Berwick facing waiting game in fight for survival in rugby’s Arnold Clark National League Division 2

Berwick captain Ali Grieve, pictured in prior action, played his last game for the club as they lost 28-22 at Lasswade on Saturday (Photo: Stuart Fenwick)

Berwick look likely to have secured their survival in rugby’s Arnold Clark National League Division 2 by picking up two bonus points from their 28-22 defeat away to Lasswade on Saturday but they’ll have to play a waiting game until after this weekend’s fixture card to be sure.

That away-day in Midlothian was the sixth-placed Northumbrians’ final match of the season, as well being No 8 and captain Ali Grieve's last hurrah, and a win or draw would have taken them out of reach of the division’s two-deep relegation zone there and then, but allowing Lasswade to rack up a bonus-point victory has left their fate hanging in the balance for a further seven days.

Lasswade’s win lifts them up from second-bottom of the table to seventh, now on 32 points from 15 fixtures and with up to five left to play for, so a further victory at home to third-placed Falkirk this coming Saturday could see them overtake Berwick’s haul of 35 from 16.

Opportunity also knocks for second-from-bottom Newton Stewart, on 30 points from 15 games at the moment, to overtake head coach Paul Pringle’s Scremerston side, but to do that, they’d need to notch up a bonus-point win by a margin of 52 points or more at home to fourth-placed Glasgow High Kelvinside this weekend.

Even bottom-of-the-table Preston Lodge, on 27 points from 15 matches aren’t definitely doomed yet, as a win at home to fifth-placed Kirkcaldy would save them if both Lasswade and Newton Stewart end up losing out.

Berwick’s tries at Lasswade were scored by lock Stu Farnaby, outside-centre James Thompson and left-winger Aidan Rosie, with Lucas Orsi, Matthew Smith, Mark Wilson and David Hall touching down for their Hawthornden hosts.

Pringle is hopeful that his team have done enough to stay up but isn’t counting any chickens just yet, telling Borders Rugby TV afterwards: “I wouldn’t take it for granted.

“To be honest, we shouldn’t be in the position of having to look out for results next week.

“Our fate was in our own hands, so we shouldn’t be sitting next week watching Twitter or all those things.

“Newton Stewart are on a good run and you never know what teams sides are going to send out on the last day of the season. I’d hope GHK will go out strong, and if they do, you’d think it’d be job done, but you just don’t know.”