Knox Academy's U16 rugby team move into the 3rd round of the Scottish Plate competition after a great match against Loretto School in Musselburgh where they were accompanied by Haddington RFC Development Officer Scott Marnoch.

After an excellent performance in round 1 where Knox defeated Dunbar Grammar 59-9, the players knew they would be in for a tougher match against Loretto. Their task was made even harder with the news Gavin Stewart, Dean MacCarthur and Connor Tinch were unavailable through injury and illness, so travelled to Musselburgh with only 18 players, including Ben Fairgrieve and Alex Ingram who were both carrying knocks from games at the weekend.

Knox trailed 15-10 at half-time with Finlay Shearer scoring a try and Paul McClung adding another 5 points with the conversion and a penalty. The 2nd half didn't start well with Loretto scoring a converted try early in the half to take a 22-10 lead. Loretto at this point were dominating the match, but some determined tackling and great work at the breakdown denied them further scores.

Sensing Loretto may have thrown all they had at them, the Knox team raised their game and got back into the match when Alexei Dubtskiy drove over for a try. Knox again raised the tempo and spent much of the next 10 minutes in Lorettos half, with Finlay Shearer and Alex Ingram coming close to scoring, only desperate defence preventing them from doing so. Loretto still created chances though, and looked dangerous on the counter attack, especially when Knox gifted them possession with some aimless kicking.

Great vision by Jack Hamilton at the base of a ruck sent Connor Munro on a 40m storming run up the touchline before he was tackled just short of the line. Support from the forwards meant quick ball was recycled allowing Mark Robertson to score under the posts. Paul McClung added the points with the conversion tie the match at 22-22.

Neil Black then looked to have sealed victory for Knox with a try from a quickly taken tap penalty by Jack Hamilton. Paul McClung added the conversion to make it 29-22 to Knox. However, in the last minute Knox gave away a penalty which Loretto kicked to touch. From the line-out they worked the ball well through several phases before breaking through to score. They added the 2 points from the conversion to tie the score at 29-29 with the final kick of the match.

With both sets of players expecting extra-time, the coaches discussed the result and agreed that with the scores tied and both teams having scored the same number of tries, SRU rules state that the away team progress, meaning Knox were awarded the victory! It was a great match, and neither side deserved to lose however the Knox players commitment and never say die attitude was exceptional and they were unlucky not to go throw as outright winners.

This tough test will have given Knox a better idea of what to expect in the next round, as the games will surely only get more difficult from now on. However if they can cut out a few errors from their game and maitain the effort shown in defence and attack there is no reason the boys cannot progress further in the competition.

Squad: 1. Connor Mitchell 2. Camerson Paterson 3. Adam Trotter 4. Connell Erskine 5. Alexei Dubitskiy 6. Max McAlpine 7. Harvey Blake 8. Connor Munro 9. Jack Hamilton 10. Gregor Denholm 11. Alex Ingram 12. Neil Black 13. Mark Robertson 14. Finlay Shearer 15. Paul McClung

Subs: 16. Ben Fairgrieve 17. Keiran Haldane 18. Louis Luke