Rugby: Dunfermline beat Hamilton in League Division Four

DUNFERMLINE Rugby Club's senior men's first XV head coach Gavin Emerson said he was proud of his players after they powered to a bonus-point victory on Saturday.

The McKane Park outfit picked up their fourth try-scoring bonus point from five National League Division Four games, and their third win of the campaign, against Hamilton Bulls.

The hosts, who are third in the table, led 25-7 at the interval before adding 24 more points in the second period, scoring six tries, three of which were courtesy of Ethan Morgan.

"Looking at Hamilton, they've had a good recent run of winning three games in a row, and we were really close in the table," Emerson told Press Sport.

"The coaches did a lot of analysis, worked with a couple of the leaders in the group, provided a lot of detail to the boys through analysis and a lot of work in training, and I'm proud to say it paid off.

"The boys turned up and executed well. Big shout out to the forwards pack because they made some massive fixes to the line out, which then gave us a really good platform to play off. I think we took five against the head of their line outs, which obviously disrupted their attack, so it was brilliant.

"We got a bit tired near the end. Hamilton, fair play to them, kept at it and they managed to secure a bonus point as well through us falling off a couple of tackles that we should've made, but, at the end of the day, we got a win.

Head coach, Gavin Emerson, was proud of his team's efforts. (Image: David Wardle.)

"We were really good in defence. Five boys made 12 plus tackles, which was great, showing our defensive work in the recent training sessions has been paying off as well.

"It was a really wholesome day. We had two new players play their first game for the ones. They added to the value of the pack, and to the back line, so I'm really proud of the boys. They were mature throughout.

"We also played 10 minutes with a player down. Our scrum half got a yellow card not long before half-time, where it could've flipped the dial, but the boys stuck together and just kept at it, which was really good.

"One of our wingers, Ethan Morgan, scored three tries and contributed to an assist as well, so it was a great performance from the guys. I'm really proud of them."

All of Dunfermline's wins so far have come at home, and they will head to Linlithgow this Saturday searching for their first of the campaign on the road.

"We're keeping that sort of thing that teams play on, home's becoming a fortress, but, looking ahead to this weekend, it's a challenge of how can we replicate that away from home," Emerson continued.

"It's within our reach but we just need to make sure we've got the right mindset going into that game.

"It's just finishing it off. We've not been able to do that yet in both the away games (against Moray and Stewartry).

"I think once we get there, and hopefully build a lead up, we'll start getting that belief, and then have those mini conversations in our units about what we do and don't need to do, and how can we stay in the game and ensure we keep it so it's out of arm's reach for them to sneak back.

"We don't want to give a little bit of confidence to a team because that becomes dangerous as, if they start to build on that, that's where we start to lose games.

"Linlithgow got a good win at the weekend, away to Stewartry, so they'll be up for it. We couldn't get the job done at Stewartry, so they'll be thinking we're there to beat Dunfermline.

"They're a newly promoted team, so they're looking to climb that league and secure themselves a position for next season.

"We just need to use the experience of already being in National Four for a season, we know how to approach these games and we know how to get the win."

Kick off on Saturday is at 3pm.

Meanwhile, Dunfermline's second XV were also in action, and earned a fine 46-7 win at home to Perthshire second XV in the Caledonia Midlands Region League, Division Three.

That has moved them up to second, behind leaders, Kirkcaldy second XV, and ahead of third-top Rosyth Sharks, ahead of Saturday's fixtures.

Dunfermline host Stirling County, whilst the Sharks entertain Grangemouth Stags second XV at Harley Street, with both games beginning at 3pm.