Rugby round-up: Falkirk open with draw while second string defeat Grangemouth Stags

Having narrowly missed out on the title in the previous two campaigns, the Sunnyside outfit begin the new league season at home this Saturday after playing in their competitive opener last weekend in the National League Cup.

In that match, Falkirk played out an entertaining 39-39 draw with league rivals Kirkcaldy in their first pool outing.

“Defences weren’t on top,” Grieve said. “It was an early season game, you could tell that for sure. Kirkcaldy brought what we thought they would to the match – they were physically strong and at points we didn’t match that.

“Some of our tries were really well-constructed and our attacking play was impressive, we scored some good scores. The problem for us was that we would score, only to let them go up the park and score.

“We lost possession or didn’t do things right at the kick-off and forced pressure on ourselves. They kicked us into difficult positions and we allowed them to play their game.

“But we did have some really positive performances and if we can tighten up defensively then we will be grand.”

Ahead of facing Berwick, Grieve had mixed team news heading into the match.

He confirmed: “Connor Faulds has picked up an injury and he will be our for at least a month which is a big blow.

"Alex Geddes, one of our summer signings, is back from holiday and he is available as is Andrew Gillespie.”

Meanwhile, Falkirk’s seconds got off to a winning start in Scottish Caledonia Midlands Region League Division 1, defeating local rivals Grangemouth Stags 38-19 at Sunnyside, also on Saturday afternoon. They now host Panmure this weekend.

"We had a couple of new players involved,” Grieve said of that match. “We played a lot of phase play and we kept the ball well. It was a good opening performance and it was a result that shows real progress for the group. Grangemouth beat us heavily last season.”