Musselburgh ...... 37
Dundee HS FP .... 10
It is a measure of the standards set at Musselburgh for this season that, with minutes to go in their first league outing and the game safely won, a line out throw going astray saw coach Keith Robertson bury his head in his hands.
''Concentration to the very end is what we have to aim at,'' said the former Melrose stalwart although agreeing that his Stonyhill charges had been impressive at times. ''The guys have responded well to what we have asked them to do and we have to work on that,'' he reckoned.
Musselburgh built on scrum domination which was the cornerstone of their win and when opposing stand offs Scott Brownlie and Jon Newton exchanged a drop goal and a penalty in the opening five minutes, it was the only time the visitors achieved parity.
Brownlie landed his first penalty from position gained by the charge of Alan Kittle, but it was on the half hour before the season's first try was greeted by the Musselburgh support.
The initial break by Alan McPherson appeared to have broken down and a misplaced hack gave Graham Jamieson the chance to score the try which Brownlie converted as he did after scrum-half Neil McCracken's shimmy took him over from twelve yards out.
Musselburgh's 20-3 half time lead emphasised not only their forward dominance but also the committment of their defence, which had to work hard whenever Newton, Chris Milne and Pearson were given any chance to run.
It was Milne who collected Dundee's only try in the first minute of the second half but, from there on, the home pack took control and it was after another Kittle burst that Dean Mack touched down.
Dundee conceded the final score to Darren Archibald who had been afield for all of two minutes.
Musselburgh - G Jamieson; B Stewart, G Cringan, A McPherson, N Falconer (D Archibald 72mins); S Brownlie, N McCracken; G Talac (J Gibson 8), I Archibald (D Kyle 68), A Kittle, G Paxton, G Cuthill, A Bonthron, S Logan (G Lockhart 26), D Mack.
Dundee HSFP - S Newton; S Pearson, C Milne, N Gallacher, D Gray; J Newton, S Finney; D Milne, H Bell (T Dymock 68), C Whittaker, R Steven, K Rosbottom, A Brown, I Hope (J Parratt 68), C Samson.
Referee: E.Murray (Greenock Wanderers)
Scoring sequence: (Musselburgh first): 3-0, 3-3, 6-3, 13-3, 20-3 (H/T) 20-10, 27-10, 30-10, 37-10.
Scorers: Musselburgh: Tries - Jamieson (30mins), McCracken (33), Mack (45), Archibald (74); Conversions - Brownlie (30, 33, 45, 74); Drop goal - Brownlie (3); Penalties - Brownlie (7, 50). Dundee HSFP: Try - Milne (43); Penalty - Newton (5); Conversion - Newton (43)
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