Saturday 10th November, 2007

National Division 2 (Week 11)

Glensburgh Park

GRANGEMOUTH STAGS 1ST XV 5 - 25 LINLITHGOW RFC

This local derby match kicked off on a dry and sunny day, ideal for rugby, however the strong down field wind was a major influence on the result.  Grangemouth had a perfect start to the match which was barely 2 minutes old when they scored the 1st try.  A kick by Grangemouth from near their 22 metre line was touched by a Linlithgow player putting Ronnie Innes onside in an up-field position.  A fumble by Linlithgow saw veteran Innes pick up a difficult bouncing ball, pass to a supporting player who made 35 metres and a final pass to Caine McIntyre saw the centre score wide out.  Although the conversion was missed, home supporters were hopeful after such a good start but events proved that it would be the end of the home team’s scoring for the day.

The rest of the half saw Linlithgow’s enormous set of forwards take control.  Sensible use of quality possession saw the visiting no.10 pin Grangemouth into defensive positions with long touchline kicks and the home team had to weather a series of attacking moves inside their 22 metre zone.  An excellent midfield break on 10 minutes took the visiting centre through the defence and although a last ditch tackle stopped him short of the line good forward support play resulted in a Linlithgow try near the posts.  This was duly converted to take the visitors into a 7-5 lead. The next 30 minutes of the half continued with Grangemouth mainly pinned into their own half and it saw the referee penalise the home team virtually out of the match.  A successful penalty kick on 15 minutes and another on 20 minutes took the score to a 13-5 lead for Linlithgow.  The latter penalty also saw Grangemouth’s no8 Gillanders sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.  A further penalty in front of the posts on 30 minutes was quickly taken and their big 2nd row was driven over the line for a try, duly converted.  The remaining ten minutes of the half witnessed the home team still defending its line against a series of forward drives by Linlithgow but with no additional scoring,

Although behind by 5-20 at the start of the 2nd half, home supporters hoped that Grangemouth would be able to replicate Linlithgow’s use of the strong wind and put pressure on the visitors try line.  This hope was not fulfilled as Linlithgow adapted their play to a pick and drive by their large forwards and Grangemouth continued to gain too little good possession.  The referee continued to see too many infringements by Grangemouth yet missed some obvious infringements by Linlithgow.  These penalties broke up continuity and play became very messy for both teams.  Inevitably, Linlithgow’s forwards used a penalty on 15 minutes to set up a good driving maul and rumbled over the line for an unconverted try.  Eventually the referee began to penalise the visiting team on a more consistent basis not least when they failed to retreat 10 metres at penalty situations.  This inevitably resulted in the visiting no 6 being sin binned on 25 minutes.  Unfortunately, Grangemouth could not use this manpower advantage and continued to try and run possession out of positions inside their own half.  A final period of sustained forward pressure by Linlithgow resulted in a penalty kick which took the score to 28-5 for the visitors. 

This was not a good day at the office for Grangemouth and other results in the league compounded the misery.  Both Caithness and Allan Glen’s managed away wins and although Grangemouth are still in 9th position in the league table this is only on points difference and the bottom of the table is now very close. 

This weekend Grangemouth have another home match but we welcome the league leaders Howe of Fife, who are unbeaten in the league this year.  Another hard day at the office is predicted with kick-off at 2.00pm.