Silver lining for Kirkcaldy Rugby Club in defeat to Berwick

Tries by man of the match Sean McKervail (2), Stevie Milne and Kieran Mitchell – plus a penalty by captain Fin Smith and a conversion by Ethan Murray – provided the Blues’ points in their last home league fixture of the season at Beveridge Park.

Skipper Smith said: “We started pretty strongly in the first five or ten minutes and were 8-7 up. They then came back and took advantage of a few mistakes we made in the first half.

"They took their chances and by half-time they were 29-8 ahead.

"It was just one of those games that was quite hard to claw back.

"In the second half, because we were so far behind we weren’t too fussy about the conversions. It was more just trying to get the four-try bonus point, which has now secured our spot in National 2 for next season.

"It’s a great relief, although we had been fairly confident that we weren’t really in the relegation battle.

"But obviously mathematically before last Saturday we could have gone down. So it’s nice just to have that survival confirmed.

"The coaches are pretty happy and it means we can just go into the last two games looking at moving up. If we win them both we can finish fourth so we’re just looking onwards and upwards.”

On two-try McKervail’s fine contribution, Smith added: “He’s a big lad who carries well. He’s got a rugby league background so he’s a physical player and I think he scored one of the tries of the season with five minutes left, from his own 22 where he beat a few of their players. That was the try that got us the bonus point.”

Kirkcaldy have no competitive fixture this weekend, although they play a touring Welsh side on Friday.