ABERDEEN GRAMMAR 42 KIRKCALDY 12

After dominating possession and position in a wind assisted first half Kirkcaldy turned 14-7 down. Few would dispute that the Rubislaw team deserved this advantage. On limited possession they had a sense of purpose the Blues lacked and made the most of the visitors' shortcomings in defence.

The Kirkcaldy coaching team would be far from happy that their side failed to capitalise on a series of scoring chances, whether from attacking line outs or at goal. Grammar had taken a fifth minute lead with a well taken try from full back Bryn Perrot assisted by Nat Coe. The Kirkcaldy defence could have done more to stop this try as several would be tacklers were easily brushed off. Perrot added the extra points to his own try..

A quick Kirkcaldy response came to nothing after good work by the returning Rhys Bonner. Under this pressure Grammar conceded a penalty which was put into touch only for the throw in to be off target. When they did go for goal Finlay Smith was off target.

On limited rations Grammar's backs, well led by stand-off Sam Knudsen, appeared to have the edge over their opposite numbers in pace and accuracy but obdurate Kirkcaldy defending mainly kept them in check

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KIRKCALDY 41 KELSO 14

The intensity of Kirkcaldy's warm-up suggested something special come kick-off and the biggish crowd at Beveridge Park were certainly not disappointed as the Blues hit the game at pace From the opening play Quintan Sanft's side made their intentions clear as they moved the ball positively driving into would be Kelso defenders and recycling the ball for an eager back line.

Sanft could not disguise his pleasure at the performance of his side commenting:

“We had a tough time at Selkirk but worked hard during the week. We knew that our pack could cope with most of the other packs in National 1 but had to adjust the speed of reaction. We set the pace of this game which Kelso struggled to match . I know we struggled a bit around half time when we were down to thirteen men but showed what we could do when returned to full strength. Altogether it was the type of performance we planned for”.

Kirkcaldy appeared to have learned the lessons of the Selkirk defeat as they upped the pace of their game as they dominated early possession Within seven minutes they went 7-0 ahead.  A quickly taken free kick in midfield threw the Kelso defence into confusion as the ball sped to Conar Littlejohn. The centre accelerated away an had a clear path to the goal line for his side's first try with Finlay Smith adding the extra points.

The Blues relentless pursuit of the points had Kelso struggling in their 22 with the loss of several penalties. From one such kick to touch a clean lineout take saw Connor Wood drive through paper thin defence for the second Kirkcaldy try, again converted by Smith for a 14-0 home lead.