World Footy News

Saturday 21st August saw the second leg of the 2010 Bute Series between Scotland and Wales take place at Victoria Park in Glasgow. The weather conditions for the game were good with sunshine and a slight breeze.

As in the first match both teams were up for it straight from the first bounce with some tasty tackles going in from the outset. The first quarter was again a very tight battle with the Welsh having the best of the early play. The game at this stage was evenly balanced and after Wales had taken an early lead Scotland managed to peg a couple of goals back to go into the quarter time break only 5 points behind.

Scotland had welcomed back vice captain Ross Thomson, Al Lindrop and Andy Brocket to bolster the midfield, along with Mark Mason who had played so well in the first leg this gave the Scottish side plenty of run and rotation options through the middle. Wales began to struggle with the good quality ball coming out the centre from Scotland who began to make possessions count on the Scoreboard kicking 7 goals for the quarter to Wales 1 to take a handy 38 point lead into the main break.

Unfortunately for Wales the 3rd quarter started badly with them picking up a few injuries to an already depleted squad. Scotland took advantage of this using more rotations from the bench to keep their players fresh. This again began to tell on the scoreboard with Faulkner and Scott taking advantage and kicking more goals to extend the lead. The Scots were getting good use of the ball from rucking contests around the ground and there on-ballers were delivering well to key targets which led to another 7 goal quarter to the home side. Just as importantly the Scots defence kept Wales goalless for the quarter.

As they had done in the first leg Wales rallied a little after three quarter time and showed that they weren’t going to lie down, kicking a couple of quick goals. The Scottish defence had been resolute all day and with Gamble, Hunter and Sloan rebounding of the halfback line providing opportunities for the midfield and forwards to score goals. By this time Wales were beginning to tire with no fresh legs on the bench to bring on the Scots took advantage of this and finished with 8 goals for the quarter.

The final score line doesn’t reflect the intensity or effort put into the match by Wales who worked hard for each other all day especially with an undermanned squad, they had some of the best passages of play early on but were just unable to convert them. The result did mean that Scotland won its first piece of silverware as an international side picking up the Crichton-Stuart Cup as the winners of the Bute Series 2010, and is a measure of their continued improvement over the last 12 months. They have managed to combine the experience they already had with some good young potential for the next few years.

As has become a custom with this series both teams played fiercely but within rules of the game, credit must go to the umpires for both matches and the organisers for the success of this series and making it one of the most anticipated fixtures in the Calendar for both nations.


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Scotland 4.4 11.12 18.22 26.28 (184)

Wales 5.3 6.4 6.6 9.8 (62)