East Lothian Courier | Sport | Rugby round-up: Four sent off in North Berwick bust-up

Published: Thursday, 29th November, 2007 09:30

Rugby round-up: Four sent off in North Berwick bust-up

North Berwick 20 - Hawick Linden 3

TWO players from each side were sent off in an ugly incident five minutes from the end as North Berwick cliamed the scalp of league leaders Hawick Linden.

The match, which had been a tough contest throughout, boiled over into a fight near the end as players became frustrated at the constant breakdown of play by the referee.

An unchanged North Berwick side welcomed Linden to Recreation Park on Saturday, looking to put together back-to-back wins and atone for their poor performance in Hawick earlier in the season.

Games between North Berwick and Linden are always keenly contested and this was no exception, although the strong cross-wind affected tactics.

The home forwards dominated the early exchanges and the backs were keen to run at every opportunity. North Berwick took the lead after 20 minutes with a Craig Lauder penalty, despite having a man in the sin-bin.

Matt Dudgeon became the second NB player to be yellow carded on the half hour mark for playing the ball after a tackle, and although a man short and just before half-time, a perfectly executed move saw Jamie Armstrong break through the Hawick defence to play in the supporting Richard Macaulay to score at the posts. Lauder converted to make the half-time score 10-0.

The second half saw North Berwick continue to attack Linden and a poor clearance from the visitors was punished by a strong run from Macaulay who, after handing off two would-be tacklers, put Lauder in at the corner.

This stirred Hawick Linden into action and with the wind swinging round in Linden’s favour, North Berwick were forced to spend the next 15 minutes in their own 22 and only a terrific Lauder tackle saved a certain try.

All Linden had to show for their efforts during the spell was a penalty kick from hooker John Tait, but Garrett Hughes, Armstrong and Toby Binnian all left the field with injuries.

After the bust-up in the final five minutes, Danny Waldman showed power and pace to cap a fine performance with a try to round off the scoring.

Despite the events at the end, the game was played in a sporting manner with both clubs’ officials believing the referee over-reacted.

A club spokesman said: “Thanks must go to Hawick Linden who were very sporting in defeat, and donated a cheque to the Jonny Mitchell Trust.”

West of scotland 16 - Haddington 10

Haddington’s promotion hopes suffered a major setback after losing to West of Scotland on Saturday.

Another slip-up from the Scarlets will end their hopes of playing Premier 1 rugby next season as injuries to key players begin to take their toll after their whirlwind start to the season.

West took the game to Haddington from the kick-off and edged in front from a penalty after 10 minutes through stand-off Fraser Sinclair.

This spured the Scarlets into action and from a five metre line-out the Haddington pack drove West back over their own line. Gary Glass came up with the ball to claim the try for a 5-3 lead.

The home side hit back immediately and caught Haddington offside and again Sinclair made no mistake with the easy penalty.

Although Haddington defended well throughout the first half, concerted pressure from West eventually led to ex-British Lion Gordon Bulloch barging over near the posts for a deserved try. The conversion by Sinclair increased the lead to 13-5 with 10 minutes of the half still remaining.

On West’s first visit into Haddington territory in the second half they came away with three points when the Scarlets were penalised for not releasing in the tackle and Sinclair buried another kick bewtween the posts for a 16-5 lead.

Haddington were now chasing the game, but they struggled for field position and West contained them in the middle of the park for long periods.

But the Scarlets managed to stretch their hosts with five minutes remaining to allow Borck Gibbon to chip a delightful pass for winger Neil Watt to gather and touch down for a consolation try and bonus point.

Selkirk 9 - Musselburgh 8

A NARROW one point defeat by Selkirk leaves Musselburgh lingering in second bottom of Premiership 2, but it wasn’t due to a lack of commitment from the county side.

Despite the loss, Burgh’s form of late has been exceptional and could be a catalyst for an upturn in the team’s fortunes as they battle relegation.

Burgh didn’t allow Selkirk – who sit in third position in the league table – to impose themselves on the game at any time throughout this match, and it was the first time this season the home side failed to reach double figures in a game.

Burgh took the lead on 11 minutes from a Wells penalty from 35 yards, but Cassidy levelled for the hosts with a penalty four minutes later.

Musselburgh took an 8-3 lead into the break with a try from Talac on 26 minutes when the pack drove him over from a scrum. The conversion was missed.

The hosts pulled three points back three minutes into the second half with another penalty from Cassidy for not releasing, and the danger man split the posts again with two minutes to go for the winning points.

Preston Lodge 12 - Garnock 36

PRESTON LODGE once again earned their Jekyll and Hyde nickname in a disappointing defeat to high-flying Garnock.

The visitors took a 31-0 lead in the half-time break before PL started to claw their way back into proceedings in the second half.

The first try came after only seven minutes when the PL defence was breached after sustained pressure from the kick-off and No.8 Miller sprinting through a gap in the backs to score under the posts. Jacobsen added the conversion.

Two PL errors in quick succession led to tries from Reid and Jamieson and the misery continued for the home with the fourth on 30 minutes from Jamieson.

Several missed tackles then allowed the visitors to complete their first half rout as they helped themselves to a fifth try to take the score to 31-0.

Garnock scored the last of their tries early in the second half before Ali Wood and Graeme Patterson pulled points back for an improved PL side, but it was too late to salvage anything.

Leith 3 - Ross High 65

ROSS HIGH continued their tremendous form with a storming away win over city rivals Leith on Saturday.

A hat-trick of tries from Robert Baillie, two each from Steven Ketchin and Jamie Evans and one each from Luke and Martin Welsh, gave the Belters a massive lead.

Two conversions from Steven McDonald and four conversions and a penalty from Dean Jones added more points for another bonus point victory as Ross High close the gap on top of the league Hawick Linden.

Dunbar 8 - Penicuik 15

DUNBAR came off second best in a match that could have been won by either side in blustery conditions.

And Penicuik’s stand-off played the conditions perfectly, placing high kicks that drifted into the corner with the wind.

The territory gained by the visitors saw Dunbar on the rack for the first 20 minutes and only fine defensive play kept the visitors at bay.

However, with the play confined inside the home 22-metre area, it was inevitable that Penicuik would make the breakthrough.

And so it proved from a ruck close to the Dunbar try-line. Penicuik chose to spread the ball wide creating an overlap for the left-winger to score in the corner. The try was converted.

The game was evenly-balanced after the score and Dunbar were unlucky not to be awarded a try when Steven Low’s touchdown was deemed to be the result of a double movement by the referee just before half-time.

In the second half, the Penicuik stand-off was again harnessing the wind to the visitors’ advantage with his touch kicking.

The game moved from end to end, but the defences were on top before the visitors scored a penalty. Dunbar’s Keiran Donnellan cancelled this out with a penalty of his own.

Penicuik pushed over the Dunbar try-line from a ruck with 15 minutes remaining.The referee took some time to decide it was grounded, but the try was awarded to the visitors.

Dunbar hit back immediately with a try, taking advantage of a blunder by the Penicuik winger. A high ball was dropped by the Penicuik defence and James Kelly won the scramble to kick forward and touch down in the corner to end the scoring.

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