Stags Finish Season with a Victory

Having wrapped up the league title with victory over Hillfoots three weeks ago, the Stags were on the road last Saturday as they travelled to Blairgowrie for the final game of the season. The Perthshire side have also had a good season having already claimed the Midland Bowl and are still to play their National Bowl semi final in 2 weeks. Grangemouth made 3 changes from their last game. Gibson came off the bench to replace McNab, Grant came into the side to replace the injured Parsons while Howie replaced Jamieson who was making a guest appearance for Stirling County. The overnight rain had cleared and the pitch was in fairly good condition. The Stags were sluggish in the opening few minutes and Blairgowrie were quickly on the attack. They had a chance to open the scoring on 2 minutes but the penalty attempt was wide. Grangemouth responded and on 5 minutes a penalty attempt from Skelton was also wide of the mark. The Stags continued to attack and soon after good hands in the backs released Allan but the winger was bundled into touch at the corner by a last gasp tackle by the home defence. The rest of the half became stalemate. Blairgowrie gave away several penalties at the breakdown but Grangemouth were unable to secure set piece ball as the pack struggled at times at the scrums and lineouts. In the closing minutes of the half the home side had a kickable penalty but instead opted for a scrum. This time the Stags pack held firm and were able to win the ball and clear their lines. HT Blairgowrie 0 Stags 0.

There were some strong words from the coach at the break and the Stags made a more positive start to the second period. Allan had a good run out of defence before the opening score finally arrived on 46 minutes. From a solid scrum on the Blair 22 Stangoe burst through on a crash ball before passing inside to the supporting Gemmell who was over for the try. Skelton added the extras. The home side hit back quickly. A break by their scrum half took play into the Stags half. Then good linking play between backs and forwards took play up to the Stags line before one of the home props crashed over in the corner for an unconverted try. As the game entered the final quarter Grangemouth pushed to increase their lead. A run from Grant saw the winger tackled into touch 5 metres from the line. A couple of minutes later a set scrum on the Blair 22 saw young Kyle Forsyth pick up and scamper through a huge gap in the home defence to touch down near the posts. Skelton again was on target with the conversion. Blaigowrie finished strongly. On 70 minutes they had a series of drives from tap penalties but were held up over the line and the Stags eventually cleared their lines. With 5 minutes to go the home side had another set of phases on the Grangemouth line before finally the defence cracked and the home side were in at the corner. The conversion was added from the touchline. This resulted in a frantic closing few minutes as Blairgowrie threw the ball about inside their half as they tried to find a gap in the Stags defence. However the Stags were not to be denied the victory and celebrated the final whistle as they kicked a penalty into touch. FT Blairgowrie 12 Stags 14.

This was a very hard fought victory for the Stags against a well drilled Blairgowrie side. The Grangemouth forwads struggled for possession from set pieces especially in the first half. Consequently the backs had a limited supply of good ball to run at their opposition. The Stags were presented with the championship trophy before the match and now have a deserved break for the next few weeks as they plan for next season in Caledonia Division 1. Meanwhile the Grangemouth second XV now also have a chance of promotion as they compete in the Division 3 play offs in the next few weeks. On 25 March they take on Madras, probably at St Andrews and then they play either Stirling County 3rds or Dundee University Medics on 1 April. Check the website for further details of both matches.