Saturday 17th October 2009

Caledonia League 1

Glensburgh park

Grangemouth Stags RFC  20 – 32 Glenrothes RFC

After two narrow defeats on the road the Stags returned to Glensburgh with Glenrothes the visitors. On a perfect day for rugby the first half was disappointing with both defences on top. However, Glenrothes were first to open their account after 7 minutes with a penalty in front of goal for offside. Soon after a strong run from deep by Aubrey Mncube allowed Skipper to kick into the visitors 22. Graham Alexander was denied just short of the line. Grangemouth kept up the pressure and Skipper equalised with a penalty in front of the posts for holding on to the ball, preventing quick release by the Stags. With half time approaching the Stags were dealt a double blow when firstly Glenrothes kicked another penalty and then Mncube was harshly given a yellow card for a high tackle. Half time 3 - 6

Glenrothes, sitting third in the table, immediately took advantage of their extra man when some poor tackling allowed the visiting scrum half to outflank the Stags defence for a converted try. Grangemouth hit back with another Skipper penalty and were on the attack again when restored to 15 men. However, from an attacking scrum McFarlane lashed out at a tackler and was yellow carded for the second week in a row. This time Glenrothes took full advantage of the extra man to score twice while Grangemouth were a man down. Firstly some weak tackling allowed the Glens centre to run in for a converted score and this was followed up when a loose pass by the Stags in midfield was picked up by the young centre who raced in for an unconverted try. Glenrothes then scored their bonus point try after further poor tackling by the home defence. The Stags problems were further exacerbated with two players, Bell and Noble both went off injured having been substitutes to start with.

With the game into the last 10 minutes Grangemouth finally showed some spark in attack. Back up to 15 a-side, a good backs move created space on the wing but a poor final pass went over the head of Cuthbertson. Then the Stags took a quick penalty deep inside their own 22. Skipper tapped and went, running first around the forwards before running upfield and side stepping the full back and wing to score under the posts for the highlight of the game. With the last play of the match, McFarlane crashed over from short range after consistent pressure on the Glens line. Skipper kicked both conversions to finish the match. Final score 20 -32.

Once again the Stags were left to reflect on a disappointing home defeat and some poor tackling in the second half. The forwards were too often driven back at the breakdown  and again conceded far too many penalties. Above all the players must realise that it is very difficult to win games when you play with 14 men for a quarter of the match. The positive was that Grangemouth won the last quarter 14-0 with some linked, strong running but it was too little too late and the points were left squandered.

Next week sees another home fixture as Grangemouth entertain Ross Sutherland, KO 3pm.

Team: G Mair, J Cuthbertson, C McIntyre, T Chapman, G Alexander, B Skipper, N Chisholm, A MnCube, A Whyte, D McFarlane, S Binnie, C McInally, B Johnston, B Tulloch, M Stirling. Subs (All Used) B Tucker, S Noble, G Bell.

Yellow Cards: D McFarlane, A MnCube

Scorers:

Tries; Skipper, McFarlane

Cons: Skipper (2)

Pens; Skipper (2)

Man of the Match 1st- Blair Skipper, 2nd- Aubrey MnCube, 3rd- Brian Johnston