Kirkcaldy Rugby Club skipper Fin Smith hails fantastic fightback at Falkirk

Kirkcaldy Rugby Club mount an attack during last Saturday's 34-32 win at Falkirk (Pics Alan Murray)Kirkcaldy Rugby Club mount an attack during last Saturday's 34-32 win at Falkirk (Pics Alan Murray)
Kirkcaldy Rugby Club mount an attack during last Saturday's 34-32 win at Falkirk (Pics Alan Murray)
Kirkcaldy Rugby Club skipper Fin Smith has spoken of his relief after a sensational second half comeback saw the Blues recover from a 22-3 half-time deficit at Falkirk last Saturday to prevail 34-32 in the sides’ Arnold Clark National League Division 2 encounter at Horne Park.

Incredible late drama saw Kirkcaldy’s Rory Brown score a last minute try under the posts – Falkirk were down to 14 men at the time after a yellow card – before Blues skipper Fin Smith slotted the conversion.

Kirkcaldy then conceded a penalty, but the kick went wide and the Blues – whose other points came from tries by Marcus Salt (2) and Alex Webb, plus three more conversions and two penalties for Smith – won to move onto 30 points from nine matches in third place.

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"Me being a kicker myself I felt for him in that situation,” Smith said of Falkirk’s late miss. “It’s not nice for him to miss. He’s normally a good kicker, so I expected the kick to go over.

Falkirk on the rampage during the hard-fought Horne Park encounterFalkirk on the rampage during the hard-fought Horne Park encounter
Falkirk on the rampage during the hard-fought Horne Park encounter

"It wasn’t slap bang in the middle, in front of the posts, but the pressure at the end of the game was tough.

"Kickers know you have to take the wins with the losses and if you can’t get the kick over, that’s the way it goes sometimes. It was a bit of a let off for us.

"It was a good result away from home in a difficult league so we were chuffed. The boys’ celebrations were excellent. I thought we’d done incredibly well to get back into the game.

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"To score 31 points in the second half away to Falkirk was very impressive. But to let it slip away at the end with a silly penalty would have been tough so I felt quite relieved.”

Kirkcaldy assistant coach Colin Parsons watches the actionKirkcaldy assistant coach Colin Parsons watches the action
Kirkcaldy assistant coach Colin Parsons watches the action

Last weekend’s victory sees Kirkcaldy lead 114-111 on points against the Sunnysiders this season, having won two league games (the other was a 41-40 success at Beveridge Park) and drawn a National League Cup tie 39-39 against them.

“It’s always a tough game against Falkirk,” Smith said. “It’s always been pretty close the last few years we’ve played them and they’ve probably had the upper hand.

"But this year has been really good for us. There’s been contrasting styles of play in previous years. But I think this year both teams have been throwing the ball about.

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"It was very close again on Saturday. Either side could have taken the win but we were fortunate they missed a kick at the death. A bit of luck went our way.”

Falkirk and Kirkcaldy have been so evenly matched this termFalkirk and Kirkcaldy have been so evenly matched this term
Falkirk and Kirkcaldy have been so evenly matched this term

Quintan Sanft’s Kirkcaldy continue their league campaign at second-placed Stewart’s Melville this Saturday in a 2pm kick-off, the Blues’ final competitive fixture of 2024.

Smith said: “It’s another tough game. They’ll be up for it, they’re chasing that top spot.

"We are looking forward to it and once that’s out the way we’ll get a few weeks off, get into the Christmas break and freshen up for next year.

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"The target is still to essentially secure a position in the league – the bottom two sides go down.

"But, chatting after the game on Saturday, we were saying that we are potentially one or two wins away from almost being safe.

"Then we can just build going forward and see where it takes us.”

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