North Berwick's joy day at Murrayfield
North Berwick won the opening match of the three Scottish Hydro cup finals with a 13-8 win over Strathmore at Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday to lift the Regional Bowl.
North Berwick imposed themselves on their Forfar opponents for large parts of the first half and ended the first 40 minutes 10 points to the good though they were made to work for their only try of the half which came one minute from the end of the first 40.
Before the scores came in, four chances went abegging for the East Lothian side – the first two were from the boot of man of the match, stand-off Grant Craig, who sent two penalty kicks wide before the side came agonisingly close to getting their first try after 17 minutes.
Opportunity
Craig made a great break through the middle of the park from the halfway line, before releasing big winger Craig Lauder who burst forward only to be tackled into touch right at the corner flag.
Their fourth opportunity was another attempt on the try line when the chasing North Berwick backs won the race to a lovely chip over the top from Craig but couldn't control the ball and knocked on in the try area.
North Berwick's only try was scored by Peter Gannon.
Three-page special report in East Lothian News, April 30, 2010
Craig slotted the resulting penalty and North Berwick got some points on the board, some 20 minutes before their try came in the final minute of the half.
Craig broke once more and fed the ball to outside-centre Peter Gannon, who charged in on the angle from the 22 to score at the corner.
Craig converted with the last kick of the half to give North Berwick a 10-0 lead.
After ten minutes of the second half Strathmore bounced back the game with a score of their own.
After being awarded a penalty on their 10m line, full-back Brad McKenzie spotted it was on, marked the penalty, tapped and sped off down the park.
McKenzie then offered a neat pass to supporting winger Niall Lear who ran in the unconverted try.
Craig and McKenzie then exchanged penalties on the 53rd and 56th minute to end the scoring for the match to hand the win, and the Scottish Hydro Regional Bowl, to the East Lothian side.
North Berwick full-back and man of the match, Grant Craig, said: “I was close to tears yesterday on three occasions just through phone calls alone.
“We’ve been in the league [Scottish Hydro East 1] for eight or nine years so to get promotion was brilliant but today is massive bonus for us, it’s the icing on the cake.”
North Berwick coach, Ken Macaulay, added: “We’ve had some very tight last 10 to 15 minutes over the course of the season, most of the time we’ve been chasing the game.
“It was quite an unusual experience to be leading but I had every confidence in the boys’ fitness given the number of games they’ve won in the last minute.”
NORTH BERWICK
Danny Waldman; Graeme Fairgrieve, Peter Gannon, Robert Ritchie, Craig Lauder; Grant Craig, Grant Spence; Craig Cockburn, Brian Buchanan, Alan Gallacher, Russell Freer, Iain Dove, Richard Macaulay, Tommy Dale, Jamie Dove.
Substitutes: Danny Thorburn, Lee Inglis, Ben Inglis (FR), Stuart Smith, Ben Lowe, Jamie Armstrong, Cameron Ewer
STRATHMORE
Brad McKenzie; Matt Marshall, Colin Strachan, Stewart Ross, Niall Lear; Mike Bruce, Lewis Knox; Craig Sim, Kyle Mitchell, George Strachan, Stuart Gray, John Westwood, Bruce Morrice, Colin Bell, Jamie Wilson
Substitutes: Gary Durward, Tim Malkowski, James Kiely, Malcolm Lamont, Grant Watson, Gary Black, Jamie McLaren.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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