Shire Inch closer to the top

Ten tries were shared – but Adam Dearden’s accuracy with the boot helped kick Haddington into touch.

Perthshire moved up to fourth in the Tennent’s National League Division 3 following a nail-biting and exciting 37-32 North Inch triumph.

Home supporters were gripped from the start but watched the visitors pile on the pressure early doors.

It was no surprise when the men from East Lothian took the lead when Hamilton crashed over and converted.

Shire’s scrum was looking decidedly wobbly at this stage but they hit back a few minutes later.

Forwards and backs combined to release Jonny Armitt and his delight at scoring was shared by the sizeable Perth support.

Haddington were in no mood to give up, though, and increased their lead again with De Foss scoring out wide to open up a 5 -12 advantage.

Twenty minutes had flown by as Shire’s backs upped the tempo, Duncan Clow and Dan Bowater particularly causing havoc.

Reliable Dearden hauled three points back with a penalty and, a minute later, Bowater ploughed through a mass of defenders to set-up a score.

Jack McIntosh was released and he outstripped the visiting defence to dot down.

Dearden converted the kick and Shire were in the lead for the first time.

But the first half would end all square, Ferguson converting a penalty to tie the fixture up at 15-15.

This was a finely-poised battle and Haddington would move on to seize the upper hand courtesy of a mix-up in the home defence. Brownlee was the lucky man to capitalise to grab the try.

Difficulties in the scrum were continuing for the Perth men but a sublime score set the standard.

A quick ball from McIntosh allowed Dearden to fire a perfect flat pass, which was collected by Matt Rae on the burst and he split the Haddington centres to go in between the posts, giving Dearden an easy conversion.

Shire’s forwards did the hard groundwork again not long after and that allowed Armitt to break clear and claim his second try.

Dearden kicked a massive penalty from 40 metres and the pendulum was now swinging in Shire’s favour at 32-20.

When Haddington then broke clear, Dan Rae pulled off a smart tackle, but the visiting winger managed to lob the ball inside. De Voss was on hand to collect it and touch down, with the resulting conversion successful.

Haddington kept pressing and were rewarded when Conney went over. The conversion was pulled wide to remain at 32-32.

There was to be a winner, however, and it was the Perth fans who were jumping for joy when Lewis Murrie crashed over for Shire’s fifth try.