Stags Crash on the Bonnie Banks

Grangemouth travelled to Dundee last Saturday to take on old rivals Harris. For the second game in a row the Stags side had an unusual look to it with 8 first team regulars unavailable for various reasons. Mitchell made his first start of the season at prop while Scott and Hunter made a makeshift second row. In the backs Stangoe switched to centre with McNab and Chapman making an unlikely half back pairing. Grangemouth made a perfect start. Chapmans high kick was dropped by the home full back. From the resulting scrum Aspinall picked up and set up the first ruck before the ball was moved wide. When the ball was recycled for the second time Jamieson rumbled over from 2 metres for the opening try. Denny slotted the conversion. The home side were stung into action and laid siege to the Stags line. They were held up over the line but a heel against the head allowed Grangemouth to clear the danger. However soon after they kicked a penalty and then narrowed the lead to 1 point with a second penalty on 16 minutes. The Stags were immediately back under pressure and Harris gained the lead on 20 minutes. They took a quick tap penalty and moved the ball wide before the winger cut inside the cover to score near the corner. The conversion from wide was on target. The score remained at 13 – 7 with 5 minutes to go in the half and the Stags drove on to the home 22. Unfortunately a flat pass was intercepted and the Harris backs linked well to score under the posts from 75metres. Worse was to follow as straight from the kick off the home scrum half darted down the blindside to link with the winger who scored in the corner. With the last kick of the half Denny landed a penalty to reduce the lead. HT Harris 25 Stags 10

The second half was a disaster for the local side as Harris ran riot with 6 scores at regular intervals throughout the half. Several of the scores were from long range as Grangemouth missed their first up tackles to allow the home side to score some very soft trys. The only consolation for the Stags was a spell of possession on 55 minutes which resulted in a second Jamieson try from short range after a tap penalty from young Chapman. FT Harris 63 Stags 15

This was a very disappointing score line for the Stags and shows that the local side need to have their strongest side on the park if they are to compete with the best teams in this league. Grangemouth certainly did not help themselves with some poor kicking, missed tackles and several turnovers at the breakdown. The coaches will be hoping that most of the squad will be available for this Saturdays game as the Stags are once again away at Cupar to take on Howe of Fife 2nds with a 12 noon KO.