On Sunday 20th November the Black Diamonds travelled to Bannockburn RFC who hosted the 4th round of the Aspiring League. Three games awaited and first up was Perthshire.

Both sides were evenly matched with some good ball handling. Good pressure from the Diamonds forced a knock on from Perthshire resulting in a scrum to Berwick. Newcomer Kirstie Tang gave a clean ball from the scrum to Chloe Gray who ran in for the try. Perthshire put heavy pressure back to Berwick using their strength to power through for a return try.
In the second half both teams strived to get ahead however a line out was won by Perthshire which resulted in their second try... final score 5-10 perthshire.

The second game was against Lasswade who beat Berwick 25-5 at home in the third round. The Diamonds were determined to improve and turned up the pressure putting in the tackles and holding a strong line. A knock on from Lasswade resulted in a scrum for Berwick, the team ran the ball out in to space showing great handling skills passing to Tang who ran in her first try. After half time Lasswade were pressuring the Berwick try line but Berwick held firm winning a scrum. Georgia Thornton took the ball and ran the pitch length to be stopped short however a good offload to Tang almost seen another score but a last second tackle saw the try dropped over the line. Berwick continued the pressure however a high tackle by Berwick resulted in a penalty, Lasswade capitalised and ran in a try. Final score 5-5

The final game saw us take on the hosts Bannockburn Valkyries who had a healthy squad of substitutions. Berwick knew the game would be tough as they had no substitutions. The Diamonds played with determination and heart putting in some excellent tackles however Bannockburn persisted and ran in a try. A scrum to Bannockburn saw them breakaway and score another. The return kick off fell into the arms of Tang who passed to Gray and she ran in for the try.
At halftime after rousing speech from captain Laura Smales, the Diamonds returned putting in immense pressure to win balls, Bannockburn played fresh legs but this did not deter the heart of the Diamonds. Vice captain Zoe Burns made a decision to chip the ball through chasing it down to regain, she scoop passed to Lauren Tyson who Powered on through for the try. Burns kicked a long kick off to the home team which resulted in a scrum to Berwick. A clean pass out along the line saw Tang run in a final try leaving the score as 15-10 to Berwick. In the words of Head Coach Dougie Hall, Bannockburn met the Waterloo when they played Berwick.

The Black Diamonds improved each game and the team have lots to build on to take their game to the next level. The Aspiring final will take place at the Oriam on Sunday 4th December.