Biggar 35

Dumfries 26

Al Stewart at Hartree Mill

FOR their second warm up match Biggar hosted Dumfries on Saturday.

There was need for an improvement following last week's outing at Lasswade and this indeed proved to be the case. Starting at a great pace – much as had been the case last Friday – the difference this time was that points were scored and in fine fashion.

Alisdair Sinclair was first up after just three minutes, the winger scorching over in the corner after a great passage of play as Biggar retained ball well to put pressure on the Dumfries defence. Gaps eventually opened up to give Sinclair the chance which he took well.

Richard Peacock struck an excellent kick to add the conversion.

With Biggar on the offensive once more, Dumfries managed to gain possession from a lineout deep in their 22. A weak clearance was taken by Peacock who was able to feed Robbie Lavery. The ball was put wide to Stuart Hull who burst through the Dumfries cover to score a great try which Peacock again converted.

Up front Biggar seemed to have the advantage in the tight scrum although Dumfries were not the force that Lasswade had been. Andrew Peacock and Douglas Notman were held up well in forays forward but Biggar were over the line again after 15 minutes when Andrew Orr took full advantage of a quick tap penalty to pick and drive, catching the Dumfries cover at sixes and sevens before crashing over from close range. Peacock again added the two points for 21-0.

Inevitably Dumfries came back into things and exerted their own period of attacking play. Able to secure ball when under pressure Biggar made things difficult for themselves by trying to run ball from deep when the kick might have been a better option. Caught close to their line Dumfries should have perhaps done better but in fact they conceded a penalty which allowed Biggar some relief.

This brought the first period to an end and heralded a host of changes to the teams with both sides taking the opportunity to give all their senior squad players a run and to try different formations and pairings.

This was a less structured period as players struggled to gain any consistency of possession with errors from both sides punctuating the flow of the match. Dumfries fared better as they put Biggar under a good deal of pressure. Things were not helped as play became somewhat fractious and ended up testing the Australian referee's patience. Two Dumfries try's made things a good deal closer at 21-14.

Biggar began the third period much as they had the first, with Douglas Voas taking a leaf from Orr's book to tap a penalty and crash over for another try which Peacock again converted. 28-14.

Just when Biggar looked as though they would become more dominant Dumfries upped their game with Biggar making a number of unforced errors. The visitors collected a third try before Ewan Stewart grabbed one for himself, the hooker intercepting a loose pass to scamper over for a try converted by Peacock who maintained his 100 per cent record.

A final score from Dumfries took the score to 35-26, Dumfries having the last word with this. Had they kicked their points this match would have been a lot closer, but as it was Biggar recorded their first win under new coach Gary Mercer. Assistant coach Davy Wilson, who will look after the backs, was also pitch side to view his charges in action for the first time.

Both coaches were content with the performance though not yet happy as there had been too many unforced errors. A positive however is that the squad are as one and look to be enjoying the style of play which Mercer is advocating. This weekend Penrith will travel to Hartree Mill and the English side will pose a number of very different problems with increased bulk their advantage.