Biggar 39

Dumfries 0

Al Stewart

at Hartree Mill

What a difference a week makes!

After the disappointment of last week when Biggar produced a somewhat lack-lustre display, the side came out of the traps with all guns firing against Dumfries.

As had been expected Dumfries began strongly with some neat moves in the backs seeing them create great yardage and on one occasion splitting the Biggar defence in two, only a great tackle from Robbie Orr halting the move.

Against the run of play Matthew Stewart kicked a penalty top give Biggar an early lead.

Dumfries continued to put Biggar under pressure however and it took all of Biggar’s defensive strength to keep their line intact.

Dumfries should have tied the scores at 3-3 but kicker Alan Birdsall was off target from a relatively ‘simple’ distance.

Having seen that kick miss Dumfries opted thereafter to run the ball with a series of tap and goes but again it was Biggar’s first up and cover tackles which came to the fore to repel the visitors.

As has often been the case this season Biggar’s ability to counter-attack has been impressive and it was this which led to the first try.

Ross Bradford got the ball in midfield and made a great break to the left with Iain Renwick adding more yards. Ball was then transferred inside to Reive who made short shrift of the gap to reach the line.

Matthew Stewart added the conversion for 10-0.

This score came just before the half hour mark and some five minutes later Biggar struck again with Stewart kicking a second penalty for 13-0.

A major error on the restart meant the Dumfries were gifted possession and had it not been for their defence Biggar would have conceded a score.

A knock on gave Biggar scrum ball and with Ross Jackson making the initial thrust, yards were made by Robbie Orr, then Jackson again who popped the ball to Lewis Stewart who looked to be on his way to scoring a try.

The despairing cover tackle did enough to trip him up but the youngster had the presence of mind to find Euan Sanderson in support, Biggar’s skipper diving in for the score.

Half time then and Biggar were ahead at 20-0.

Faced with poor possession from their lineout meant that a tap-and-go ploy was again Dumfries's preferred option, but Biggar were up for this with another batch of big hits ending the momentum.

With some 15 minutes of the second half gone Biggar struck with a third try.

Robbie Lavery spread play wide and Lewis Stewart linked well before getting the ball to Robbie Orr. The fullback made the try line from the half way mark, out-stripping the Dumfries defence on the way.

Matthew Stewart’s conversion took Biggar to 27-0.

There was now the real possibility of collecting another four try bonus – not something that had been given much thought in the lead up to the game.

Robbie Lavery made a great line break with his next foray and with Mulligan carrying play forward again his pass found Lewis Stewart who flew in from the Dumfries 22 for a try converted by his brother for 34-0.

The last try was one of the best of the season to date.

A missed kick to touch was cleared downfield by Dumfries and into Biggar’s 22 where it was gathered by Robbie Orr.

He found Iain Renwick who set up a ruck on Biggar 10m line. There were then a series of phases each of which involved different players but which continues to take play into the Dumfries half.

An injection of pace by Mulligan and then by Bradford who made some great runs on Saturday set Jackson free for the try in the corner! A total of 13 players were involved at some point.

Biggar: R. Orr, R. Bradford, R. Lavery, M. Stewart, I. Renwick, C. Lavery, D. Reive, D. Voas, C. Mulligan, G. Kelly, J. Orr, A. Warnock, E. Sanderson, L. Stewart, R. Jackson. Reps: F. Carossi, A. Peacock, R. Moffat, J. Barr