East Lothian Courier | Sport | Rugby round-up: Boost for Burgh after Hamilton win

Published: Thursday, 6th September, 2007 10:14

Rugby round-up: Boost for Burgh after Hamilton win

By Courier Sports

7/9/07

Musselburgh 43 - Hamilton 22

There was a buzz of anticipation around Stoneyhill prior to Musselburgh’s match against Hamilton as the club’s faithful awaited some indication of what they could expect in their Scottish Hydro Electric Premier 2 campaign.

And if this early showing is anything to go by, then it could be another successful season for the East Lothian side after promotion last year as they swept aside an experienced Hamilton team.

The conditions were good and the pitch was in excellent condition as Musselburgh started the match attacking into the wind facing the Farm Road end.

The game started at a frantic pace and burgh seized the initiative when returning scrum-half Neil Clark’s pace took him over the line for a try. Graeme Wells narrowly missed the conversion attempt.

Musselburgh’s number 8 Barry Morrison was in rampant mood and caused the Hamilton defence problems before Andrew Cook ran in the first of his two tries with Wells converting to make it 12-0 to Burgh.

Wells added a penalty to put Burgh further ahead before the 15 minute mark, but Hamilton pulled it back to 15-5 with a try from winger Hawkes.

Neil Clark scored another try for Burgh and Cook sprinted over the line for his second try of the day just before the break. Wells converted to make it 29-5 at half-time.

Morrison twisted his knee just after the restart and was forced out of the game to be replaced by Andy Lamb. Hamilton began to impose themselves on the proceddings and scored through their captain Eynon with a free run to the corner.

Hamilton continued attack but Burgh defended well before Hamilton managed to sneak a penalty score to make it 29-15.

Musselburgh’s Danny Fitzgerald was sin-binned along with a Hamilton player before Lamb sealed the win with a great try. Eynon pulled another try back for Hamilton late on.

Haddington 43 - Cartha QP 15

Premier 2 rugby returned to Neilson Park on Saturday and Haddington looked as if they had never been away after a sweeping win in their first match.

The pitch was in perfect condition for the new season and the scene was set for the home side to lay down a marker for the rest of the campaign.

Several new faces were on show for the Reds with 18-year-olds, Lance Robinson, Dougie Orr, Greg Taylor, Callum Cockburn and Neil Rogers all in the new-look squad.

Another newcomer was New Zealand No.8 Nico Maybury at the back of a solid looking pack, with new Captain Donald Snodgrass leading a youthful back division.

Haddington started poorly and were behind from Andrew White’s penalty and an Andrew Noble try after 12 minutes.

But tries from Mark Morrison, Donald Snodgrass gave them a 12-8 lead at half-time.

Tries from Craig Adam, Jamie Peters, Calum Mark, Craig Harrison and another from Snodgrass sealed an impressive first win for Haddington in the second half.

Preston Lodge 25 - Greenock Wanderers 0

Preston Lodge kicked off the new rugby season in fine style with a convincing win over Greenock Wanderers in bright and breezy conditions at the Pennypit on Saturday.

The Prestonpans side had the powerful Greenock side on the back foot early in the match and clever play and good hands created an opening for hooker Ross Anderson to sprint through on his own from 20 metres and score near the posts.

Andrew Clark added the conversion to take the score to 7-0 after only five minutes.

Greenock hooker Lavelle wasted two penalty opportunities and PL took heart from the let-offs to raise the tempo of the game and debut boy Dougie Thomson scored to increase PL’s lead.

Clark added another two penalties on the half hour mark after good play from Alan Blair to give the hosts an18-0 half-time lead.

It wasn’t long into the second half before runs from Chris Dixon and Clint Guyatt cut right through the Greenock defence and forced them to concede a penalty deep in their 22.

Clark’s kick rebounded off the right hand post and was fielded by prop Cameron McLean who just failed to get the ball down over the line.

By this time the game was constantly disrupted by penalties for petty offences and the referee was forced to talk to the two captains to try to get the game flowing again.

And just after the hour mark Dixon yet again bravely won the ball on his own 10m line and fed it to scrum-half Chris McLean. He avoided the despairing Greenock tackles and ran 55 metres from his own half to score under the posts.

