Paisley Rugby Club First XV, sponsored by Kilty Kilty, continued their astonishing season in a hard fought 15-5 win against Hughenden at Anchor Ground on Saturday.  The conditions were not conducive to free flowing rugby, with both sides making numerous handling errors in torrential rain.

Paisley fronted up to a well-drilled, aggressive Hughenden forward line despite missing three members of the regular pack.  Number Eight David Dodd was ruled out with complications regarding a knocked out tooth, free scoring prop Neil Ritchie was sidelined with an ankle sprain and inspirational captain Andrew Judge was unavailable due to academic commitments.  Vice-Captain Iain Livingstone displayed fine leadership in the heart of the pack and a reshuffle allowed two products of Paisleys youth system to shine; Hooker Ryan Rawes and utility forward Ryan McCready, who both pressed their case for regular spots in the first team.  Rawes in particular gave a performance of controlled aggression and doggedness proving that size is no substitute for skill and hard work.

Hughenden immediately took advantage of their edge in the forwards and had Paisley pinned on their own line for long periods.  The Paisley forwards refused to crack and a granite wall of defence in the midfield reduced Hughenden to three penalty attempts in the first half without success.  The half time break gave the Paisley players a chance to refocus and the second half was played largely in Hughendens territory thanks to the boot of veteran Fly Half Steve Jermey.  Two tries came for Paisley in the second half, both the result of a hard nosed defence and lightning fast counter attack.  The first try came from a quick pass by Winger Rosando Swanepol, who recovered a miss-cued Hughenden kick and fed Fullback Mark Alexander who simply glided past the sleeping Hughenden defence and touched down under the posts from the half way line.  Steve Jermey extended the lead with a conversion and soon added a penalty.  Hughenden fought back late in the game with a forward surge from 40 metres out which resulted in a score in the corner.  With five minutes left in the game, another crunching tackle in the midfield dislodged the ball from Hughendens less robust Centre, Jermey hacked the ball downfield and Swanepol beat the cover defence to the ball.  Given the conditions Swanepol declined to stop and pick up the ball, deciding instead to dribble it a full 30m before pouncing to score on the line.  Paisley ground out the rest of the match to secure a satisfying win in dismal conditions for the second week running.  Paisley RFC is currently second in the league, trailing rival title contenders Clydebank by just two points.

The ball sponsor for the match was Musclebound.