Murrayfield Wanderers turned on the style to secure promotion to BT National League 3 next season with a comprehensive 68-10 victory over Dunbar.
Wandies only needed a one point to wrap up the BT East Region Division 1 title and after a spell-bounding opening 40 minutes, they had done just that, scoring four tries to take a 28-3 lead into half-time.
The domination continued throughout the second period and 6 further tries buried the game once and for all.
Dunbar scored a consolation try in the second half but were by far the beaten team in a one-sided affair.
Wandies came into the match knowing that a point of any kind would be enough to secure the league title and they duly delivered that in a first half littered with tries.
Chris Beattie kicked off proceedings with the first score after just three minutes which Murray Hastie converted for a 7-0 lead.
Any hope of Dunbar spoiling things for the home side depended largely on grabbing early points and as Fraser Strachan crept offside, the visitors got on the board with a penalty to peg Wandies back to 7-3.
But from then on it was one-way traffic as Dunbar went down to 14-men for 10 minutes following a deliberate knock-on from close range. Sensing an opportunity to strike, Wandies pounced immediately with Saps bulldozing his way through the Dunbar defence to score.
Murray's conversion made it 14-3, but Wandies, not wanting waste too much time, scored a beauty off the restart.
Created by quick ball from Strachan, Dunbar's defence was at sixes and sevens as Liam Hanlin drew the players in front of him to perfect release Patrick Cooney down the blindside. Thereafter, Wandies were there in numbers and a great supporting line from Hanlin put the centre in under the sticks.
Three tries in the bag, just one to go for the league. It came 10 minutes before half time as slick hands once again put the hosts in under the posts. Name surname the scorer and with Hastie's conversion, Wandies took a 28-3 lead into the break.
The second half brought enforced personnel changes as Kerr came off with an aggravation of his shoulder injury, but the Wandies dominance continued. Cooney touched down in the corner early on in the second period, but it was Murray's touchline conversion that typified the sort of game the home side were having.
Chris Beattie had a particularly impressive game at full-back, backing up his first half try with two more in the second as well as putting Murray in for another score.
The full-back completed his trio in the space of about five minutes which only served to further demoralise the visitors.
With Murray maintaining his 100% kicking record, it seemed Wandies could do no wrong, but they let their guard slip when Dunbar grabbed a consolation try back late in the game. It didn't worry the home side as they went back on the rampage, scoring through Logan and then Saps to round off a 68-10 romp.
Saps' try was bizarre in that the back-rower casually worked his way back on-side courtesy of his team-mates running towards him. Nevertheless, the big fella latched onto the inside ball to score one of the game's more humorous tries.
All in all, it was a game that Wandies were never likely to lose and by securing the crucial league winning bonus in the first half, Bruce's men can now set their sights on the big prize, the BT Shield to be played at the national stadium on Saturday 22nd April.
# | Team | Pl | Pts |
1. | Murrayfield Wanderers | 18 | 84 |
2. | Hawick Harlequins | 18 | 69 |
3. | North Berwick RFC | 18 | 69 |
4. | Duns | 18 | 49 |
5. | Berwick | 18 | 43 |
6. | Linlithgow RFC | 18 | 42 |
7. | Dunbar RFC | 18 | 33 |