Clark added the easy conversion to take the final score to 25-0. The game continued to be disrupted by injuries and penalties but it was a job well done for PL.

Hawick Harlequins 9 - ross High 7

ROSS HIGH got off to the worst possible start under new player/coach Graham Paris as Hawick Harlequins welcomed them to East League 1 thanks to a last-gasp penalty.

Paris now shares the coaching role with Ross High stalwart Mark Urwin, but the duo will want to forget their first competitive match in charge despite dominating their opponents for the majority of the game.

The Tranent side changed coaches during the close season after the club were relegated from National League Division 3 and former coach Ian Patterson left.

But it was a bad start in their new surroundings for Ross High as the Harlequins edged a tight match 9-7.

Ross High took the lead in the first half with a try from Michael Patterson which was converted by Dean Jones.

Harlequins hit back with a drop-kick and a penalty to bring the score back to 7-6.

Ross High then carved out several great scoring opportunities but couldn’t finish them off and were heading for an opening win until disaster struck with just five minutes left on the clock.

Ross High prop Ian Clark was sin-binned and Hawick took full advantage of the extra man with two minutes to spare by kicking a penalty to steal the points from the Tranent side’s grasp.

“We had enough chances to win three matches so from that point of view it was a very disappointing defeat for us,” said Paris.

“That’s something we’ll have to work on, but I was very impressed with the amount of chances we created so we can still take a lot from the game.

“It’s early days yet and there’s no need to panic but we’ll have to work harder.”

Dunbar 32 - Earlston 0

DUNBAR got off to a flier in their first match of the new season as they tore apart old adversaries Earlston at Hallhill on Saturday.

The opening exchanges were even as the blustery conditions made handling awkward, but Dunbar took the lead on 10 minutes when Chris Swan shrugged off a challenge to score in the corner.

Dunbar began to dominate play and increased their lead after another impressive driving maul was offloaded to Kieran Donnellan who strolled over for a try behind the posts and the stand-off duly converted his own try to make the score 12-0.

Earlston struggling to get behind the hosts’ defence and Dunbar increased their lead when Niall Brockett showed neat footwork to score out wide for a 17-0 lead at half-time.

Steven Low added to the tally shortly after the break from patient build-up play to secure the bonus point, but Earlston then began to exert some pressure, albeit to little effect.

Petty offences saw both teams become frustrated. Tempers frayed with a minor altercation which resulted in one player from each side being sin-binned.

Earlston gained the upper hand for the next 10 minutes, but Dunbar slowly regained the initiative and scored from close range when Andrew Wightman was driven over after a lineout. The conversion was missed.

To the Earlston’s credit they continued to try and breach the home defence and after a speculative kick ahead a chase contested by the opposing wingers resulted in them both being harshly sin-binned after a ‘handbags at ten paces’ incident. Kieran Donnellan converted a late penalty to take the score to 32-0.

North Berwick 12 - Portobello 9

NORTH BERWICK rose to the challenge of taking on newcomers Portobello who won East League 2 last year with a tight win at Recreation Park.

Andy Scott failed a fitness test and was replaced by Jason Logan, Craig Lauder moved to centre to partner Matt Dudgeon and Danny Thorburn – returning this year from Haddington – started in the front row.

The home forwards were dominant in the early phases of the game and Grant Craig gave the home side the lead on 13 minutes with a successful penalty.

But Portobello’s goal-kicking prop Connor McLeod equalised in the 20th minute when the home forwards were guilty of playing the ball on the ground.

The home side started the second half in a similar fashion to the first by attacking their visitors and Craig kicked two more penalties in the third with 16 minutes of the half played.

Portobello fought back and kicked two penalties of their own from the foot of MacLeod, but North Berwick edged into the lead through another penalty 10 minutes to go.

It proved to be the last score of the match as North Berwick held out for the win but there were a couple of tense moments as Portobello passed up another great opportunity to score from a penalty near the end.

Several NB players including the Hughes brothers, McNair, Macaulay, Loy, Criag and Ross were singled out for praise.

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