Haddington 10 Dumfries Saints 24

A DEPLETED Haddington side fell to a second consecutive defeat, as they lost to Dumfries Saints on Saturday.

The Reds were without first choice back-row trio Jonny Riddell, Kris Paterson and Colin Stuart through injury, with Mark Renton starting for the first time this season.

He was joined in a makeshift back-row by Alex Cunningham and Connor Munro, while Calum Cockburn also returned to the bench.

Despite their missing personnel, the Reds started well, and stand-in captain James Ferguson made a superb break down the blindside to score the opening try of the day.

Gareth Pritchard missed the conversion, but they scored a second of the half when Garry Cockburn powered over from close range.

Dumfries though, scored a try of their own, added to by a pair of penalties, to ensure they led 11-10 at the interval.

The Reds suffered further injury problems in the opening 40 minutes, with lock Ben Laing forced off and Calum Cockburn forced to join brother Garry in the pack.

A more dominant performance from the visitors after the break, as they scored two more tries, and a pair of penalties, to seal victory.

Haddington will hope to have key men back in the fray as they travel to the league's basement side Livingston on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the club's 2nd XV were well beaten by their Kelso counterparts at the weekend, but face a chance to make amends at bottom side Lasswade tomorrow (Friday).

Haddington: J Ferguson, K Adams, K Hamilton, L Clutton, A Durkin, G Pritchard, J Hamilton; M Dunlop, K Munro, G Cockburn, B Laing, H Hamilton, A Cunningham, C Munro, M Renton