Duns elected to play up the slope on another dry, windless, sunny day ideally suited to the home style of play. Portobello, too, like to throw the ball around, and so an exciting afternoon's rugby was in prospect.
Duns were in trouble straight fr
om the kick-off. The ball was allowed to bounce, and although it was eventually gathered the clearance kick to touch was charged down. Portobello picked up the loose ball, and crossed for a simple try in the corner which was not converted.
Dale Robertson got Duns on the board with a penalty after 10 minutes, but his opposite number replied twice for Portobello to stretch the visitors' advantage to 11-3 after 25 minutes.
Duns then scored an excellent individual try from Ged Lamb. From a Duns scrum on half way Lamb received the ball from brother Danny and dodged past his opposite number. He then sprinted 40 metres, leaving the cover trailing in his wake, before beating the full back on the outside to score his fifth try in three matches. Robertson converted and it was 11-10.
Portobello then came straight back at Duns and scored by the posts after a huge knock-on was missed by the referee, one of a sad litany of errors made by the match official over the course of the afternoon. The easy conversion went over, and the visitors' eight point advantage was restored.
On the stroke of half time Duns reduced the leeway after good work by the forwards. They rampaged up the pitch, and as the cover was gradually sucked in there was a three-on-one overlap on the left which was exploited by captain Jamie Renton who went over in the corner for his 49th First XV try. Co-incidentally, his first try was also scored against Portobello, in a friendly match more than 11 years ago.
Although there was much less scoring after the interval, the match was no less frenetic. Duns had the advantage of the Hardens slope, and used it to peg Portobello back with long, raking kicks downfield. The visitors' back three began to feel the pressure, and knocked on and conceded penalties as the barrage continued. Dale Robertson took advantage of two penalties to kick Duns into a three point lead at 21-18 with 15 minutes left.
Portobello were not done, however, and they replied with only minutes remaining with the match-winning score. Their captain Thomas broke through the Duns defensive line and crossed between the posts, with the conversion extending the lead to 25-21.
In the closing moments Scott Lindsay was sent off for Duns for senselessly kneeing an opponent in the tackle. The referee was about to brandish only a yellow card for the offence, but backchat compounded that to two yellows and the Duns player was rightly dismissed.
Duns now have to pick themselves up for another home league match this Saturday against local rivals Earlston. Earlston beat Edinburgh Northern last Saturday and now sit only one point behind Duns in the league. Kick off is at 3pm - please come along to support the team.
Duns: D. Robertson; K. Aitchison, J. Renton (captain), S. Lindsay and D. Hutchison; G. Lamb and D. Lamb; B. Hamilton, C. Hill, A. Whellans, J. Thorburn, J. Weir, R. Burns, S. Blyth and C. Blaikie. The replacements were C. Archer, K. Renton, J. Murphy, J. Gillie and D. Renton.
