Second trouncing on trot for Kirkcaldy as new rugby season gets off to sorry start

​Latecomers perhaps missed the best of this one-sided game, with the home side running in 26 points before twenty minutes had been played and their try bonus point already bagged.

Not for the first time in recent months, the Fifers had to start with a weakened side. Several players were out of position and there was no goal-kicker in the team.

This wasn’t the side that started last season and seemed to be promotion contenders for a few weeks.

Experienced players have gone and not been adequately replaced, and without a second team, that becomes more and more difficult.

Without a rethink about recruitment, the Blues look as if they will continue to struggle, with one likely outcome at the end of the season.

From the kick-off, Gordonians made the running, with Kirkcaldy trying to catch up.

Within five minutes, the home team had built up a 10-0 lead, with Kirkcaldy having hardly touched he ball. It was all Gordonians, with Kirkcaldy playing a distant second.

Gordonians took a minor setback in their stride. In the 19th minute, the Blues at last managed to halt the onslaught when No 8 Rory Brown scored. It was only a temporary respite, though, as the Aberdonians tore head coach Quintan Sanft’s side’s defence to ribbons to run up a 48-5 lead.

Although victory was well beyond them, the Blues did not disappear as Gordonians’ intensity declined. While they still had the lion’s share of the ball, their accuracy dipped.

Kirkcaldy lock Connor Wood twice barged through to give the scoreboard a more respectable look.

Touchline predictions of Gordonians scoring 100 points gradually subsided as the Blues battled away for some respectability, which they got in the 77th minute when Robbie Penman scored their fourth, earning a bonus point for the visitors.

This Saturday offers another daunting fixture for the Blues as Newton Stewart, a side they’ve yet to beat at home, visit Beveridge Park, with kick-off at 3pm.