Dunbar u15's opened up the new year against Lasswade, fielding
their strongest back line of the season, but unfortunately had captain
Findlay Darrah and Zach Gillespie missing from the pack. Matty Pickles
Injury during the first half not helping the Dunbar cause.
Lasswade, with a much heavier and streetwise pack made the difference
between the two sides, denying the green team any quick and quality ball.
It was an open contest for more than half the first period, even though the
Dunbar pack was being shunted backwards. Then with five minutes left
in the first half with the reds on the attack a Dunbar player committed
a high tackle five meters out. Dunbar were powerless to stop the one of
two massive locks from powering over to score.
Half time DUNBAR 0 Lasswade 5
The second half saw Lasswade take control through their dominant pack
scoring four more try's
Jack Wragg moved to prop and helped to stabilise the scrum to a certain
degree. Dunbar's morale began to fade and tackles were missed leading
to the tries. The three Jacks, Young, Simmons and Wragg plus Cameron
McFaddyn stayed resilient to the end. There was the usual Struan
Fenn crunching tackles. Jake Johnstone had a very difficult debut at 9
with a pack going in reverse, but his understanding with Young could
well bear fruit in future in less difficult circumstances.
Final Score Dunbar 0 Lasswade 27
A further development period was played and Dunbar quickly conceded
two more tries but at least with the last play of the game Josh Stewart
finally came to life and showed what a talent he could be, with a sixty
meter run scorching through a bemused visiting defence. Even a
trailing leg from a Lasswade player was unable to stop him scoring in
front of the clubhouse giving something for the home supporters to
cheer.

Progress was made on focus and good defensive lines thanks to the
leadership of Young. But at the end of the day the breakdown area was
numerical inadequate and like the scrum out gunned. These are not
impossible to sort at training.