Kirkcaldy lined up at Mayfield minus a number of unavailable players, including late call-off Steve Milne. There were first team debuts for Owen Thomson and Mackenzie Galloway while Craig Hamilton made his 100th league appearance.

The home side were one of three teams relegated from National 1 last season but they got off to a flying start, scoring within a minute and it wasn't long before they added a second. Dundee continued to expose the visitors' weaknesses in defence and a third try after 15 minutes made it 19-0.

The Blues had their first foray into the opposition 22 and soon got on the scoreboard, Fin Smith making a break through the defence before offloading to Kieran Mitchell for the first try on 20 minutes. However Dundee immediately restored their advantage with a fourth try to secure the bonus point.

A fumbled ball at the restart gave Kirkcaldy territory and after it was taken up to the line by the forwards, scrum-half Aidan Reddick got the second try from a quick tapped penalty. But once again it was all too easy for Dundee in an attacking position as they immediately responded with a try to restore their lead.

Before the break both teams spurned chances in attack as the rain arrived, leaving it 31-14 at half-time.

Early in the second period, Dundee pressure after a lineout maul near the try line saw Craig Hamilton penalised and sent to the sin-bin. The home side chose to take the three points and followed it up a few minutes later with another kicked penalty for 37-14. With a man advantage out wide Dundee extended their lead further to 44-14 before Hamilton returned to the field.

Kirkcaldy kept fighting though and regained the ball from a scrum in the opposition 22, only for Mitchell to end up short of the try line and judged to have knocked-on. Their efforts were eventually rewarded as Michael Harper went over for the third try, just after Dundee were reduced to 14 men.

Despite the man advantage the game was mostly played in Kirkcaldy’s half until a break from Callum Kennedy followed by more powerful running by Harper took the Blues up to 10 metres out. Although Dundee cleared their lines, persistence finally paid off as Kennedy crashed over from close range to secure the four try bonus point, once again converted by Smith.

Back to full strength and in the final play, the Mayfield men rounded off their deserved win by scoring their seventh try out wide.

Kirkcaldy team & scorers: C Kennedy (T), M Galloway, A Nailatica, C Pilmer, A Webb, F Smith (4C), A Reddick (T); M Collins, C Hamilton (Y), O Thomson, A Denholm, M Harper (T), D Foster, S Payne, K Mitchell (T).
Replacements (used): D Jennings, M Duckett, E Murray