RBS Bowl final: Emotional day for Sean McNee as he leads Helensburgh to treble

The 13-7 win at Murrayfield was a great advert for grassroots rugby – two squads of honest players giving it their all, coaches jumping up and down on the touchline and two superb sets of supporters who cheered their respective clubs on for 80 minutes.

Helensburgh have now picked up the RBS West Two title, the RBS West Regional Bowl and the RBS National Bowl in 2011/12 and put in a great showing to see off a dogged Dunbar, who themselves have had a good campaign, having won the East Division 2 title by a runaway 14 points and been voted RBS club of the month in March.

The victors lost their captain Black midway through the first half, the stand-off being taken off on a stretcher with a suspected anterior cruciate ligament problem, but hooker McNee took charge and led by example.

After the match he said: “It is just amazing for the club to win at Murrayfield. To be involved this season with this squad has been a privilege. It was a blow to lose Chris because he is such a big player for us, but we all wanted to win it for him and the coaching team [led by former Glasgow Hawks coach Bill MacDonald] who have made us all believe in ourselves.

“The supporters have been everything to this match, from their send-off on Friday through to today. Dunbar played so well and put so much into it. It’s a dream come true for us,” he said.” It was perhaps not surprising that McNee, who has been at the club since he was in primary school, admitted to shedding a tear at the full-time whistle when he saw his mother and father and the jubilant Helensburgh support, who had travelled east in great numbers.

However, in a frenetic opening, Dunbar’s supporters were the first to be heard as outside centre Gary Peebles threatened with a hack-on.

The East Lothian side showed confidence in opting for a kick to the touchline when they were awarded a penalty in five minutes, only to concede a turnover inches from the Helensburgh line.

That settled Helensburgh, and they went 3-0 ahead after 20 minutes when full-back David Sterry kicked a penalty.

That was the way it stayed until the break, Dunbar captain Jamie Peters seeing his penalty attempt hit the crossbar in stoppage time.

After the interval, both teams continued to give it everything in defence and attack, but Helensburgh began to take charge and a second Sterry penalty and a converted try by man of the match Johnny Drake in the 64th minute put them 13-0 up.

Dunbar battled back and a converted try by replacement Sandy Thomson with nine minutes remaining made for a thrilling finale, but Helensburgh held on.

For the winners, David Riding, who moved to stand-off after Black’s injury, impressed, while back-row Callum Champion was top man for Dunbar.

Scorers: Dunbar – Try: Thomson. Con: J Peters. Helensburgh – Try: Drake. Pens: Sterry 2. Con: Sterry.

Dunbar: K Donnellan; G Peters, G Peebles, R Courtney, J Kelly; J Peters, L Clutton; A Wightman, C Greco, R Gallagher, S Crighton, G Fletcher, T Thornton-Smith, K Courtney, C Champion. Subs used: S Thomson, S Bissett, I Wightman, K Donnellan, J Peebles, A Lunam, B Armatage.

Helensburgh: D Sterry; A Rogers, A Cairns, D Riding, J Drake; C Black, O Curtis; M Gard, S McNee, J Feltham, D Calderwood, F Voigt, P Rogers, B Somerville, J Mussett. Subs used: B Floyd, A Inglis, K Greggain, N Sloan, T Smith, A Irving, C Bowman.

Referee: L Linton.