Biggar still in contention after away win

Oct 29 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

BIGGAR got their Scottish Hydro Premier 2 campaign back on track with a hard-fought win at Kirkcaldy.

Fourth-placed Biggar are still in contention, sitting just six points off leaders Stirling County.

Although Kirkcaldy dominated the opening exchanges, Chris McKeand pulled a penalty wide, denying Biggar a chance to grab early points.

Ironically the first score came from a poor Kirkcaldy lineout. Biggar stole the ball and tapped it back but into a gap through which Craig Wilson pounced, making good yards before popping the ball to winger Jordan Webster, who crossed under the posts, giving Sanft an easy conversion and Kirkcaldy a 7-0 lead.

With the game barely restarted Sam Muir was penalised for a challenge on Sanft, who moved the score to 10-0.

Andrew Goodall made a great tackle as the Kirkcaldy backs made ground but a subsequent challenge by Jason Kelly saw him sin-binned while Sanft kicked for 13-0.

The game raged from end to end as both sides sought to run ball, resulting in some good passages of play by Michael Rutherford, Ryan Anderson, Muir, Chris McKeand and Goodall.

The ball was then moved quickly by Murray Thomson to Browning, who then found Simeon James, and he made space for Goodall to run in an excellent score. McKeand’s conversion cut the deficit to 13-7.

Biggar opened the second half at pace and a McKeand penalty reduced the deficit to just three points.

It wasn’t long before Kirkcaldy were awarded a penalty of their own but opted for a scrum and put Biggar under real pressure.

A grubber kick looked to have set up Sanft for the score but a mix-up saw him and Iain Gillies dive for the same ball and neither managed to get a telling hand to it.

A petulant throw of the ball at Grant Owens then saw a Kirkcaldy player sin-binned and a massive kick from McKeand took play to within metres of the line.

A scrum was awarded, ball was moved wide and an inside pass found Reid, who dashed over for the score. McKeand’s conversion opened up a 17-13 lead.

An excellent Browning take from the restart and kick-and-chase by McKeand took play to within metres of the Kirkcaldy line, where a penalty allowed McKeand to put Biggar clear at 20-13.

A James Green pick-up was driven forward by McLachlan before ball was shipped right for James to score Biggar’s third try, with Chris McKeand’s conversion taking them to 27-13.