DUNFERMLINE Rugby Club’s men’s first XV remain on course for the opportunity to play at Murrayfield after they advanced in the National Shield.

Gavin Emerson’s side, who had defeated Tennent’s Caledonia Region League, Division One, rivals Grangemouth Stags in the previous round, welcomed Moray to McKane Park on Saturday.

The Aberdeenshire visitors, who are second in Caledonia North Region League, Division Two, had sprung a surprise in their previous fixture in the competition by defeating Ellon – Dunfermline’s closest league challengers – 36-31 to set up their trip to West Fife.

However, Emerson’s in-form side ensured that they would not fall the way of their divisional peers, advancing with a 27-7 victory, having led 15-0 at the half-time interval.

That success has put Dunfermline into the last eight of the competition – which they won in 2012 with a win over Musselburgh in the final – where they will face Dalziel, at home, on March 4.

This weekend, Emerson’s side return to league action when they host bottom side Aberdeen Wanderers, at McKane, with kick-off at 2pm.

In Caledonia Midlands Region League, Division Three, both Dunfermline’s second XV, and Rosyth Sharks, return to action.

The former travel to Crieff and Strathearn, while the Sharks head for Waid Academy, with both fixtures also slated for 2pm starts.

For Rosyth, they will be seeking to build on an encouraging display in their last fixture, on November 12, when they defeated Strathmore 31-15 at Harley Street.

That was their second league win from five outings so far, although two of those have been by less than 10 points, and head coach Mark Love is hopeful that the positivity gathered from the Strathmore success can help them achieve another positive result this weekend.

“It certainly is; it’s all positive,” he said when asked if there were plenty of encouraging signs for the club.

“When it’s doing well on the park, it’s keeping the numbers up in training, so it’s all going in the right direction.

“We want to build on the victory. We don’t want to just say, ‘Oh, we’ve got a win, and that’s it’. You want to keep moving forward, so we don’t want to rest on our laurels and think we’ve made it.

“There’s no easy games and still a bit of work to do.

“Hopefully, we can go into the Christmas break in a decent position in the league.

“We’ve got Waid on Saturday. They’re below us in the league but it’s always tough to go away through to Anstruther in an away fixture, and then we’ve got Aberfeldy coming down the week after, who are sitting further up the league.

“But, again, they’re the travelling side, so we get the home advantage.

“We’ve been getting good numbers to fulfil the fixtures, and we’ve been getting full 21, 22 (player) squads, so it makes my job easier when you’ve got the players to put out on the park.”