With the disappointment of last weeks exit from the National Shield, Haddington were looking to get back to winning ways, as they welcomed Portobello RFC to Neilson Park on Saturday.

With James Dewar nursing a hamstring injury, Freddie Cunningham was promoted from the bench to the wing. Aarron Thomson returned to the 1st XV in place of Kevin Quinn, with Rab Watt moving to prop, to allow Kyle Munro to come back into hooker. Finally, Dillon Ball got the nod at second row, with Hugo Elder unavailable this week.

Uncharacteristically of Haddington, the Reds were quick out of the blocks from the kick off. After giving away a penalty, right under the Portobello posts, the opposition decided to clear their lines and managed to retain the subsequent line-out. The Portobello centres then took play into the mid-field, but some great defence from Haddington, allowed them to turn the ball over. Some quick passing out wide, allowed outside centre, Kyle Hamilton, to beat the Portobello defence and go in for the score. Bathgate was unable to add the extra two points. 5-0.
On the 15-minute mark and after Haddington gave away several penalties, Portobello decided to take a quick tap penalty, which caught the Reds sleeping to cross the try line for their first try of the day. Fly-half, Christopher Britee-Steele, adding the extras to give Portobello a small advantage. 5-7.

On the end of the first quarter, Haddington were able to put together some great passages of play and recycled the ball really well to split the Portobello defence. After moving the ball wide, the Reds then crashed the ball back up the middle, allowing Jonny Riddell to score. Haddington fly-half, Donald Bathgate, adding the extras to take the scores to 12-7.

With Haddington now down to 14 men due to Kyle Munro receiving a yellow card, the hosts were still able to keep the pressure on Portobello. With play deep in the Portobello half, Portobello opted to clear their lines and reduce some pressure. Haddington full-back, Andy Durkin caught the clearance kick on the full and set up play, just inside the Portobello 10-meter line. Quick ball from the ruck, allowed Bathgate to release his supporting forward pack and some quick thinking from Captain, Connor Munro, who fed an inside ball to Kirk Washington-Mackay to allow the scrumhalf to score. Bathgate converted, to take the scores to 19-7.

Now into the second half, Portobello kicked off and unfortunately Haddington were unable to secure the ball. With Portobello now back in possession, the Haddington defence was again caught napping, which allowed the Edinburgh men to reduce the gap to 19-17. This certainly wasn’t the start that Haddington were hoping for, considering how well they had started the first half.

With only two points in it, the next score was going to be crucial. Thankfully for the hosts, it was Connor Munro who crossed the whitewash after Freddie Cunningham played a lovely inside ball to the number 8 to allow him to score. Bathgate converted, to take the scores to 26-17.
On the 50-minute mark, Haddington were penalised by the referee for an infringement. Christopher Britee-Steele stepped up to slot the penalty and reduce the gap to 26-20.

With Haddington now back in possession and the lineout won, inside-centre Ewan Cunningham crashed the ball up the middle to set a solid platform for the supporting pod of forwards. Bathgate then took play back down the blindside and some great footwork from Ben Moffat, allowed him to dance through the Portobello defence and score. With the conversion missed, the scores stood at 31-20.

Right on 65-minutes, Haddington were awarded a penalty, and took the opportunity to kick for the corner. Unfortunately, the kick to touch was missed and Portobello regained the ball and took play back up the middle of the field. The referee deemed the tackle to be high and awarded Portobello a penalty. The trusty boot of Britee-Steele slotted the penalty to take the scores to 31-23. The Portobello fly half was on hand shortly after, to kick another penalty and reduce the gap to 31-26.

With only 10 minutes of play left, Portobello threw everything at this young Haddington side, who seemed determined not to close this game out with some poor decision making. However, further tries from our wingers, Ben Moffat and Ross Morrison, allowed Haddington to finish the game, 43-26 winners.

Next up, Haddington face Leith RFC at home, with a 2pm kick off. This will be followed by our Christmas Party (Christmas jumpers are strongly recommended), with a live band and disco from 6pm. All welcome!