With the infamous anchor mud forcing the 1xv fixture off the 2s travelled to Clydebank for arguably the toughest fixture of the year against the league leaders.

Fielding a settled team that have played most of the season together along with a few 1xv refugees on the bench the Paisley development squad were confident of a good performance.

The bankies second pitch was of somewhat eccentric dimensions and it became clear during the warmup that the visitors would have to adapt quickly.

From the kickoff Paisley absorbed a lot of attacking rugby from the hosts, the kind of play that at the beginning of the season would have resulted in at least 3 tries inside the first 10 minutes.  The Buddies held the line and made life distinctly uncomfortable.  With the pitch very soft underfoot hard tackles were the order of the day.

With standout performances from Ryan "Rhino" Raws at hooker and the man of the match performance from James Dayer at outside centre the Bankies were made to work for their scores.  Frequently bashing themselves against the brick wall that was the Paisley defensive line they did well to keep the momentum up although in places poor forward play from both teams meant a fair few turnovers.

Although Paisley went into the break without a score the team felt hard done by after captain Ron Kane charged over weak tackling from a short range well used forwards move only for the ref to decline to award it.  The referee, otherwise having an excellent game, decided there was an infringement in the buildup and penalised the attacker despite being out of position.

With three tries scored against them in the first half but so many denied by ferocious defence the Buddies felt the win was there.  After the break the team tightened up and while we did fail to score (including a sitter of a penalty) there was only one other try conceded.  The mid-field closed out their opposite numbers with aggression.

The final score read 24 - 0 but failed to reflect the work the squad put into the shift.

Overall the game was played in a really good atmosphere with both teams enjoying what were atrocious conditions.  With the league entering the second half the improvements in the Paisley development squad are now palpable which can only be of benefit to the whole club while the 1XV have promotion within their grasp.