Scotland Select 14-68 Renown United

Wednesday, November 7th at Scotstoun, Glasgow.

Report by Kate Cochrane, Media Officer -  Scotland Students Rugby League.

Scotland expected a tough challenge against the experienced Australian amateur club side, Renown United.

The Scotland select team, composed of both amateur and student players, had played together only twice prior to the match. The hard fought game certainly lived up to the Scots expectations.

Renown pushed forward from the kick off with incredibly powerful runs from their forwards, bursting through the Scots defence. It was evident that Renown were a confident side as after five minutes of play they opted to run a penalty awarded against the Scots. A try was swiftly scored from a series of offloads and a jinking run slicing through the Scottish defence. The try was also converted giving Renown an early 6-0 lead. Renown’s shear power and dominance continued whilst Scotland valiantly attempted to minimise any damage.

However, by the 26th minute Renown were sitting upon an extremely comfortable 36-0 lead from a total of six tries, five of which were converted. However, Steve Bissett produced something of a surprise, skilfully scooping up the ball from his own restart, and dancing through the Renown defence to score an unexpected try, which he also successfully converted. Scotland attempted to keep the pressure on in the final minutes of the first half. However Renown produced a further try and conversion.

Clever play by Simon Hogg, outwitting his opponents, created a further try for Scotland. Hogg scooted round the blind side, drawing in Renown defence, offloading the ball to a charging Ross Neil who completely outpaced his opponents to score a deserved try. However, the conversion was missed leaving the half time score at 42-10.

The second half appeared to be a slightly closer affair, with Scotland wrapping up more of the tackles preventing the Australians from offloading the ball. However, Renown still succeeded in driving through the game line, forcing the Scots back into their own half. Renown had created a further four tries, with successful conversions, before the Scots had the opportunity to hit back. Scotland produced a run of successful sets, which they had failed to do in the first half due to handling errors, forcing the Australians back into their own territory. The pressure was kept up on Renown’s try-line with eventually a try from James Knight who darted through a gap to ground the ball. However, the conversion was missed leaving the final scoreline at 68-14.

The performance by Scotland had been a courageous one which was reflected in the after match comment from Phil Slaney, the Scotland Select manager.

“The game was played in the right spirit against a quality touring side with the Scots showing great team commitment and never throwing in the towel. Considering the lack of preparation time, with only two training sessions, a credible performance was put up by the combined student and amateur team. Despite the score, it was a good team performance and with more games under the belt they will definitely improve.”