Berwick RFC 11 Aberdeenshire RFC 3

After last week’s tough game against Gala it was a return to League action this week for the Blacks. With the pitch looking remarkable well and the conditions dry and bright it was with a sense of optimism that the game kicked off.

Aberdeen started off brightly taking the game to Berwick but the Blacks weathered the pressure and then started to fight back. From a lineout in their own 22 Berwick won the ball and moved the ball forward rapidly and as the ball made its way across the back line a score seemed to be on. Just as the gap was created the pass went astray with Jack Webster just missing out on a scoring opportunity. Now that the Blacks were in the opposition half they started to build some pressure. Another scoring opportunity went begging when number 8 Colin Young picked up from a scrum and after beating his direct opposition was thwarted as a covering player managed to knock the ball from his grasp with the line begging. With the pressure mounting Aberdeen started to give away penalties and this ill discipline was to cost them later in the game.

The first score came when Matthew McCreath engineered a break from the 10 metre line. After drawing the man McCreath offloaded to the supporting Gareth Hill who made rapid progress up the field with only one man to beat. Unselfishly Hill also drew the man and then passed to Roy McFarlane to allow the Berwick Full back an easy canter in for the try. Matthew Hackett has been carrying a niggle for some weeks now and this perhaps was the reason for his missing the conversion as he has scored from trickier positions this season.

Aberdeen started the fight back and for the next 20 minutes the match ebbed and flowed but the penalty count against Aberdeen clocked up. On the 20 minute mark Aberdeen made a fine break through their Number 8 who was ably supported and it took 3 attempts from Berwick before the attack was stopped. Berwick then gained valuable territory after a charge up field from Colin Young which was followed up by a great tactical kick from Gareth Hill and superb chasing up by Matthew McCreath to force the 5 metre scrum to Berwick after the Aberdeen defender had to touch down after taking the ball over his own try line. Berwick’s scrum was dominating and Aberdeen gave away a penalty for collapsing the scrum deliberately. Referee Ian Rogerson chose to be lenient when Aberdeen again infringed at the scrum but as play moved on Aberdeen came in from the side to give Berwick another penalty. This time Captain Jamie Young took the kicking option and McFarlane extended the Berwick lead to 8-0 when he calmly slotted over. Berwick again used the boot to good effect shortly thereafter as they pushed Aberdeen back into their own half but some further poor tackling from Berwick allowed Aberdeen to move up field and as Berwick infringed Aberdeen slotted a straight forward penalty to close the gap to 8-3.

The game continued to be penalty strewn with Aberdeen in particular falling foul of the referee. This included a couple of march backs for chatting back to the referee. The half time break didn’t make much difference as Aberdeen continued to rack up infringements. This made the match disjointed and eventually McCreath was able to extend the Berwick lead to 11-3 from a kickable penalty.
Finally the penalty count against Aberdeen told as their Hooker was sent to the sin bin. With the extra man Berwick dominated the game but just couldn’t get into scoring positions. Aberdeen then lost another man to the sin bin due to a deliberate foul. The match drew to a close with Berwick dominating but just unable to find the killer touch to score the tries to put the game beyond doubt. Aberdeen offered little in their backline and their forwards couldn’t seem to react to the referee’s decisions allowing any pressure on Berwick to be cleared with penalty kicks up field. Berwick have been in similar positions themselves this season and it is to their credit that they didn’t give away too many penalties and so were able to maximise their position to win the game.

This weekend sees the last home game at Scremerston for the season – with an early kick off at 2pm to allow visitors Caithness more time for the long trip home. After that the Blacks hit the road for 5 consecutive away games which will decide their fate.