A rivalry that goes all the way back to the start of minis was continued on Sunday when North Berwick hosted Boroughmuir for a friendly Under 16 match. The turn out from North Berwick was excellent with 23 players making their way to The Rec. With a number of other guys injured or unavailable this means that numbers are very healthy in this year group. There was also an excellent crowd and a very good turn with the whistle from Alasdair Gardner.
The game started at a frantic pace with North Berwick playing down the hill. After mistakes on both sides, things settled down and North Berwick put together a good backs move which gave Kayde Reynolds, playing on the left wing, the opportunity to show his outstanding speed and evasion skills. He scored under the posts having received the ball just inside the North Berwick half. Conversion by Roddy Main – North Berwick 7 Boroughmuir 0.
The rest of the first half continued to be well balanced and very competitive. However, after concerted pressure from North Berwick, Josh Stewart took the ball through a number of Boroughmuir guys to score an excellent try. Conversion by Kayde Reynolds
Half Time – North Berwick 14 Boroughmuir 0

In the second half things got quite scrappy with North Berwick continuing to make numerous substitutions to ensure that everyone got decent game time. After parking themselves in the North Berwick half, Boroughmuir were rewarded with a good try on the left wing but with the conversion missed North Berwick retained a good margin.
North Berwick 14 Boroughmuir 5.

In the final quarter North Berwick showed that they were really determined to win the game and took back control of the game. After good all round teamwork, including a great break down the wing from jack Kennedy, Riccardo Cucchi finished off some excellent play from close to the line. The conversion was missed but with only 3 minutes left North Berwick had won the game.
Final score North Berwick 19 – Boroughmuir 5

For a scratch side this was a tremendous effort by all the North Berwick guys. Praise should go to Mike Dean at number 8 and captain who stood out until he got a nasty cut and had to leave rapidly to get stitched at the Royal Infirmary and thanks to the likes of Riccardo Burrows, Eoin Patrick, Henry Elderfield, Matt Dooner and Kalon Forrest who performed so well as subs often playing in ‘unusual’ positions.

The afternoon ended with most of the team being ‘ejected’ from the clubhouse because they were just going to sit and chat all evening and some of us had homes to go to !