The Force were ultimately rather unlucky to come away with nothing from a game that they dominated for long passages. They lost out to a far more experienced Jed side who looked to have four or five much older heads, while the Force played with only three youngsters with any first team experience. Jed ran the ball adventurously from deep and that tactic paid off after Hawick’s tackling wilted in the face of strong carrying opponents. Set plays were again the Force’s strong suit but they often failed to capitalise on territorial gains by perhaps not using the head and calming things down. Whilst Jed had an early breakaway score lead, they were pegged back by driving lineout work that led to converted tries from Reece Hartdegen and Sam Frizzell in a half that saw the lads lead 14-7. With a slippy ball, a lack of experience and training time meant that the second half saw the Force not being able to control a game they should have won, and they succumbed to four breakaway tries from their opponents. Charlie Welsh was metronomic from the kicking tee but a penalty goal was all that the Force gained in the second half, when they could have had much more. Ewart Cameron showed up well until injury forced him off to be replaced by the effective, terrier-like Ben Swailes.
Mathew King sniped well around the breakdown with Aidan Fairbairn and Rab Linton carrying bravely. The Force’s best players were surely their clever running, brave tackling wingers in Mattie Newman and Paul Goldie, indeed Goldie was unlucky to lose the man of the match accolade to Frizzel. Final score Force 17 Jed A 33
