IF ANYONE at Dundee HSFP harboured any remaining illusions about the demands of the return to the Scottish Hydro Premiership One, they were being hammered out by the Mayfield coaching team at training last night, writes Steve Scott.

It was a chastening defeat at Currie which illustrated that even superiority in the scrummage and lineout, which Dundee enjoyed most of the afternoon at Malleny Park, was no guarantee of success as Currie feasted on errors.

“Vulnerabilities were exposed that will be corrected in training,” said assistant coach Shannon Wilson, with the main one being inability to hold on to the ball, but it was simply the obvious difference between Divisions One and Two that concerned director of coaching Ian Rankin.

“We had a number of players involved last week who had not experienced the intensity and pace of Premier One rugby,” he said.

“Now they know where they need to be for our match with Melrose, one of the biggest names in Scottish club rugby.”

Dundee had a superb record against Borders teams last year but Craig Chalmers’ outfit appears to be bucking the decline of rugby in the heartland.

Chalmers can call on one of his professional draftees in former Howe of Fife star Peter Horne but has opted to put the Under-20 star on the bench and keep his backline intact from last week’s victory over Glasgow Hawks.

Meanwhile, Kirkcaldy put down an impressive marker for Premier Two with an opening hammering of Haddington, but it was only in the second half that coaches Quintan Sanft and Dave McIvor were truly satisfied after an understrength East Lothian side took three opportunistic tries in the first half.

This week marks the first league visit in some time of Stirling County to Beveridge Park—the last time they were there an 18-year-old Ally Hogg scored two tries—with County smarting from a frustrating match against Hawick last week.

At 19-0 down, County fought back to lead but lost to a late converted try.

Head coach Eddie Pollock will have been working the pack on the scrummage machine after they were well beaten there, knowing that is one of the Blues’ strengths.

Dunfermline showed some good things, even going down to defeat at Biggar, and will be looking for a good start at home to Jed-Forest, who underlined their promotion ambitions by ignoring the hype about Gala’s summer rebuilding and beating them 23-18 last week.

Howe of Fife duly continued their unbeaten league record run into a fourth season with the defeat of Perthshire last week but know that Hillhead-Jordanhill at Hughenden is a significant upgrade.

The Glasgow club comfortably disposed of Dumfries, the only club to trouble Howe in league business last season, in the opening week and were just short of promotion last year.

Howe did win on their last visit to Hughenden, in the SH Shield in spring of last year, but both teams have changed considerably since then.

Morgan are off to one of their regular visits at Irvine looking to bounce back from a home defeat to start the season last week, while Perthshire open their home account against Musselburgh, impressive winners against Irvine last week.

In the Caledonia League St Andrews University opened with a notable away victory over Glenrothes to suggest they will challenge again, but the students are not in action this week with their match against their Stirling counterparts postponed to a late date.

Ross Sutherland hosting Kinross, both of whom won well last week, looks like the pick of the second weekend's fixtures.

An unplayable pitch at Earlsfield meant title favourites Alloa and Harris Academy FP were unable to face off last week.

The Dundee club host Blairgowrie for their opener, while Alloa must take on Fife Southern, who had a startling landslide against Panmure last week

Scottish Hydro League matches this week:

Premiership One: Dundee HSFP v Melrose.

Premiership Two: Kirkcaldy v Stirling County, Dunfermline v Jed-Forest.

Premiership Three: Irvine v Morgan Academy FP, Hillhead-Jordanhill v Howe of Fife, Perthshire v Musselburgh.

Caledonia League One: Madras v Strathmore, Ross Sutherland v Kinross, Mackie Academy v Glenrothes, Grangemouth v Orkney, Crieff & Strathearn v Aberdeen University.

Caledonia League Two Midlands: Harris Acad FP v Blairgowrie, Panmure v Arbroath, Atholl RFC v Montrose and District, Bannockburn v Stobswell, Fife Southern v Alloa, Carnoustie HSFP v Waid Academy FP.