Haddington 3rds 46 v Dunbar 2nds 21
Only the second game this year for the 3rds and a much needed victory to boost the morale of the players.
Once again we had a good mix of young and old (sorry more mature and experienced) players. A big thanks must go out to Mitch, Dean Mack and Stevie Fulton whose impact on the younger lads could be seen, hopefully we will start to see a little more of you guys when possible and any others who still have a little left to offer in the tank.
The first half started off very physical with Dunbar trying to rampage up the field through their forwards, however our defence stood solid and we had some good competing for the ball at the breakdown with Mitch very prominent and stealing the ball when he got his big hands on it. The first try was scored by Greig after a good bit of interplay, he converted his own try. Dunbar came straight back at us seeking field position with the boot and then rumbling through the forwards to even up the score. We started to gel as a unit and Lord Mehmet could be seen wherever the ball was, working hard in defence. The forwards giving Willie plenty of clean ball and his service to the backs was exceptional (Sax was grateful for this as he was at 10). With good clean ball to the backs Sax pulled the strings and Glen was soon over for his first of the game taking a few players with him. Not long after Sax had the ball firing down the line again and Glen ran in with his 2nd. Dunbar came back at us and scored another converted try, this was the last time they would see our line for a while. Them scoring spurred us on and we came back again pushing hard at the line with the forwards running and handling like backs before some last ditch defending stopped them, from the breakdown Laidlaw picked up and drove over for a well deserved try.
2nd half
Started in much the same fashion as the first ended, with everyone operating well as a unit, we had a few changes at half time and this showed as the boys took a bit of time settling into the game. We soon scored again when the ball was carried up by the forwards, sucked in the Dunbar defence and Pete Wilson got in for the first of his 3 tries. As Dunbar started to tire they rang the changes, although this had little affect as we ran in another try soon after. Dunbar came back at us once again pushing for field position however a stray kick went into the hands of Pete Wilson at fullback and he put the ball up and chased his own kick, thanks to forced errors on the Dunbar side and Pete’s persistence on the follow up he got in for his 2nd try (ref also missed the knock on).
Dunbar hit back at this point and tucked the ball up the jumper and headed straight for our line, we stood firm for ten minutes before Dunbar managed to crack our defence and score their final try. With 5 minutes left on the clock the game was pushed into Dunbar’s 22 when they managed to turnover ball and kicked it down the throat of Pete Wilson who ran it in from 50m stepping and handing of a number of Dunbar players (excellent solo effort). Ref blew the final whistle after the conversion.
Man of the match went to Pete for solid performance both in defence and in attack.
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