The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Rusty Dundee High close to pulling off comeback
Mayfield men edged by Musselburgh after five-week lay-off
They may have thumped Musselburgh 50-17 at Mayfield in their previous BT National 1 encounter but that was back in October and Dundee High Rugby had not fired a shot in anger for more than five weeks when they went to Stoneyhill for the return joust on Saturday.
The rustiness showed in the first half as Dundee slipped to 25-12 adrift but they scored 26 points in the second half to go down by only two points at 40-38, thus collecting a try and a losing bonus.
Duncan Leese and Isoa Matacagi each had a couple of tries, Alasdair Mackie and Harvey Young had one each and with three conversions for Young and one for Matacagi, they almost pulled it off.
Although Dundee hold on to fifth spot in the table, they are ahead of Gala only on points differential, while Musselburgh were left celebrating a five-pointer and, more importantly, a big step away from the drop zone.
At least Kirkcaldy seconds got themselves a decent crowd after the alarming pull-out by West of Scotland from the scheduled BT National 2 fixture but the Beveridge Park men were left frustrated asthetopsidehadtokicktheirheelsrather than continue their pursuit of promotion.
The outcome of that West no-show will be determined by the championship committee but if certain sanctions are applied it could mean that they join the relegation contenders in BT National 2 after Whitecraigs pulled off a 40-31 win over Howe of Fife at Aurs Road to throw themselves a lifeline.
Craigs were well ahead at the break, by 26-10, and although tries from Steven Gray, Chris Mann, Ewan Cruikshank and Richie Hood – with Gray slotting four conversions and a penalty – saw them collect the four-try bonus, they missed out on a second bonus by only a couple of points.
When a chance to pull themselves really clear of relegation trouble came along at North Inch, Perthshire blew it big time.
Haddington are strugglers in BT National 3 yet travelled back to Neilson Park with a 41-25 bonus point win, leaving Shire suddenly back in the drop mix.
They are ninth with 19 points and three games to play. Orkney are behind them on 16 points with four to play, Dalziel are second bottom, also on 16 points but with three to play, while Haddington – despite Saturday’s boost –are still bottom with 15 points and four to play.
All the clubs involved have to play at least one of the others in a run-in which has now intriguingly become much tighter and will involve Shire having to pick up their game considerably if they are going to be sure of survival.