Lasswade 49 Dunfermline 13

Lasswde 49 Dunfermline 13

Taking advantage of some inattentive defending, they earned a lineout in the home twenty-two and moved the ball straightforwardly but efficiently to the opposite wing and Andrew MacKenzie touched down in the corner with just 90 seconds gone.
Sharply reminded that their visitors hadn’t just come for the ride Lasswade quickly responded. Dominant in the set scrum and winning their own ball in all other phases, they opened their account just eight minutes in, when Clark made a break from half way and had Kyle Smith in close support to step past the last defenders and touch down under the posts. Three more tries followed as the visitors defensive frailties were exposed from Gladstone, Hall (the first of three), and Lamont at roughly three minute intervals with the last one being converted by Gladstone to make it 24-5 and a 4-try bonus point before the end of the first quarter.
A Lasswade handling error from the fourth restart was pounced on by Iain Spence to give the visitors another five points, but this was wiped out three minutes later as Donald Hearn finished off a catch and drive from a 5-metre lineout.
A handling error of a different kind in front of the Lasswade posts allowed debutant Adam Fraser to add three points to the visitors’ tally from a penalty but it proved to be their final consolation.
In the dying minutes of the first period Kyle Smith claimed his second score from a sequence that started as a tap penalty forty metres out.
Lasswade started off the second half in similar vein with a four-minute sequence of controlled possession, recycling and handling which culminated in Lamont’s second try.
As the hosts eased off and Dunfermline found some resistance, the flow of tries was stemmed until well in to the final quarter. Then, in the few minutes either side of the seventy minute mark Hall completed his hat-trick thanks to almost always being in close support as well as making some breaks of his own.