The home side showed up well at the beginning of this game, as they tried to play a wide, open game. The Morgan defence began to assert itself however and with 10 minutes played they had forced themselves into the home 22 where they were awarded a penalty –the first of many awarded against Whitecraigs.  Graeme Kiddie calmy slotted his kick to put the visitors 3-0 ahead and to plant some seeds of doubt into the home team.  This was evident as, having found no way through the visiting defence, Whitecraigs started to play a kicking game. Initially this had no more success and with Morgan showing up well at the set piece, the game settled into an exciting contest.  With 26 minutes played the home side kicked into the Morgan 22 and the defender hesitated with a clearance kick sufficiently to allow his kick to be charged down.  Not content with that, he held back the Whitecraigs player and the referee immediately awarded a penaly try.  It was certainly a penalty offence and would have warranted a yellow card, but their were Morgan defenders closer to the ball and a try would “probably” not have been scored had the attacker had a clear run – this was obviously the opinion of the Morgan support, but it found some support amongst the home fans also.  Nevertheless Whitecraigs were now ahead 7points to 3. Immediately from the restart, Morgan gained possession and pressurised the home defence and when the ball was spun to the right, a fine pass by tight head prop Paul Leslie, who found himself unusually in the open spaces, found the supporting flanker Rickie Imrie who touched down for a well-worked try. Kiddie’s conversion attempt drifted wide, but the visitors had now gone ahead by 8 points to 7.  A soft penalty against Morgan with 33 minutes played allowed the home team to retake the lead 10-8 and this remained the score at the interval.  Although behind on the score board, Morgan were pleased with their performance, especially in the set piece and they had taken 2 strikes against the head – a rarity these days when “squint” feeds from scrum halves are the order of the day.

Having been surprised by the ferocity of the Morgan defence in the first half, Whitecraigs started the second at full throttle and their efforts were rewarded with an early try and conversion to put them 17-8 ahead with only two minutes of the half having been played.  For the first time in the game, the Morgan tackling became a little fragile and Whitecraigs took full advantage to stretch their lead with another try – this time unconverted.  They were now 22-8 ahead and although the visitors again raised their game, all their second half pressure came to nought and the game finished with the home side winning by 22 points to 8.

Morgan were disappointed not to have won a losing bonus point for their efforts, in this their first game since 2oth November last year, but would in no way grudge Whitecraigs their victory, however a feature of the match was the number of penalties awarded against the home side – at one point they were penalised 11 times in a row without the official taking any action.  Nor did he take action when the home side kicked the ball away to prevent  quick tap penalties, on several occasions.  These facts were provided by a neutral ex –referee and not by any of the visiting support who were all caught up in the excitement of the game.

Cartha  Queens Park V  Morgan Rugby (18^th September 2010)

The home side kicked off, playing towards the club house and although Morgan gathered possession, CQP put them under immediate pressure and forced the turnover. Cartha, having the heavier pack, forced their way into Morgan territory with some aggressive driving play.  The visitors replied in kind however and took play into the home half where CQP were penalised at the breakdown.  Graeme Kiddie stepped up to convert the penalty award into a 3 point lead for Morgan  with three minutes showing on the  electric score board. From the restart, the home side again used their heavy pack to impose themselves on the visitors, although Morgan were also being assertive in contact. The visitors went further ahead on the eight minute mark when their aggressive defence forced the home backs to mishandle.  Morgan’s Barry Crookston secured the ball and passed on to the supporting Ross Lemon who outpaced the remaining defence to score the opening try of the match.  Kiddie’s conversion attempt soared between the posts to give Morgan a lead of 10 points to nil.  Cartha stepped up the pressure, having been put off their stride at having found themselves down by ten points so early in the game. Again, they used their forwards to secure possession and to advance on the Morgan line.  Although the visitors defended well, they could not prevent the score when at a five metre scrum, Cartha marched forward and home no. 8 and captain, Cooke secured Cartha’s opening score.  Centre Chisholm ensured full points with a successful conversion attempt.  The home team’s play was somewhat one-dimensional as they continued to play a tight game and although they occasionally put the ball out to their backs, they got no change out of Morgan’s three-quarters.  However further pressure by the home eight gave Chisholm three more opportunities to firstly get Cartha into the lead and then to give them an advantage at the half time interval of 16 points to 10.

