Stags Leave Empty Handed from Angus

Grangemouth kicked off their league campaign last Saturday as they travelled to Forfar to take on Strathmore. The Angus side had finished runners up in the league last season and were likely to be challenging for promotion again this season. The Stags made 4 changes, all in the pack, from the cup game the previous week with starts for Harvey, McNiff, Keigan and Hugh. On another good day for rugby Gragemouth had the early territory. Unfortunately they struggled to obtain clean possession at the scrum and were unable to maintain the early pressure. Skelton was then wide with a 30 metre penalty attempt after 5 minutes. Strathmore came more into the game and after 12 minutes they also missed a penalty attempt. The home backs were looking dangerous with ball in hand and their stand off made a good break before a knock on halted the move. With defences on top the game remained scoreless in the opening quarter. On 25 minutes a kick and chase from Strathmore pinned the Stags deep in their 22. Grangemouth did manage to regain possession but the attempted clearing kick failed to find touch. Strathmore ran the ball back and this time the stand off skipped through the defence for the opening try. The coversion curled wide of the posts and despite both touch judges agreeing the kick was wide the referee overruled them to award the extra 2 points. From the kick off Strathmore were penalised at the breakdown and this time Skelton was successful with the kick. As half time approached the home side looked to increase their lead. A missed tackle in midfield allowed the home centre to break through and take play into the 22. The ball was recycled through several phases before the prop was on hand to barge over from short range. This time the conversion was on target. HT Strathmore 14 Stags 3.

Strathmore increased their lead at the start of the second period. Once again the attack went through several phases before the ball was moved wide for the winger to squeeze in at the corner. Grangemouth tried to fight back. First Skelton made a good break and then Gemmell also had a charge upfield. However on both occasions the final pass went to ground and the chance was lost. The Stags continued to press and with 15 minutes left Dempsey took a quick tap penalty and used his strength to bounce oot of several tackles and score under the posts. Skelton added the simple conversion. On 72 minutes Strathmore were reduced to 14 men after repeated scrum infringements. Grangemouth pushed hard for the score but a combination of good home defence and some handling errors by the Stags denied the visitors further points. With just 3 minutes left Strathmore launched a counter attack from deep inside their 22. The move was halted on halfway but a couple of missed tackles allowed the home flanker to break clear and link up with his winger to score the bonus point try. The conversion was wide. FT Strathmore 24 Stags 10.

The Stags were disappointed to leave empty handed after a hard fought encounter. They struggled at times at set pieces and found the Strathmore defence very difficult to break down. Coach Deacons was happy with the committment of the side but knows they must cut out the handling errors and missed tackles for the remaining matches. This Saturday the Stags are at home against near neighbours Alloa. KO is 3pm.