Rugby: Broughton's survival takes a hit after comeback by Earlston

BROUGHTON'S survival hopes took a hammer blow on Saturday when Earlston fought back from 8-0 down to win their Scottish Hydro East League One clash.

A try by James Atkin and a penalty by Dan Arrandale had put the Wardie side 8-0 up in the Borders, but the hosts fought back in the last 15 minutes to win 10-8. It was a good performance by Broughton and they grabbed a losing bonus point, but the result means they are three points behind third-bottom Edinburgh Northern with the latter having two games in hand.

Elsewhere in the league on Saturday, Northern too gained a losing bonus from an agonising 3-0 home defeat to Hawick Harlequins while, at the other end, leaders North Berwick still have a four-point lead over Portobello.

At the weekend both picked up five points with the former winning 34-11 at Penicuik and the latter seeing off a stuffy Lismore 33-15 at Cavalry Park.

In East Two, Moray House were victorious 48-10 at St Boswells to stay top in the promotion race. Second-placed Dalkeith won 36-0 at home to Inverleith while there were also positive results for Leith, Walkerburn and Gala YM.

In the National Leagues, Edinburgh University will have to be careful not to get dragged into a relegation scrap after a 37-14 loss to Whitecraigs in National One. In the same division, Murrayfield Wanderers lost at home to Langholm and RHC Cougars won 17-12 against Livingston.

Lasswade lost 19-10 at Stewartry to further dent their National Two promotion chances, but Preston Lodge beat 15-8 Hawick YM to help their bid for safety.

Trinity Accies lost 22-11 at Hawick Linden in National Three to leave them second bottom in the table, two points behind Forrester and four points behind Hillfoots.