Grangemouth through to the next round of the Bowl

The Stags took a break from the league campaign as they welcomed Kinross to Glensburgh last Saturday for a 3rd round tie in the Caledonia Bowl. The sides had met in the league a few weeks ago with Grangemouth running out comfortable winners. Once again the Stags were forced to make several changes from the previous week, especially in the forwards, with Brough and Keighan starting in the front row, Norval in the 2nd row and McFarlane and McNiff in the back row. Grangemouth had the wind in the first half and dominated the early possession, Dempsey collected a loose clearing kick on the 10 metre line and cut through the visitors defence before being stopped just short of the line with a last gasp tackle. The pressure finally paid off after 10 minutes when Sangster kicked a penalty when Kinross were caught offside at a ruck. From the kick off Sangster kicked long and Kinross were back under pressure in their 22. The opening try came after 20 minutes. Once again a poor kick out of defence was collected by Dempsey and the winger ran up the touchline before sending a cross kick behind the posts and Sangster followed up to score. The Stags were immediately back on the attack and added a second try when good passing set Parsons on his way and when the fullback was stopped just short of the line Jamieson was on hand to dive over for an unconverted score. Straight from the kick off Mncube ran 20 metres and when the ball was moved to the blind side Jamieson was on hand to collect a pass and race in from fully 30 metres to score in the corner. Just before half time Kinross had some possession inside the home 22 but the defence was solid to leave the half time score 18 -0.

Grangemouth were back on the attack at the start of the second half and increased their lead after just 5 minutes. McPherson and Sangster made the initial breaks and when the ball was moved wide Dempsey easily beat the cover to run round under the posts to leave an easy conversion for Sangster. Grangemouth added a 5th try on the hour as they ran the ball from deep inside their half. Sangster gave a well timed pass to Mncube and the flanker released Allan who outpaced the defence from the 10 metre line to score. Sangster added the conversion. As the game entered the last 10 minutes and the weather conditions deteriorated the Stags allowed their concentration to slip and gifted Kinross two trys. Firstly they dropped a pass on half way and the Kinross winger picked up the loose ball to run in under the posts for a converted score. A few minutes later the visitors added a second try. Kinross were stopped just short and the Stags managed a turnover before dropping the ball over their line to allow a simple score. In the last couple of minutes Grangemouth did manage to score the final try. They ran a tap penalty on the 22 and the forwards drove up to the line to allow McNiff to score. Final score 37 - 12

A comfortable win for the local side although not at their best in the difficult conditions. They now have another home tie against Moray on the 26 November. This Saturday the Stags are at home to Stirling University in the league with a 2pm KO