Haddington v Hillhead Jordanhill Match Report(L)

Hillhead Jordanhill 10 v Haddington 15

Haddington knew this was going to be a difficult match in Glasgow on Saturday against a team battling for survival in Premier 2 and unlucky with their results at Home this season. The conditions dominated proceedings and deteriorated so badly at one stage that the referee must have thought about abandoning the match, however, the worst subsided and the match was played to a finish with Haddington coming out on top.

The Scarlets seemed to adapt to the conditions quicker than the Home side from the start and had all the territorial advantage for the first 25 minutes, however, a combination of poor finishing and a stubborn defence meant there was no scoring during this period. After weathering the early storm, literally, Hills first foray into the Scarlets half paid dividends with a penalty from full-back Gus Twaddle. 3 – 0.

Haddington came straight back at Hills and a clever kick-and-chase from winger, Graham Crawford had the Home side scrambling to save another certain try, although the pressure on the Home side eventually told when stand-off Jamie Peters kicked a Penalty to level the scores at 3 – 3. Just when Haddington thought they had things back under control, Hills had their best spell of the half and after disrupting a scrum, their impressive No.8, Cammy Kerr, picked up and drove over near the posts, the easy conversion meant Hills, surprisingly, were ahead going into the break.

Half-time 10 – 3.

Haddington still seemed shell-shocked at being behind as the second half kicked off with the Home team now looking the more composed during the third quarter of the match and only good defending by the Scarlets keeping Hills at bay. Both sides were unfortunate to have a player sin-binned for illegal play as the game moved into the final quarter with the game still finely balanced.

The Scarlets backline had threatened to cut loose for most of the day and with 15 minutes remaining it eventually sprung the Hills rearguard with Captain, Donald Snodgrass making the initial break, before linking with Neil Watt who in turn fed winger Crawford to evade the cover defence and touch down. The conversion was missed but the Scarlets were only two points adrift at 10 – 8.

Haddington continued to press for the vital next score and within 5 minutes had got their just reward after the forwards had set up good field position before releasing the ball to the backs with the elusive Crawford popping up in midfield to burst through a gap and score near the posts. Jamie Peters made no mistake with the conversion to give the Scarlets a five point lead at 15 – 10.

The Scarlets were now rampant and should have added another couple of scores in the final 10 minutes to put a better gloss on the scoreline, however, with terrible underfoot conditions and a slippery ball to contend with all day, the players were happy just to get the win out the way, followed quickly by a warm shower and a hot pie.

Next week sees the first home match of 2008 against Kelso. Kick-Off  2p.m.