Stags Caned by Students

Grangemouth travelled to Dundee last Saturday to take on the newly promoted University side. The Stags made 2 changes to the pack with Binnie and McNab replacing the unavailable Jack and Neill. Grangemouth kicked off and had the early possession and territory. However a turnover resulted in a home counter attack and Parsons had to make an important cover tackle to prevent a score. From the lineout the home stand off darted through the initial defence and simple hands saw the winger cross for an unconverted try in the corner. Grangemouth worked their way into the game and a forward drive from a lineout took play up to the student’s line. The pack then shunted the scrum over the line with Aspinall collecting the touchdown. McInally was wide with the conversion. Dundee continued to look dangerous on the counter and a last gasp tackle by Pedyo prevented the home centre from scoring after a break in midfield. Soon after Aspinall was put through a gap but was brought back for a forward pass. Grangemouth let themselves down by conceding numerous penalties at the breakdown and by mouthing back at the referee. As the game entered the second quarter Johnston was put through a huge gap in the home defence but was unable to link up with his support and the chance was lost. Grangemouth continued to pressure the home lineout and Curran thought he had scored after a loose tap back close to the line. The resulting scrum saw the Stags pack again drive the students over the line with Aspinall scoring his second try. This time McInally was on target with the kick. Grangemouth were on top at this stage and the forwards made yards with a series of drives. Again Johnston was put through a huge gap but the inside pass was knocked on just short of the line. With 5 minutes to go in the half the Stags produced a well worked try. The forwards had the initial drive from a lineout and when the ball was moved along the line Parsons created the overlap and his perfectly timed pass saw Pedyo skip round his man to score under the posts. McInally added the simple conversion. However all the good work of the 1st 35 minutes was undone in the closing minutes of the half. The ball was kicked straight out of play from the restart to give the students some territory. Dundee were awarded a penalty and the quickly taken tap caught the visitors defence sleeping and the 2nd row scored wide out. Worse was to follow as Grangemouth again lost the ball in midfield and gave away another penalty which was again taken quickly to allow the speedy flanker to race in from 30 metres for a converted try. HT Dundee 17 Stags 19.

The second period started badly for the Stags as poor tackling saw the students immediately back on the attack. Innes seemed to have halted the move with a cover tackle but the ball went loose close to the Stags line and the home side followed up for a very soft converted score. The game was then delayed by 10 minutes following a neck injury to the Dundee hooker and the game was moved to the next park while the ambulance was called. Grangemouth dominated play after the restart but were held up by some desperate home defence and their own mistakes and indiscipline. During this time Grangemouth lost 2 players to the sin bin for a combination of ruck infringements and talking back to the referee. Dundee took advantage of the disruption in the Stags defence and their stand off burst through to score under the posts. With 15 minutes to go Grangemouth conceded another try as they failed to deal with a kick and chase and the home flanker collected his second score. Grangemouth did manage to score a bonus point try on 75 minutes. The forwards drove a lineout from 20 metres with Binnie collecting the score. However Dundee collected the final score with some good support play allowing the right winger to beat the cover and run round under the posts. FT Dundee 45 Stags 24

This was a bad result for the local side. They were on top after 35 minutes but poor concentration just around half time allowed the students back into the game with some soft scores. The Stags continue to concede far too many penalties at the breakdown and the continued dissent is resulting in further penalties and yellow cards. Certain players need to have a serious look at their own lack of discipline and realise how much this is affecting the team. This Saturday the Stags have a difficult home game against last years league champions Glenrothes with KO 3pm