Saturday 16th February 2008

Glensburgh Park

Scottish Hydro-Electric Bowl/Cup Round 3.

GRANGEMOUTH STAGS 25 - 10 MADRAS COLLEGE FP

The Grangemouth Stags 1st XV officially came out of hibernation at the weekend to play their first game of 2008, recording a good win against a battling Madras FP side. With the majority of the club away on tour to Wales last weekend for the 6 Nations, it left behind a greatly weakened team to fulfil the fixture against Falkirk in the 3rd Round of the Cup. Having lost the fixture as a result and subsequently been relegated to the Bowl competition, the Stags made a return to winning ways to progress to the Quarter Finals of the second tier tournament.

After all the rain and frost that has wreaked havoc with the rugby calendar this season, it was a delight to see Glensburgh Park looking in tip top condition for this important fixture. Indeed, there was glorious sunshine and no wind to speak of to make this perfect rugby conditions.

The game kicked off with Grangemouth keen to start at a high tempo, and this was well rewarded with the first of their 5 scores coming in the opening 5 minutes. Having had their kick off kicked straight back to their own 22, Grangemouth mounted a series of impressive drives of rucks, mauls and excellent hands with control, culminating in an opening score by Anthony Hayes. Murray Forbes stepped up for the extras, but sliced his effort wide, but this was just the patient but precise start that Coach Busby had been demanding.

The play began to settle down, but Grangemouth increased their lead with a further try on 20 minutes, this time Hayes the provider in the corner to put in Dave Wilson. Again the set up was good with crisp interchanging between forward brawn and backs guile to work the opening. The tricky conversion on the touchline was once more short, however. Sadly this was the last involvement for Hayes who pulled up with a hamstring tweak and a runny nose. Madras briefly responded with a penalty to narrow the gap to 10-3, but there was more to come from the home Port side in the opening period.

Grangemouth did not take the foot off the pedal and further asserted their superiority with a third try in the half. Again some good forward driving up the centre of the field after the initial line break from Brendan Tucker, saw the Stags held up on the try line. A couple of attempts later, Brian Johnston burrowed his way over to score his second of the season and increase the lead to 15-0. Forbes clearly did not have his kicking boots on today as he sclaffed this one wide too. However, he was soon to redeem himself in the eyes of the fans with a glorious fourth try for the Stags in the second half.

Again, Sonny Campbell found the entire Madras backline buying one of his outrageous dummies which allowed him to make some serious yardage before Craig Gibb at full back continued the momentum forward. Simple hands found Forbes able to run in the last few yards for a straight forward score, but again he missed the bonus points.

The last score of the day was the nail in the coffin with 2nd Row Dugald West romping over for the score out wide. Forbes elected to pass the kicking duties over to standoff Campbell, who also duly demonstrated that he had left his boots in Wales, pulling his effort well wide.

Madras managed to conjure up a consolation try and conversion in the last throws of the game, but the job was done and the victory secured by this stage. The final score of 25-10 was a fair reflection of the game, but missing 10 points in kicks could prove costly against a team with a pedigree in the next round of the bowl, possibly scheduled for as early as next weekend. However, it was of great relief to finally be able to field a starting 1st XV after all the trials and tribulations that have befallen Scottish rugby and the club in recent weeks. Clearly there were cobwebs to be blown away, but this result will hopefully act as the springboard on to league success to get the club out of the current relegation dog fight in the national 2nd Division. It may be February, but this was still an excellent start to the new year!