James Murray puts in a mint performance for Musselburgh

By COLIN RENTON
Published on 19/11/2012 12:07

Musselburgh winger James Murray was the star performer as the Stoneyhill men squeezed past East Lothian rivals Haddington 17-16 in Saturday’s RBS Edinburgh Regional Cup tie at Neilson Park.

MUSSELBURGH winger James Murray was the star performer as the Stoneyhill men squeezed past East Lothian rivals Haddington 17-16 in Saturday’s RBS Edinburgh Regional Cup tie at Neilson Park.

Having pipped Murrayfield Wanderers by a single point the previous weekend, ’Burgh looked to be on track for a more convincing win after Murray touched down for a quickfire double. The hosts, however, battled back and edged in front through a Dan Barber try.

And, although Murray moved ’Burgh into a 17-13 lead with his third score, Haddington ensured a tense finale when Nick Bell slotted a penalty, but the hosts were unable to add to their tally and had to settle for a narrow defeat bonus point.

Meanwhile, Wanderers suffered a second successive narrow defeat when they went down 22-19 at home to Watsonians under the lights at Murrayfield on Friday night.

Alex Cox bagged two tries and Murray Johnstone one – two of them converted – for the home side, while Jamie Niven crossed the whitewash for ’Sonians.

The reliable boot of scrum half Brian Walls proved crucial, as he slotted the conversion and also thumped over five penalties to steer the Myreside men home for a win that sees them occupy second spot in Pool 1 of the competition.

Biggar lead the way with two bonus point wins, the second being Friday’s 76-5 success over Lasswade at Hawthornden.

The home side had no answer to the rampant visitors, with a late unconverted try from Ian Wilson offering little consolation.