Dunbar welcomed Forresters to Hallhill in this Edinburgh Shield match. Dunbar had skipper jamie peters along with Sandy Thomson back to bolster their back division. Andrew Wightman started in the forwards and Andrew Lunam replaced the unavailable Ruaridh Mitchell at hooker. Keiran Donnellan injured himself in the warm up to reduce the bench to just the three players. Dunbar started the match in a very positive fashion taking play to the visitors twenty two. Dunbar have been giving away an abundance of penalties this season and today was no different. Too many penalties allowed Forresters to clear their lines and relieve the constant pressure that was on them.
The home team also squandered several chances on the visitor’s line but the final pass went astray or the ball was knocked on. Eventually the score the home team deserved came on 22 minutes when the forwards stole ball in the ruck. A good drive by the forwards saw Andrew Wightman emerge with the ball to drive on and release the supporting Calum Champion to score. The conversion by jamie peters extended the lead to 7-0. Dunbar were now on the front foot and a penalty was awarded on half way. Peters put in a nice kick to the corner and Courtney set up good second phase ball. The ball was quickly shipped out to centre Sandy Thomson who burst through between the centres to score. Peters again added the extra points to extend the home lead after 28 minutes.
Forresters were really struggling to secure quality possession or territory. Dunbar should have scored again from the kick off as Andrew Wightman burst through several tackles to release the supporting keith courtney who then passed out to Calum Champion who knocked on with the line at his mercy. On 33 minutes James Kelly replaced the injured John Peebles on the wing.
On 38 minutes the visitors full back made a great mazy run past several weak tackles. With Clutton in his way the full back chipped ahead only for the Dunbar scrum half to impede the player. The referee had no choice but to show a yellow card to the Dunbar man. Dunbar had to make a couple of changes with Blair Mills coming on for James Kelly and Thomas Thornton-smith replacing Paul Pritchard at flanker.
With half time approaching Blair Mills finished off a fine move. gary peters had stormed down the right wing outpacing the defence to release Mills who went round to score at the posts. jamie peters completed the first half scoring with a simple conversion.
Half Time
Dunbar 21 Forresters 0
The second half started with Forresters number 6 shown the yellow card for a very late tackle on Calum Champion to level the sides. liam clutton came back on after his yellow card and James Kelly came on for Blair Mills. Dunbar went further ahead on 50 minutes when the forwards drove to the line with winger Kelly in the mix. The referee awarded the try and it was indeed winger Kelly who had scored. Peters again was accurate with the conversion and Dunbar were out of sight at 28-0. Dunbar made more changes with Mills replacing Champion with Clutton moving to wing forward.
Forresters had a period of good possession which ended with a drive by their forwards over the line from close range. Dunbar had taken the strike against the head and Courtney had driven on only to have the ball stripped which allowed the visitors to cross the whitewash.
Dunbar were clearly not happy having conceded that they scored almost straight away. Good play after a scrum on the twenty two saw gary peebles make ground. The forward support was quick to react and they set up quality ball for jamie peters to waltz through the visitors defence to score on 58 minutes. The skipper converted his own try to extend the lead to 35-5. Paul Pritchard replaced gary peebles in the centre on 60 minutes. The game died as a spectacle as neither team seemed to show any great desire. Too many mistakes and too many penalties stopped any momentum by either team. John Peebles returned to the field after recovering from injury to replace Ally Brown on 70 minutes. The referee then dished out a further four yellow cards as the game pittered out. keith courtney and Paul Pritchard for Dunbar and the Forresters number 4 and 6 all taking time out for their actions.
Dunbar have a free week before returning to league rugby with a long trip to face Langholm. The performance will have to be much better if a result is to be churned out on what will no doubt be a very mucky surface down in the borders. This was a good result against a team who are pushing for promotion in League two. Too many missed chances could have resulted in a much larger score line. Forresters more robust forwards were rarely a threat to the home line and that will have pleased the Dunbar coaches.