Berwick’s fight for survival in rugby’s Arnold Clark National League Division 2 going to wire after 24-20 loss at home to Preston Lodge

​A win against the East Lothian outfit would have taken their sixth-placed Scremerston hosts nine or ten points clear of the division’s two-deep danger-zone but they had to settle for a losing bonus point, leaving them within range of two of the three teams beneath them.

Saturday’s 24-20 defeat leaves Berwick fourth from bottom on 33 points from 15 fixtures, with one game left to play, a potential relegation dog-fight away to second-bottom Lasswade on Saturday, April 5, with kick-off at 3pm.

Third-from-bottom Newton Stewart are on 30 points from 14 matches, with Lasswade on 27 from 14 and Preston Lodge on 27 from 15, meaning that though they can’t catch up with Berwick, they can still beat the drop.

Lasswade’s other remaining game is at home to third-placed Falkirk and Newton Stewart face already-promoted table-toppers Gordonians away and fourth-placed Glasgow High Kelvinside at home.

Berwick’s tries against Preston Lodge were scored by openside flanker James Grieve, hooker Ryan Wilson and blindside flanker Mason Emery, with fly-half Jack Webster converting one of them and also kicking a penalty.

Touching down for their visitors were captain Jack Pollard, Scott Brown, Sandy Kelly and Harris Weir, with Graeme Patterson adding two conversions.

Berwick head to Midlothian next month hoping to rack up a winning double against Lasswade to secure their survival, having won September’s reverse fixture at home by 35-17.

Ahead of that, they’ve got a national league cup quarter-final away to Kirkcaldy this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm and a last-four place hosting Glasgow’s Hillhead Jordanhill at stake.

Reviewing Saturday’s survival bid setback, Berwick head coach Paul Pringle told Borders Rugby TV: “Unfortunately, we went down 24-20 in what really was a must-win game for us to secure our place in National 2 next season.

“I’m very disappointed after our great away result at Kirkcaldy the game before.

“It was an opportunity to stay up and it was in our own hands but we failed to take advantage of that.

“Probably the three-week break didn’t help us. It was very hard to keep training numbers up over that period.

“With this league, with how tight it is, you can’t just turn up for the training session before a big game and expect to play at your best, and guys will have to take a lesson from that, but we can’t be downbeat about that – we’ve got to move on and we’ve got Kirkcaldy away in the quarter-finals of the league cup next week and that’s a really big game for us, and the following week we’ve got Lasswade.”