Haddington made the short trip down the coast to Recreation Park to face league leaders, North Berwick RFC in their Tennent’s East Region Division One clash on Saturday.

In a late change to the Haddington team, Ewan Cunningham unfortunately had to pull out of the starting XV due to a leg injury sustained in the warmup, meaning Nick Bell was promoted from the bench to inside centre and Thomas Salkeld was drafted into the bench at the 11th hour.

With North Berwick playing down the hill in the 1st half, the Reds defence had their work cut out as North Berwick looked to play a wide and expansive game plan. After 28 minutes of play gone, the home side had managed to convert a penalty and score three tries (one converted try) to take a comfortable 20-0 lead. It took until the 30th minute for the away team to finally get into the game and play some rugby, after sitting back and allowing North Berwick time on the ball and space. Defensively, Haddington were poor in the 1st 30 mins of the game and ended the half 20-0 down.

With Haddington now playing down the hill and keeping possession, it took North Berwick until the 63rd minute to get back onto the scoreboard with an unconverted try. On the 68th minute, the away team secured their 1st try of the day through hooker Kyle Munro and unfortunately Donald Bathgate was unable to add the extra two points from the touch line.

With less than 10 minutes of the game left, the home side bagged another two converted tries to finish the game off with a 39-5 win and keep their unbeaten run-in tack.

Haddington can definitely take some positives away from the game, especially the middle third. However, the 1st and last 20 minutes proved too costly for the Reds and they must ensure that they start and finish games better.

Kyle Munro, sponsored by Scott Brownlee was awarded the Haddington Man of the Match.

Next up, Haddington face Leith RFC at Neilson Park on Saturday the 4th of February. This will be followed by Wales vs. Ireland at 14:15, then England vs. Scotland at 16:45, which will be shown live in the clubhouse.