Livingston Rugby Lions roar into next stage of the Shield

Feb 11 2010 West Lothian Courier

LIVINGSTON breezed through to the second round of the Shield with a comfortable caning of Cambuslang.

It was an excellent performance and result for the West Lothian club but it was one that didn’t look likely at the start of play.

Livingston started poorly and despite enjoying the lion's share of possession they were inaccurate and providing no spectacle with the ball in hand.

Eventually Cambuslang pounced on a home error and scored to the left of the posts after a Livi knock-on.

The conversion was struck well and Andy Dick, the Cambuslang No 10, added a penalty to leave Livi trailing after 15 minutes.

Livingston pulled themselves back into the match with a try immediately.

David Ferguson rampaged through a couple of tackles and stretched his legs to score under the posts.

The try was converted by Craig Bolan to put Livingston back in the game with their noses slightly in front, at 10-7.

The scrum was see-sawing from one side to the other with the sides exchanging control of the match.

But after one dominant Livi effort John Bruton charged down a kick, won the race to the ball and scored in the corner. Bolan missed the difficult conversion, leaving Livi to go in at half time 13-10 ahead.

A trio of changes were made by Livi at half time with Daniel Jackson replacing Gary Wilson, Stevie Logan coming on in place of David Stone and Jason Watt taking over from Ian Simmons.

Livingston played with much greater purpose in the second half, but Cambuslang were not out of the game yet as the home team enjoyed plenty of the ball and defended resolutely.

Eventually Livi wrestled back the momentum and scored when Richard Cooped glided over in the corner.

Livingston were now growing in confidence and scored once more when Glen Mushet chipped the onrushing defence, gathered his kick and scored under the posts for an excellent opportunist’s try.

It was the final action of the match to give Livingston an excellent 24-15 victory that allowed them to progress to the next stage.

Livingston’s next fixture is against GHK on February 13, at Almond Park, kicking off at 12pm.