Last minute try secures another bonus point win for Haddington

Haddington RFC travelled to the South Gyle on Saturday to take on Forrester RFC in their East Region League Division One clash.

The Reds were without the experience of Macauley Parker in the second row, after he failed a late fitness test due to picking up a knock against Langholm the previous week. Aarron Thomson got the nod from the bench and started in the number five shirt. Dan Witko returned to the 1st XV to replace Harvey Blake in the backrow and in the backline, Donald Bathgate returned to flyhalf, with Kirk Washington-MacKay returning from injury to claim the number nine shirt. Finally, on the bench it was fantastic to see the return of Freddie Cunningham to the 1st XV squad. The young centre returned after a shoulder injury sustained on the 7s circuit.

It was Haddington who opened the scoring, after Forrester decided to play a clever ball in behind the Haddington back-three. Winger, Paul McClung collected the ball on the bounce and some clever footwork allowed McClung to beat several defenders and get back into the Greens half. After a couple of phases, Haddington recycled the ball along the backline and some great inter-play between inside-centre Andy Durkin and Fullback, Ben Moffat, saw Andy Durkin popping up over the Forrester try line. Donald Bathgate converted, to give Haddington the early lead.

MacKay was next on the break, only to be stopped by some fantastic scramble defence for the home side. With MacKay at the base of the ruck, Kyle Hamilton took on the scrumhalf duties, with a mini pick and go, to release the galloping backrower, Dan Witko, who cantered over the try line. Bathgate again, slotted the conversion to take the scores to 0-14 to Haddington.

On the 13-minute mark, Forrester were awarded a penalty within kicking distance after Haddington were deemed to have not rolled away. The Forrester scrumhalf duly stepped up and kicked the penalty to reduce the gap to 3-14 to Haddington.

With play now on the halfway line, Haddington were awarded a scrum and the forwards provided a solid platform for the backline to attack. It was outside-centre, Kyle Hamilton who managed to break clean through the Forrester defence, to stride his way up to the home sides 22-meter line. With the advantage, Haddington popped the ball out wide, but the referee brought play back due to Forrester being deemed offside. Bathgate opted to kick to the corner, to set-up a lineout on the Greens 5-meter line. After a solid lineout, the Reds pack set-up a maul, with hooker, Kyle Munro at the back. With his head up, he spotted a massive gap between the maul and the next available defender to trundle in for the 5-points. Bathgate kept is 100% kicking record for the day, to take the scores to 3-21 to Haddington.

With halftime fast approaching, Forrester had the last say of the half to reduce the gap to 10-21 after their inside-centre squeezed through the Haddington defence.

Although the crowd was treated to a fairly free flowing game of rugby in the first half, the same cannot be said of the second-half, albeit the rain can be slightly blamed for this. It took until the 63-minute mark for the next score to come and much to Haddington's disappointed, it was Forrester who produced the goods. With the conversion added, the gap was now reduced to 17-21 to Haddington.

With the momentum on their side, Forrester closed the gap to one point with just over 10-mintues of play left. After being awarded a penalty, the Greens slotted the penalty between the uprights to take the scores to 20-21.

With a nail-biting finish for both teams, Haddington managed to swing the pendulum back in their favour and gather some momentum in the last few minutes of the game. After being awarded a penalty just outside the home teams 5-meter line, MacKay opted for the quick tap penalty. After several phases, Kyle Munro managed to burst his way over the try line (with a little help from his fellow pack) to secure the bonus point win for Haddington RFC and end the match 20-28 to Haddington.

The result now takes Haddington two points clear of Linlithgow in the East Region League Division One. The league now takes a short break and returns on the 14th of October, with Haddington travelling to Linlithgow.