Lasswade 40 Aberdeen Grammar 10

Lasswade won a comfortable five pointer in the away leg way back in September. Since then Aberdeen Grammar have won just two games and travelled to Hawthornden bottom of the table and already relegated.

Lasswade kicked off towards Rosewell on a dry and uncharacteristically windless day but on a pitch that had had nearly too much rain in the previous two days.

Within 3 minutes the hosts had set up a lineout within 15 metres of the Grammar line and were still able to maul their way over for Hunter to claim the points and Matt Smith was on target with the wide out conversion.

Grammar responded with a forty metre penalty by McElderry but it was only a brief reprieve. Lasswade applied the pressure again and with 10 minutes on the clock Blair Smith crossed under the posts after a sustained period of interplay between Backs and forwards.

Early injuries to Borthwick and then Blair Smith seemed to upset Lasswade’s rhythm apart from a touch down by Wilson that was called back for an earlier forward pass.

The next score came from Aberdeen with five minutes when Shepherd finished off a backs move and McElderry made it 14-10.
There was just enough time for Lasswade to confirm their dominance of the scrum with what these days is a relatively rare push-over try completed by Paul Wilson and Matt Smith’s conversion completed the 21-10 half time score.

Scorewise the second half belonged entirely to the hosts. Just two minutes into the half, Mark Wilson broke down the left and had Lasswade’s player of the match, Grant Innes, in support to finish off beside the posts and earn the four try bonus point and another Matt Smith conversion.
On the 50th minute more persistent pressure and territory added a winger’s score in the corner for Sinclair with a rare miss by Smith.

The final score came when there was still 10 minutes left. Lasswade used a penalty to set up a scrum on the five metre line. Inevitably the Grammar scrum crumpled under the pressure and the ref had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try.

This five pointer leapfrogs Lasswade into a guaranteed third place To still be in contention for the title, they need maximum points from a journey to Berwick (23rd) who are struggling this season and a visit from second placed Falkirk (30th). However the promotion spot could be deided before then if Peebles take 5 points from a visit to Aberdeen Grammar on 16th March then they clinch.

Lasswade’s next match is a a home League Cup tie against Orkney on 16th March. Kick-off 3pm.