Stags Downed at Murrayfield

The road to Murrayfield had started way back in November with a victory against Blairgowrie. And after wins against Glenrothes, Harris, Panmure and Kinloss the Stags made it to the home of Scottish Rugby on Cup Finals day as they met Oban Lorne in the final of the National Bowl last Saturday. There were some difficult decisions from the coaches regarding the squad composition and after much deliberation an experienced starting line up was picked. On a perfect day for rugby Grangemouth were cheered on to the park by a healthy local support that had travelled for the game. The Stags kicked off and were immediately put Oban under pressure. After just 3 minutes Sangster kicked a penalty to the corner. Connor MacFarlane secured the lineout ball and the forwards drove over the line with veteran prop Jamieson grabbing the score. Sangster was on target with the conversion. From the restart Oban regained possession and camped inside the Stags 22. However some good defence saw the local side turn the ball over but the chance to clear their lines was lost with a Grangemouth knock on. Oban worked a blindside move from the scrum 15 metres out and scored in the corner. The conversion from the touchline was good and the scores were again level. Grangemouth dominated possession for the next few minutes with some good continuity play before Jamieson burst through the defence to rumble up to the Oban 22. The ball was quickly recycled and Sangster dummied the defence to run in under the posts. The stand off duly converted his own try. Once again the lead was short lived as Oban used their forward pack to drive deep into the Grangemoth 22. Finally they took a quick tap penalty to catch the Stags defence sleeping and drive over under the posts for a converted score. With 5 minutes left in the half Oban drove a lineout 20 metres before a series of short drives saw another score for the pack near the posts. The easy conversion however was wide. Just on half time Grangemouth took a scrum against the head but Sangster was bundled into touch at the corner flag. Half time Stags 14 Oban Lorne 19

Grangemouth were again on top at the start of the second half. Pedyo showed his pace on the wing with a good run but was just in touch. Then an attempted drop goal from Sangster was sliced but good follow up from Dempsey resulted in a 5 metre scrum. Oban disrupted the scrum and managed to clear up field. On 48 minutes a kick down field by Oban was collected by Dempsey who bounced off a couple of tackles before passing to Sangster. The stand off made a half break before feeding Denny who ran 20 metres before a last gasp cover tackle saw him in touch at the corner. Having survived this early pressure Oban then started to gain some territory of their own and a long range penalty attempt fell just short. As the game entered the final quarter Dempsey was unlucky to put a foot in touch as he burst clear down the wing. The closing 15 minutes saw Grangemouth withstand some sustained pressure from the Oban forwards. Another penalty attempt from the men in green was wide. With 2 minutes left a penalty to the corner by Sangster set up a lineout 5 metres from the Oban line. The forwards won the ball and drove for the line with the outside backs joining in. Somehow Oban managed to splinter the drive and Grangemouth were penalised for a double movement and the chance was lost. Oban cleared their lines and shortly after the final whistle was greeted by huge cheers from the Oban support.

And so it was not to be for the Stags and skipper McInally lead his players up the steps to the Royal Box to collect their runners up medals. The players gave their all on the day and were backed up by some fantastic support by the Grangemouth crowd. Later on the expected news drifted down from Dundee that Glenrothes had clinched the league title with a bonus point win over Harris. For the second year in a row Grangemouth finish second losing out on bonus points. There are no more games for the 1st XV this season with only a couple of sevens tournaments in the next few weeks.