9th Sept Carlisle U16’s 12 Dumfries U16’s 15

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Carlisle U16’s 12 Dumfries U16’s 15
Both teams had cancellations so took up the opportunity to play on a perfect day and perfect pitch in Carlisle.
Dumfries welcomed back Connor Gracie at hooker and with Sean McDougall moving from wing to No. 8 both players had a major impact in the game.
The game had a Cumbrian District referee appointed to the game and players responded to what he said to them and his instructions and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Carlisle started the strongest as Dumfries sat back and allowed their strong runners to have a go and relied on their normal great defending to see how the game was going to go. It was the defence that finally gave in as Carlisle forwards eventually powered over from a short penalty for a converted score. However Dumfries finally realised that this game was for the taking and the home defence were being tortured by the strong running of Sean McDougall from the base of the scrum as he tested their tackling time and time again but he finally broke through to score in the corner.
The game was very evenly matched and a great tight competition with tackling on top from both sides.
HT Carlisle 7 Dumfries 5
Changes were made at Half Time with Declan O’Donnell moving to scrum half as Lewis Morrison was being caught at the back of the scrums and rucks and with the welcome return of Kyle Lindsay to the back row made such a difference.
The game got held up for a short time due to a leg injury for the home centre which meant the teams moving to the neighbouring pitch but Dumfries kept the pressure on and with a slick move out the backs resulted in an overlap and Ian McKnight threw a dummy to find space and sprint for the corner to score to take the lead.
Carlisle had a right go at the Dumfries defence and they held out for a long time but from an offside and a quick tap penalty the large prop forward bashed his way over for Carlisle to take a two point lead.
Dumfries had been trying to run the ball from their own line at every opportunity but for the last two minutes changed tactics to clear the ball up field to chase the victory. With a home line out 5m out from the Carlisle defence in the last seconds all Carlisle needed to do was catch the ball and clear their lines however with pressure applied in the line the ball got flapped back over the line and Kyle Lindsay was first to react to dive on the loose ball to win the game.
A great run out for the 16’s with a confidence booster before playing Stewartry on Wednesday night at Greenlaw in the next cup game.
Team Jack McHenry, Connor Gracie, Rory Graham, James Clyde, Harry Houldey, Declan O’Donnell, Kyle Lindsay, Edward Jackson, Sean McDougall, Lewis Morrison, Callum Fitzpatrick, Jack Pybus, Gavin Howtson, Alex Craig, Paul Gibson, Ian McKnight, Euan McMorran.