Rugby: Dunfermline coach on men's first and second XVs start

With the midway point of the campaign approaching, Gavin Emerson, head coach of the first XV, is pleased with how both sides have started but wants them to keep working hard.

In National League Division Four, the firsts sit second ahead of Saturday's trip to Strathmore, whilst the seconds, in Caledonia Midlands Region League Division Three, are fourth.

"Both the ones and the twos are within where we set our goals for the season, so we're on track to actually achieve those, which is great at this stage in the season," Emerson said.

"We're over the moon with them at the minute, but we can't sit back. We still need to keep working hard because the hard work has got us where are now, so we can't just think 'oh, we're achieving that, we're on track, so let's just put our feet up, and we'll just continue the second half of the season how we did the first'.

Dunfermline's second XV are also going well in their league. (Image: David Wardle.)

"This is where it's make or break for teams. Some teams won't work hard in training, they might not come to training because there's no games, so they'll come back actually behind where they finished off, whereas we need to keep progressing because, like we've seen in both teams, we're better now than where we were at the start of the season.

"That's because we're playing more rugby, we're training for rugby and we're working on areas that need to be improved on.

"We just need to keep focus a bit and just let's ride it out until Christmas, have a wee break and then we go again for the next couple of months and then we'll see where we fall at the end of that."

The seconds aren't back in league action until November 23, but the firsts go into their fixture this weekend after a comprehensive 78-7 win over North Berwick last time out.

"I think we scored 12 tries throughout the day, so it was a good one for the fans, and some of the older heads in the club were just saying we're playing a really entertaining brand of rugby at the minute, which is always nice to hear," Emerson added.

"The forwards, as they have been over the past few weeks, worked really hard and, every line out they had, we managed to disrupt it or steal it. Likewise, at the scrum, as much as they worked hard to keep the ball, we were always pushing them backwards, so it made them have to get the number eight to pick the ball and play, because we were going forward.

"We were able to put pressure on straight away. It was nice to see us a little bit more dominant on that side of things, and playing a bit more on the physical side of rugby than more the pass and run and the expansive kind of rugby we're quite known for, so that was good."