Saturday 10th October 2009

Caledonian League 1

Away

Crieff & Strathearn RFC 19  Grangemouth Stags RFC 15

After the disappointment of the previous week, the Stags were on the road again with a trip up the A9 to play Crieff. The side showed 8 changes from the starting 15 in Aberdeen and included a completely new front row and the welcome return of Hayes at fullback. The Stags opened strongly but conceded a number of early penalties which allowed Crieff to clear their lines. Howevwr the opening try came after 5 minutes. Crieff won a defensive lineout 5 metres out and the ball was passed back to the stand off deep inside his in goal area. He tried to clear but the ball was kicked only as far as prop Bell who fell over the line for an unconverted score.

Crieff tried to hit back but saw a penalty kick narrowly miss. The Stgs looked dangerous when running from deep and Hayes was tackled short after a beak from his own half. After 25 minutes Grangemouth increased their lead with an individual effort from stand off Skipper. He chipped ahead from his 22, collected the ball on the half way line before sidestepping the fullback to score under the posts. He converted his own try . Shortly after Crieff had a great chance to hit back but poor passing saw them waste a clear overlap. Another fine break by Hayes saw Crieff concede a penalty but  Skipper missed the kick. With half time approaching wing Alexander almost scored from a kick to the corner before Skipper kicked a penalty with the last kick of the first half.  Half time Crieff 0 Stags 15

However after the break the game turned around completely with Crieff using their forwards to control the ball leaving the Stags unable to clear their lines. Crieff scored their opening try after 47 minutes when they set up a maul from a lineout and drove over for a converted try. With Crieff now back in the game and the referee constantly penalising the Stags the home side had all the territory and possession. With the game entering the final quarter they scored their second try. Following another drive by the forwards the ball was moved wide for the winger to score in the corner. The situation was made wore as the referree awarded two yellow cards to McFarlane leaving the visitors to play out the match with 14 men. With just 10 minutes to play the home side scored the winning try which seemed to follow an obvious knock on by the scrum half.  The final score Crieff 19 Stags 15

This was a  poor result wth a very disappointing performance in the second half. There are some hard games in the next few weeks and the coaches require maximum attendance and effort at training to build on our first half performance and prevent any repeat of our second half collapse.

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