Langholm RFC vs. Haddington RFC Match Report

Haddington made the long trip down the A7 on Saturday to face Langholm RFC in their East Region League Division One clash with both teams coming into this encounter in good form, having won their previous games.
The pack remained unchanged from the team that took the field against Royal High in the previous week. In the backs, Freddie Cunningham was unavailable and Nick Bell started at inside-centre, with Ewan Cunningham switching to outside-centre.
In a fairly low scoring affair, it was the home side who got the scoreboard ticking in their favour first. With Haddington being deemed offside at the line-out, Langholm opted to kick to the corner and play off the top from the line-out. Play was then taken into the mid-field and again, Haddington gave away another penalty. Quick thinking from Langholm saw a quick tap penalty and the away side were exposed out wide with a lack of numbers to allow Langholm in for the try. With the conversion missed, the scores sat at 5-0.
With the first half nearly wrapped up, Langholm were awarded a penalty just inside the Haddington 22-meter line and the home side decided to take the shot at goal and extend their lead to 8-0.
The halftime messages from the coach team certainly had their effect on Haddington, as they came out of the starting blocks early. Prop Garry Cockburn carried well to take Haddington deep into the Langholm red zone. Haddington were then awarded a penalty just in front of the posts and Kyle Munro took the quick tap penalty to bundle his way over the try line. Flyhalf, Donald Bathgate added the extras to take the scores to 8-7.
On the 50-minute mark, Haddington were rewarded for their hard work with a penalty and Captain Connor Munro signalled to the posts. Bathgate stepped up and slotted the penalty to give Haddington a small advantage at 8-10.
Shortly after, both teams were reduced to 14-men after the referee opted to the pocket and send two players off due to some off the ball action.
Haddington’s hopes of a small margin win were crushed with less than five minutes left of the game. With Langholm deep into Haddington territory, the Langholm flyhalf saw space in behind the Reds defence and played a kick through for his outside centre to get on the end of and score. With the conversion secured, the game finished 15-10 to Langholm.
The Borders is always a difficult place to go and play rugby, but ultimately it was the first half performance and ill-discipline which cost Haddington the game. The next two weeks are huge for the club if they want to keep the title challenge a live.
Haddington return to Neilson Park on Saturday 2nd of December as we host Forrester RFC, kick off from 2pm.