It’s another maximum for pacesetters Preston Lodge

PRESTON LODGE are now the only team in the top seven divisions to have taken maximum points from all their league games so far. They picked up their fourth successive bonus point win in RBS East Regional League Division One with a 39-17 victory at Berwick.

They went behind to an early Berwick try, but clawed their way back into the contest with a brace of penalties from Andrew Clarke, and went onto win the match thanks to tries for Craig Quigley, Dougie Thomson, Darren Eales, Greg Kinross and Ryan Gray.

Berwick might be languishing just one place off the foot of the table but Johnston Craig, Preston Lodge vice-president, insisted that it was the toughest game his boys have faced so far in this campaign. “They came down from a league above us last year so this was a big test, and they gave us a fright early on,” he said. “But the boys stuck to the plan.

“We’ve got more or less the same squad as last year when we finished second in National Three but missed out on promotion because of league restructuring – and we’ve added a few players who have really raised the level, such as young Ryan Gray in the centre.”

PL’s nearest challengers at the top are Duns, who won 27-13 at Forrester but are still six points off the pace.

Lismore scored twice as many points on Saturday as they had managed in all three previous games in the league this season put together, but still lost 51-20 at North Berwick. Portobello beat Hawick Linden 31-19 at Cavalry Park but Trinity Accies lost 34-13 at Ross High.