Haddington get off to a flying start against Porty

On a gloriously sunny day at Neilson Park, Haddington RFC hosted Portobello RFC in the opening game of the East Region League Division 1 on Saturday.

The club are delighted to welcome back Garry Cockburn, Paul McClung and Max McAlpine back into the 1st XV squad after long injury layoffs. Macauley Parker also made his debut for the club in the second row.

With Portobello opting to kick-off down the hill, it was the Scarlets who drew first blood with outside centre, Kyle Hamilton crossing the try line after a great pass from Donald Bathgate allowed the centre to crash over untouched. 5-0.

Portobello responded by being awarded a scrum, just outside the opposition half. Scrumhalf Nick Hammond darted down the blindside after the away side secured the scrum. With play taken back out wide, the Haddington defence remained strong and secured the turnover.

After the 17th minute mark, Haddington were awarded a scrum deep into the oppositions half and Captain Connor Munro picked from the base of the scrum and darted over the try line. With the conversion missed, the scores remained at 10-0.

It took until the 34th minute for Haddington to get back onto the scoreboard with winger, James Dewar finishing off a brilliantly worked team try. Fullback, Ben Moffat also deserves a lot of credit, after breaking up the middle of the field and offloading to Dewar for the winger to run clear.

First half ends 15-0 to Haddington.

Moffat was on hand again to get the home sides second half off to a flyer after some great inter-play between Moffat and fellow back-three player, McClung. Haddington were awarded a scrum, just outside Portobello’s 22-meter line. With the scrum won, the ball was played out wide to McClung, as he darted for the try line. After some fantastic scramble defence from Portobello, McClung offloaded to Moffat and takes the scores to 20-0.

McClung would get his just rewards however, as the young winger showed some great feet work in the 60th minute to go over in the corner and take the score to 25-0. Ewan Cunningham secured the conversion to make it 27-0.

The show didn’t stop there for McClung, with him adding two further tries in what was a busy afternoon. However, it was his fellow winger, James Dewar who secured the last and final try to make it 44-0 to Haddington.

All credit to Portobello, who at times, threatened the Haddington defence and managed to get in behind the home side and probably deserved some points on the board in the end.

Congratulations to Paul McClung (sponsored by PMC Fabrication & Welding) on being awarded the Man of the Match.

Next up, Haddington welcome Broughton RFC to Neilson Park. The game kicks off at 3pm and we look forward to seeing you down at the club to support the boys.