Dumfries Saints 12

Peebles 33

Allan Beveridge at Park Farm

PEEBLES pulled themselves from the brink on Saturday to produce one of their best displays this season.

Twelve points down after 10 minutes against high-flying Saints, the glum expressions on the face of visiting supporters could be forgiven.

However, fortunes were finally about to turn for the Gytes men.

And they had ran in a bonus-point fourth try before half time.

Andrew Whiteford opened the scoring for Dumfries after some good work by his outside centre, Sam Hiddleston.

The opener was followed swiftly by wing forward Finlay Millar touching down after Peebles had missed a couple of tackles.

Millar's try was converted by John Carlisle.

At this stage Saints were pressing hard with line gains and plenty of speed.

But the Peebles defence began to repel the danger and the tide quickly turned.

A Greg Raeburn penalty in the 11th minute was a welcome reward after Peebles' backs had taken play to the Dumfries line.

On the quarter hour Andy Muir intercepted a pass just inside his own half. After bursting into the Dumfries half the ball was spun out to the supporting Callum Anderson to score between the posts.

Raeburn's conversion brought Peebles to within two points.

Almost from the restart Scott Stoddart made a good run up his right wing before being forced into touch inside the home 22.

Peebles held Dumfries inside their own area resulting in Stoddart collecting the ball from Conor Blyth to score in the corner.

By this point Peebles' forwards were winning the exchanges, as they have done in previous weeks, at the scrums.

Good driving by the young pack provided a great platform for the backs to attack at will.

Donald Anderson broke blind from a scrum some 30 metres out, and yet again he linked well with brother Callum for the ball to be fed out to Ruaridh Clinch to touch down in the left corner.

Raeburn's conversion hit the post but Peebles were now 20-12 to the good.

Dumfries almost responded with a forwards drive but they were unable to ground the ball - and from the resulting scrum Peebles were able to clear the danger.

Just before half time the visitors scored the all-important bonus point try.

Dumfries second-row Michael Thomson, who had taken most of Saints' line-outs, was sacked by Ross Brown.

The ball was passed along the Peebles backs to Stoddart, who brilliantly changed direction and fed Raeburn to score beneath the posts.

The conversion gave Peebles a 27-12 half time lead.

The second half followed a similar pattern with the Peebles defence standing firm against early Dumfries attacks.

The visiting scrum was a joy to watch against the heavier home pack.

Peebles had a couple of good opportunities to increase the lead with Callum Anderson being blatantly pulled back as he chased his own kick through.

And a short time later a Peebles forward was also pulled back by his collar as he charged towards the line.

But Raeburn did add a further two penalties to complete a good away day for Peebles.

Tomorrow Peebles are at home with GHA, who also enjoy to run the ball, being the visitors.

Kick off is 3pm.