Road to Murrayfield gets Shorter and Livi pick up Shield on the way

The Boys in blue travelled to the 4G Artificial Pitch at Murrayfield on Monday night followed by a big travelling support for their second game in 3 days.

Livi knew a victory would take them one step closer to day out in the National finals at Murrayfield and allow them to pick up their first piece of silverware since winning the National 1 Title in 2004. In good conditions Livi Kicked off against the wind and looked to be enjoying the good conditions under foot , some fast running pushed them deep into the RHC half and although the pressure was been out on, the RHC defence held firm with some good tackling. This continued until the 10th Minute when an infringement in front of the posts allowed Bolan to take the lead for Livi with a nicer dispatched penalty , RHC started to show they were not just here to make up the numbers and were capitalising on some Livi Mistakes to push back up the other end of the field , after some good phases they picked up a penalty which the duly converted to make the score 3-3. The game ebbed and flowed and was looking like a tight affair and on many occasions RHC looked the more likely to score , in fact they crossed the line only to be pulled back to a forward pass , Livi managed to edge in front again with a Bolan Penalty,

Just prior to halftime RHC had the chance to draw level with a penalty in front of the posts , Fortunately for the boys in Blue the RHC Stand Off pushed the simple kick wide and both teams went into the Half with Livi leading 6-3

As the second half Kicked off both teams knew the next score would be crucial , once again for the first period RHC had the upper hand in attack but Livi's defence was absolutely Rock Solid time after time huge hits were being dished out to the RHC attackers with special mention to the Lithuanian Wrecking ball Marius Tamosiatias, powerhouse Hooker Lee Barrett and Captain Andy McMahon, Livi then lost prop Neil Scobie to a yellow card with an infringement at the LIne out and although RHC pressed and pressed Livi managed to escape just with a converted penalty to bring the score to 6-6.

This turned out to be a key moment as Livi roared back into the game firstly some slick hands and running on the fast surface allowed Centre Ross Neil to cross under the posts which was duly converted by Bolan. minutes later Bolan pushed livi more than score ahead with a nice penalty to bring the score to 16-6. This Buyoed the almond park men and it seemed everything they touched came off , within minutes Livi extended their lead with a try from Andy McMahon to bring Livi to 23-6.

RHC this time lost a man to a bin ad their uphill struggle got a lot harder , Livi were playing with confidence , power and pace and after some great handling from deep in their own 22 Aussie Number 8 Aaron Johnston collected the final pass to cross for Try Number 3 and to bring the score to 28-5.

Livi were hungry for more and once again some good forward momentum released Andy McMahon on the wing and he used all his power to cross in the Corner, Bolan hit the tricky conversion to make it 35-6.

With 10 to play Livi never looked like they would give up this lead and were determined to keep RHC from Scoring and this was typified by a great covering tackle and turnover by winger Jamie King, The Almond Park Men held on for the final whistle and celebrated the first of hopefully many trophies this year. This was one of the best Team Performances of any Livi Side in recent years and will be long remembered by everyone who braved the cold and all 19 player put in a Man of the Match performance, credit must go to RHC who competed throughout ,The attention now turns to the National Shield Semi Final on Saturday when Livi entertain Gala YM at Almond Park (3pm) with a chance to win through to the National Final at Murrayfield on the 20th April. Livi have only played their once before in 2005 when the lost out to Murrayfield Wanderers but after the performance tonight Livi will never have a better opportunity to avenge that day..