Stern tests are awaiting both Dundee High and Kirkcaldy

LEAGUES: Pair face in-form Selkirk and a possibly angry Gala side respectively

It took them five games, but Dundee High Rugby finally got the monkey off their back last Saturday with a 27-18 win at Cartha Queens Park which hoisted them off the bottom of Tennent’s National One.

Last week Dundee coach Colin Sangster said: “We don’t do well when we go behind – we need to identify things to improve our game.”

Well, the team confounded the coach by going in 18-10 adrift at half-time then scoring 17 unanswered points in the second, so Sangster must have been successful in “identifying” something which turned their game around.

However, this week will be a sterner test than the one they faced at Dumbreck when Selkirk pitch up at Mayfield off a tense 28-26 win over Aberdeen Grammar Rugby last week.

The Soutars lie fourth in the table with a four wins from five starts record, having only lost to Hamilton at Laigh Bent.

However, it is in the differential column that things really stick out.

Selkirk have a plus of 42 to Dundee’s minus 68, so the defence which kept Cartha at bay for 40 minutes will certainly have to be on top form against the free-running Selkirk backs.

It was a horror story beyond Kirkcaldy’s worst nightmare at Bridgehaugh last Saturday as they were dismantled and chopped up by GHA, who ran up 87 points to the solitary reply of a Finlay Smith first half penalty.

That result dropped the Beveridge Park men to second bottom slot in National One and to make things worse, not only are Gala the visitors on Saturday but they will likely be a very angry Gala side.

Rarely can there have been a 100-plus point game at Netherdale with Gala on the wrong end of the scoreline but that is what happened when they went down by 55-47 to Musselburgh last week.

That they will be tightening up their defence goes without saying, but where do Kirkcaldy start?

It would help if they had their regular back row, two props and a centre back in the line-up who were missing for the trip to Glasgow but the fear is that perhaps some of those could join the three regulars already on the long term injury list.

They could also work on cutting out missed tackles and being more protective of the ball but that is easier said than done for a side who have just come off a 13-try hammering.

If Howe of Fife were going to get the win that got them on the board in Tennent’s National Two, it had to be against a toiling Lasswade and they delivered last Saturday with 56 points to take themselves one slot above the relegation zone.

Neither side had won before Saturday and that 56-22 win will be a big confidence boost for the Duffus Park men going to Pennypit to face Preston Lodge tomorrow.

It was too good to last for Perthshire and Carrick comprehensively burst their bubble at Maybole on Saturday with a 50-5 win but there is consolation on hand for ’Shire, with Haddington the visitors to North Inch this week.

The Neilson Park crew are unable to buy a win so far and have been shipping almost 50 points a game.