The game - the first played by either side for six weeks - was in doubt until the morning of the match. The thaw had greatly reduced the amount of snow on the pitch by Friday evening, but it still took the hard graft of a small but dedicated group of
volunteers to clear the remainder so as to allow the game to go ahead. Their names, and a series of pictures of their efforts, are on the website at www.pitchero.com/clubs/duns. Thanks are due to all of them.
Duns kicked off up the Hardens slope in very soft, slippery conditions. Both teams were ring-rusty after their extended lay-off over the holiday period and this contributed to the litany of handling errors in the match.
Lismore were content to peg Duns back in their own half with towering kicks downfield from their stand off, with the knowledge that when Duns cleared to touch their line-out held the edge. The visitors made many metres progress from the rolling maul after securing line-out ball.
Lismore opened the scoring when, after a number of phases of play, a gap appeared in midfield for their full-back to cross unopposed between the posts. The visitors stand off kicked the simple conversion, and a relatively straightforward penalty goal five minutes later gave his side a 10-0 advantage.
Stung by these early setbacks, Duns came more into things as the half wore on. Lismore conceded a penalty just outside their 22, and Dale Robertson's effort rebounded back off the bar.
With the home side guilty of ball-watching, David Hutchison - following-up as all wingers should do - was first to the loose ball, and he wriggled clear of a couple of tacklers to score by the posts.
Robertson's second attempt found its mark and it was 7-10.
Shortly before half time, Duns created an overlap on the left which David Hutchison's pace fully exploited. He danced up the touchline, evading the full-back's cover tackle in the process, and then had the sense to come around behind the posts to allow what proved to be the match-winning conversion to be little more than a formality. Hutchison now has 13 tries for the season to date.
In the second half, both teams tried their best to play some decent rugby. Conditions worsened as the pitch cut up very badly, and by full time the Hardens resembled a far-eastern rice plantation.
Duns enjoyed the majority of possession and territory, which they could not convert into points, but the plaudits should be shared by the teams who both tried their best in quite dreadful circumstances.
Duns welcomed back blind-side flanker Stuart Davies, who played his first game for the club since October 2008. The big scouser has been on a working vacation in Australia since then, and his size and mobility around the park were a definite plus on a day when few players had a chance to shine.
The victory keeps Duns in third place in the league, now well clear of Dunbar in fourth.
This Saturday Duns travel to Edinburgh to face Broughton, whom they have already beaten at home this season. Please note that this Saturday the kick-off time reverts to 3pm.
The Duns team was: Dale Robertson; Andrew Anderson, Daniel Seed, Kevin Aitchison and David Hutchison; Ged Lamb and Danny Lamb; Allen Whellans, Cammy Hill, Barry Hamilton, James Weir, Stuart Blythe, Richard Burns, Niko Pelasio and Stuart Davies. The replacements were Jamie Renton, James Thorburn, Jacobus van Wyk, James Murphy and Greg Foreman.
