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Saturday 20th October National Division 2
DUMFRIES SAINTS 28 – 3 GRANGEMOUTH STAGS RFC
Grangemouth once again failed to register their first away win of the season losing out in a topsy turvy match in the borders.
The game started on a calm day with a slightly heavy pitch, with Grangemouth for once looking like they had shaken off their 2 hour bus journey to hit the ground running. Indeed, the opening 5 minutes was all Stags, but their initial attempts to break the dead lock came to no avail.
It was not long before the Saints came back in to the match when they began to apply their own pressure on the Grangemouth line. However, this time the defence functioned well, and the saints were also to leave the initial skirmishes empty handed.
The dead lock was finally broken in the 15th minute when the Stags won a penalty 30 yards out and nominated to kick for goal. Murray Forbes made no mistake, and the travellers led 3-0. However, Grangemouth continued to apply substantial pressure and had Dumfries pinned back in their own 22 for what seemed like an eternity, only for the usually reliable lineout to fall to pieces with numerous put ins not finding their man.
This lack of control and execution in the lineout over this sustained period of pressure was to prove costly as Dumfries came right back in to the game. Having soaked up the pressure, they opened up their account from a move that seemed to have broken down. A couple of snipes at the line led to a scrappy kick for touch from Grangemouth that was gathered by their full-back. Sending up the Garry Owen kick, he ran thought and collected his own catch in mid air on the Grangemouth 22, and ran under the posts to seal a 7 pointer. A scrappy try to concede, but this was soon followed by a further try to the hosts.
With 5 minutes to go to the half, Grangemouth again had Dumfries pinned on their own 22 when once more the travelling put in went awry. As they secured ball from a couple of rucks to the half, their stand off prodded a grounded kick and chase which was further kicked on from the chasing backs on the 22 to the goal line. Their number 13 won the foot race and collapsed on the stationary ball out wide to score, again ably converted.
14-3 at the half.
The second half was not one of either note for either team with a stale mate in midfield and reasonably well drilled defences snuffing out most chances. A further non remarkable score from Dumfries on the 65 minute mark at last seemed to galvanise the away team and the remaining 15 minutes turned in to heavy pressure on the Dumfries line. From a ruck on the Dumfries 22, scrum half Danny Rawlings seemed to have broken the shackles to sprint under the posts to touch down only to be pulled back by the ref for disputably using his own man as a blocker.
Sadly, the game ended on a low note for the Port side as Dumfries sealed the win and a bonus point with the very last touch of the game. Fatigue was setting in on both sides, and a kick over the top of the defence was not chased back and tidied up well enough allowing a quick ruck and hands to score in the corner. As their number 10 nailed the tricky kick to give himself 100% on the day, it was like a nail in the coffin of the game for Grangemouth.
Although the Stags had a number of call offs meaning the successful team from last weeks epic win over Caithness was hard to recognise, the team still looked like it had potential to do so much better than was shown on the day. After a promising start and finish, the team was guilty of not stringing together a comprehensive 80 minutes by arguably playing for bursts as opposed to the whole game, which was cruelly exposed in this match. Gareth McKnight and Michael Dodds made their first starts of the campaign, while U18 Stuart Allan came off the bench late on to continue his learning curve.
The fixtures do not get any easier however, with Grangemouth now returning to Glensburgh to entertain current league leaders Forresters in a double header with the 2nd XV also hosting their opposite numbers.
As always. Your support would be gratefully appreciated for this fixture, and there is still hospitality packages available to make a day of it. See the club website on www.grangemouthrfc.co.uk for the latest details.
1. Billy Tulloch 2. Ian Bird 3. Brian Johnstone 4. Gavin Curran 5. Steve Binnie 6. Davie McFarlane 7. Calum Taylor 8. Charlie Gillanders 9. Danny Rawling 10. Murray Forbes 11. Brendan Tucker 12. Ronnie Innes 13. Caine McIntyre 14. Michael Dodds 15. Graeme Mair Subs:
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