Garnock made the trip to face Dumfries Saints on the back of a disappointing result the previous week.
Symptomatic of the season so far there were a number of changes to the travelling squad due to unavailability and injury. This resulted in some positional changes and new faces.
As it turned out this was a match of high quality attack from both teams , in particular the Garnock backs,, and occasional defensive lapses from both sides.
Garnock took and early 12-0 lead through tries from Keir Walker and Saimoni Raivou. Dumfries responded with a converted try before Garnock coach, Aaron Purewal scorded his first of the day to take the score to 7-19.
After 22 minutes Dumfries added to their tally following some pressure in the Garnock 22 . 14-19
Almost immediately from the restart Garnock went on the attack with an initial tackle bust from Eroni Vatuloka . Following a couple of phases it was Eroni who was on hand to finish off the score. 14-24.
An error from the restart resulted in a midfield penalty to the home side who kicked to the corner and after some strong forward defence by the visitors Dumfires eventually released their backs to score out wide 19-24
With 5 minutes of the half remaining the ball was in the Dumfries 22 and they kicked downfield. The ball was fielded by Aaron Purewal who took it to the defensive line before chipping over the top and collecting to score his second of the day 19-29
Yet again Garnock did not adequately deal with the restart inviting Dumfries to attack. A good linebreak by the home fullback took him beyond the defence and despite a tackle by No8 Wilson he was able to offload to the supporting player to score. 26-29 at half-time
Both coaches would have been happy with the offensive play and equally frustrated by the defensive errors.
Dumfries were first to score in the second half after 6 minutes giving them the lead for the first time at 33-29.
This seemed to galvanise the Garnock side and for the next 15 minutes they ere in total control of the game adding two further tries through Cian Smith and Jaden Smith together with a penalty from Keir Walker. This took Garnock into a 33-44 lead with 17 minutes remaining.
Unfortunately despite occasional forays into the home territory they made too many individual and team errors during the remainder of the game allowing Dumfries to add a further four tries to their tally
The match finished with Dumfries the victors by 59-44. This was a much improved attacking display by Garnock however defensive errors are costing them dearly.The visitors probably deserved more than a single league point from the fixture however every opponent at this level is tough and will take advantage of any shortcomings.
Garnock team Shiells, Armstrong, Chapman, King, Anderson, O’Neill, Watson, Wilson, Walker, Purewal, Wynn, Raivou, Vatuloka, J Smith, C Smith Reps Miller, McDernott, Holmes, Young
