The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Dundee High lose try-fest against title-chasing Jed
BT LEAGUES: Mayfield men fight back in second half as hosts settle for play-off spot
It was probably not how significant Dundee High Rugby had envisaged their final match in BT National 1 would be but there they were, facing a Jed outfit who, if they managed to secure a bonus point and Edinburgh Accies claimed four or less, would win the title.
Dundee’s opponents and the capital side started the day on 99 points apiece with Accies having an enormous points differential advantage, so the try bonus was crucial for Jed and they set about achieving that with gusto.
They led 38-5 at half-time with the try bonus tucked away but when word filtered through that Accies had also clinched the try bonus against Selkirk by half-time, some of the urgency went out of Jed’s play since a comeback by the home side from 26-0 down at Philiphaugh seemed unlikely.
Jed fairly rattled in the tries in the first half with scores from Sean Goodfellow, Rory Marshall, Ewan Scott, Gregor Law, Andy Saunders and Darren Gillespie with Robbie Yourston adding four conversions, with a solitary try from Kieran Scoular the only Dundee reply.
Dundee took advantage of Jed’s second half malaise with a second Scoular try and one each for Alasdair Mackie, George Arnott and Harvey Young with Young and Fraser McKay each slotting a conversion to pull the score back to 43-29, with only Gregor Young’s try a consolation for Jed.
Jed now go into the play-off for a place in next season’s Premiership against Glasgow Hawks while Dundee stay in fourth spot, a very respectable finish in a highly competitive league in which the top two places were hardly in doubt for a while leading up to the final crunch Saturday.
At Beveridge Park, BT National 2 champions Kirkcaldy took on a Lasswade side, who for much of the season were contenders for a promotion spot themselves, and saw them off with a comfortable 32-15 win, built mainly on a first-half performance which saw them turn 20-5 ahead.
They opened with a Finlay Smith penalty, who then converted Josh Laird’s try, and repeated the trick to slot Dayle Turner’s score while kicking a penalty in between, with Lasswade hitting back with a try from Chris Blackie.
Conor Littlejohn and Rory Brown notched tries for the home side after the break with Mark Wilson grabbing a double for Lasswade, who finish fourth in the table.
That try bonus point against Lasswade was number 13 for Kirkcaldy this season in their 17 wins from 19 starts and with the biggest points plus differential in the league, no one could begrudge them the title with one game remaining, the ill-fated match against West of Scotland side.
Their trip to Orkney was the last throw of the dice for Perthshire and they did not roll lucky for the North Inch men.
They went down 36-25 in their final match of the season and now sit third bottom on 20 points.
Below them in the two relegation spots are Haddington and Dalziel, both on 17 points until they meet on May 5 and unless the unlikely happens and the game ends in a draw, the winner will stay in BT National 3 and the other will be relegated with Shire.