Duns Rugby Club

DUNS 16 points, PRESTON LODGE 18 points.

Duns welcomed Preston Lodge to the Hardens on saturday in a top of the table clash in RBS East Regional League Division 1 match, and were agonisingly pipped at the death by a last gasp penalty kick.

A win for PL would confirm them as champions of East 1, and with Duns being the current champions, and therefore in possession of the trophy, a presentation party was dispatched by the SRU to hand the trophy over at the end of the game. The coaches' pre-match team talk had almost been written for them - the Duns team had been written off before a ball was kicked. However, the side played as if their very lives depended on the outcome, and they ran Preston Lodge - a very good side who had won every previous match this season with a try bonus point - mighty close.

Duns played up the Hardens slope in the first half, and opened the scoring on 7 minutes with a Dale Robertson penalty after PL had come over the top at a ruck. Five minutes later another Robertson penalty took the lead to 6 points after Preston Lodge had strayed offside.

Midway through the half Preston Lodge narrowed the gap with their first try of the afternoon. Their big, powerful pack had a scrum close to the Duns line, and a mighty shove brought them a pushover score. The conversion was missed - in fact all three PL tries went unconverted - but, as will be described later, the crucial match-winning kick went straight and true.

The match rattled along at a rip-roaring pace - two good sides going at it hammer and tongs with no quarter asked or given. How could this be the same Duns side which had stuttered past Lismore only seven days previously ?

On the half hour mark PL scored their second try of the afternoon. They were held up short of the Duns line but the ball came back and was fed along the line to Brash on the wing who gave his side the lead for the first time in the match. Half time was reached with no addition to the score.

Now playing down the slope, there was great expectation amongst the large support that Duns would turn the match around. However, it was Preston Lodge who were first to score after the break with some incisive running which cut holes in the Duns defence. A ruck was set up on the home 22, and with the defensive line not properly set there was an overlap on the right which full back Greig Kinross exploited by diving over in the corner.

Duns were now 9 points adrift, and PL had more than half an hour in which to score their bonus point try and keep up their maximum points record in the league. However, the home side had other ideas and for almost the remainder of the match they pummelled the visitors' line.

Stuart Pearson and Andrew Baxter had some darting runs down the flanks, and the Duns pack - lighter man for man than their opponents - took the match to PL with picking and driving at the ruck to gain the hard yards down the middle of the park.

Duns scored their only try of the match after half an hour of the second period. With the PL defensive line up flat, and the ball likely to stop quickly in the muddy bottom corner of the field, Dale Robertson kicked over the visitors' heads and David Hutchison sprinted through and dived on the ball to score. Robertson converted, the gap was narrowed to two points and suddenly we had a real nail-biter on our hands.

For ten minutes Duns hammered away at the Preston Lodge line, but could not secure a breakthrough. Stuart Pearson was held up agonisingly short, and in the melee which followed Dale Robertson injured his ankle and had to leave the field. A penalty was awarded to Duns less than a minute later, but with their kicker off the field who would be asked to take it ? Up stepped young Stuart Thomson to place the ball on the tee just outside the 22, and with a steady nerve young Milky creamed one between the posts. Duns had the lead with only a minute remaining, and the man from the SRU was putting the trophy back in its box.

Preston Lodge did not panic, whereas Duns conceded a string of penalties in an effort to see the game out. This allowed PL to march up the field and eventually they had a lineout just outside the 22. A secure catch and drive was countered by Duns collapsing the maul, and the referee awarded PL a penalty. Their full back Kinross had probably not had many more pressurised kicks to cope with in his career, but his aim was unerring and his successful shot at goal heralded first the final whistle and then wild celebrations from the Preston Lodge team and their large travelling support as the three points won not just the match but also the league title for his side.

Preston Lodge are clearly the best team in East 1 this season, and thoroughly deserve to be crowned champions. All at Duns RFC would like to congratulate them on their achievements so far, and they are still involved in the Shield competition so there is still an opportunity for them to emulate Duns' performance last season by making it a league and cup double.

The Duns team was :- Stuart Pearson; Andrew Baxter, Ross Turner, Colin Tait and David Hutchison; Dale Robertson and Ben Black; Allen Whellans, Cammy Hill, Barry Hamilton, Duncan Budge, James Thorburn, Chris Blaikie ( captain ), Richard Burns and Jamie Renton. The replacements were Dane Ivison, Bert Grigg and Stuart Thomson.

The match ball sponsor was Denis Lawson Ltd, Heating Engineer.

[ Author's note : Please excuse any inaccuracies in my reporting of the first half of the match. I didn't actually get to the ground until half time ! ]