North Berwick beats Murrayfield Wanderers

NB returned to winning ways and looked more like themselves with a well deserved 36-14 win against Murrayfield Wanderers. NB move to mid table in National League 4 with 4 wins from 7 games.
NB kicked off up the hill and into the wind at recreation Park but looked determined to make an early impression. Good possession resulted in a line out in the Murrayfield 22 and when Iain Dove took the ball there was no stopping him as he barrelled his way through 3 tackles to touch down. 7-0 NB after 5 mins. NB looked secured is possession and on 10 mins a breakdown infringement saw them awarded a penalty . They choose to take the points 10-0 through the boot of Alex Williams. Murrayfield then got some possession and their big ball carriers made steady ground and on 17 mins they breached the strong NB defence to score a try and put the score at 10-7. That’s how it ended at half time. With the wind at their backs NB started strongly with controlled play to park themselves in the Murrayfield 22. A strong break from a ruck saw captain Nick Hart break the defence and give an excellent one-handed offload to hooker Stu Lorimer to put him in under the posted. Alex Williams converted, and NB stretched their lead 17-7. The NB pack continued to dominate, and sustained pressure close to the Murrayfield line resulted in a penalty. Scrum half Jack Hall took a quick tap and heading for the line , he had the awareness to offload to his No8 Iain Dove who had the momentum and power to go over for his 2nd try. Williams again converted 24-7.on 55 minutes. NB did not let up and after a multi-phase series of play Craig Allan playing no 7 hit the line with power, found a gap and went over for the bonus point try on 60 mins 29-7. NB weren’t going to let up and on 65 mins Stu Lorimer was on hand to get a tip on from Allan who had once again created the gap in defence and unselfishly gave the pass. 36-7 Nb and a powerful and creative display by the NB forwards. The backs played their part with cleaver decision making and the team performance they were looking for returned. Murrayfield scored a late breakaway try to make the final score 36-14 but a happy NB clubhouse post match. NB will be hoping to kick on from here and push to be in the top half of National league 4. They travel to Perthshire next week hoping to make that a reality.