After coming under the cosh in the first quarter, where they hardly got their hands on the ball,a much improved second period performance saw Falkirk put in an over all hard shift against Edinburgh Accies at a very cold Raeburn Place last Saturday afternoon. However although coming away with a disappointing defeat,and nothing to show for their efforts,there is no way that they were completely overwhelmed and also they were up against an outfit with currently the best defensive record in the league.

Catching Falkirk cold straight from the kick-off Accies showed their intent to play an open and attractive brand of rugby by giving the ball some air at every opportunity and consequently they were soon threatening the visitors' try line, a clever inside pass and switch of direction saw Right -Winger Matthew Coupar take possession from just inside Falkirk's 22 metre line and break through for the opening 4th minute try.

Nevertheless Falkirk recovered from that and began to find their feet and come back at their opponents with some good phases of play,but all too often Accies managed to get a man between the passer and intended receiver. More concern for Falkirk arrived at the end of the first quarter when Inside-Centre Simon Rolleston looked to have sustained a serous shoulder injury following a midfield tackle,which happily he eventually recovered from but had to retire from the field later on in the match, they did however lose hooker Andrew Simpson. Six minutes later things looked more promising for the visitors as a defence-splitting lengthy break from young John McKenna saw him being stopped deep into Accies 22 metre area but alas Accies regained control and the chance was lost almost immediately afterwards Falkirk yet again lost possession of the ball and Accies' Lock-Forward Sam Gibson broke clear away from Falkirk's ten metre line for the Capital City's second try, with Scrum-Half Andrew Bell converting both tries.

However the Sunnysiders countered impressively in the closing minutes of the half when they probed both sides of the pitch before Blind-Side Flanker Gregor Brodie crashed over in the corner for a half time score of Edinburgh Accies 14 Falkirk 5. With the second half being contested in virtual stalemate, and seemingly remaining scoreless, Liam Brims broke the deadlock by converting a 67th minute for Falkirk and just narrowly missed an attempt from the half way line seven minutes later. Alas the match finished with Accies on Falkirk's five metre line and although Falkirk Initially stood firm,with Bell missing an easy penalty conversion,the Home side's pressure eventually bore fruit when they got the ball down in the opposite corner in the 82nd minute.

Even though the team was suffering from missing players and players went off injured this was an very good performance, Accies final try flattered the score line, after our slow start both teams were evenly matched.

Falkirk Team 1.John McKenna 2.Andrew Simpson 3.Lewis Skinner 4.Stewart McCulloch 5.David Stoddart 6.Gregor Brodie 7.Angus Inwood 8.Jake Eaglesham 9.Harry Russell[Capt.] 10.Liam Brims 11.Angus Rennie 12.Simon Rolleston 13.Graham Gilliland 14.Jacob Adamson 15.Craig Robertson Subs.16.Keith Slade 17.Andrew McNab 18.Andrew Hamilton 19.Gary Dempsey 20.Martin Hall.