There were only three minutes of the second half played when Kiddie reduced the deficit for Morgan with a further penalty goal, but this was more than cancelled out when Cooke scored a carbon copy of his first try, however on this occasion, Chisholm’s conversion attempt sailed wide – this was to be his only miss of the afternoon in which he bagged 14 points for his team. Nevertheless, Cartha QP now led by 21 points to 13.  Morgan were not to be beaten easily however and came storming back into the home territory and were rewarded with two further penalty goals by Kiddie to trail by only two points – 21 to 19 - going into the last few minutes of an exciting game.  Cartha however were not to be denied and Chisholm gave the home crowd some relief when he stretched his side’s lead to 24 points to 19 with barely a minute left on the clock.  Morgan tried desperately to play their way out of their own half, in an effort to score, either a penalty to square the game, or a try to win it but  their handling under pressure let them down and Cartha emerged victorious by 24 points to 19.

Morgan can take heart from a combative performance, but they were architects of their own downfall with some slack play, especially in the line-out aspect of the game.  Cartha however are a stuffy side which relies heavily on their pack, maybe to the detriment of their back play and perhaps they just deserved take the points on the day.  Morgan will have some work to do before facing up to Perthshire in a local derby at home next Saturday.

Morgan Rugby 28  Haddington RFC 12 (11^th September 2010)

Haddington kicked off on a bright and sunny, but breezy afternoon, allowing Morgan to gather possession and set off up-field into Haddington’s half with some slick handling which had the home support cheering from the start. Following a period of sustained pressure however, Morgan lost the ball in contact, trying an ambitious off-load.  Haddington gained  possession and some  forceful play by their forwards took the play deep into the home 22 and although it was somewhat against the run of play, they recycled the ball and scored the first points of the afternoon when hooker Craig Harrison touched down for an unconverted try with five minutes on the clock. Finding themselves down by 5 points, Morgan followed up their restart to gain possession and again pressurised the visiting defence.  This time, they sustained their attacks and it was no surprise when Haddington infringed at the breakdown to give Graeme Kiddie his first attempt at goal.  Against a stiff breeze, he calmly slotted the penalty and Morgan were on the score board for the first time, fifteen minutes into the match. From the restart, Morgan again attacked through their backs and it took some sterling defensive efforts for the visitors to prevent the home side adding to their points total.  Indeed it took another twenty minutes before Morgan managed to break through and it was centre Ross Lemon who gained the touchdown to put Morgan ahead for the first time in the match.  Kiddie converted the try and Morgan were now ahead by 10 points to 5 and seemed to have gained the upper hand.  A further 3 points was added to the home lead when Haddington again infringed at the breakdown to allow Kiddie to stretch the Morgan lead to 13 points to 5 at the interval.

In the second half, Morgan carried on where they had left off and with seven minutes of the half played, increased their lead when Lindsay Graham scored his first try for Morgan to give his side a lead of 18 points to 5.  Whether through over-confidence or otherwise, the home side allowed Haddington back into the game and they took full advantage when winger Mike Leggit showed his opposite number a clean pair of heels as he scored a well worked try in the corner.  An excellent conversion kick by visiting captain, Neil Watt brought the score to Morgan 18 Haddington 12. This reverse stung the home side back into action and on the hour mark, Morgan winger Dougie Russell lscored a fine try after some sterling work by Morgan’s forwards and backs.  Sensing that there was a fourth, bonus point winning try to be had, Morgan, urged on by skipper and scrum half, Chris Black, redoubled their efforts and kept Haddington pinned down in their own 22 for much of the remainder of the game, although a sterling defensive effort from Haddington together with the home team’s urgency to score the fourth try, meant that passes were dropped and some wrong decisions taken.  Black had to leave the field of play ten minutes before no-side as he was due to catch a business flight from Edinburgh to Canada, but his absence did not affect the home performance as Dougie Russell smoothly slotted into the scrum half berth .Morgan were not to be denied despite the Haddington defensive heroics and in the final minute of the game, home winger, Kyle Wright took advantage of some fine play which produced an overlap on the left wing and raced in to touch down for his first and his team’s fourth try of the game to give Morgan a well-deserved victory by 28 points to 12.