This weekend's action brought mixed fortunes for Paisley RFC, with a fine 47-5 home win for the first XV, tempered by a heavy 81-7 away defeat for the second XV at Braidholm. Man of the match in the first team game was in form prop and former young player of the year, Neil Ritchie who also scored the pick of the tries at Anchor.

The first XV, sponsored by Kilty Kilty, were in action against league new boys Calder, who were visiting Anchor for the first time in their short history. Having won promotion last year in the first year of their existence and taken the scalp of Renfrewshire rivals Birkmyre in the opening weekend of the season, Paisley 1st XV were expecting a difficult weekend.

Both teams started the match tentatively, with Calder initially taking the upper hand in line-outs and looking more lively in the back division. Fortunately the more experienced Paisley pack were able to get a nudge on in the scrums and with solid defence, restrict the room available for the Calder backs. With neither team looking much like scoring in the first 20 minutes the game lacked any sparkle until a communication breakdown at half-back for Paisley led to a loose pass going over centre Jonny Murrel's shoulder and into the arms of the rushing Calder centre, who linked with his back row to score in the corner. Calder duly converted and the Lanarkshire team were elated to have taken a 7-0 lead.

The next ten minutes saw the Paisley forwards come more into the game leading to a period of sustained pressure, which Calder were able to effectively repel for some 10 minutes or more. Eventually however, as Calder failed to clear their lines effectively, despite the ever strengthening wind behind their back, Paisley forced their way over for a try converted by Steve Jermy. 7 each. Game on!

For the next ten minutes, Calder seemed dazed by the Paisley score and directly from the Kick-off a powerful surge from Davie Dodds took Paisley right back into the 22 and very soon after another 5 pointer was added and converted again. With only minutes to half time, Calder seemed stunned to be behind in a match which had taken so long to ignite. Lack of concentration gets you nowhere in this tight league though and before the half-time whistle was blown, Steve Jermy had converted his own try for a score of 21-7.

With the Paisley forwards on the boil and the weather gods lending a hand by introducing that West of Scotland drizzle rain and a swirling wind at their back, the experienced Jermy simply played the ball into the Calder 22 for the entire second half whilst Paisley turned the screw with an impressive and disciplined performance from the forwards, complimented by fine defence from the backs, effectively pinning the younger Calder team, who tried at all times to play running rugby, in their own half.

Paisley ran in a further 4 tries in the second half with the highlight being that of man of the match Neil Ritchie. Bursting through a ruck to steal the ball and out-strip the Calder backs in a race to the line, it was a try to brighten a dreich Paisley day. The last explanation heard of the try was that Paisley's very own Jean-Pierre Rieves had actually collected the ball in the car-park of the Todholm inn before racing over for his score.

In the end an emphatic scoreline for Paisley, helped in no small way by the inexplicable lapse in Calder's first half defence before the weather stepped in to seal the victory for the Buddies. Mention should go to the referee, who had a fine game despite the closeness in the strips worn by both sides, which made adjudicating extremely difficult. Hopefully the new strips provided by Kilty Kilty will alleviate this problem for future fixtures.

Further thanks should go to the ball sponsor for the match - Musclebound.