Stags win Bowl fixture

After 3 league wins in a row attention was switched to the cup last week as the Stags welcomed Fife Southern to Glensburgh for a second round tie in the regional bowl competition. The Rosyth side had a number of ex- Grangemouth players in their squad and were clearly looking forward to the game.

From the kick off Mncube collected the ball and drove upfield as the home side exerted the early pressure. However despite dominating territory and possession in the opening 10 minutes Grangemouth were unable to score and it was very much against the run of play when Fife broke into the Stags half and kicked a penalty. A few minutes later the Stags were back level when Sangster kicked a penalty when the Fife backs were caught offside. The first try came as the game entered the second quarter. Sangster intercepted an inside pass and kicked for the corner. From the lineout the forwards had several drives and when the veteran Norval was held just short of the line quick ball allowed Jamieson to bulldoze over from short range for an unconverted score.

Shortly after a crosskick from Sangster was completely missed by the Fife winger and Allan collected the ball for an easy score. Fife hit back immediately and with their first try. The home defence failed to deal with a grubber kick on the 22 and the visitors centre collected the loose ball to score under the posts. With half time approaching a fine run by Parsons set up position on the Fife line and a strong push in the scrum resulted in the ball going loose over the line and McPherson dived to score. Sangster added the conversion.

Half time Stags 20 Fife 10

Despite the lead the coaches were unhappy with the performance but the half time talk failed to inspire as Fife dominated the opening 15 minutes of the second half. Poor defence allowed the Fife stand off to slice through for another converted score to narrow the lead to just 3 points. The Stags entered the final quarter with Sangster kicking another penalty.

In the last 10 minutes Allan completed his hat trick. Firstly Mncube made another break and his well timed pass allowed Allan to score under the posts with Sangster adding the conversion. Finally the ball was moved wide to give Allan a run and he chipped the full back and followed up to score.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this match was the stags defence, which up until this match had been solid, as it was breached all too easily on occasion. The Rosyth team for their part, put up a tough test throughput the match and showed promise for the season ahead.

Final score 35 – 17

This was another good win for the Stags to leave them undefeated in September. However there is still much to work on in ball retention for the harder games ahead. Next week its back to the league with the 1sts travelling to Kinross with a 3pm KO.