A win, but not enough!
Haddington 13-48 Accies
Accies knew what they had to do on Saturday to qualify for the semi-finals of the RBS Edinburgh Regional Cup - win by more than 55 points and score a try bonus point. When they arrived at Neilson Park and saw the strength of the wind blowing straight down the pitch towards the club house, they knew it would take a disciplined game to do just that.
In the end though, Accies exited the cup, despite running in eight tries against a very spirited and determined Haddington side, by failing to build an adequate lead during the first half when playing with the elements.
Jamie Sole set the scoreboard going when he touched down in the first minute, with Ruairidh Bonner adding the conversion from the touch line. Buoyed by that Accies threw the ball around whenever they could and time after time the wind took the ball away from the receiver, turning the ball over to Haddington. It took another 15 minutes to score again when Tom Stuart crashed over in the same corner as Sole, Ruairidh Bonner converted again (14-0).
Jamie Sole had to leave the field injured to be replaced by Euan Bonner. Accies continued to play the same style and combined with the determined home defence it was not until two minutes before half time a long kick to the corner led to Accies regaining the ball from the lineout and easily driving Haddington forwards over their line for Dan Teague to score (19-0).
Immediately after that Ross King slotted a penalty for Haddington (17-3) and then from the kick off the ball got to Jake Knight, who scored under the posts in his own inimitable style, leaving a number of Haddington players grasping at air. Ruairidh Bonner converted to make the score at half time 26-3.
After half time Haddington resumed with vigour, kicking the ball into those corners Accies should have used, but they had only a penalty by King to show for their endeavours. After another 15 minutes Iain Berthinussen broke away and just made the line with a dive and a stretch of the arm (31-6).
Accies came more and more into the game, with more passes going to hand playing into the wind. Next to score was replacement hooker Callum Black, who took a good off load from Kenny Blyth and drove through a number of Haddington tackles to score under the posts, Ruairidh Bonner converted with a drop kick to make the score 38-6
Accies realised they were now within a chance of getting the points they needed, and four minutes later replacement back row, Max Gordon scored (43-6). Accies kept up the pressure but Haddington kept them out until Blyth broke through to score his try (48-6).
After the restart, Haddington kicked the ball into that roadside corner, where they managed to have the final word when James Ferguson crossed the whitewash and King converted, to make the final score 48-13.
In the end a good win, but not what was required. On the positive side Accies had three players making their debuts - Alex Cowan on the wing and teenagers Callum Black at hooker and Max Gordon at wing forward. They all performed well with the latter two both scoring tries.
There are some pictures in the Gallery.
Posted on Sunday, 22 January 2012 under Match Reports