True grit paid off for followers of Dundee

It ain’t easy being a follower of Dundee High Rugby.

For a start, you need nerves of steel, a copious supply of strong drink or a Scientologist’s strength of belief that it will all be OK in the end (I am advised these qualities are also required by round ball followers in the city).

Then you have to grit your teeth. Having almost seen out September winless in Tennent’s National One until they beat Cartha Q/P, then picked up a win against Selkirk, they went on another losing streak until last week saw them overturn a 22-0 margin to beat Kirkcaldy 36-29 with a second half performance that delighted coach Colin Sangster.

“We were dreadful for most of the first half then the try just before half-time gave us a bit of belief,” he said. “We hardly had a sniff of the ball in the first half but put that right after half-time and kept plugging away.

“We were glad to have Angus Farquharson back on Saturday and now he will be in the squad to play a young and lively Kelso outfit who will be hard to beat on their own patch because they are a side who have grown in experience and their recent results show we will have to be on our game.”

So, even though Dundee will travel to Poynder Park to face a Kelso side also getting their act together after a dismal start, they will be in more confident mood than Kirkcaldy who face league leaders Jed at home having had to regroup after that throwaway at Mayfield.

It was difficult for the Beveridge Park coach Quinten Sanft to get his head around that loss.

He admitted: “There is no doubt that it was sore one to lose after we had played pretty well in the first half.

“This week we have used our second half performance when we hardly touched the ball as a kick up the backside for the players before we take on Jed.

“We have to be confident at home and we will have almost the same squad as turned out at Mayfield so it is up to us to put last week behind us and come up with an 80-minute performance this week.”

Quite simply, if Dundee win and Kirkcaldy lose, the Mayfield men will leapfrog Kirkcaldy as well as going above their opponents.

Stewart’s Melville took a fair old pounding at Inverness last week when they went down 36-5 in their National Two clash with Highland but they suffered nothing like the rollercoaster scoring produced by Howe of Fife when Dumfries pitched up at Duffus Park.

Trailing by 38-5 at half time, Howe rallied and salvaged a bonus point with four tries in the final 71-36 calamity and the grit that managed to claim that bonus will give them at least a bit of confidence when they take on Stew/ Mel at Inverleith this week.

An even worse thumping than that suffered by Howe was meted out to Perthshire, as National Three leaders West of Scotland ran in a bucketload of tries in their 86-19 win at Burnbrae.

Now Shire have to pick up the pieces for a trip to Bladnoch to face a high-flying Newton Stewart who put St Boswells in their place last week to the tune of 54-7. Not an easy one for the North Inch men.