Dunfermline 76-21 Mackie

FREE-SCORING Dunfermline racked up their second successive league victory on Saturday as they ruthlessly swept Mackie aside with a 12-try success.

Caine McIntyre's exciting young side have responded to their opening day loss to Gordonians in style, coming out on top in a hard-fought clash at Carnoustie 15-11 before producing some terrific running rugby to defeat the Aberdeenshire team at McKane Park.

The Dunfermline pack dominated the opposition at the scrum in the early stages and after only 25 minutes they had ensured a bonus point after tries from Callum Allerdice, Adam Fraser, Harvey Gardiner and Fraser Cowe, with Fraser knocking over two conversions.

That had given the home side a 24-0 lead which was soon extended by 14 points when Scott Gracie added two more scores - converted by Fraser - from long distance as Mackie struggled to compete with the scrummage of the home pack which continually had them on the back foot.

A seventh converted try of a superb first half was soon added by Iain Spence after an excellent surging run by Liam Quarm before Dunfermline were reduced to 14 men when Martin Punter was yellow carded.

The visitors briefly rallied, pushing on to the home line where they were awarded a penalty try, converted by Ross Gray, to put their first points on the board.

Dunfermline's response though was swift and clinical as they added another seven points through Spence's try under the posts and Fraser's conversion to take a huge lead of 45-7 into the half-time break.

There was no let up for Mackie when the teams emerged for the second 40 minutes as the hosts broke through the 50 point barrier when Cowe stormed over the whitewash for a converted score, before Gracie added his third try of the afternoon with another long distance effort.

McIntyre's men however appeared to lose focus for a period, conceding a string of penalties which Mackie took advantage of when Matt Foster charged down an attempted clearance to score, with Gray converting, before they further added to their tally with a Dean Gerrard try following a rare venture towards the Dunfermline line.

Those scores however inspired the McKane men to improve their concentration levels and Allerdice broke through the Mackie ranks to grab his second try of the afternoon before Fraser added the extras.

The Blues then took advantage of the referee ignoring what appeared to be a knock on as David Rogers went over, before the 12th and final try of a terrific afternoon was scored and converted by Fraser.

There is a break from league action this Saturday as Dunfermline travel to Ellon in the opening tie of the BT Caledonia Shield, with kick-off at 3pm.