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Holders Haddington kicked off the Preston Lodge Tens Tournament against Trinity Accies on Saturday as lightning was striking in the distance but it was to be Glasgow Hawks who would light up the afternoon with fast, attacking rugby in this curtain raiser to the new season.

Haddington squeezed past Trinity by 17-10 in that opening tie despite giving up a 10�0 half-time lead and it was a solo break from half way by stand off Ross King, that allowed him to score the winning try under the posts. Hawks would dominate the group though, by scoring 50, 56 and 57 points without loss against PL Helldogs, Trinity and Haddington respectively. The Premier Division One Team�s tournament had started with a minute�s silence in memory of former player Gordon Mackay, who died recently aged just 39 and their style of out and out rumbustious rugby was a fitting tribute to the big forward. It was their extremely nippy back division, especially Gossman, Hare and Murray who would do most of the damage though, as they danced their way through each of the defences to rack up the points.

Haddington secured second place in the group with a 21-0 win over PL�s second string, The Helldogs.

Pool 2 was largely dominated by The Pigbarians - a charity team brought together by larger than life former PL player, Jimmy �The Pig� Michie and mainly made up from Watsonian players, who also showed that they could play classy rugby with convincing victories over Musselburgh, Preston Lodge and Edinburgh University.

Preston Lodge conceded two early tries in their first game against Edinburgh Uni but showed their mettle by scoring three in reply through debutant scrum half Andy Parkes, hooker Calum Wilson and 2nd row Blair Cowan.

Musselburgh looked more convincing in beating the Students by 50-0 to set up a local derby against PL to decide the runners up spot in the pool but it was the hosts who would score first in that crucial tie, when centre Jonathan Brash took a big hit in midfield but still managed to set the ball up for Parkes to grab and dash through to score. Unfortunately for the home support, that was to be their final effort of the afternoon and it was Musselburgh who would dominate the rest of the tie as they went on to win by 33-5.

Musselburgh could not provide any resistance against the unstoppable Hawks in the first semi-final as they went down by 33-0 and East Lothian�s other semi-finalists, Haddington, found the going equally tough as they lost 41-0 to The Pigbarians in the second semi.

With the two best teams in the tournament and Hawks yet to concede a point, the final looked like it could be a cracker � and so it was to prove as the lead changed hands three times throughout the game.

The aptly pink-stripped Pigs finally managed to breach the Hawks defence and score a good try but the Hawks soon struck back with a converted effort of their own after good work at the base of the scrum by Gossman.

The Glasgow outfit then extended their lead to 12-5 but the Pigbarians dominated the five-minute spells either side of half time and deservedly scored an excellent try that was converted to tie the scores.

It would take a good try to break the deadlock and it was to come from Hawks as they quickly moved the ball between their forwards and backs to create the space needed to set winger Sean Murray clear. He made no mistake to touch down and give his team a fully deserved victory although the plucky Pigbarians pushed them all the way to the end.

The three tournament referees had been given the task of choosing the Player of the Tournament and although there were several candidates from either side in the final, no one was too surprised when the trophy was awarded to Hawks� scrum half Craig Gossman.

Despite two or three very heavy downpours, all eight teams served up a feast of running rugby throughout the afternoon to whet the appetite for the season to come.

This article was originally posted on 3-Aug-2008, 21:30 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 4-Aug-2008, 05:31.