Grangemouth lose at St Andrews

Grangemouth were on their travels again last weekend as they made the journey to St Andrews to take on the students. Injuries and unavailability saw the local side make six changes from the previous week with a debut for Fleming on the wing and first starts of the season for Williamson and Chisholm. The students opened strongly and showed their willingness to run from deep with the home stand off dictating play. The opening score came after just 5 minutes when a loose clearing kick was returned by the full back and when he was held up the ball was quickly recycled through the backs to create an overlap for the winger to run round under the posts. St Andrews continued to dominate territory and possession and almost scored a few minutes later but knocked on just short of the line. They did increase their lead after 20 minutes with a penalty when Grangemouth were caught offside. Worse was to follow for the Stags as they gifted 2 quick tries in the space of 3 minutes. Firstly they dropped the ball just outside the 22 and swift hands from the students saw the winger squeeze in at the corner. Then they lost possession again and poor tackling saw the home centre score under the posts. The students secured their bonus point try after 30 minutes when the stand off kicked into the corner for the other winger to beat the cover to score. Just on half time the Stags mounted their first serious attack of the game. Mcniff made a good run from a lineout and Scott was held up just short of the line. However Grangemouth were unable to turn this pressure into any points to leave the half time score 27 – 0.

Grangemouth needed a good start to the 2nd half but failed to deal with the kick off and were once again under pressure inside their 22. They survived the initial pressure and at last gained some possession and territory of their own. The student defence held firm and it was the home side who scored the next try. The referee missed an obvious knock on by the home stand off on his own 22 but he recovered to shrug off some poor tackles to race up the park and score in the corner. Grangemouth then had a series of forward drives close to the line and thought they had scored when Carey was over the line but the referee ruled he was held up. With the game now in the closing 10 minutes the home side scored again as they attacked up the left before switching the play to the right for the winger to complete his hat trick. In the closing minutes McIntyre made a break but was stopped just short and then with the last play of the game McInally dived on a loose clearance kick to score an unconverted try. Full time 37 – 5
This was a very disappointing result and performance by the Stags with too many mistakes and an overall lack of fitness. There is much work needed to be done over the next few weeks at training to turn things around. This week the league season reaches the half way point with Grangemouth making the short trip to play Hillfoots with KO at 3 pm.