Stags Through to Midlands Bowl Final

After their woeful performance in the league game the previous week the Stags travelled back to Kinross last Saturday for the semi final of the Midland Bowl. Grangemouth made a number of changes with Parsons, Whitelaw and Wilson starting in the backs while Forrest, McNiff and McFarlane were in the forwards. On a filthy day for rugby the Stags had the advantage of the strong wind in the first half and were quickly on the attack. After just 2 minutes the home side were penalised at the breakdown and Denny slotted the penalty. From the kick off McFarlane made 30 metres to take play back into the Kinross 22. After several phases of play Wilson took a quick tap penalty and when the ball was recycled the forwards drove over with Forrest grabbing the touchdown. Once again Denny added the extra 2 points. Grangemouth continued to dominate and on 15 minutes Kinross again gave away a penalty to allow Denny to increase the lead. The conditions deteriorated midway through the half making handling difficult as the Stags pressed to increase their lead. Just before the half hour mark Grangemouth drove a lineout close to the line but for the second week in a row Jamieson was held up over the line. The forwards then went to work in the scrum and with a pushover try likely Kinross killed the ball and the referee awarded a penalty try. Denny again kicked the extra points. With half time approaching Kinross had a brief spell of pressure but good work on the floor by Parsons tidied things up and allowed the visitors to clear their lines. HT Kinross 0 Stags 20.

Grangemouth knew the second period would be difficult playing into the strong wind and their cause was not helped with both Jamieson and McFarlane leaving the field at half time. They made a poor start to the half as they failed to kick the ball 10 metres and this allowed Kinross to pin the Stags deep in their 22. After a couple of lineout drives were collapsed the referee had no hesitation in awarding another penalty try when the maul was again brought down. Kinross knew they were back in the game and the lead was reduced further on 50 minutes with a penalty. There was a let off 5 minutes later when a similar kick went wide. Grangemouth continued to struggle to clear their lines as the game entered the final quarter. With 10 minutes to go Kinross moved the ball wide but the winger was well tackled. Denny seemed to be held in the ruck and this allowed the Kinross player to nip round the blind side and run in under the posts to reduce the lead to just 3 points. In the gathering gloom Grangemouth finally cleared up field and had a spell of pressure on the home line. The ball was moved wide and a score looked certain but the ball was lost over the line. Kinross took a long drop out to pin the Stags back in their 22 but with the last play of the game the Grangemouth forwards stole a home lineout before kicking to touch to hear the welcome sound of the final whistle. FT Kinross 17 Stags 20.

This was a very hard fought game in terrible conditions. The first half performance was much improved while the second period was a mixed bag of good defence and poor discipline. Grangemouth will now face Stirling University in the final of the bowl at the end of January. This week the Stags are back in league action as they take on high flying Alloa at Glensburgh with KO 2pm