Rugby: Dunfermline one win from title and national leagues promotion

The McKane Park side were victorious in their penultimate Tennent’s Men’s Caledonia Region League, Division One, match of the season at Hillfoots on Saturday February 4, claiming a try-scoring bonus point in the process.

Gavin Emerson’s team were 64-7 winners in Clackmannanshire, leaving them seven points clear of nearest challengers Ellon at the summit.

Although their rivals have two games left to play – home and away against Hillfoots – a victory at home to bottom side, Aberdeen Wanderers, on February 25 will be enough for Dunfermline to win the championship, and promotion to Tennent’s National League Division Four next season.

That game was rescheduled from January 21, when it was called off due to a frozen pitch, and will now give the club, who won promotion to National League Division Three in 2014, before going back down after one season, on home turf.

“It was really nice just to get the game played and get that one ticked off,” Emerson told Press Sport.

“We had a good week of training for both the ones and the twos (second XV), and that showed with the seconds result as well (26-7 over Perthshire second XV in Tennent’s Men’s Caledonia Midlands Region League, Division Three).

“We scored two quick tries; I think it was within three minutes that we scored two tries on Saturday. It was just hard work.

“I don’t know if whether we were happy that the game was done, but we just sat back with 20 minutes to go, and they started to get into the game. However, in terms of the stuff we’ve been working on in training, the backs scored some really good strike moves, and finished them off to a tee, so we’re looking forward to watching the tape back.

“The forwards’ solid lineout worked well. We caused a lot of issues on their lineout ball, which stopped them playing with a platform.

“It was just a really disciplined performance, apart from the last 20 minutes, but we did more than enough to get the job done and secure the bonus point within the first half.”

Head coach Emerson continued: “It was really good for the boys and it was nice to take that back to the club.

“The club was bouncing, with the Scotland game (against England in the Six Nations) on, and then the two senior teams having gotten bonus point wins, it was great.

“We just need to keep momentum going in training and keep the boys focused until the end of the month.

“Selection’s very difficult. We do pre-selection on a Tuesday and then this week, Thursday, we changed some of the decisions we made on Tuesday, in terms of who will play where, just by how well the guys are training during the week.

“It’s a nice place to be in, but it’s a hard place. We just have to make sure that we give everyone as much feedback as possible, so then they know what they need to improve on, or they know why selections are made the way it is.

“The committee and the old guys in the club were celebrating, saying we’re 99.9 per cent promoted. I was like, yes, but there’s still that 0.1 that we need to keep switched on and get the best result we can on the 25th.

“Obviously, after that, we’ve got the quarter-final (against Dalziel, in the National Shield). It’s just trying to keep myself and the players grounded.

“Aberdeen Wanderers, when they come down, will want to spoil our party. I’d be the exact same if I was coming down; let’s get a defeat on them, and let’s see what happens after that.

“Even though we got a really comfortable win away to them, they went to Grangemouth this weekend, and it wasn’t defeat by the biggest margin (26-5).

“I’m more than confident that, if the guys keep focused, train how we’ve been training, and improve in every aspect that we’re trying to put on for them, we will, by all means, get what we expect on that Saturday.

“There’s still six training sessions, or eight training sessions, before that game, so we just need to make sure we’re grounded.

“We’ve got a slight eye on next season, but we’re really focused on the next few weeks now.”