East Lothian Courier | Sport | Revenge is sweet for North Berwick High

Monday, 8th September, 2008

Published: Thursday, 6th December, 2007 12:30

Revenge is sweet for North Berwick High

Print Article

North Berwick HS 11 - Bell Baxter HS 5

NORTH BERWICK High School’s under-18 rugby side gained revenge on Fife’s Bell Baxter HS in the Scottish Schools Cup after a hard-fought win over the cup holders.

The county school progressed to the last eight of the Bell Lawrie Under-18 Scottish Cup by beating the favourites from Cupar – who knocked them out in the quarter-finals last year – in a tough 11-5 triumph last Thursday.

North Berwick now face a difficult tie in the quarter-final against Edinburgh’s George Watson’s College at home on Thursday.

However, on their day this talented North Berwick side are more than capable of progressing into the last four of the competition.

On a windswept and chilly afternoon in the shadow of North Berwick Law the home side elected to play into the wind and up the slope in the first half.

Conditions made kicking extremely difficult throughout the game, but the forwards dominated the loose play from the start and controlled the ball well in the face of a strong wind, and astute kicking by North Berwick fly-half Dougie Laidlaw relieved any pressure on the home line.

The home side opened the scoring with a simple penalty from Johnny Mitchell in front of the posts following some fine driving play and excellent ball retention with Chris Lekas and Dan Barber.

And the scoreline remained the same at half-time thanks to some resolute tackling by the North Berwick backs in the face of clever kicking and handling moves from the Cupar side.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, North Berwick extended their lead to 8-0 with only three minutes gone with a try from prop Gary Cockburn after a forceful catch and drive from a line-out. The conversion was missed.

Shortly afterwards a further penalty by Mitchell took the home side into a commanding, and what looked like unassailable 11-0 lead, before they took their foot off the gas.

The East Lothian side should have shut up shop at that stage by pinning the opposition back on their own line, but to their credit, Bell Baxter never gave up and deservedly scored a breakaway try as a result of poor North Berwick tackling.

The conversion was missed bringing the score to 11-5 with approximately 10 minutes of the match remaining leaving the large crowd on tenterhooks.

That set up a grandstand finish with both sides throwing themselves at each other to secure the win. The North Berwick heroes eventually prevailed, but not before Bell Baxter had given them – and the supporters – a scare or two.

Other fixtures in the draw for the quarter-finals are: Earlston HS v George Heriot’s; Robert Gordon’s College v Stewart’s-Melville College; Merchiston Castle School v High School of Dundee.

The draw has also been made for the quarter-finals of the Bell Lawrie Scottish Schools Under-18 Plate where Knox Academy will meet either Balfron HS or Douglas Ewart HS.

Social Bookmarking What are these?