Kirkcaldy 10 Lasswade 22

Kirkcaldy won both Premier 3 encounters last year including bringing Lasswade’s long undefeated home record to an end, making the visitors the longer odds for this meeting.

The home side relied heavily on the blunt instruments of their forwards spearheaded by the burly front row trio and their hooker, Wallace in particular. This somewhat limited approach proved insufficient as Lasswade more than equalled them in the set pieces and generally held on to their own ball in the loose. The visitors played the more comprehensive rugby using all fifteen players and the full width of the park to make ground and stretch the opposition and run in three tries to two.

With both O’Riordan and Borthwick temporarily sidelined from last week’s forwards, Gordon Ward made his 1st XV debut at second row and fully exploited the opportunity by earning man of the match for his tireless covering and fearless tackling.

Having kicked off with a steady breeze over their left shoulders on a firm pitch and in bright sunshine, Lasswade claimed the first three points in less than three minutes when pressure in front of the posts drew Kirkcaldy offside and Brown slotted the penalty.

Kirkcaldy used the restart to set up camp in the visitors’ 22 and stayed put even when Gavin Neilson fluffed a fairly simple penalty. On this occasion repeated drives by their forwards eventually opened the way for Wallace to crash over beside the posts and Neilson did not miss this time.

In spite of the best efforts of both sides, the scoreboard stayed at 7-3 for the remaining half hour of the first period.

Ten minutes into the second half, Lasswade began to find gaps when away from the forward melee and a break by Hennessey set up Wilson, on at centre for Forrester, on a long break down the right wing, Stopped just short of the line Brown was in close support to win from the ruck and pop the ball to Hennessey in full flight to the line. Brown’s conversion brought up double figures.

Kirkcaldy kept the ball close for the next fifteen minutes and then another series of bruising pick, pop and forward drives took them to the Lasswade line for centre, Wallace, to barge through the last defenders and reclaim a two-point lead. Neilson’s conversion extended it to four.

This was short-lived though when, virtually from the restart, Hearn stole the Kirkcaldy ball in a maul and slipped the ball to Clark who flew round the last two defenders to land under the posts with Brown’s conversion putting the visitors three points back in front with 15 minutes to go.

The home side were both tiring and being outplayed by this time and seven minutes from no-side, were taken out of bonus point range when, at a scrum 30 metres out, Hennessey picked up at No 8, opted for the tight side, Blackwood raced up from full back to make the extra man and gave Gray the overlap to stride into the corner.

Kirkcaldy’s catch up rugby was not good enough to recover anything from the day in the little time that remained.

Lasswade is one of just three clubs unbeaten after only two games. Barring a draw or two, that will become just two teams at most after Howe of Fife’s visit to Hawthornden this Saturday. Last year’s Premier 3 champions and with two comfortable home wins to date in this, the Cupar side is the one that Lasswade really needs to beat – especially at home. Kick-off 3pm.