Whitecraigs 22 Lasswade 24

Since the premature departure of Aberdeenshire, Whitecraigs had been the only tenant of the remaining relegation spot and had just two wins from their 18 games to date. Seven try and four loser’s bonus points belied their lack of success as well as at least keeping them in reach of the other struggling sides. They were not going to be a pushover and the final result confirms this as does the four to three try count in their favour. Had their kicker been in better form they could have carried the day.

With 6 of their regular squad injured or otherwise unavailable Lasswade had to dig deeper than usual into their reserves but all had previous first fifteen experience.

After 15 minutes of to and fro, nip and tuck, the visitors began to dominate possession and for almost all of the next twenty minutes play was in the Whitecraigs half or 22. Last ditch defending, spoiling and Lasswade handling errors left the scoreboard undisturbed. Finally with five minutes of the half remaining, Wilson was presented with a half gap and broke through to ground under the posts and Matt Smith, at stand-off this week, made it 7-0.

Whitecraigs made full use of the kick-off and soon tested the visitors’ defending to breaking point. With the clock ticking over into stoppage time, some patient recycling sucked in the Lasswade players leaving an overlap out wide for the Craigs winger to cross in the corner. Murchie’s conversion fell short leaving the score at 5-7.

Showing respect for their opponents and with the break imminent, Borthwick asked Matt Smith to take a 40 metre shot at goal, and the latter duly obliged to bring up the half time score of 5-10.

The second period opened in lively fashion from both sides but just eight minutes in, the Craigs No 8, Pollock, polished off a counter attack with an unconverted touch down in the corner to level the scores.

The visitors responded immediately and within two minutes a deliberate knock on earned them a penalty try and a yellow card for the Whitecraigs offender.

Defensive errors allowed Pollock to grab a second try, just four minutes after his first and close the gap to 15-17.

Lasswade knuckled down and fashioned another converted try with Gladstone grounding the ball and Matt Smith converting on the hour mark.

Whitecraigs looked to have scored their bonus try a few minutes later but the move had started from a quick throw in with a different ball and play was called back to the original point of touch. With five minutes left they were more successful and a converted try gave them two very welcome bonus points and lifted them up above West of Scotland on points difference at least. Their fate now hangs on their final game at likely runners-up, Hamilton, while a week later West of Scotland will struggle to get anything from their visit to Kirkcaldy.

Lasswade’s win keeps them in fourth place and that is where they are likely to finish. While this is something of a disappointment after earlier promotion prospects it is nonetheless the highest point achieved in the Leagues so far by the Club.

Lasswade’s final game is this Saturday at Division Champions, Kirkcaldy. Kick-off 3pm.