Monday November 30th 2015
Match Report by Richard Payne
Since losing by 36-6 the opening League fixture at Hawthornden in September, Biggar’ fortunes have picked up possibly assisted by the injection some southern hemisphere genes. With seven wins from twelve outings they are not really promotion contenders and still needed a couple of wins to secure their place in Division 2.
Lasswade on the other hand have only three wins from twelve are definitely in the relegation mix and desperately need to start collecting some points. Biggar very nearly provided at least a loser’s bonus but it was snatched away again in the last minutes of the match.
Kicking off with a stiff breeze at their backs and in steady rain with wintry temperatures, Biggar took almost immediate advantage when a short range lineout set up a ruck on the line and Falefa drove down the tight side into the corner.
The visitors recovered from this and even against the elements had slightly the better of territory for the rest of the first quarter. They couldn’t cross the Biggar line but Smith slotted two penalties to take them into a 5-6 lead. Biggar steadied up and applied most of the pressure but they too had to settle for two Nel penalties to turn round into the wind just 11-6 in front.
An offside decision 5 minutes into the second period enable Nel to make it 14-6 but from then on Lasswade kept their opponents out of scoring range and played the better handling rugby in spite of the slippery conditions. The Biggar defence continued to deny them a try and two penalties were also blown off course. With just three minutes of normal time left White capitalised when Biggar strayed offside and closed the gap to 14-9.
Biggar were in an ungenerous mood, though, and in one of their better moves of the day created a three on two situation on the left wing with substitute Bachurewski being on hand for the scoring pass. The hosts played the last few minutes tight to run down the clock.
In spite of the loss this was a more encouraging display by Lasswade with some cohesive team efforts in which Jamie Elliot stood out as their man-of-the-match.
Also in spite of the loss, results elsewhere mean Lasswade moves up a place to ninth. This is more a reflection of how tight the bottom half of this Division. Four teams are on 21 points and are only kept out of the bottom spot by winless Greenock Wanderers who so far have garnered just a single point from a close loss.
Wanderers are next up for Lasswade this Saturday and with a head to head tally of 8 wins to 1 the odds are against them for breaking this season’s duck especially at Hawthornden, but their hosts will take nothing for granted. Kick-off 2pm
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