Report by Dave Hamilton

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Top of the table Peebles provided the opposition in the final home league game of the season at Beveridge Park. Once more, last minute changes meant that the original line up was slightly re- jigged as the Blues assembled a side to take on the high flying visitors.

Full of confidence the visitors piled pressure on the Blues from kick off and a swift move down the left flank almost resulted in a try in the first attack, however a timely intervention by Craig Hamilton held the ball up and the Blues breathed a sigh of relief. It was a brief sigh as on the next two attacks in the corner resulted in two yellow cards for the home side in quick succession, with Callum Kennedy and Steven Milne spending time in the sin-bin.

The Blues have never done things the easy way as Peebles found themselves with a two player advantage after only 4 minutes played. Blues defended well but weight of numbers resulted in a converted try a minute later. 0-7. As you would expect at the restart the visitors piled on the pressure and a well worked try followed after 7 minutes of play, this was unconverted and it was 0-12.

Kirkcaldy rallied and despite being without parity player wise, they repelled the visitors and some smart play from Fin Smith resulted in a knock on from the visitors. A fine scrum from the Blues secured the ball and Peebles realised that the pack they were facing in this match was very different to the one that visited the Gytes.

There was some jousting between the forwards in midfield and another Blues scrum was awarded as the yellow carded players returned to the fray. Another good scrum ensued against a large visiting pack and a little bit of afters resulted between the hookers, as the penny dropped with the visitors that this was a slightly different animal they were dealing with.

Following a line-out on the visitors 22, some good driving forward by Rory Brown, Marcus Salt and Gavin McKenzie took the game to the visitors. Further line-outs from the pressure saw Brown and Rhys Bonner carry the ball effectively and move the ball to the other flank and secure another line-out. This was in a dangerous position around 10 metres out and a slick line-out move led to Rhys Bonner powering through to score a well deserved try for the Blues. Fin Smith converted and it was 7- 12 at around 27 minutes played.

Peebles worked their way downfield and once more secured a line-out, which was well disrupted as Seb Evans snatched the ball in the air, not once but on two occasions to interrupt the visitors progress at their next attack. There was some smart play by the Blues at line-out time and it was paying dividends as the visitors made little progress despite decent field positions.

Following a well secured line-out the Blues found Timmy Kennedy who burst forward at pace stretching the Peebles defensive system, he smartly found his twin Callum and the Blues scored a cracker of a try which was converted by Fin Smith and it was 14-12 to the Blues after 32 minutes.

As mentioned earlier, this was a different game now, the Blues with their tails up and Peebles realising that they were in a game now.
Further good use of the ball following a scrum resulted in some good possession and carries by Evans and Brown, ably assisted by the pack, led to a penalty following an infringement on Timmy Kennedy. It was now on the stroke of half-time and Fin Smith calmly slotted the penalty to make it 17-12 at the break.

The second half began with the visitors pushing hard to get back in front once more, the Blues resolutely defending and the pack were working hard making many tackles and generally disrupting the efforts of the visitors. A further penalty was won as the visitors were offside on their 22, Fin Smith again stepped up and took the 3 points on offer to make it 20-12 after 47 minutes.

Jack Denton came on for Stevie Milne who had picked up a knock and shortly after that, Seb Evans was withdrawn along with Marcus Salt, being replaced by the recovered Stevie Milne and Ross Lithgow. For the first time the Blues scrum creaked and two scrums were lost and Peebles appeared to have found a way back in the game. A great break from Kieran Mitchell and Owen Bonner once more carried the ball back to the visitors as they eased the pressure on the pack who had put in a shift.

Seb Evans and Marcus Salt replaced the hard working Kieran Mitchell and Ross Lithgow and the pack resembled the original set up to combat the visitors. Relentless pressure on the Blues showed why this side are table toppers and a converted try under the posts came along after around 75 minutes, 20-19.

The referee had made it clear that the clock was being stopped at every break in play and somehow after 87 minutes of play Peebles scored what was the winning try which was unconverted. 20-24 the final score.

Peebles are a very good side with momentum and belief in their abilities, at the start of the match there were 37 points between the teams on the league table, any neutral watching on would never have believed that was the situation. The Blues, who have had a challenging season due to the depth of the squad matched Peebles all over the park, in fact looked a better side for the majority of the match, despite having a ridiculously unfortunate start to the game and were unfortunate to lose in extra, extra time.

Having said that, fair play to Peebles who found a way to win, the sign of potential league champions, they played the game in the right spirit and they will be glad to head home having dodged a bullet in Kirkcaldy.