The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Dundee grab and run with first win of season
Cartha denied after young team picks up performance and points
It has been a long time coming – five weeks in fact – but finally Dundee High Rugby broke their duck in Tennents National 1 with the sort of performance coach Colin Sangster has been looking for since the season began.
It didn’t look as though the Mayfield men were going to grab that elusive first win as they turned around 18-10 down against a Cartha/queens Park side who looked as though they were going to exploit their home advantage and prolong Dundee’s misery.
They answered that by scoring 17 unanswered points in the second half, denying the persistent Cartha pack any chance of adding to their score while taking their own chances in a way which had not been in their playbook so far this season.
Juan Phyfer and Graeme Docherty had the Cartha first half tries, Wayne Burrows converted one and slotted a couple of penalties and the travelling support were left wondering if Dundee could add to the tries from Stuart Barlow and Kieran D’eath. They could and they did with a couple of tries from centre Andy Hamilton and one from Duncan Mcintyre, with Kieran Scoular converting one to collect five invaluable points and lift them to tenth in the table. Fourth-placed Selkirk are at Mayfield next week and after the boost of a win on the road, it will be a test of Sangster’s young charges to see if they can build on that crucial victory with a first of the season at home.
There is an easy way to do this: GHA had tries by Ben Addison (3), Grant Mollison (2), Max Macfarlane (2), George Baird (2), Michael Scott, Jamie Mccarthy and Ross Findlay and Baird kicked 10 conversions and Findlay one. Kirkcaldy had a first-half penalty by Finlay Smith.
That sums up the hammering the Beveridge Park men took at Braidholm having been 54-3 adrift at the break and only keeping the second half scoring down to less than that by some brave defence as they toiled to an 87-3 defeat.
That leaves Kirkcaldy in second bottom spot and with Gala the visitors next week on the back of their 100-point plus game against Musselburgh at Netherdale, (which they lost), it is not a prospect to relish.
Something had to give at Duffus Park and it was Howe who ended their miserable start in Tennents National 2 with a thumping 52-22 win over Lasswade. There was only a fag paper between them at half time with Howe 14-12 ahead, but the home side stretched away with 30-eight points in the second half to Lasswade’s 10.
Andrew Harley and Connor Holborn had a couple of tries each, Connor Crawford, James Lawrie, Jake Douglas and Sean Murray grabbed one apiece and Sam Rowlands converted six out of eight. Lasswade collected a try bonus thanks to strikes by Russell Gladstone, Matt Hart, Chris Blackie and Niall Morris with Matt Smith notching one conversion but it is Howe who move away from Saturday’s opponents and Glasgow Accies into 10th spot. They can now plan for a trip to Pennypit to take on seventh in the table Preston Lodge on Saturday.
At Maybole, Perthshire’s good form deserted them as Carrick blew them away with a 50-5 win.