Scrappy Stags Get a Bonus

Grangemouth were back on league business last Saturday as they travelled to Blairgowrie for an early kick off. The Stags made a number of changes including starts for Pedyo, Forrest, Scott and Hunter with Myles moving to 10 and Allan switching with Sloan on the wing. On a perfect day for rugby Grangemouth were quickly on the attack. After just 4 minutes Parsons fielded a kick on half way and cut through the home chasers to set up play deep in the Blair 22. From the resulting scrum Scott picked up and ran wide before turning the ball back inside for Myles to score near the posts. Somehow Denny managed to put the kick wide. A few minutes later Grangemouth ran through the phases again before a perfectly timed flat pass saw Sloan crash through for try number 2. Again the kick went wide. However this proved to be the last score of the half as play became bogged down in midfield with Grangemouth making far too many mistakes and trying too many impossible off loads. Just on half time a clearing kick from Parsons saw the full back receive a late hit and in frustration he slapped the home player on the back. The referee deemed this violent conduct and red carded the full back with a yellow card to the home player. HT Blairgowrie 0 Stags 10

Grangemouth made a few changes at the break with Paul Rutherford coming on in the back row and Robbie Jardine at centre. However the centre’s miserable season continued as once again he failed to last longer than an average Adam Hind game and he was taken off injured after just 2 minutes. He was replaced by James Rutherford. And it was the elder Rutherford who started the move for the opening score of the second half. He collected a loose kick in midfield and linked with Pedyo. The ball was recycled a few times before Scott passed to Jamieson who rumbled over from close range. Finally Denny landed the easy kick. A few minutes later Denny converted another simple penalty kick to increase the lead to 20 points. Grangemouth then went searching for the all important bonus point try. Jamieson and Binnie combined to take play deep inside the home 22 but the final pass was wild and the clear scoring chance was lost. Finally the 4th try came on 60 minutes. Forrest took a quick tap penalty close to the Blair line and when the ball was moved wide Myles threw a dummy to the rushing home defence to slice through to collect his second try. The conversion was wide. Grangemouth added three further trys in the closing 15 minutes. First a powerful scrum saw the ball again taken against the head. The forwards drove on before Jamieson gave the final pass for Scott to crash over under the posts. Denny added the conversion. Jamieson then collected his second try. The forwards again drove a lineout before the big prop peeled off the back of the maul and brushed off some poor attempted tackles to score from 15 metres. In the closing minutes another driving maul from a lineout took the forwards over the line and Forrest was credited with the score. FT Blairgowrie 0 Stags 42.

This was an easy win for the Stags but the side were disappointed by the performance. They lacked control especially in the second quarter and made far too many mistakes as the game became too loose and disjointed with several off the ball incidents . The coaches will be hoping for a much improved performance this Saturday when the side are at home to Madras with KO 12 noon to allow both sides to see the Scotland match.