Dogged display sees Dundee move ninth

NATIONAL: Successive wins for High after beating Selkirk at Mayfield

It would be difficult to imagine a more miserable start to a Tennent’s National 1 campaign as the one Dundee High Rugby concocted for themselves with four straight defeats but now there is a bit of spring back in the step and the hint of a smile around Mayfield.

There was nothing particularly pretty about Dundee’s win at Cartha last week and this week it was a real battle which nothing but sheer doggedness secured the points for Dundee in a 34-14 win over Selkirk.

Duncan McIntyre opened the scoring with Kieran Scoular landing the conversion but the visitors hit back with an Andy McColm try, and Rory Banks’ conversion shredded the posts to level the scores. Scoular was unable to convert McIntyre’s second try and when Peter Forrest went over for Banks to convert, Selkirk went in 14-12 ahead.

It was always going to take a huge effort from Dundee to clinch this one but defensively they were superb as they did to Selkirk exactly what they had done to Cartha the previous week in securing a second-half shut out while putting their own points on the board.

Scoular snatched back the lead with a penalty, flanker Angus Farquhar ran in a beauty and when Kieran D’eath’s bonus point try was converted by Scoular, the game looked to be in the bag for Dundee and the final try by Niall Hall with Scoular’s conversion was the icing on the cake.

That win only pulls Dundee into ninth slot but the two victories on the bounce have shown that as the injury list gradually get shorter and the younger members of the squad glean invaluable experience, the Mayfield men could still be a force in a league which has a long way to go.

After the almighty roasting they took in their National 1 clash with GHA at Braidholm last week you would not have bet the outhouse let alone the farm on Kirkcaldy bouncing back immediately, particularly since the visitors to Beveridge Park were a Gala outfit still smarting from a high-scoring loss to Musselburgh the week before.

However, Quinten Sanft’s troops were in rank mood after last week’ s humiliation and the Borderers simply could not cope with the Kirkcaldy intensity which not only won them the game but came close to notching a try bonus.

Struan Robertson, Scott Anderson and Owen Bonner had the tries and Finlay Smith found himself, unlike last week when his penalty was the sole contribution, happily slotting two out of three and a penalty.

The scoreline of 22-14 was a fair reflection of a match which saw Gala score only a Kieran Brown try and Simon Fairburn conversion, along with a penalty try.

The scalps of both Selkirk and Gala taken in Caledonia raised an eyebrow or two but Howe of Fife’s thrashing at Pennypit was just as surprising.

With a big result against Lasswade in the bag from last week, the Duffus Park men had a bit more confidence about them but that was shattered when they found themselves on the wrong end of a 71-13 scoreline.

Preston Lodge ran in 11 tries, converted eight of them and all Howe had to show was a couple of tries from Andrew Harley and James Lawrie with a penalty from Sam Rowlands.

GHK are at Cupar next week and perhaps the Howe coaches could find what Sanft put in the Kirkcaldy tea to turn them around because they will need something of that nature to bounce back.

There is the incentive that a win could haul Howe off second bottom spot and leapfrog GHK but that would be a gigantic turnaround.

A hard-fought 37-32 win against bottom-of-the-table Haddington hauled Perthshire into fourth in National 3 and a four from six start to the season is as good as they could have expected.

Jonathan Armitt had a brace of tries and John McIntosh, Matt Rae and Lewis Murrie’s scores clinched the try bonus but it was Adam Dearden’s boot which sealed the win with 12 points.