Dundee HSFP 92 - 7 West of Scotland: Naked display of Dundee firepower exposes West's shortcomings

IT ALREADY seemed unusually cruel for the Dundee players to be forced into extra lineout practice after this romp over West, but the punishment for failing to reach the century seemed even more savage as they were working stark naked in the late October chill.

Head coach Ian Rankin was laughing, but not vindictively, as the players were merely delivering tasteful "action" poses for the club's calendar, having got photogenically muddied as they scored 14 tries and booked their spot in Premier One's top eight. Rankin was not totally happy though, saying: "It frustrates me where we are in this league because we've shown we can score points, that's nearly 200 in the last three home games, but we've been just five per cent off in a couple of others and it's cost us.''

The prolific James Fleming took his season's try count to 15 in ten games with a quartet, and he might have had a hat-trick inside 20 minutes had he not slipped in a sidestep with the line open.

Peter Murchie got another hat-trick, Matt Smith two, and among the deluge were tries for debutants Richie McIvor and Stuart Coleman.

For West, the match was a nightmare.

It was a strange coincidence that they conceded 92 points, by far and away the worst points-against tally of the season, on the same day that Selkirk also shipped 92 points at Glasgow Hawks.

Although West sit in third bottom place, they have won a couple of games this season, picked up a draw against defending champions Currie, and their previous highest number of points conceded was a mere 59 against title contenders Melrose. But on Saturday the roof came in, with a result that does no good to either West as a club or the credibility of the league structure.

West tried to be positive throughout but had no platform against a rampant home pack, were shoved off their own scrum ball and mauled 40 metres at a time.

With a couple of regular missing the backs, they were sliced to pieces by Dundee's pace while contributing to their own problems with a steady stream of turnover possession.

Michael Sim scored a good try and Callum McKenzie looked a threat on the wing, but coach Keith Robertson wanted the whole nightmare forgotten by the end of the after-match huddle.

He said: "We know we'll be playing in the 'middle eight' now for the rest of the season and it's going to seven cup finals to stay in Premier One, so we'll be starting with a clean slate at training on Tuesday.''

Scorers: Dundee HSFP: Tries: Fleming (4), Murchie (3), Smith (2), Duthie, McKenna, McIvor, Coleman, penalty try. Cons: Fleming (8), A Dymock, McKenna, Coleman. West of Scotland: Try: Sim. Con: Sim.

Dundee HSFP: P Murchie; M Smith, H Duthie, C Strachan, J Fleming; R McKenna, A Dymock; N Dymock, S Forrest, A Brown; A Linton, c Cumming; R Mile, R Cessford, D Levison.Replacements: C Kerr, D Russell, R McIvor, J Morrison, S Coleman.

West of Scotland: M Simm; J Curteis, L Menzies, M Horner, C McKenzie; A Stevenson, M Davis; E McLaren, G Haswell, G Ross; M Jenkinson, R McAlpine; J Walker, A De Ste Croix, G Fiskin. Replacements: S Carmichael, S Longwell, S MacDonald, C Thwaites, K Matheson.

Referee: R Campbell.