Scotland Lose Hard Fought Kolkata Cup Tie

An injury hit Scotland Deaf International team lost a hard fought end to end Kolkata Cup Match against England at Broadstreet RFC, Coventry, on Sunday.An injury hit Scotland Deaf International team lost a hard fought end to end Kolkata Cup Match against England at Broadstreet RFC, Coventry, on Sunday. Scotland started the game with the wind at their back; England – with a considerably larger pack – collected the ball from the kick off, and immediately took the game to Scotland putting immense pressure on the away side’s pack. Scotland managed to weather the storm despite spending the first 15 minutes in their own half, with the boot being their only option to keeping England at bay. Eventually the pressure told and England slotted over a well deserved penalty to open the scoring 3-0. Scotland came back, rucking aggressively, allowing centre pairing, Mike Tweedie and Grant Rutherford, to cause the England backs problems. The pressure paid off when England were forced to kill the ball following a break by Hillfoots debutant, Ally Page. The penalty was awarded and Ally Page slotted over to draw both teams level. England responded with some heavy forward play and slowly regained control, sucking in the Scottish defence and crossing the touch-line for an unconverted try to go 8-3 up. Half time: England 8 – Scotland 3 The second half began with Scotland’s defence taking a hammering from the powerful English pack providing time and space for the English backs to run in a converted try to go 15-3 up. Scotland were quick to respond with more of the quick ball seen in the first half and were rewarded as Cartha Queen’s, Andy Crozier, scored the first try for the Scots. Continued forward pressure allowed the Scottish backs to run the ball wide and, with good ball from the forwards, and direct running from the centres, Ally Page scored his first try in the Dark Blue to bring the scores level at 15-15 with a missed conversion. England were back in the lead moments later after a tired Scottish defence were forced to kill the ball which England duly converted to take the lead to 18-15. The huge English pack later proved too much for the tired Scottish defence when they barged over the try taking the score to 25-15.