Mackie RFC 25 V Grangemouth RFC 25

Mackie RFC 25 V Grangemouth RFC 25

Saturday 28 August 2010
Caledonia Division 1

Grangemouth headed north for the trip to Stonehaven to open the new season against a team who caused some troubles last season with an away draw and a sound loss later in the season.

There could be no excuses as the squad had trained well all week in preparation for the game although missing fro action due to injury and unavailability were Balmer, Whyte, Groat, Inglis, McNube, Paterson, Binnie and Mallison from the pack. The backs were missing Alexander, McPherson, Scott, Cuthbertson, Stratton and Tucker, all of whom have featured in 1st xv rugger.

Despite these guys not being available for consideration the Stags were in confident mood although somewhat unsettled due to two front rowers ‘debuting’ in the skulduggery of the front row union.. Chris MacDougall at prop and Pete Brough at hooker, both of whom went on to make excellent contributions throughout the match.

The early exchanges saw the Stags pinned back in their own half for some time, however a break in midfield by the ever youthful Chapman led to a try for him converted by Euan Wilson. This was shortly followed by a Scott Noble opportunist try where his opposite number attempted to chip him and kicked the ball into his bread basket for him to scamper home.

Captain Tom Chapman was on fire as he broke loose again to complete the brace with a fine individual effort.

Euan Wilson followed this up with a penalty matched by Mackie to give the Stags a healthy 20-3 lead approaching half time. Mackie then secured a 5m lineout ball and drove home for an unconverted try and a half time defecit of 20-8.

This should have signalled the warning flag for the Stags who turned around to face the medium breeze and it was used well by Mackie who elected for field position and then followed 20 mins of pressure where the home team were controlling all aspects of the match and this was penalised shortly into the half where a series of lineouts in the
Stags 22 was punished by an unconverted try.

From the kick off the Stags failed to clear their lines and a sweeping backline move saw an attempted interception missed by the Stags allowing the home fullback to saunter in under the posts for a converted try and level the scores at 20-20 with around 20 mins to go.

The Stags looked down and out at this point however to their credit they rallied and began holding onto the ball and put pressure on the home defence and were rewarded with a try by Mike Gowdy wide out after good work by the forwards and swift hands and a neat overhead pass from Jason Russell to put Campbell away in the corner but unselfishly offloaded to the supporting Gowdy to touch down. Wilson hit the upright with the difficult conversion.

Within a short space of time Mackie were back level after a series of unnecessary penalties led to a Mackie try with the conversion missed and the game hung in the balance.

The last 10 mins saw the Stags push for that all important winner and thought they had it when Pete Brough was driven over by three others under the posts but the referee was unsighted and the resultant scrum was lost and the danger cleared, Next was a 30 metre penaly in front of the posts where Wilsons attempt dropped agonisingly under the bar. The Stags got another chance from slightly further out and elected for a lineout which led to a Chapman drive for the line where he was stopped short and then penalised for holding on and the ball was kicked into touch to mark the end of the match.

It was a bitterly disappointed Stags squad who left the field knowing that they should have taken the 5 points but had to settle for 3 points, tow for the win and 1 for a try bonus.

Special mention goes to Chris MacDougal and Pete Brough who had their 1st outings in the front row and coped well under pressure and they will undoubtedly improve in time and they were given the Man of Match and runner up respectively. Euan Wilson got 3rd for an assured and commanding role.

The negatives from the match was the draw after such a commanding lead. The positives were the 4 try scoring bonus and an assured display despite the unavailability of some key players although it is refreshing to see so many players pushing for a 1st team place.

This week the Stags entertain Glenrothes at Glensburgh in league action with a 3pm kick off.