Haddington kicked off into a strong wind on a day when that wind was likely to influence the outcome of the match. Playing into the wind the home side decided to run the ball and looked dangerous. With only a few minutes on the clock a try saving tackle from Justin Ludick kept the scores level at 0-0. East Kilbride (EK) then took control. A handling move that started with a break by George Fisher from within his own 22 saw the ball moved to Evan Martin who added to his admirable tally of tries in this competition. George Fisher added the extras to give EK an early lead. With the wind behind them EK continued to put pressure on the Haddington line but the tries did not come easily as the home defence held out stoutly. Scores did come in the 28th and 30th minutes of the half by way of penalty conversions from the boot of George Fisher. With the half drawing to a close Ross McKeown touched down in the right hand corner bring the half time score to Haddington 0, East Kilbride 20.

Having turned round to face the wind in the second half the question for EK was "is 20 points a big enough cushion". Doubts may have started to creep in when Haddington put themselves within two scores of the EK total with tries 11 minutes and 19 minutes into the half. EK responded well. The pressure was eased when, 3 minutes later, Owen Selfridge crossed for an unconverted try and, again, when with less than 10 minutes of regular time remaining, Ross McKeown touched down between the uprights to give Lucas Aitken a straightforward (if any kick in this wind could be described as straightforward) conversion. At this stage the game was slipping away from Haddington and though their attack was fierce it yielded a solitary unconverted try leaving them needing 3 scores in time added on to overtake the EK total. In the event it was EK that had the final say when good handling in the back division put Lucas Aitken clear for the final try of the match which he converted.

Travelling to Haddington for a cup semi-final was always going to be daunting prospect. The home side are sitting near to the top of the SRU East Division so were expected to provide a formidable opposition. On the day this was a victory built on determination, commitment and teamwork. An example of that determination came when mid way through the first half Roddy Beaton, when being attended to by physio, Andy, for an ankle injury was heard to exclaim "leave me alone, I'm fine!" Un fortunately he wasn't, but the quality of back row replacements meant that when he did retire from the field his replacement, David McGiven, picked up where he had left off. David was not the only player to contribute the defensive effort as every player in black and yellow did his bit to nullify the home side's many attacks. In this regard the efforts of Evan Middleton whose ball winning was exemplary and Ben Walters who carried strongly and put in some crunching tackles were also much appreciated by the EK support. On a day when the wind made ball handling difficult the back division as a whole impressed, no more so than when deft handling provided the killer blow, Lucas Aitken's try, in the closing minutes. In the post match entertainment, for which the Haddington club is to be applauded, George Fisher was named EK player of the match and Alex Irvine , donkey of the day, though I don't know what he did to deserve that! However, when Alasdair Dalgleish was asked for a nomination for EK player of the match he did not hesitate when nominating Ross McKeown so, for the record, Ross is the EK player of the match.

Finally we should be grateful to Haddington. Not only were they gracious in defeat but they also did much to make us welcome to their clubhouse. A great day out for all.

As we were celebrating our victory and progress to the final at Murrayfield on 19th April (Silver Saturday) we learned that Lenzie had achieved a narrow victory over Ellon. Our two games against Lenzie in the SRU West Division have resulted in defeat, so we all know that we'll have to perform at the top of our game to bring the shield back to Torrance House. In the meantime we have two league games to play. Next Saturday (5th April) the team will travel to Bishopton, and on the following Saturday (12th April) they travel to Annan.