The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Travelling proves tiresome for both High and Kirkcaldy
The roads west and south for Dundee High Rugby and Kirkcaldy in the opening forays of their Tennent’s National 1 campaigns proved fraught with danger.
At each end of those roads lurked Ayrshiremen and borderers with malice aforethought.
Dundee headed to the douce toon of Troon, which belied its outward gentle appearance as Marr gave Dundee a solid and thorough going over as they ran out comfortable 38-19 winners.
Tries from Ross Miller and Steven Adair saw Marr take a 10-0 lead before the half hour but a Ross Aitken try converted by Fraser McKay saw the margin down to 10-7 at the break.
Miller grabbed his second for Liam McLaughlin to convert five minutes after half time, Ali Hazel romped in for a debut score which brought with it the bonus point, Miller grabbed his hat-trick try and although McIntyre had pulled back one for Dundee, Tom Steven got number six for Marr.
A Rory McGinn try for Dundee a couple of minutes from the end only served to give a slightly more respectable aspect to the scoreline.
Kirkcaldy also went down heavily to Selkirk at Philiphaugh by 43-15.
They were always under the cosh and at 23-10 down at half-time, there was really no way back. Ally McColm was executioner-in-chief for the Soutars with 19 points from two tries, three conversions and a penalty.
This was not the debut in National 1 Kirkcaldy had hoped for as they struggled to get to terms with the pace of the game and came away only with tries by Josh Laird and Finlay Smith, with Smith bagging a conversion and a penalty.
Harsh starts for both Dundee and Kirkcaldy and with GHA and Kelso at Mayfield and Beveridge Park next week, it won’t get any easier.
It was a miserable season for Falkirk last term as they slumped to relegation but things certainly brightened for them as they arrived at Duffus Park and duly skelped Howe of Fife to the tune of 31-5.
Ross Hood was the solitary try scorer for Howe and Falkirk steadily built towards a try bonus with a double from Duncan Stoddart and a try each from Stewart McCulloch and Connor Faulds, with Fionnlagh Call landing all four conversions and a penalty.
Howe have lost players during the close season but winning your home games is critical and this was not the start they wanted.
Sadly for Perthshire, their opener in National 3 provided an all-toofamiliar picture.
Ardrossan were ahead 24-3 at half-time, a Calum Bruce penalty ’Shire’s only score and while the home side almost doubled its score to 45-3 after the break, ’Shire had the courtesy not to trouble the scorer in the second half.