Dunfermline S2s beaten by Marr RFC

Dunfermline RFC S2s travelled through to Troon to play Marr RFC in the first match between these squads. Marr RFC S2s are effectively the same team as Marr College, who sit top of the Barbarian Schools Conference.
The end of the holidays hit us harder than expected, with only 14 players available, so we borrowed a player for each half, thanks to the two Marr boys who helped us out.
Marr started strongly, scoring early by re-gathering their kick off and driving through some weak tackling by Dunfermline, before setting up a ruck and throwing the ball wide and scoring down the left side. Soon after, Marr scored again with an even better sweeping move to their left winger who raced around the Dunfermline defence.
Dunfermline attempted to take the game to Marr, but our support players were just that bit too slow to the breakdown, and we struggled to keep possession long enough. Finlee made a good break into the Marr half, but was tackled by their full-back, and the Marr players were quicker to the ruck. In defence we weren't organised enough and were too slow to fill the field, so we were always on the back foot.
This pattern of play continued for the rest of the half, with Marr scoring a further two tries to give them a decent half time lead.
The start of the second half was much better, with Dunfermline attacking with more intent, and after several attacks, Andrew switched play to the blind-side to put Gregor into enough space to burst through the covering defence to score.
During this phase we matched them try for try, scoring another from Kailo defending a Marr kick, gathering well and finding Gregor in space down the left side, who ran in from his own half to score. Thereafter we attacked well with Duncan making lots of yards, Aidan carrying well and Jack coming within a whisker of adding a third try. Matthew H was a live-wire, firstly at full-back, then at scrum-half in the second half. Logan K combined well with the borrowed Marr winger, and was always a threat. Our defence improved a little, with these same players leading the tackle count, but ultimately Marr finished the stronger team with a further couple of tries near the end.

Final Score: Marr 34 -6 Dunfermline

A tough day out for our boys, and without some of our key players, but the experience will be invaluable for the players who came in, which will stand us in good stead for the tough conference fixtures coming up.