Walkerburn 10
Edinburgh Northern 10
EAST DIVISION THREE
Undefeated at home this season the Caberston boys home record was always likely to come under scrutiny from the visit of high-flying league leaders Edinburgh Northern, who had only lost the one game this season.
But there’s an air of steely resolve at the ’Burn and it was clear from the start that if Northern expected a repeat of their early season win in Edinburgh they would have to be at the peak of their game.
Walkerburn began the half into the teeth of the strong winds blowing along the Tweed valley, although you would not have known it with Graeme Frank putting pressure on the Northern receivers from the kick-off.
Indeed, for the first three minutes it was Walkerburn that laid siege to the Northern line.
However, this bright start came to an end when prop Liam Card had his pocket picked on a drive to the line.
From the turnover, Northern worked their way into the Walkerburn 22 and camped themselves in that half of the pitch for much of the rest of the half, and at the 20 minute mark notched a penalty to give them a three-point lead.
The game was interrupted after 30 minutes, following an injury to the Northern scrum-half, but two minutes after the restart they capitalised on a Walkerburn handling error to work the ball through the phases to score a simple overlap wide out on the right.
The try was converted by an excellent kick in the conditions and Northern were now 10 points to the good at half-time.
After a quick turnaround, with the light beginning to fail, it was obvious that where Northern had been reluctant to use the wind, the ’Burn had every intention of doing so.
Showing sublime short passing skills in difficult conditions, the hosts put their hard-working captain Scott Elder through a well worked hole in the Northern defence.
Gary Inglis converted and added a penalty as the game moved into the final quarter, and despite repeated attacks in the visiting half that was the way the game ended, but with their undefeated home record still intact.