Kirkcaldy Rugby Club: High scoring away win in season-ender at Dumfries Saints sees Blues finish fifth in National 2

The Blues, missing six players, had three league debutants but roared into a 7-0 lead with Rory Brown touching down and Conar Littlejohn adding the extras.

Saints responded quickly and Ian Carlisle barged over for a try converted by Keir Patterson.

But Quintan Sanft’s men regained the lead with a try from Finlay Bruce who rounded off a winning line-out, Littlejohn converting.

Dumfries suffered a major blow with lock Nathan Brown red carded for a dangerous tackle. Saints, far from happy with this, upped their effort and were rewarded with an equalising score from flanker Chris Wood, again converted by Patterson.

Dumfries then lost control of the restart kick and the alert Owen Bonner pounced on the loose ball to put his side ahead again with an unconverted try.

But 15 minutes before the interval Dumfries went ahead for the first time when a Wood try was converted by Patterson for 21-19.

The Blues suffered another setback in the first minute of the second period as Saints went further ahead with a bonus point winning fourth converted try from winger Aaron Greenland.

With the advantage of an extra man after a red card, Kirkcaldy’s pack took a real advantage with a push over try from Rory Brown which was converted to narrow their deficit to two points.

Dumfries replacement McKenzie Ross then suffered a horrendous injury which caused an eight-minute stoppage while an ambulance came on to the field to remove him to hospital.

On the restart, newcomer Kyle Robertson took advantage of a Bonner kick ahead to put the Blues into the lead and Littleton's conversion made it 31-28 for Kirkcaldy.

Scores from Gavin McKenzie and Rory Brown just about sealed the outcome for the Blues but Saints had enough left in the tank to score two late tries of their own to round off an entertaining contest.

Kirkcaldy’s fourth consecutive bonus point win means they finish fifth with 67 points from 22 games, a marked improvement on last season.