NEW Dunfermline Rugby Club head coach Gavin Emerson has said his team’s aim is promotion after they won their season opener.

The McKane Park side began their Tennent’s Men’s Caledonia Region League, Division One season in fine style with a 47-17 bonus-point victory over league newcomers Aberdeenshire last Saturday.

The hosts had secured their try-scoring bonus inside half an hour, after what their new head coach described as “a few teething issues at the start”, to ensure his competitive tenure began with a victory.

In June, the former second row and number eight, who began his coaching career in 2013 with RAF Lossiemouth, was appointed as the successor to Stuart Brown, who stepped down from the role in April.

Brown, who was named as Scottish Rugby’s Volunteer of the Season for the Caledonia Midlands region, decided to move away from the position having led Dunfermline to a runners-up finish last season.

After taking on the job, Emerson, who last season led Howe of Fife to third place in the Tennent’s National League, Division Three, stated that his aim was to make the team fun to watch and successful.

Success to Emerson would be winning the division and, speaking to Press Sport this week, he felt that they had started in a positive fashion.

“I think we’ve started really well, even though we had a few teething problems at the start,” he said.

“We gave away three or four penalties in the first few minutes, which led to a score, but we came away from that and got the bonus point in half-an-hour.

“Our forwards and backs connected. We won a lot of our own line-out ball and showed what we could achieve with a good platform from the forwards. The backs used that platform and we scored some well-worked team tries.

“The boys are really happy and building confidence. We spoke before the game and we all agreed that anything less than a bonus-point win would not be doing ourselves justice in terms of what we’re trying to achieve.

“It’s nice to hit the ground running. There were plenty of nerves from myself but the boys did really well.

“Our fitness is something we had identified. We spent a little time getting used to a new game plan and shape, so we know our fitness isn’t quite where we want it to be.”

Elsewhere, in Caledonia Midlands Region League, Division Three, Dunfermline’s second XV began their campaign with a 30-14 defeat to Grangemouth Stags seconds, and on Sunday, the women’s team opened their Midlands/East Region, Division One season with a 38-5 defeat at Strathmore.

Rugby across Scotland this weekend was postponed following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday.