Musselburgh 50
Langholm 16
NATIONAL DIVISION ONE
TOP-of-the-table Musselburgh ran in eight tries against a Langholm side who again suffered defeat on the road, writes John Smith.
The hosts produced the early pressure and ran in an unconverted try at the corner through scrum half Owenson after only five minutes. The Milntown pack battled hard and took play up field where a penalty was awarded and Niall Cubbon was on target.
At the end of the first quarter the home team were again penalised through a scrum infringement and Cubbon was on target from 40m out.
Musselburgh went back in front when kicking a penalty to the corner then using the rolling maul from the line-out before feeding centre Cook to go over at the posts, with Owenson adding the conversion.
A line-out move, then a number of drives brought another home try through fly half O’Hagan which was again converted by Owenson, and Langholm went down to 14 men when scrumhalf Mark Young was sent to the sin bin after straying offside at a ruck.
Musselburgh were punching holes in the Milntown defence and secured an unconverted try through lock McNairn.
Langholm replied with a third consecutive penalty from Cubbon to make it 24-9 at half time.
Considerable defending was taking its toll on Langholm in the third quarter and Musselburgh added three tries through fullback Doig, winger Murray and O’Hagan, of which two were converted by Owenson.
Flyhalf Cubbon made a great break from midfield for Langholm, shrugging off defenders on all sides. Some were still clinging to him as he went over for a try which he also converted.
Musselburgh went down to 14 men through a yellow card, but still managed to get another try through Bowman, which Owenson converted to bring up the half-century.
Langholm: C. Jardine; R. Mackay, A. Cavers, L. Miller, J. Little; N. Cubbon, M. Young; D. Divers, S. Devlin, C. Little, A. Tyler, C. Hislop, J. Reid, S. Howatson, S. Graham. Subs: J. Ratcliffe, J. Dickinson, E. Turner.