Saturday 7th November

Caledonia League 1

Glensburgh

Grangemouth Stags RFC 14    Strathmore RFC 24

The Stags reached the halfway point of the league season with the visit of Strathmore to Glensburgh last weekend. The visitors were unlucky to be relegated last year along with the Stags from the National leagues, and had made an impressive start to the year winning nine of their ten matches thus far. The Stags made two changes in the backs with veteran centre McIntyre and winger Cuthbertson both unavailable and replaced with youngsters Scott and Jaworek.

The home side opened strongly and dominated possession and territory with Skipper pinning Strathmore in their own 22 with a kick to the corner. The visitors conceded a penalty and Skipper kicked the goa from outwide. Strathmore struck back from the kick off with their centre making a clean break before being stopped by a Chapman tackle. Grangemouth moved upfield and good hands in the backs allowed Alexander  some space but his kick ahead ran too far and Strathmore were able to touchdown for a 22m dropout. More pressure saw Skipper miss with a drop goal attempt before landing a simple penalty to double the Stags lead to 6-0. The rest of the half belonged to the visitors. A break by the scrum half lead to a kick to the corner and from the lineout Strathmore knocked on just short of the line. Their opening score was only delayed a few minutes as the visitors backs showed good hands to allow the right winger to score an unconverted try in the corner. Strathmore returned to the attack and were only kept out by some good defence    including a tap tackle by Skipper on his opposite number. Strathmore chose to run a kickable penalty and then missed two more difficult kicks. The half ended with the Stags back on the attack following an unlikely kick and chase by sustitute prop Bell.  Half time Stags 6 Strathmore 5

The second half opened well for the Stags with a run by Scott but his kick ahead went into touch. Strathmore then took the lead when another missed tackle allowed the visitors centre to score under the posts. The Stags then had a period of pressure with Tucker halted just short after a strong run. Strathmore conceded another penalty which the Stags decided to run but a knock on ended the move. Shortly after Skipper kicked another penalty to narrow the gap to three points. However straight from the kick off Strathmore reclaimed the ball and good hands saw their winger score again. Grangemouth hit back and Alexander was denied a try when the referee called him back for a forward pass. Unfortunately the Stags then turned over the ball and another missed tackle saw the Strathmore centre score under the posts. In the last 10 minutes Strathmore had a player yellow caeded for handling in a ruck and from the quick tap penalty Scott was given the space to score in the corner. The game ended with Grangemouth on the attack following a fine run by Binnie but Strathmore held out to deny the Stags a losingbonus point.  Full time Stags 14 Strathmore 24

This was a much improved performance by the Stags against one of the teams pushing for promotion. The next game is in 2 weeks (21 Nov) when the Stags play Stirling University at Glensburgh. Kick offs are now at 2pm with daylight saving. The Stags won this fixture at the beginning of the season, and hope to build upon their performance against the students.

Team:

T Chapman, G Alexander, B Tucker, B Scott, C Jaworek, B Skipper, N Chisholm, D McFarlane, A Whyte, G McNiff, S Binnie, A Mncube, M Stirling, B Tulloch, D Angus. Subs: G Bell, C McInally, (all used)

Scorers:

Try: B Scott

Pen: Skipper (3)