North Berwick win under-18 Schools Plate

North Berwick High School defeated St Columba’s School 33-11 to claim the under-18 Schools Plate title at BT Murrayfield on Wednesday evening. The East Lothian school opened the scoring after ten minutes with stand-off Matthew Hogg gathering a loose ball in midfield to sprint over under the posts, before Daniel Darrie added the extras.St Columba’s fought back after periods of sustained pressure, openside Samuel Muirhead crashed through the North Berwick defence following a driving maul in the right corner come the half-hour mark.Joe Yacoubian struck a successful penalty for St Columba’s minutes later to fire his team into the lead and settle the half-time score at 7-8.After the interval, Yacoubian landed another penalty but it was North Berwick who bagged the opening try with Kristian Thomson crossing in the 40th minute.Hogg was involved once again and managed to jink his way through several defenders for his second try of the match, before Darrie converted for North Berwick.Lewis Govenlock went on a winding run for North Berwick down the left and darted over in the 60th minute, with Darrie converting.The North Berwick pack built momentum within the 22 and Ben Moffat crashed over for the final try of the game before Darrie added the conversion. North Berwick under-18 coach, Ryan Telfer, said: “The team worked well together in the final, they have really bonded as a team this season and I am really proud of their achievement.Our defence was impressive in the first 20 minutes and once we got flowing in the second-half, the breaks and the offloads came quickly.” Man-of-the-match: Matthew Hogg Referee: Finaly Brown The Teams…North Berwick High School: Daniel Darrie; Graeme Chalmers, Elliot Glynn, Lewis Govenlock, Matthew Cunningham; Matthew Hogg, Ethan Telfer; Finn Hobbis CAPTAIN, Stuart Lorimer, John Gardner, Euan Pratt, Ben Moffat, Kristian Thomson, Rory Dage, Aiden Burns. Replacements: Matthew Pearson, Joel Thomson, Robbie Gardner, Finlay Thain, Harrison Campbell, Noah Poole, Alex Williams.St Columba’s School, Kilmacolm: Lewis MacRobert; Lewis Holms, Dylan Ferguson, Owen Bannatyne, James Smith; Campbell Gibson, Joe Yacoubian; Keir Brown, Mitchell Robb, Ewan Rintoul, Andrew Jones, Stuart Bretherton, Harry Briggs, Samuel Muirhead, Andrew Thomson CAPTAIN. Replacements: Edhan Gemmell, Fraser Gillespie, Chris Endres, Ruari Pitts, Ewan Roberts, Jack Guthrie, Alexander Tuck.