The Stags made the long trip to West Wales last Friday to take on old rivals Llandybie in the 61st year of this historic fixture. It was the usual tour mix side with some 1sts and 2nds joined by several senior players with many of them having their first outing of the season (and for some several seasons!). There was a tense selection meeting as the squad of 16 were announced with a number of contenders for the coveted position of starting on the bench. In the pack the McFarlane twins were joined in the back row by 'Hands' Norval, while Rutherford senior packed down alongside two of his sons to complete the first father and 2 sons combination in the fixture. The backs featured 3 ex captains and a guest appearance by Wayne Williams. The pitch was heavy but much improved from 2 years ago. The home side made a strong start and dominated the early territory. They opened the scoring after 5 minutes following a turnover on halfway and good handling saw the winger run in at the corner for an unconverted score. A few minutes later Grangemouth tried to run the ball out of defence but another mistake allowed the home side to run in for a converted score. The heads refused to go down and soon after it was the visitors who capitalised on a handling error to score. Llandybie dropped the ball in midfield and the loose ball was picked up by Connor McFarlane. He galloped upfield like a demented gazelle before passing inside to Allan who ran in under the posts. Veteran fullback Crossan added the conversion. HT Llandybie 12 Stags 7

The home side were again on top at the start of the second half. Good support play released their left winger who cut back inside the cover defence to score under the posts. The Stags hit back immediately. Williams broke through a couple of tackles to take play upfield. His offload found Allan in support and the centre outpaced the defence to score his second try. Once again Crossan was on target with the conversion. Soon after Allan had another run from deep but was unable to beat the last man and the chance was lost. With 10 minutes to go the home side increased their lead following a scrum on the Stags 22. The home centre wrong footed the defence to score under the posts. Soon after a home attack was halted by a superb catch and clearance kick from Gary Aitken. There was still time for a typical Sonny Campbell dummy and break with Norval in support but the final pass failed to go to hand and the home side were able to clear. FT Llandybie 26 Stags 14.

This was a very entertaining game and a great effort from all of the players. Stuart Allan was awarded the man of the match tankard and the home side retained the Alban Jenkins Shield. This week the Stags are back in league action as they face Glenrothes at Glensburgh with a 3pm KO