The game pretty well matched the weather at Fullerton when Dundee High took on Marr in miserable conditions, did just the minimum amount necessary, then got back on the bus job done.
Both sides will have eminently more memorable matches in their BT National 1 campaigns, but the four points Dundee collected while denying Marr anything shows that they can grind out a win when they have.
It looked as though there was a possibility of an upset early on when Rory McGhee opened the scoring for Marr with a third-minute penalty.
Stevie Longwell put Dundee into the lead with his try in 20 minutes but, with the half-time score staying at 5-3 in Dundee’s favour, the conditions dictated that the team which kept its discipline and kicked its goals would come out on top.
This Dundee duly did, with two Harry Miller penalties in the second half.
With that 11-3 win, Dundee stay fifth in the table, five points behind Watsonians but probably too far away from the top two to entertain any hopes of a play-off spot.
It was a fascinating clash at Laigh Bent, where Howe of Fife knew exactly what they had to do against Hamilton in their top-of-the-table BT National 2 clash.
They came agonisingly close to doing it but, with Hamilton squeezing a losing bonus from the 27-20 scoreline, they still top the table, one point ahead of Howe.
Hamilton led 13-7 at half-time with tries from No 8 John Selfridge and scrum-half Stephen Turnbull to a Howe try by wing Marcus Black, converted by Dom Martin.
Howe made the best of the conditions in the second half. Black added two tries to complete his hat-trick and full-back Graham Thomson nabbed one, with Martin converting one and slotting a penalty.
The try bonus point was Howe’s, but in the end they were unable to deny Hamilton that crucial losing bonus.
Both sides now face the second half of the league campaign desperate to hold on to their top-two places and almost certainly guaranteeing that, in the final shake-up, there will be very little in it as to who wins the title and who goes to the play-offs.
When the two sides met at Beveridge Park earlier in the season Kirkcaldy got the better of Aberdeenshire by one point, winning 28-27, but there was a considerably larger margin this time as Aberdeenshire ran out comfortable bonus-point winners by 41-5.
Kurt Littlejohn had the only Kirkcaldy score, his first-half try bring up a 20-5 scoreline at the break, but Shire kept up the pressure to score 21 second-half points without reply.
Matt McCall had a double for the home side. Cameron Simpson,Matthew Emmison and Wiaan Griebenow had one each, and Tom Kewara landed four conversions and a penalty, with Jonty Gray helping himself to a conversion and a penalty.
Aberdeenshire now lie in a healthy fifth place in the table and, given their current form, can reasonably aim for third spot to finish their season, although a place in the top two would seem to be asking just a bit too much.
There is something stirring at Hawthornden where Lasswade are third in the BT National 3 table.
They showed just how much they have come on when the dumped Perthshire by 41-15 at North Inch.
Dunfermline didn’t make things easy for league leaders West of Scotland at McKane Park before going down by 29-5.