Stags go down in Glasgow

The Port side continued with their build up to the league with a 1st and 2nd XV double header against last season ‘s National league 2 team Allan Glens. On a fantastic day for running rugby, the Grangemouth 1st XV was disrupted through work commitments and unavailability meaning they were short of 7 1st team players however this gave the new coaches a chance to look over some of the youth in the club.

Coach Jamieson gave starts to 8 Under 21 players to see how they’d fare against the full strength Glens team. Early exchanges were even with both teams throwing the ball around the excellent pitch. A combination of good defences and early season rustiness often thwarted good build up play from both teams.

The Stags were 1st on the score sheet, or so we thought, as new signing Raymond Au, probed from a ruck and dotted down but unfortunately the match referee was unsighted and called ‘held up’ and the moment was lost. It was then AG’s time to score, where after two Stags penalty infringements, AG’s made ground scoring a converted try giving them a half time lead of 7-0.

The 2nd half started brightly for the Stags as they used the wind to good effect to exert pressure on the AG’s defence, however, it stood firm in the face of several Stags attacks. The unavailable Craig Sangster’s experience was greatly missed as the youthful Stags made several unforced errors one of which led to a long range unconverted try for AG’s winger and this should have been a warning to the Stags.

It was 12-0 to the home side going into the final 20 mins and the Stags were further disrupted by injuries to Parsons and Stirling, allowing 17 years of age Sam Heron, recently capped as a Scottish U18 rugby league player, to take to the pitch and show that his massive potential for the club.

During a series of Grangemouth attacks, firstly Cuthbertson was stopped just short of the line and the ball was spun to Gowdy who was held up just short of the line but support was slow and led to a turn over where the AG’s flying winger picked up and ran the full length of the park to score out wide.

As tiredness set in AG’s took advantage to score a further unconverted tries for a thoroughly deserved win. For Grangemouth, this was a tough game highlighting the need for composure, discipline and improved fitness levels. Coach Jamieson was full of praise for the effort of the team however had some stern words regarding silly penalties and playing rugby in the correct places of the pitch.

This week the Port side take on Trinity Accies at Glensburgh with a 1pm kick off. A game against another higher league opposition will be the perfect pre-match warm up for the league opener the following week at home to near neighbours Alloa at Glensburgh, 3pm kick off.