try converted by Fin Smith made the score 22-15.

The game once more lit up with some good cross field play by Falkirk and they scored out wide once more and converting to make the score 29-15

Once more the Blues got to work and after some good forward support play Rory Brown crashed over once again to score a try after some trademark hard work, converted by Fin Smith 29-22. Fin Smith had his eye in with the boot now and he dispatched a 50-22 kick into touch for another promising line out opportunity.

Another neatly worked line out released Craig Hamilton at the rear of the pack and he took the ball forward ably supported by the forwards and the ball found its way to Connor Wood who marked his return after injury with a powerful try. Duly converted it was 29-29.

The Blues should have capitalised on their momentum, but what could only be described as a bizarre moment, the ball dropped inside the Blues 22 at the feet of a Falkirk player, who looked up saw no one at home and he simply ran forward to score under the posts virtually unchallenged. This was easily converted and it was 36-29.

It was indeed a strange moment as generally the Blues had been switched on to the threats that Falkirk posed especially in the middle section of the field.

The Blues re booted and the forwards went to work once more, a great scrum from the Blues and the subsequent pressure led to another try for Connor Wood who looked to be back to his best after his lay off. Fin Smith converted. 36-36.

Not long to go and it was anyone’s game, a breakthrough for Falkirk came and a penalty was secured and scored in the last few minutes 39-36.

The Blues came back again in the dying minutes pressing Falkirk into their own 22 and probing for an opportunity to snatch the game, some great defensive work by Falkirk turned the ball over and as Falkirk attempted to run the ball out, Craig Hamilton popped up and held up the advancing Falkirk player, the Blues forwards pitched in and the penalty was awarded to the Blues. The last kick of the game from Fin Smith secured the 3 points and the draw.

The whole team worked hard for each other, the emerging youngsters did their job without fear and will no doubt have gained some experience at this level, our scrum and line out worked well, the Falkirk pack knew they were in a game from minute 1 to 80 and there was some decent play through the back line influenced by sensible play and sound game management from Gavin McKenzie and Fin Smith.

A draw was a fair result all round and the players from both sides represented their Clubs in the correct fashion, with a great advert for club rugby.