The U16s opened their National 2 Youth League campaign in fine form, recording a comfortable victory away to Dunfermline.

The hosts started brightly, dominating early possession and territory without really troubling the Dundee try line. It took just one opportunity to swing the momentum though and on 7mins, after an excellent midfield turnover, and a devastating counter attack, we were in front through a try from Lucas out wide. With our tails up, we ran in a further 3 tries in five minutes (Lucas again and a brace from Euan), which saw us lead 20-0 after 15mins.

The match settled down a little after that flurry but Dundee remained in complete control and ran in another four tries before the interval through Aidan x2, Euan and Matthew (all converted by Euan) to lead 48-7 at half time.

The second half continued in much of the same vein, although the hosts struck first, adding a converted try within a minute of the restart. This seemed to wake the boys up, and they ran in a further two tries in the next 5mins through Max and Aidan, before Dunfermline touched down for another score of their own.

Three further tries followed in the final 20mins through Max, Aidan and Archie A to round things off as the boys controlled territory, playing the game comfortably in the opposition half and being clinical when opportunities arose.

Full time: Dunfermline 19-81 Dundee.

"The lads were excellent today from start to finish, on both sides of the ball. They worked incredibly hard in really warm conditions, but they coped well. Really encouraged to see them take what we have been working on at training and implement it into the game with strong defensive play and really impressive attacking phases. All of the players should be proud of themselves.

Particularly pleased with our set piece and our line out specifically. The boys are still on a huge learning curve in this area but we performed brilliantly and looked comfortable all afternoon.

It's only one game but so much to be happy about. We'll take the positives and our work-ons into training this week and begin preparing for another tough fixture away to Cambuslang next weekend."

Graeme Craig, Head Coach.