Portobello FP

Porty 33 Dunbar 6


A superb second half by the Porty elite was enough to seal the win and the bonus point against a tough Dunbar side.

The match started with Dunbar applying enormous pressure on the Porty defence. Dunbar managed to put together several phases of play and stretched Porty several times. Crucial tackles by Chris Sinclair and Jason Conlin saved certain tries. Porty survived the onslaught but conceded two penalties. The Dunbar kicker missed several opportunities with the boot before Porty woke up and applied some of their own pressure; Rory Thomson nailed two penalties to even the scores. Craig Little received a fairly soft yellow card for ‘coming in from the side’ and the Dunbar playmaker Jamie Peters was also yellowed for a late tackle on Porty hard man Dave McQueen.

During the half time break coach Hardy expressed how important the match was and how little of ‘our’ brand of rugby we had played in the 1st 40. The team obviously listened as minutes after the break Porty had scored a well worked try. Dunbar kicked high, full back Chris Thomas received the kick and counter attacked making good yards. The ball was recycled and Craig Little kicked to the corner. The Porty G raff Rory Thomson was at hand to gather the ball and score in the corner.

Porty’s 2nd try was one that Porty legend Pete ‘assist’ Archibald would have been proud of. Porty kicked long to touch, the Dunbar full back attempted to keep the ball in play by palming it in –field, however, it landed perfectly for Porty skipper Chris Thomas to gather and score with thanks.

With 2 minutes remaining the chances of a 4 try bonus point seemed pretty slim, however Cammy Walker scored a good try with what was thought to be the last play of the match. Rory Thomson quickly nailed the conversion from the sideline with an impressive drop kick as the referee explained that there was time for one last play. The sense of urgency from the Porty team was incredible as they went in search of the 4th try. Several phases of play went by before Sean Hollywood scored the crucial try to keep Porty in the league hunt. It was top class drama at the end but the performance as a whole was excellent. It was particularly satisfying to see that when we need to we can go up though the gears and play at a tempo that teams in our league cannot match.


Well done lads, great to be back. Duns next week which is always tough, we need to make sure that we train hard tues/thurs to give ourselves the best opportunity to win the match.

The Porty machine keeps on trucking

Proud to be Porty.