Linlithgow Peelers v Forth Valley Fossils RFC  Match Report 23/08/08.

Linlithgow Peelers 15 – Forth Valley Fossils RFC 25

In perfect conditions this local derby and warm up match for the 17th World Golden Oldies Festival was played in the true spirit of Oldies Rugby : Fun, Friendship and Fraternity. Both teams were picked from players who are due to play in the Festival at Murrayfield on 01st – 08th September which has some 110 teams from around the globe playing over 3 days.

The Linlithgow Peelers who are undefeated in European competitions had a “young” oldies team bolstered by the inclusion of 2 Linlithgow first team players. The Fossils pulled from former players from every club in Forth Valley had guest player Terry “Tez” O’Connor a former Widnes and Great Britain Rugby League player in their ranks. These players made strong contributions to the game with Terry in particular finding the concept of rucking an “interesting” experience.

In the early exchanges the Peelers showed that they had been playing together as a unit with an organised defence and a cohesive attack which resulted in the first score by their number 8. The Fossils playing a little too loosely competed combatitively in the tight exchanges and achieved a try through wing forward David Wishart. Some slack defence allowed a run in from the impressive Johnny Blundell to score returning the lead to the Peelers 10 -5. With the Fossils struggling to find some rhythm Blundell again had a superb break and excellent score to enhance the Peelers lead at 15 – 5. As the Fossils started to put together some passes and cut down on their unforced errors on the stroke of half time the ever youthful Jimmy Connor scored an excellent try to take the score to 15 – 10.