Peebles 27

Glasgow Accies 0

Allan Beveridge

at The Gytes

IT was perhaps not obvious to supporters standing in the lea of The Gytes but the swirling wind made handling and kicking difficult on Saturday.

Despite the elements, Peebles went on to win with a bonus point.

But really the score should have been a lot higher with the number of opportunities created by the home team.

Although Peebles were 3 - 0 up inside five minutes thanks to a Greg Raeburn penalty, the home team did not look comfortable.

And going by the early exchanges it was the visitors who looked the more likely to win this encounter.

The Peebles defence thankfully was very good and the two wing forwards, Stuart Hunter and Ruairdh Britton, tackled well and they kept Peebles in the contest.

Glasgow had a big set of forwards and Peebles were missing lineout jumpers but, in their absence, Richard Harrison deputised well.

He, assisted by Linton Brink, took some good catches throughout the 65 minutes he was on the pitch.

In the scrums it was Neil Hogarth who was up for the challenge.

After the initial penalty Peebles were on the defence and it was only a poor final pass by the visitors that prevented them going in front.

Matthew Holland also missed a penalty that would have drawn them level.

A yellow card for Accies hooker Valentine gave Peebles the boost they required midway through the half.

Murray Brown burst through the defence only for the ball to be knocked from his hands five metres short.

A few minutes later a Greg Raeburn interception on half way led to him diving over for the score.

The fly-half added the conversion for a 10-0 home lead.

The half time advantage had been more down to the tackling from the Peebles defence than anything else.

With the wind at their backs, though, Peebles were vastly improved in the attack during the second period.

Keiran Brown was stopped short on the line as they attempted to increase the lead.

And a short time later Stuart Hunter's burst through the defence almost led to a try as James Dow knocked on near the line.

Full back Matthews was also stopped just short of the line, but this time Peebles were awarded a penalty.

And the decision to take a scrum proved correct as Roddy Guinea and Linton Brink led the drive which allowed Keiran Brown to touch down.

With less than 10 minutes remaining Raeburn cleverly chipped into space for Scott Stoddard to collect and race in for the try.

The Raeburn conversion made the score 22-0.

With a bonus point up for grabs Peebles continued to search for a fourth try, and with the last play of the game Roddy Guiney finished off a good move to touch down.