Langholm are one step nearer league promotion: A win against Gala on Saturday will see them achieve second spot

Rugby

Earlston 19
Langholm 29

Langholm RFC took another step towards second spot in East League 2 when they secured a maximum five points from the match against Earlston at the Haugh on Saturday.
Langholm were always keen to play rugby and move the ball, whilst Earlston looked to kill the ball at every occasion and did that with some effect, causing frustration from the visitors.
With the Langholm forwards winning a lot of the early ball they started to threaten the Earlston line.
A good break from scrum half Jack Pool led to the ball being fed to Nathan Smith who crossed the line for a try. The difficult conversion was missed.
Once again Langholm took the initiative and despite the home sides efforts to disrupt play at every occasion, a good surging run by Alan Tyler saw him score a good try which Smith converted with 20 minutes played.
It was more of the same with Langholm putting on the pressure and Earlston frustrating the attacks. When play broke down it seemed to the Langholm supporters that the penalty was always for the home side. Earlston however were unable to capitalise on this and missed two penalty kicks before the pressure from Langholm saw prop Ronnie Martin carry the ball and pop it up to Lewis Miller whose momentum carried him over the line for a good score. The conversion went wide but Langholm were 17 points to nil ahead.
A converted try by Earlston after 35 minutes gave them a glimmer of hope and the ref blew for half time with the score 7 -17.
Langholm started the second half well and immediately were again pressurising the Earlston line.
The forwards won the ball and it was quickly moved along the back line to Miller who sprinted in over the line for his second and Langholm’s fourth bonus point try.
This seemed to galvanise Earlston who started to move the ball out to their backs. A conversion by Earlston made the score 14 -22.
Langholm now realised that they had a game on their hands and further piled on the pressure.
A Langholm scrum in the Earlston 22 saw the ball picked up by Pool who ran in for a good try behind the posts which Smith converted.
With the score 14-29 it was Earlston who had the final score of the afternoon with a late unconverted try and the match finished 19-29.
Langholm move onto 56 points, three points behind both Dunbar and Leith Rugby clubs who have finished their campaigns this season. A win against Gala YM on Saturday at Milntown will see them achieve second spot in the league.
The club is hoping for a good support on Saturday, kick off is at 3pm.
Squad: L Miller, J Wilkes, J Little, C Helling, N Smith, A Cavers, N Cubbon, J Pool, E Turner, M Rose, W Gray, S Tweddle, E Patterson, A Tyler, F Mitchell, C W Tait, S Kitching, A Scott, R Martin, J Ratcliffe